University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
The poetical works of James Montgomery

collected by himself
Montgomery, James (1771-1854)

collapse section 
[section]
collapse section 
THE WANDERER OF SWITZERLAND:
 I. 
PART I.
 II. 
PART II.
 III. 
PART III.
 IV. 
PART IV.
 V. 
PART V.
 VI. 
PART VI.
collapse section 
THE WEST INDIES:
 I. 
PART I.
 II. 
PART II.
 III. 
PART III.
 IV. 
PART IV.
collapse section 
THE WORLD BEFORE THE FLOOD:
  
TO THE SPIRIT OF A DEPARTED FRIEND.
collapse section 
THE WORLD BEFORE THE FLOOD.
 1. 
CANTO FIRST.
 2. 
CANTO SECOND.
 3. 
CANTO THIRD.
 4. 
CANTO FOURTH.
 5. 
CANTO FIFTH.
 6. 
CANTO SIXTH.
 7. 
CANTO SEVENTH.
 8. 
CANTO EIGHTH.
 9. 
CANTO NINTH.
 10. 
CANTO TENTH.
collapse section 
GREENLAND:
 1. 
CANTO FIRST.
 2. 
CANTO SECOND.
 3. 
CANTO THIRD.
 4. 
CANTO FOURTH.
 5. 
CANTO FIFTH.
collapse section 
THE PELICAN ISLAND:
 1. 
CANTO FIRST.
 2. 
CANTO SECOND.
 3. 
CANTO THIRD.
 4. 
CANTO FOURTH.
 5. 
CANTO FIFTH.
 6. 
CANTO SIXTH.
 7. 
CANTO SEVENTH.
 8. 
CANTO EIGHTH.
 9. 
CANTO NINTH.
collapse section 
PRISON AMUSEMENTS:
  
VERSES TO A ROBIN RED-BREAST,
  
MOONLIGHT.
  
THE CAPTIVE NIGHTINGALE.
  
ODE TO THE EVENING STAR.
  
SOLILOQUY OF A WATER-WAGTAIL ON THE WALLS OF YORK CASTLE.
collapse section 
THE PLEASURES OF IMPRISONMENT.
 I. 
Epistle I.
 II. 
Epistle II.
collapse section 
THE BRAMIN.
 I. 
EXTRACT FROM CANTO I.
 II. 
EXTRACT FROM CANTO II.
  
A TALE TOO TRUE
collapse section 
THOUGHTS ON WHEELS.
 I. 
No. I. THE COMBAT.
 II. 
No. II. THE CAR OF JUGGERNAUT.
 III. 
No III. THE INQUISITION.
 IV. 
No. IV. THE STATE LOTTERY.
 V. 
No. V. TO BRITAIN.
collapse section 
THE CLIMBING BOY'S SOLILOQUIES.
  
PROLOGUE.
 I. 
No. I. THE COMPLAINT.
 II. 
No. II. THE DREAM.
 III. 
No. III. EASTER-MONDAY AT SHEFFIELD.
collapse section 
NARRATIVES.
  
FAREWELL TO WAR:
  
LORD FALKLAND'S DREAM.
  
THE PATRIOT'S PASS-WORD.
  
THE VOYAGE OF THE BLIND.
  
AN EVERY-DAY TALE.
  
A TALE WITHOUT A NAME.
  
A SNAKE IN THE GRASS.
  
THE VIGIL OF ST. MARK.
  
A DEED OF DARKNESS.
  
THE CAST-AWAY SHIP.
  
THE SEQUEL.
  
A NIGHT IN A STAGE-COACH;
  
THE REIGN OF SPRING.
  
THE REIGN OF SUMMER.
  
ABDALLAH AND SABAT.
  
THE STRANGER AND HIS FRIEND.
  
THE ADVENTURE OF A STAR.
  
THE SAND AND THE ROCK.
collapse section 
THE CHRONICLE OF ANGELS.
 I. 
Part I.
 II. 
Part II.
 III. 
Part III.
  
ELIJAH IN THE WILDERNESS.
collapse section 
MORNA.
  
THE ARGUMENT.
  
[section]
  
[section]
  
“PERILS BY THE HEATHEN.”
collapse section 
SONGS ON THE ABOLITION OF NEGRO SLAVERY IN THE BRITISH COLONIES, August 1. 1834.
 I. 
No. I. THE RAINBOW.
 II. 
No. II. THE NEGRO IS FREE.
 III. 
No. III. SLAVERY THAT WAS.
 IV. 
No. IV. SLAVERY THAT IS NOT.
 V. 
No. V. THE NEGRO'S VIGIL,
collapse section 
Verses to the Memory OF THE LATE RICHARD REYNOLDS, OF BRISTOL.
 I. 
I. THE DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS.
 II. 
II. THE MEMORY OF THE JUST.
 III. 
III. A GOOD MAN'S MONUMENT.
collapse section 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.
  
THE GRAVE.
  
THE LYRE.
  
REMONSTRANCE TO WINTER.
  
SONG.
  
LINES WRITTEN UNDER A DRAWING OF YARDLEY OAK,
  
SONG
  
RELIGION.
  
“THE JOY OF GRIEF.”
  
THE BATTLE OF ALEXANDRIA.
  
THE PILLOW.
  
VERSES TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE JOSEPH BROWNE, OF LOTHERSDALE,
  
THE THUNDER-STORM.
  
ODE TO THE VOLUNTEERS OF BRITAIN
  
HANNAH.
  
A FIELD FLOWER.
  
THE SNOW-DROP.
  
THE OCEAN.
  
THE COMMON LOT.
  
THE HARP OF SORROW.
  
POPE'S WILLOW.
  
A WALK IN SPRING.
  
THE SWISS COWHERD'S SONG IN A FOREIGN LAND.
  
THE OAK.
  
THE DIAL.
  
THE ROSES.
  
TO AGNES.
  
AN EPITAPH.
  
THE OLD MAN'S SONG.
  
THE GLOW-WORM.
  
BOLEHILL TREES.
  
THE MOLE-HILL.
  
M. S. TO THE MEMORY OF “A FEMALE WHOM SICKNESS HAD RECONCILED TO THE NOTES OF SORROW,”
  
THE PEAK MOUNTAINS. IN TWO PARTS.
  
TO ANN AND JANE.
  
OCCASIONAL ODE.
  
A DAUGHTER (C. M.) TO HER MOTHER.
  
CHATTERTON.
  
THE WILD ROSE.
  
ON FINDING THE FEATHERS OF A LINNET
  
SONNET.
  
SONNET.
  
SONNET.
  
SONNET.
  
DEPARTED DAYS: A RHAPSODY,
  
HOPE.
  
A MOTHER'S LOVE.
  
THE TIME-PIECE.
  
STANZAS TO THE MEMORY OF THE REV. THOMAS SPENCER, OF LIVERPOOL,
  
HUMAN LIFE.
  
THE VISIBLE CREATION.
  
SONNET.
  
SONNET.
  
SONNET.
  
THE BIBLE.
  
INSTRUCTION.
  
THE CHRISTIAN SOLDIER.
  
ON THE ROYAL INFANT,
  
A MIDNIGHT THOUGHT.
  
INCOGNITA.
  
THE LITTLE CLOUD.
  
THE ALPS:
  
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
  
YOUTH RENEWED.
  
THE BRIDAL AND THE BURIAL.
  
FRIENDS.
  
A MOTHER'S LAMENT
  
THE WIDOW AND THE FATHERLESS.
  
THE DAISY IN INDIA.
  
THE DROUGHT.
  
A SEA PIECE.
  
ROBERT BURNS.
  
A THEME FOR A POET.
  
NIGHT.
  
MEET AGAIN!
  
VIA CRUCIS, VIA LUCIS.
  
THE PILGRIM.
  
GERMAN WAR-SONG.
  
REMINISCENCES.
  
THE AGES OF MAN.
  
ASPIRATIONS OF YOUTH.
  
A HERMITAGE.
  
THE FALLING LEAF.
  
ON PLANTING A TULIP-ROOT.
  
INSCRIPTION UNDER THE PICTURE OF AN AGED NEGRO-WOMAN.
  
THOUGHTS AND IMAGES.
  
A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD.
  
BIRDS.
  
TIME:
  
TO A FRIEND, WITH A COPY OF THE FOREGOING LUCUBRATION.
  
A LUCID INTERVAL.
  
WORMS AND FLOWERS.
  
THE RECLUSE.
  
THE RETREAT.
  
SPEED THE PROW.
  
THE SKY-LARK.
  
THE FIXED STARS.
  
THE LILY.
collapse section 
THE GENTIANELLA.
  
IN LEAF.
  
IN FLOWER.
  
THE SUN-FLOWER.
  
WINTER-LIGHTNING.
  
HUMILITY.
  
EVENING TIME.
  
REMINISCENCE.
  
A RECOLLECTION OF MARY F.,
  
THE CHOLERA MOUNT.
  
THE TOMBS OF THE FATHERS.
  
A CRY FROM SOUTH AFRICA.
  
TO MY FRIEND, GEORGE BENNET, ESQ., OF SHEFFIELD
  
STANZAS IN MEMORY OF THE REV. JAMES HARVEY,
  
ONE WARNING MORE.
  
THE VEIL.
  
A RIDDLE.
  
ON A WATCH-POCKET
  
TO CYNTHIA
  
FOR J. S.:
  
TO MARGARET
  
ON THE FIRST LEAF OF MISS J.'s ALBUM.
  
TO MARY.
  
SHORT-HAND.
  
THE BLANK LEAF.
  
THE GNAT.
  
AN INFANT'S ALBUM.
  
A WEDDING WISH.
  
MOTTO TO “A POET'S PORTFOLIO.”
  
THE VALENTINE WREATH.
  
THE WIDOW.
  
IN MEMORY OF E. B.,
  
IN MEMORY OF E. G.
  
GARDEN THOUGHTS.
  
TO MR. AND MRS. T., OF YORK:
  
FAREWELL TO A MISSIONARY.
  
THE LOT OF THE RIGHTEOUS.
  
A BENEDICTION FOR A BABY.
  
“OCCUPY TILL I COME.”
  
A MESSAGE FROM THE MOON.
  
THE PURPLE BEECH.
  
FRANKLIN,
  
THE PRESS.
  
THE GRASSHOPPER.
  
EMBLEMS.
  
CORONATION ODE FOR QUEEN VICTORIA.
  
WESTMINSTER ABBEY,
  
A BRIDAL BENISON.
  
THE BLACKBIRD.
  
THE MYRTLE.
collapse section 
DALE ABBEY.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
  
THE WILD PINK
  
TRANSMIGRATIONS.
  
SONNET.
  
SONNET.
  
SONNET.
  
SONNET.
  
“A CERTAIN DISCIPLE.”
  
STANZAS ON THE DEATH OF THE LATE REV. THOMAS RAWSON TAYLOR, OF BRADFORD, IN YORKSHIRE
  
STANZAS IN MEMORY OF ROWLAND HODGSON, ESQ., OF SHEFFIELD

collapse section Collapse All | Expand All expand section
previous section The poetical works of James Montgomery
next section

THE TIME-PIECE.

Who is He, so swiftly flying,
His career no eye can see?
Who are They, so early dying,
From their birth they cease to be?
Time:—behold his pictured face!
Moments:—can you count their race?
Though, with aspect deep-dissembling,
Here he feigns unconscious sleep,
Round and round this circle trembling,
Day and night his symbols creep,
While, unseen, through earth and sky
His unwearying pinions ply.
Hark! what petty pulses, beating,
Spring new moments into light;
Every pulse, its stroke repeating,
Sends its moment back to night;
Yet not one of all the train
Comes uncall'd, or flits in vain.
In the highest realms of glory,
Spirits trace, before the Throne,
301

On eternal scrolls, the story
Of each little moment flown;
Every deed, and word, and thought,
Through the whole creation wrought.
Were the volume of a minute
Thus to mortal sight unroll'd,
More of sin and sorrow in it,
More of man, might we behold,
Than on History's broadest page
In the relics of an age.
Who could bear the revelation?
Who abide the sudden test?
—With instinctive consternation,
Hands would cover every breast,
Loudest tongues at once be hush'd,
Pride in all its writhings crush'd.
Who, with leer malign exploring
On his neighbour's shame durst look?
Would not each, intensely poring
On that record in the book,
Which his inmost soul reveal'd,
Wish its leaves for ever seal'd?
Seal'd they are for years, and ages,
Till,—the earth's last circuit run,
Empire changed through all its stages,
Risen and set the latest sun,—
On the sea and on the land
Shall a midnight Angel stand:—
Stand;—and, while the' abysses tremble,
Swear that Time shall be no more:
Quick and Dead shall then assemble,
Men and Demons range before
That tremendous judgment-seat
Where both worlds at issue meet.
Time himself, with all his legions,
Days, Months, Years, since Nature's birth,
Shall revive,—and from all regions,
Singling out the sons of earth,
With their glory or disgrace,
Charge their spenders face to face.
Every moment of my being
Then shall pass before mine eyes:
—God, all-searching! God, all-seeing!
Oh! appease them, ere they rise:
Warn'd I fly, I fly to Thee;
God be merciful to me!
Liverpool, 1816.
previous section The poetical works of James Montgomery
next section