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The poems (1969)

Collins, William (1721-1759)

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[section]
 1. 
1 Sonnet
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2 Persian Eclogues
 1. 
ECLOGUE THE FIRST
 2. 
ECLOGUE THE SECOND
 3. 
ECLOGUE THE THIRD
 4. 
ECLOGUE THE FOURTH
 3. 
3 An Epistle:
 4. 
4 A Song from Shakespeare's Cymbeline
 5. 
5 Song.
 6. 
6 Written on a Paper which Contained a Piece of Bride Cake given to the Author by a Lady
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Odes on Several Descriptive and Allegoric Subjects
 7. 
7 Ode to Pity
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8 Ode to Fear
  
[section]
  
EPODE
  
ANTISTROPHE
 9. 
9 Ode to Simplicity
 10. 
10 Ode on the Poetical Character
 11. 
11 Ode, Written in the Beginning of the Year 1746
 12. 
12 Ode to Mercy
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13 Ode to Liberty
  
STROPHE
  
EPODE 2
  
ANTISTROPHE
  
SECOND EPODE
 14. 
14 Ode, to a Lady on the Death of Colonel Ross in the Action of Fontenoy
 15. 
15 Ode to Evening
 16. 
16 Ode to Peace
 17. 
17 The Manners.
 18. 
18 The Passions.
 19. 
19 Ode Occasioned by the Death of Mr Thomson
 20. 
20 An Ode on the Popular Superstitions of the Highlands of Scotland, Considered as the Subject of Poetry
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DRAFTS AND FRAGMENTS
 21. 
21 [Lines on Restoration Drama]
 22. 
22 [Lines of Composite Authorship]
 23. 
23 [Lines Addressed to James Harris]
 24. 
24 [Lines Addressed to Jacob Tonson]
 25. 
25 [Lines Addressed to a Fastidious Critic]
 26. 
26 [Lines Addressed to a Friend about to Visit Italy]
 27. 
27 [Stanzas on a Female Painter]
 28. 
28 ‘Ye genii who, in secret state’
 29. 
29 To Simplicity
 30. 
30 ‘No longer ask me, gentle friends’
 31. 
31 [Lines on the Music of the Grecian Theatre]
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LOST AND DOUBTFUL POEMS
 36. 
36 On the Use and Abuse of Poetry
 37. 
37 The Bell of Arragon
 38. 
38 On a Quack Doctor

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486

19 Ode Occasioned by the Death of Mr Thomson

488

TO GEORGE LYTTELTON, Esq; THIS ODE IS INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR
[_]
ADVERTISEMENT

The scene of the following stanzas is supposed to lie on the Thames near Richmond.

Haec tibi semper erunt, et cum solennia vota
reddemus Nymphis, et cum lustrabimus agros. [OMITTED]
------ Amavit nos quoque Daphnis.
VIRG. Bucol. Eclog. v [74–5, 52]

I

In yonder grave a Druid lies,
Where slowly winds the stealing wave!
489

The year's best sweets shall duteous rise
To deck its poet's sylvan grave!

II

In yon deep bed of whispering reeds
His airy harp shall now be laid,
That he, whose heart in sorrow bleeds,
May love through life the soothing shade.

III

Then maids and youths shall linger here,
And, while its sounds at distance swell,
Shall sadly seem in Pity's ear
To hear the woodland pilgrim's knell.

IV

Remembrance oft shall haunt the shore
When Thames in summer wreaths is dressed,
And oft suspend the dashing oar
To bid his gentle spirit rest!

V

And oft as Ease and Health retire
490

To breezy lawn or forest deep,
The friend shall view yon whitening spire,
And mid the varied landscape weep.

VI

But thou, who own'st that earthy bed,
Ah! what will every dirge avail?
Or tears, which Love and Pity shed
That mourn beneath the gliding sail!

VII

Yet lives there one, whose heedless eye
Shall scorn thy pale shrine glimmering near?
With him, sweet bard, may Fancy die,
And Joy desert the blooming year.

VIII

But thou, lorn stream, whose sullen tide
No sedge-crowned Sisters now attend,
Now waft me from the green hill's side,
Whose cold turf hides the buried friend!
491

IX

And see, the fairy valleys fade,
Dun Night has veiled the solemn view!
—Yet once again, dear parted shade,
Meek Nature's child, again adieu!

X

The genial meads, assigned to bless
Thy life, shall mourn thy early doom,
Their hinds and shepherd-girls shall dress
With simple hands thy rural tomb.

XI

Long, long, thy stone and pointed clay
Shall melt the musing Briton's eyes:
‘O! vales and wild woods’, shall he say,
‘In yonder grave your Druid lies!’
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