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[Poems by Woolson in] Five generations (1785-1923)

being scattered chapters from the history of the Cooper, Pomeroy, Woolson and Benedict families, with extracts From their Letters and Journals, as well as articles and poems by Constance Fenimore Woolson

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To GEORGE ELIOT.
 
 
 
 


427

To GEORGE ELIOT.

O wondrous woman! shaping with thy pen
As Michael Angelo did shape from stone,
Colossal forms of clear-cut outline, when
We dwell upon thy pages, not alone
The beauty of thy rose, we see, as finely traced
As roses drawn by other woman-hands
Who spend their lives in shaping them but faced
We find ourselves with giant's work that stands
Above us as a mountain lifts its brow,
Grand, unapproachable, yet clear in view
To lowliest eyes that upward look, Oh, how
Hast thou shed radiance as thy finger drew
Its shapes! A myriad women light have seen
And courage taken, because thou hast been.