University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Poetical Works of Robert Bridges excluding the eight dramas

Bridges, Robert Seymour (1844-1930)

collapse section 
Prometheus the Firegiver
collapse section 
PROMETHEUS THE FIREGIVER
collapse section1. 
[FIRST PART]
  
ODE.
collapse section2. 
SECOND PART
  
ODE.
collapse section 
DEMETER
collapse section 
DEMETER
 I. 
ACT I
 II. 
ACT II
collapse sectionIII. 
ACT III
  
ODE.
collapse section 
Eros & Psyche
collapse section 
[In midmost length of hundred-citied Crete]
 I. 
FIRST QUARTER
 II. 
SECOND QUARTER
 III. 
THIRD QUARTER
 IV. 
FOURTH QUARTER
  
THE GROWTH OF LOVE
collapse section 
Shorter Poems
collapse sectionI. 
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
collapse sectionII. 
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
collapse sectionIII. 
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
collapse sectionIV. 
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
collapse sectionV. 
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
collapse section 
New Poems
collapse sectionI. 
ECLOGUE I THE MONTHS
  
BASIL AND EDWARD
  
JANUARY
  
FEBRUARY
  
MARCH
  
APRIL
  
MAY
  
JUNE
  
JULY
  
AUGUST
  
SEPTEMBER
  
OCTOBER
  
NOVEMBER
  
DECEMBER
  
[section]
collapse sectionII. 
ECLOGUE II GIOVANNI DUPRÈ
  
LAWRENCE AND RICHARD
collapse sectionIII. 
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
collapse section 
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
collapse section 
15 ODE TO MUSIC
 I. 
I
 II. 
II
 III. 
III
collapse sectionIV. 
IV
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 V. 
V
 VI. 
VI
 VII. 
VII
 VIII. 
VIII
 IX. 
IX
 X. 
X
collapse section16. 
16 A HYMN OF NATURE
 I. 
I
 II. 
II
 III. 
III
 IV. 
IV
 V. 
V
 VI. 
VI
 VII. 
VII
collapse section 
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
collapse section 
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
collapse section 
EPITAPHS
 16. 
16
 17. 
17
 18. 
18
 19. 
19
 20. 
20 IBANT OBSCURI
 21. 
21 PRIAM & ACHILLES
collapse section 
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
collapse section7. 
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
collapse section 
New Verse
collapse section1. 
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
collapse section2. 
PART TWO ACCENTUAL MEASURES
 8. 
8 TO FRANCIS JAMMES
 9. 
9 MELANCHOLY
collapse section3. 
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
collapse section4. 
PART FOUR STONE'S QUANTITIVE PROSODY
 23. 
23 TO CATULLUS
 24. 
24 TO SIR THOS. BARLOW, P.R.C.P.
 25. 
25 ΠΟΙΚΙΛΟΘΡΟΝ'
collapse section 
Two Pieces
collapse section1. 
1 VERSES WRITTEN FOR MRS. DANIEL
  
TO EMILY DANIEL
  
[section]
  
[section]
  
[section]
 2. 
2 THE WIDOW

collapse section Collapse All | Expand All expand section
previous section Poetical Works of Robert Bridges excluding the eight dramas
next section
537

13
THE GREAT ELM

From a friend's house had I gone forth,
And wandering at will
O'er a wide country West and North
Without or vale or hill,
I came beneath the broken edge
Of higher sloping ground,
Where an old Giant from the ledge
O'erlook'd the landscape round:
A towering Elm that stood alone,
Last of an ancient rank,
And had great barky roots out-thrown
To buttress up the bank;
His rough trunk of two hundred years
In girth a pillar gave
As massive as the Norman piers
That rise in Durham's nave;
But this for stony roof and wall
Upliving timber held,
Where never in its forest tall
Had woodman lopp'd or fell'd:
Above its crown no wind so fierce
Had warp'd the shapely green,
And scarce with bated breath might pierce
Its caves of leafy screen.
It seem'd in that dark foliage laid
Suspended thought must dwell;
As in those boughs that overshade
The river-sides of Hell,
That fabled Elm of Acheron,
Within the gates of death,
538

Which once Æneas look'd upon—
As Virgil witnesseth—
Whose leafage the last refuge was
And haven of mortal dreams,
That clustering clung thereto because
They might not pass the streams.
Now suddenly was I aware
That on the grassy shelf
A spirit was waiting for me there,
A coy seraphic elf—
My other half-self, whom I miss
In life's familiar moods,
And ken of only by his kiss
In sacred solitudes;
And for that rare embrace have borne
With Fate and things distraught,
The wanhope of my days forlorn,
My sins, have counted nought.
He is of such immortal kind,
His inwit is so clean,
So conscient with the eternal Mind—
The self of things unseen,
That when within his world I win,
Nor suffer mortal change,
I am of such immortal kin
No dream is half so strange.
Alas, I have done myself great wrong
Truckling to human care,
Am shamed to ken myself so strong
And nobler than I dare:
And yet so seldom doth he grant
The comfort of his grace,
So fickle is he and inconstant
To any time or place,
539

That since he chose that place and time
To come again to me,
I'd hold him fast by magic rhyme
Forever to that tree:
As there in lavish self-delight,
Godlike and single-souled,
I lay until the dusk of night
Came creeping o'er the wold.
previous section Poetical Works of Robert Bridges excluding the eight dramas
next section