University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
The Poetical Works of Anna Seward

With Extracts from her Literary Correspondence. Edited by Walter Scott ... In Three Volumes
Seward, Anna (1742-1809)

collapse sectionI. 
VOL. I.
collapse section 
[subsection]
  
THE VISIONS,
  
KNOWLEDGE,
  
PORTRAIT OF MISS LEVETT.
  
ELEGY
  
THE HAY-FIELD,
  
INSCRIPTION
  
LOVE ELEGIES AND EPISTLES.
collapse section 
SONGS.
  
THE COUNTRY MAID,
  
SONG.
  
ACHILLES,
  
SONG.
  
SONG.
  
SONG.
  
BALLAD.
  
SONG OF THE FAIRIES TO THE SEA-NYMPHS.
  
SONG
  
SONG.
  
BALLAD.
  
SONG.
  
ADDRESS TO HOPE.
  
SONG.
  
SONG.
  
SONG,
  
SONG.
  
SONG
  
SONG.
  
PASTORAL BALLAD.
  
SONG.
collapse section 
[subsection]
  
GLEE.
  
ODE TO EUPHROSYNE,
  
PROLOGUE
  
PROLOGUE
  
PROLOGUE
  
PROLOGUE
  
EPILOGUE
  
COMPLAINT OF AN ARABIAN LOVER.
  
BLINDNESS,
  
VERSES,
collapse sectionII. 
VOL. II.
collapse section 
[subsection]
  
VERSES WRITTEN IN DR DARWIN'S BOTANIC GARDEN
  
ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF MR JOSEPH SYKES, OF WEST-ELLA,
  
CHARITY,
  
MONODY
  
ODE
  
INVOCATION OF THE COMIC MUSE.
  
AMUSEMENTS OF WINTER.
  
BERMUDA,
  
ELEGY ON CAPTAIN COOK.
  
VERSES TO A YOUNG GENTLEMAN.
  
ODE TO THE SUN.
  
VERSES TO CAPTAIN ELIOTT,
  
VERSES Inviting Mrs C—--- to Tea on a public Fast-day,
  
ON THE FUTURE EXISTENCE OF BRUTES.
  
TO MISS SEWARD.
  
MONODY ON MAJOR ANDRE.
  
ODE TO POETIC FANCY.
  
EPISTLE TO CORNELIA.
  
EPISTLE TO Mr ROMNEY,
  
WRITTEN IN THE BLANK PAGE OF THE SORROWS OF WERTER.
  
WRITTEN IN THE TITLE PAGE OF A VOLUME CONTAINING Mr JEPHSON's TRAGEDIES.
  
WRITTEN IN A DIMINUTIVE EDITION OF GRAY'S POEMS.
  
VERSES
  
WRITTEN
  
WITH A LOCK OF THE AUTHOR's HAIR,
  
ON
  
VERSES TO THE CELEBRATED PAINTER, MR WRIGHT, OF DERBY,
  
EPISTLE TO WILLIAM HAYLEY,Esq.
  
TO THE MEMORY OF LADY MILLAR.
  
EPISTLE TO THE REV. DR WILLIAM BAGSHOT STEVENS, OF REPTON, DERBYSHIRE,
  
TO WILLIAM HAYLEY, Esq.
  
ADDRESS TO THE SUN.
  
ADDRESS TO WOMAN.
  
VERSES TO THE Rev. WILLIAM MASON,
collapse section 
EPITAPHS.
  
ON HANNAH ROBINSON, OF LICHFIELD,
  
ON LADY MILLER
  
ON ELIZA JONES,
  
ON MISS ANNE LAWLEY,
  
ON DAVID GARRICK, Esq.
  
ON MRS BENNET,
  
ON ELIZA WHATELEY,
  
ON ELIZABETH,
  
ON ELIZABETH,
  
ON THE HON. HENRIETTA BAGOT,
  
ON MISS WINGFIELD, of SHREWSBURY,
  
INSCRIBED ON THE MONUMENT OF THE Rev. WILLIAM BAGSHOT STEVENS,
  
FOR A MARBLE TABLET IN LICHFIELD CATHEDRATA
  
ON GENERAL SIMCOE.
  
EPISTLE TO F. C. R. MUNDY, Esq.
  
THE RED-BREAST and SPARROW.
  
MOUNT ETNA.
  
EPISTLE TO COLONEL ST. GEORGE.
  
ODE ON TIME.
collapse section 
LOUISA TO EMMA,
 I. 
[section]
 II. 
SECOND EPISTLE. EUGENIO TO
 III. 
THIRD EPISTLE. LOUISA TO EMMA,
 IV. 
FOURTH EPISTLE. LOUISA TO EMMA.
  
SONG OF ROXANA.
  
THE SONG OF ZILLIA.
  
EASTERN ODE
  
DAPHNE's COYNESS ACCOUNTED FOR.
  
VERSES TO Mr. HAYLEY,
  
WRITTEN IN AUTUMN, 1784,
  
COLEBROOK DALE.
  
INDEPENDENT INDUSTRY TRUE VIRTUE.
  
TO THE Rev. JOHN GRANVILLE.
  
EPISTLE TO NATHANIEL LISTER, Esq. OF LICHFIELD,
  
EPISTLE TO GEORGE ROMNEY, Esq.
  
IDYLLIUM.
  
TO Mrs SMITH,
  
ALPINE SCENERY.
  
ODE ON GENERAL ELIOTT's RETURN FROM GIBRALTAR, IN 1787.
collapse sectionIII. 
VOL. III.
collapse section 
[subsection]
  
EYAM.
  
REMONSTRANCE ADDRESSED TO WILLIAM COWPER, ESQ. IN 1788,
  
CRUGAL's GHOST,
  
THE GHOST OF CUCHULLIN.
  
EPISTLE TO Mr Newton, the Derbyshire Minstrel,
  
TO Mr JOHN SALT, of LICHFIELD,
  
ON THE SUDDEN DEATH OF THE CELEBRATED Mr NORRIS, of OXFORD, BATCHELOR OF MUSIC.
  
ON MAJOR ANDRE.
  
HAROLD's COMPLAINT.
  
THE LAKE;
  
WRITTEN AFTER HAVING VISITED MISS MORE, AND HER SISTERS
  
TRANSLATION OF GRAY'S APOSTROPHE, TO THE MEMORY OF HIS YOUNG FRIEND, WEST,
  
PARAPHRASE of GRAY's ALCAICK ODE,
  
TO Sir NIGEL GRESLEY.
  
TO ---SHERIVE, Esq.
  
SONNET, to the Rev. RICHARD POLWHELE,
  
THE FIRST PSALM
  
137th PSALM PARAPHRASED.
  
TO CHARLES SIMPSON, Esq. BARRISTER;
  
TO MAJOR ROOKE of MANSFIELD,
  
TO CH. CLARKE, Esq.
  
A WARNING EXHORTATION.
  
TO HUMPHRY REPTON, Esq.
  
PHILIPPIC
  
LLANGOLLEN VALE,
  
VERSES ON WREXHAM,
  
HOYLE LAKE,
  
HERVA,
collapse section 
INSCRIPTIONS.
  
TO MRS WINGFIELD OF SHREWSBURY.
  
TO MISS WINGFIELD OF SHREWSBURY.
  
TO MISS CATHERINE WINGFIELD.
  
TO MISS REMMINGTON, OF LICHFIELD.
  
TO MISS FERN OF LICHFIELD.
  
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LADY ELEANOR BUTLER,
  
TO MISS PONSONBY.
collapse section 
INSCRIPTIONS,
  
TO THE YOUNG MARRIED LADY WHO HUMANELY PURCHASES THIS TRIFLE.
  
TO THE YOUNG UNMARRIED LADY, WHO PURCHASES ME.
  
TO THE LADY, WHETHER SINGLE OR MARRIED, WHO SHALL CHARITABLY PURCHASE THIS TRIFLE.
  
TO THE LADY WHO MAY PURCHASE THIS ENVELOPE, AND WHO MAY NOT BE A CELEBRATED BEAUTY.
  
TO THE DOWAGER LADY BLAKISTON,
collapse section 
[subsection]
  
TO MRS SIDDONS.
  
ODE ON ENGLAND'S NAVAL TRIUMPHS IN THE PRESENT WAR.
  
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE MARCHIONESS OF DONEGALL,
  
TO MISS GODFREY,
collapse section 
[subsection]
 I. 
SONNET I.
 II. 
SONNET II.
 III. 
SONNET III. WRITTEN AT BUXTON IN A RAINY SEASON.
 IV. 
SONNET IV. TO HONORA SNEYD,
 V. 
SONNET V. TO A FRIEND, WHO THINKS SENSIBILITY A MISFORTUNE.
 VI. 
SONNET VI. WRITTEN AT LICHFIELD,
 VII. 
SONNET VII.
 VIII. 
SONNET VIII.
 IX. 
SONNET IX.
 X. 
SONNET X. TO HONORA SNEYD.
 XI. 
SONNET XI.
 XII. 
SONNET XII.
 XIII. 
SONNET XIII.
 XIV. 
SONNET XIV.
 XV. 
SONNET XV. WRITTEN ON RISING GROUND NEAR LICHFIELD.
 XVI. 
SONNET XVI. TRANSLATED FROM BOILEAU.
 XVII. 
SONNET XVII.
 XVIII. 
SONNET XVIII. AN EVENING IN NOVEMBER,
 XIX. 
SONNET XIX. TO ---
 XX. 
SONNET XX. ON READING A DESCRIPTION OF POPE'S CARDENS AT TWICKENHAM.
 XXI. 
SONNET XXI.
 XXII. 
SONNET XXII. SUBJECT CONTINUED.
 XXIII. 
SONNET XXIII. TO MISS E.S.
 XXIV. 
SONNET XXIV.
 XXV. 
SONNET XXV. PETRARCH to VAUCLUSE.
 XXVI. 
SONNET XXVI.
 XXVII. 
SONNET XXVII.
 XXVIII. 
SONNET XXVIII.
 XXIX. 
SONNET XXIX. SUBJECT CONTINUED.
 XXX. 
SONNET XXX.
 XXXI. 
SONNET XXXI. TO THE DEPARTING SPIRIT OF AN ALIENATED FRIEND.
 XXXII. 
SONNET XXXII. SUBJECT OF THE PRECEDING SONNET CONTINUED.
 XXXIII. 
SONNET XXXIII.
 XXXIV. 
SONNET XXXIV.
 XXXV. 
SONNET XXXV. SPRING.
 XXXVI. 
SONNET XXXVI. SUMMER.
 XXXVII. 
SONNET XXXVII. AUTUMN.
 XXXVIII. 
SONNET XXXVIII. WINTER.
 XXXIX. 
SONNET XXXIX. WINTER EVENING.
 XL. 
SONNET XL. DECEMBER MORNING.
 XLI. 
SONNET XLI. INVITATION TO A FRIEND.
 XLII. 
SONNET XLII.
 XLIII. 
SONNET XLIII.
 XLIV. 
SONNET XLIV.
 XLV. 
SONNET XLV.
 XLVI. 
SONNET XLVI.
 XLVII. 
SONNET XLVII. ON MR SARGENT'S DRAMATIC POEM, THE MINE.
 XLVIII. 
SONNET XLVIII.
 XLIX. 
SONNET XLIX.
 L. 
SONNET L.
 LI. 
SONNET LI. TO SYLVIA,
 LII. 
SONNET LII.
 LIII. 
SONNET LIII. WRITTEN IN THE SPRING 1785 ON THE DEATH OF THE POET LAUREAT.
 LIV. 
SONNET LIV. A PERSIAN KING TO HIS SON.
 LV. 
SONNET LV. ON THE QUICK TRANSITION FROM WINTER TO SUMMER, IN THE YEAR 1785.
 LVI. 
SONNET LVI. TO A TIMID YOUNG LADY,
 LVII. 
SONNET LVII. WRITTEN THE NIGHT PRECEDING THE FUNERAL OF MRS CHARLES BUCKERIDGE.
 LVIII. 
SONNET LVIII.
 LIX. 
SONNET LIX. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LADY MARIANNE CARNEGIE,
 LX. 
SONNET LX.
 LXI. 
SONNET LXI. TO MR HENRY CARY,
 LXII. 
SONNET LXII.
 LXIII. 
SONNET LXIII. TO COLEBROOKE DALE.
 LXIV. 
SONNET LXIV. TO MR HENRY CARY,
 LXV. 
SONNET LXV. TO THE SAME.
 LXVI. 
SONNET LXVI.
 LXVII. 
SONNET LXVII.
 LXVIII. 
SONNET LXVIII.
 LXIX. 
SONNET LXIX. TO A YOUNG LADY,
 LXX. 
SONNET LXX.
 LXXI. 
SONNET LXXI.
 LXXII. 
SONNET LXXII.
 LXXIII. 
SONNET LXXIII.
 LXXIV. 
SONNET LXXIV.
 LXXV. 
SONNET LXXV.
 LXXVI. 
SONNET LXXVI. THE CRITICS OF DR JOHNSON'S SCHOOL.
 LXXVII. 
SONNET LXXVII.
 LXXVIII. 
SONNET LXXVIII.
 LXXIX. 
SONNET LXXIX.
 LXXX. 
SONNET LXXX.
 LXXXI. 
SONNET LXXXI.
 LXXXII. 
SONNET LXXXII.
 LXXXIII. 
SONNET LXXXIII. ON CATANIA AND SYRACUSE
 LXXXIV. 
SONNET LXXXIV.
 LXXXV. 
SONNET LXXXV. TO MARCH.
 LXXXVI. 
SONNET LXXXVI. TO THE LAKE OF KILLARNEY.
 LXXXVII. 
SONNET LXXXVII. TO A YOUNG LADY,
 LXXXVIII. 
SONNET LXXXVIII. THE PROSPECT A FLOODED VALE.
 LXXXIX. 
SONNET LXXXIX. SUBJECT CONTINUED.
 XC. 
SONNET XC. SUBJECT CONTINUED.
 XCI. 
SONNET XCI.
 XCII. 
SONNET XCII.
 XCIII. 
SONNET XCIII.
 XCIV. 
SONNET XCIV.
 XCV. 
SONNET XCV.
 XCVI. 
SONNET XCVI.
 XCVII. 
SONNET XCVII. TO A COFFIN-LID.
 XCVIII. 
SONNET XCVIII.
 XCIX. 
SONNET XCIX. ON THE VIOLENT THUNDER STORMS.
 C. 
SONNET C. WRITTEN DECEMBER 1790.
collapse section 
[subsection]
  
TO MÆCENAS.
  
TO PYRRHA.
  
TO MUNATIUS PLANCUS.
  
TO LYDIA.
  
TO THALIARCHUS.
  
TO LEUCONOE.
  
TO APOLLO.
  
TO HIS ATTENDANT.
  
TO SALLUST.
  
TO THE HONOURABLE THOMAS ERSKINE.
  
TO BARINE.
  
TO TITUS VALGIUS.
  
TO LICINIUS MURENA.
  
TO MÆCENAS.
  
TO POSTHUMUS.
  
TO LYCE,
  
TO THE FOUNTAIN OF BLANDUSIA.
  
TO TELEPHUS.
  
TO PHYLLIS.
  
TO MELPOMENE.
  
TO WILLIAM HAYLEY, Esq,
  
TO LIGURIA.
  
TO PHYLLIS.
  
ON THE PLEASURES OF RURAL LIFE.
  
TO NEAERA.
  
TO THE ROMAN PEOPLE,
collapse section 
[subsection]
  
GREVILLE AND JULIA
collapse section 
[subsection]
  
SONNET
  
SPEECH OF THE NYMPH OF THAT BROOK,
  
SONNET.
  
A MEDITATION.
  
THE TERRESTRIAL YEAR,
  
INSCRIBED ON THE BACK OF A LANDSCAPE,
  
INSCRIBED ON THE BACK OF THE COMPANION LANDSCAPE.
  
INSCRIBED ON THE BACK OF A LANDSCAPE,
  
ADDRESS TO THE RIVER IN A LANDSCAPE,
  
TO MISS HONORA SMITH of LICHFIELD.
  
ADMONITION TO ROSILDA.
  
A MARINE VIEW MORALIZED
  
TO CLARISSA.
  
A FAREWELL
  
CONSOLATION,
  
TO ROBERT HARPER, Esq.
  
BALLAD IN THE ANCIENT SCOTCH DIALECT,
  
ADDRESSED TO THE REV. THOMAS SEDGEWICK WHALLEY,
  
THE GRAVE OF YOUTH.
  
TO MRS SKERETT
  
TO MISS CATHERINE MALLET.
  
IMPROMPTU,
  
ELEGY, WRITTEN AS FROM A FRENCH LADY,
  
TO MISS MANSEL,
  
ADDRESS TO THE YOUNG ROSCIUS.
  
A FAVOURITE CAT'S DYING SOLILOQUY,
  
TO LITTLE CATHERINE HARPER, AGED THREE YEARS,
  
INSCRIBED ON THE BLANK LEAVES OF THE POEM MADOC.
  
TO F. N. C. MUNDY,Esq.
  
TO REMEMBRANCE.

collapse section Collapse All | Expand All expand section
previous section The Poetical Works of Anna Seward
next section
391

INSCRIBED ON THE BLANK LEAVES OF THE POEM MADOC.

Reader, if instant thy soul-lighted eyes
Perceive the claims of Genius as they rise,
Welcome this noblest effort of the Nine,
To deck with epic wreath their English shrine,
Since here they rose, to emulate, at length,
The Mantuan sweetness, the Meonian strength,
And our green vales and silver shores along,
Pour'd Eden's grand, imperishable song.
Again, in all their pomp, they strike the lyre,
Rapid, and glowing with primeval fire;
And in the Cambrian's lofty story twine
Each human interest with each grace divine
Of rapt Imagination, when she soars
From common talents flat and glimmering shores,
Her lamp t' illumine at that orbit prime,
Whose fires are quenchless by the floods of time.
392

Thus, for the glory of the nineteenth age,
The Epic Muse awakes her sacred rage;
In no false ornaments her numbers shine,—
The diamonds sparkle genuine from the mine.
What harmonies our captive ear engage!
What living landscapes glow on every page!
What characters, in Nature's force display'd,
With coy Discrimination's subtlest aid,
In Cimbric regions, and on Indian shores,
Call to the Epic verse the Drama's powers!
O! mark, the thoughts with truth and virtue beam,
Shewing what God shall judge, and Christ redeem;
The asbestos robe which the chaste style arrays,
Impassive shield from Envy's lurid blaze;
Where simple, nervous as in early time,
Where plaintive, touching, and where rais'd, sublime.
If thou rememberest through how many a year
Deaf as the grave was found the general ear
To Verse, whose fame is now the nation's cause,
With scarce one voice appellant from her laws;
393

How long the owlish orb of general sight
Found mist and darkness in excessive light;
If conscious of each grandeur and each grace,
The Poet's sun-track thy clear vision trace;
If thy heart throb to see thy native land
Once more the Muse's eminence command;
And if thy spirit, o'er such glorious lays,
Wait not for tardy precedents in praise,—
Then, generous Reader, then, for Madoc claim.
With voice anticipant, the palm of Fame;
And on each leaf, in patriot pride, descry
The bursting germs of immortality!
Such minds, where never Envy's cloud appears,
View Madoc buoyant on the tide of years,
Float, like the song, which left the mortal maze
For scenes “where angels tremble while they gaze,”
And, touch'd alike by Genius' solar ray,
Vanquish Oblivion, and maintain the day!
 

A vegetable substance, soft and pliant as muslin, and which fire cannot consume.

Paradise Lost, which, through the long period intervening between its first publication, in the author's life-time, and Addison's Essays upon it in the Spectator, met little public notice, while his equally beautiful lesser works, Lycidas, Comus, L'Allegro, and Il Penseroso, were scarcely known at all, till more than seventy years after his death.

previous section The Poetical Works of Anna Seward
next section