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Poetical Works of Robert Bridges excluding the eight dramas

Bridges, Robert Seymour (1844-1930)

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Prometheus the Firegiver
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PROMETHEUS THE FIREGIVER
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[FIRST PART]
  
ODE.
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SECOND PART
  
ODE.
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DEMETER
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DEMETER
 I. 
ACT I
 II. 
ACT II
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ACT III
  
ODE.
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Eros & Psyche
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[In midmost length of hundred-citied Crete]
 I. 
FIRST QUARTER
 II. 
SECOND QUARTER
 III. 
THIRD QUARTER
 IV. 
FOURTH QUARTER
  
THE GROWTH OF LOVE
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Shorter Poems
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BOOK I
  
[dedication]
 1. 
1 ELEGY
 2. 
2 ELEGY
 3. 
3
 4. 
4 THE CLIFF-TOP
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10
 11. 
11
 12. 
12
 13. 
13
 14. 
14 ELEGY
 15. 
15 RONDEAU
 16. 
16 TRIOLET
 17. 
17 TRIOLET
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BOOK II
  
[dedication]
 1. 
1
 2. 
2 PASSER-BY
 3. 
3 LATE SPRING EVENING
 4. 
4 WOOING
 5. 
5
 6. 
6 A WATER-PARTY
 7. 
7 THE DOWNS
 8. 
8 SPRING
 9. 
9 SPRING
 10. 
10 ELEGY
 11. 
11 DEJECTION
 12. 
12 MORNING HYMN
 13. 
13
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BOOK III
  
[dedication]
 1. 
1
 2. 
2 LONDON SNOW
 3. 
3 THE VOICE OF NATURE
 4. 
4 ON A DEAD CHILD
 5. 
5 THE PHILOSOPHER TO HIS MISTRESS
 6. 
6
 7. 
7 INDOLENCE
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10
 11. 
11
 12. 
12
 13. 
13
 14. 
14
 15. 
15
 16. 
16 SONG
 17. 
17
 18. 
18
 19. 
19
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BOOK IV
  
[dedication]
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5 LAST WEEK OF FEBRUARY, 1890
 6. 
6 APRIL, 1885
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10
 11. 
11
 12. 
12
 13. 
13 THE WINDMILL
 14. 
14
 15. 
15
 16. 
16
 17. 
17
 18. 
18
 19. 
19 ANNIVERSARY
 20. 
20
 21. 
21
 22. 
22
 23. 
23
 24. 
24
 25. 
25
 26. 
26
 27. 
27
 28. 
28
 29. 
29
 30. 
30 LAUS DEO
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BOOK V
  
[dedication]
 1. 
1 THE WINNOWERS
 2. 
2 THE AFFLICTION OF RICHARD
 3. 
3
 4. 
4 THE GARDEN IN SEPTEMBER
 5. 
5
 6. 
6 LARKS
 7. 
7 THE PALM WILLOW
 8. 
8 ASIAN BIRDS
 9. 
9 JANUARY
 10. 
10 A ROBIN
 11. 
11
 12. 
12 NIGHTINGALES
 13. 
13
 14. 
14 FOUNDER'S DAY. A SECULAR ODE ON THE NINTH JUBILEE OF ETON COLLEGE
 15. 
15
 16. 
16 NORTH WIND IN OCTOBER
 17. 
17 FIRST SPRING MORNING
 18. 
18 A VILLAGER
 19. 
19
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New Poems
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ECLOGUE I THE MONTHS
  
BASIL AND EDWARD
  
JANUARY
  
FEBRUARY
  
MARCH
  
APRIL
  
MAY
  
JUNE
  
JULY
  
AUGUST
  
SEPTEMBER
  
OCTOBER
  
NOVEMBER
  
DECEMBER
  
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ECLOGUE II GIOVANNI DUPRÈ
  
LAWRENCE AND RICHARD
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ECLOGUE III FOURTH OF JUNE AT ETON
  
RICHARD AND GODFREY
 4. 
4 ELEGY
 5. 
5
 6. 
6 THE SOUTH WIND
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10 SEPTUAGESIMA
 11. 
11
 12. 
12
 13. 
13 PATER FILIO
 14. 
14 NOVEMBER
 15. 
15 WINTER NIGHTFALL
 16. 
16
 17. 
17
 18. 
18 WISHES
 19. 
19 A LOVE LYRIC
 20. 
20 ΕΡΩΣ
 21. 
21 THE FAIR BRASS
 22. 
22 THE DUTEOUS HEART
 23. 
23 THE IDLE FLOWERS
 24. 
24 DUNSTONE HILL
 25. 
25 SCREAMING TARN
 26. 
26 THE ISLE OF ACHILLES
 27. 
27 AN ANNIVERSARY
 28. 
28 REGINA CARA
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Later Poems
 1. 
1 RECOLLECTIONS OF SOLITUDE
 2. 
2 A VIGNETTE
 3. 
3 MILLICENT
 4. 
4 VIVAMUS
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7 MELANCHOLIA
 8. 
8 TO THE PRESIDENT OF MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD
 9. 
9 TO JOSEPH JOACHIM
 10. 
10 TO THOS. FLOYD
 11. 
11 LA GLOIRE DE VOLTAIRE
 12. 
12 TO ROBERT BURNS
 13. 
13 THE PORTRAIT OF A GRANDFATHER
 14. 
14 AN INVITATION TO THE OXFORD PAGEANT, JULY 1907
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15 ODE TO MUSIC
 I. 
I
 II. 
II
 III. 
III
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IV
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 V. 
V
 VI. 
VI
 VII. 
VII
 VIII. 
VIII
 IX. 
IX
 X. 
X
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16 A HYMN OF NATURE
 I. 
I
 II. 
II
 III. 
III
 IV. 
IV
 V. 
V
 VI. 
VI
 VII. 
VII
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Poems in Classical Prosody
 1. 
1 EPISTLE I TO L. M. WINTRY DELIGHTS
 2. 
2 EPISTLE II TO A SOCIALIST IN LONDON
 3. 
3 EVENING
 4. 
4 POVRE AME AMOUREUSE
 5. 
5 THE FOURTH DIMENSION
 6. 
6 JOHANNES MILTON, Senex
 7. 
7 PYTHAGORAS
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Elegiacs
 8. 
8 AMIEL
 9. 
9
 10. 
10 WALKING HOME
 11. 
11 THE RUIN
 12. 
12 REVENANTS
 13. 
13
 14. 
14 ANNIVERSARY
 15. 
15 COMMUNION OF SAINTS
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EPITAPHS
 16. 
16
 17. 
17
 18. 
18
 19. 
19
 20. 
20 IBANT OBSCURI
 21. 
21 PRIAM & ACHILLES
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October & OTHER POEMS
  
[dedication]
 1. 
1 OCTOBER
 2. 
2 THE FLOWERING TREE
 3. 
3 NOEL: CHRISTMAS EVE, 1913
 4. 
4 IN DER FREMDE
 5. 
5 THE PHILOSOPHER AND HIS MISTRESS
 6. 
6 NARCISSUS
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7 OUR LADY
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
  
8 THE CURFEW TOWER
 9. 
9 FLYCATCHERS
 10. 
10 GHOSTS
 11. 
11 Ετωσιον αχθος αρουρης
 12. 
12 HELL AND HATE
 13. 
13 ODE ON THE TERCENTENARY COMMEMORATION OF SHAKESPEARE
 14. 
14 THE CHIVALRY OF THE SEA
 15. 
15 FOR ‘PAGES INÉDITES’, ETC.
 16. 
16 GHELUVELT
 17. 
17 THE WEST FRONT
  
18 TRAFALGAR SQUARE
 19. 
19 CHRISTMAS EVE, 1917
 20. 
20 THE EXCELLENT WAY
 21. 
21 ENGLAND TO INDIA
 22. 
22 BRITANNIA VICTRIX
 23. 
23 POOR CHILD
 24. 
24 TO PERCY BUCK
 25. 
25 TO HARRY ELLIS WOOLDRIDGE
 26. 
26 FORTUNATUS NIMIUM
 27. 
27 DEMOCRITUS
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New Verse
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PART ONE NEO-MILTONIC SYLLABICS
 1. 
1 CHEDDAR PINKS
 2. 
2 POOR POLL
 3. 
3 THE TAPESTRY
 4. 
4 KATE'S MOTHER
 5. 
5 THE COLLEGE GARDEN
 6. 
6 THE PSALM
 7. 
7 COME SE QUANDO
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PART TWO ACCENTUAL MEASURES
 8. 
8 TO FRANCIS JAMMES
 9. 
9 MELANCHOLY
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PART THREE OLD STYLES
 10. 
10 BUCH DER LIEDER
 11. 
11 EMILY BRONTË
 12. 
12 THE TRAMPS
 13. 
13 THE GREAT ELM
 14. 
14 THE SLEEPING MANSION
 15. 
15 VISION
 16. 
16 LOW BAROMETER
 17. 
17 A DREAM
 18. 
18 TO HIS EXCELLENCY
 19. 
19 Spoken by Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson at the opening of the Theatre of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, May 27, 1921.
 20. 
20 HODGE
 21. 
21
 22. 
22 SIMPKIN
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PART FOUR STONE'S QUANTITIVE PROSODY
 23. 
23 TO CATULLUS
 24. 
24 TO SIR THOS. BARLOW, P.R.C.P.
 25. 
25 ΠΟΙΚΙΛΟΘΡΟΝ'
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Two Pieces
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1 VERSES WRITTEN FOR MRS. DANIEL
  
TO EMILY DANIEL
  
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 2. 
2 THE WIDOW

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13

[Joy, sweetest lifeborn joy, where dost thou dwell?]

Joy, sweetest lifeborn joy, where dost thou dwell?
Upon the formless moments of our being
Flitting, to mock the ear that heareth well,
To escape the trained eye that strains in seeing,
Dost thou fly with us whither we are fleeing;
Or home in our creations, to withstand
Black-winged death, that slays the making hand?
The making mind, that must untimely perish
Amidst its work which time may not destroy,
The beauteous forms which man shall love to cherish,
The glorious songs that combat earth's annoy?
Thou dost dwell here, I know, divinest Joy:
But they who build thy towers fair and strong,
Of all that toil, feel most of care and wrong.
Sense is so tender, O and hope so high,
That common pleasures mock their hope and sense;
And swifter than doth lightning from the sky
The ecstasy they pine for flashes hence,
Leaving the darkness and the woe immense,
Wherewith it seems no thread of life was woven,
Nor doth the track remain where once 'twas cloven.
And heaven and all the stable elements
That guard God's purpose mock us, though the mind
Be spent in searching: for his old intents
We see were never for our joy designed:
They shine as doth the bright sun on the blind,
276

Or like his pensioned stars, that hymn above
His praise, but not toward us, that God is Love.
For who so well hath wooed the maiden hours
As quite to have won the worth of their rich show,
To rob the night of mystery, or the flowers
Of their sweet delicacy ere they go?
Nay, even the dear occasion when we know,
We miss the joy, and on the gliding day
The special glories float and pass away.
Only life's common plod: still to repair
The body and the thing which perisheth:
The soil, the smutch, the toil and ache and wear,
The grinding enginry of blood and breath,
Pain's random darts, the heartless spade of death;
All is but grief, and heavily we call
On the last terror for the end of all.
Then comes the happy moment: not a stir
In any tree, no portent in the sky:
The morn doth neither hasten nor defer,
The morrow hath no name to call it by,
But life and joy are one,—we know not why,—
As though our very blood long breathless lain
Had tasted of the breath of God again.
And having tasted it I speak of it,
And praise him thinking how I trembled then
When his touch strengthened me, as now I sit
In wonder, reaching out beyond my ken,
Reaching to turn the day back, and my pen
Urging to tell a tale which told would seem
The witless phantasy of them that dream.
277

But O most blessèd truth, for truth thou art,
Abide thou with me till my life shall end.
Divinity hath surely touched my heart;
I have possessed more joy than earth can lend:
I may attain what time shall never spend.
Only let not my duller days destroy
The memory of thy witness and my joy.
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