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The poems of Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey (1836-1907)

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[section]
  
FLOWER AND THORN
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BABY BELL AND OTHER POEMS
  
BABY BELL
  
PISCATAQUA RIVER
  
PAMPINA
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INVOCATION TO SLEEP
 1. 
I
 2. 
II
 3. 
III
  
THE FLIGHT OF THE GODDESS
  
AN OLD CASTLE
  
LOST AT SEA
  
THE QUEEN'S RIDE
  
DIRGE
  
ON LYNN TERRACE
  
SEADRIFT
  
THE PIAZZA OF ST. MARK AT MIDNIGHT
  
THE METEMPSYCHOSIS
  
BAYARD TAYLOR
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INTERLUDES
  
HESPERIDES
  
BEFORE THE RAIN
  
AFTER THE RAIN
  
A SNOWFLAKE
  
FROST-WORK
  
THE ONE WHITE ROSE
  
LANDSCAPE
  
NOCTURNE
  
APPRECIATION
  
PALABRAS CARIÑOSAS
  
APPARITIONS
  
UNSUNG
  
AN UNTIMELY THOUGHT
  
ONE WOMAN
  
REALISM
  
DISCIPLINE
  
DESTINY
  
NAMELESS PAIN
  
HEREDITY
  
IDENTITY
  
LYRICS AND EPICS
  
A WINTER PIECE
  
KRISS KRINGLE
  
RENCONTRE
  
LOVE'S CALENDAR
  
LOST ART
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CLOTH OF GOLD
  
PROEM
  
AN ARAB WELCOME
  
A TURKISH LEGEND
  
THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS
  
THE UNFORGIVEN
  
DRESSING THE BRIDE
  
TWO SONGS FROM THE PERSIAN
  
TIGER-LILIES
  
THE SULTANA
  
THE WORLD'S WAY
  
LATAKIA
  
WHEN THE SULTAN GOES TO ISPAHAN
  
A PRELUDE
  
TO HAFIZ
  
AT NIJNII-NOVGOROD
  
THE LAMENT OF EL MOULOK
  
NOURMADEE
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FRIAR JEROME'S BEAUTIFUL BOOK ETC.
  
FRIAR JEROME'S BEAUTIFUL BOOK
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MIANTOWONA
 1. 
I
 2. 
II
  
THE GUERDON
  
TITA'S TEARS
  
A BALLAD
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THE LEGEND OF ARA—COELI
 1. 
I
 2. 
II
 3. 
III
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BAGATELLE
  
CORYDON
  
ON AN INTAGLIO HEAD OF MINERVA
  
THE MENU
  
COMEDY
  
IN AN ATELIER
  
AT A READING
  
AMONTILLADO
  
CARPE DIEM
  
DANS LA BOHÈME
  
THE LUNCH
  
IMP OF DREAMS
  
AN ELECTIVE COURSE
  
PEPITA
  
L'EAU DORMANTE
  
ECHO SONG
  
THALIA
  
PALINODE
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FOOTNOTES
  
TO THE READER
  
DAY AND NIGHT
  
MAPLE LEAVES
  
A CHILD'S GRAVE
  
PESSIMIST AND OPTIMIST
  
GRACE AND STRENGTH
  
FROM THE SPANISH
  
MASKS
  
COQUETTE
  
EPITAPHS
  
POPULARITY
  
CIRCUMSTANCE
  
SPENDTHRIFT
  
THE TWO MASKS
  
MYRTILLA
  
ON HER BLUSHING
  
ON A VOLUME OF ANONYMOUS POEMS ENTITLED “A MASQUE OF POETS”
  
THE DIFFERENCE
  
ON READING—
  
THE ROSE
  
MOONRISE AT SEA
  
ROMEO AND JULIET
  
HOSPITALITY
  
HUMAN IGNORANCE
  
FROM EASTERN SOURCES
  
MEMORIES
  
EVIL EASIER THAN GOOD
  
FIREFLIES
  
PROBLEM
  
ORIGINALITY
  
KISMET
  
A HINT FROM HERRICK
  
PESSIMISTIC POETS
  
POINTS OF VIEW
  
THE GRAVE OF EDWIN BOOTH
  
QUITS
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SPRING IN NEW ENGLAND
 1. 
I
 2. 
II
 3. 
III
 4. 
IV
 5. 
V
 6. 
VI
 7. 
VII
 8. 
VIII
 9. 
IX
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WYNDHAM TOWERS
 1. 
[I]
 2. 
II
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THE SISTERS' TRAGEDY WITH OTHER POEMS
  
THE SISTERS' TRAGEDY
  
ELMWOOD
  
WHITE EDITH
  
SEA LONGINGS
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THE BELLS AT MIDNIGHT
 1. 
I
 2. 
II
  
UNGUARDED GATES
  
IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY
  
A SHADOW OF THE NIGHT
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THE LAST CÆSAR
 1. 
I
  
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 2. 
II
  
[section]
 3. 
III
  
TENNYSON
  
ALEC YEATON'S SON
  
BATUSCHKA
  
MONODY ON THE DEATH OF WENDELL PHILLIPS
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TWO MOODS
 1. 
I
 2. 
II
  
THE SHIPMAN'S TALE
  
BROKEN MUSIC
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THE SAILING OF THE AUTOCRAT
  
ON BOARD THE S. S. CEPHALONIA April 26, 1886
  
October 7, 1894
  
AT THE FUNERAL OF A MINOR POET
  
SARGENT'S PORTRAIT OF EDWIN BOOTH AT “THE PLAYERS”
  
“WHEN FROM THE TENSE CHORDS OF THAT MIGHTY LYRE”
  
PAULINE PAVLOVNA
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JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES
 1. 
BOOK I JUDITH IN THE TOWER
 2. 
BOOK II THE CAMP OF ASSHUR
 3. 
BOOK III THE FLIGHT
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INTERLUDES
  
PRESCIENCE
  
MEMORY
  
A MOOD
  
ACT V
  
GUILIELMUS REX
  
A DEDICATION
  
“PILLARED ARCH AND SCULPTURED TOWER”
  
THRENODY
  
SESTET
  
NECROMANCY
  
FOREVER AND A DAY
  
A TOUCH OF NATURE
  
“I'LL NOT CONFER WITH SORROW”
  
IN THE BELFRY OF THE NIEUWE KERK
  
NO SONGS IN WINTER
  
A PARABLE
  
INSOMNIA
  
SEEMING DEFEAT
  
“LIKE CRUSOE, WALKING BY THE LONELY STRAND”
  
KNOWLEDGE
  
THE LETTER
  
“IN YOUTH, BESIDE THE LONELY SEA”
  
“GREAT CAPTAIN, GLORIOUS IN OUR WARS”
  
THE WINTER ROBIN
  
A REFRAIN
  
THE VOICE OF THE SEA
  
ART
  
IMOGEN
  
A BRIDAL MEASURE
  
CRADLE SONG
  
SANTO DOMINGO
  
AT A GRAVE
  
RESURGAM
  
A PETITION
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XXVIII SONNETS
 1. 
I INVITA MINERVA
 2. 
II FREDERICKSBURG
 3. 
III BY THE POTOMAC
 4. 
IV PURSUIT AND POSSESSION
 5. 
V MIRACLES
 6. 
VI “ENAMORED ARCHITECT OF AIRY RHYME”
 7. 
VII EIDOLONS
 8. 
VIII AT BAY RIDGE, LONG ISLAND
 9. 
IX “EVEN THIS WILL PASS AWAY”
 10. 
X EGYPT
 11. 
XI AT STRATFORD-UPON-AVON
 12. 
XII WITH THREE FLOWERS
 13. 
XIII THE LORELEI
 14. 
XIV SLEEP
 15. 
XV THORWALDSEN
 16. 
XVI AN ALPINE PICTURE
 17. 
XVII TO L. T. IN FLORENCE
 18. 
XVIII HENRY HOWARD BROWNELL
 19. 
XIX THE RARITY OF GENIUS
 20. 
XX BOOKS AND SEASONS
 21. 
XXI OUTWARD BOUND
 22. 
XXII ELLEN TERRY IN “THE MERCHANT OF VENICE”
 23. 
XXIII THE POETS
 24. 
XXIV THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY
 25. 
XXV ANDROMEDA
 26. 
XXVI REMINISCENCE
 27. 
XXVII ON READING WILLIAM WATSON'S SONNETS ENTITLED “THE PURPLE EAST”
 28. 
XXVIII “I VEX ME NOT WITH BROODING ON THE YEARS”
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AN ODE
 1. 
I
 2. 
II
 3. 
III
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JUDITH OF BETHULÎA
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ACT I
 1. 
SCENE I.
 2. 
SCENE II.
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ACT II
 1. 
SCENE I.
 2. 
SCENE II.
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ACT III
 1. 
SCENE I.
 2. 
SCENE II.
 4. 
ACT IV
  
LONGFELLOW

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399

XIX
THE RARITY OF GENIUS

While yet my lips was breathing youth's first breath,
I all too young to know their deepest spell,
I saw Medea and Phædra in Rachel;
Later I saw the great Elizabeth.
Rachel, Ristori—we shall speak with death
Ere we meet souls like these. In one age dwell
Not many such: a century shall tell
Its hundred beads before it braid a wreath
For two so queenly foreheads. If it take
Æons to form a diamond, grain on grain,
Æons to crystallize its fire and dew,
By what slow processes must Nature make
Her Shakespeares and her Raffaels? Great the gain
If she spoil millions making one or two.
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