The Poetry of Real Life :: :: University of Virginia Library

AGAINST THOSE CRITICS WHO CAVIL AT THE UNCHRONOLOGICAL JUXTAPOSITIONS OF THE OLD PAINTERS, AND CONDEMN A PLAY OF SHAKSPEARE, BECAUSE HE REPRESENTS ANTIGONUS LANDING WITH PERDITA ON THE SEA-COAST OF BOHEMIA.

TO SIR JOHN HANMER, ON FIRST READING HIS SONNETS,

TO ENGLAND.

HOW TO SEEK TRUTH.

THE PURPOSE OF A LIFE.

VIEW OF HALDON-HILL, FROM EXMOUTH.

THE TRUE BENEFACTORS OF MANKIND.

ON READING SIR J. HANMER'S SONNETS.

ON REVISITING THE SEA.

ON AN INTELLIGENT ARTIZAN, IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY;

POETRY.

ON LIGHTING MY FIRST FIRE AT HOME, AFTER A CHEERLESS JOURNEY.

A HARVEST-SKETCH.

ON SEEING A VIOLET IN FLOWER,

ON BEING TOLD THAT I OVERADVOCATED THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE.

ON PRESENTING A COPY OF MY POEMS TO A PAINTER-FRIEND.

ON READING SIR JOHN HANMER'S SONNETS.

ON A WATERMILL, SEEN ON A SUNDAY IN SPRING.

ON HEARING “RULE BRITANNIA” PERFORMED IN ST. PAUL'S, IN CONNECTION WITH THE ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE.

ON THE SEA, AFTER A STORM.

ON LOVE.

ON SHAKSPEAR'S REPRESENTING ANTIGONUS LANDING WITH PERDITA ON THE SEACOAST OF BOHEMIA.

ON BURNS' HUMANITY.

TO THE BIRDS.

AUTHORITY AND INFLUENCE.

ON THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO EDINBURGH, ANNOUNCED BY BEACON-FIRES ON THE HIGHER HILLS.

[“Thou art no better than thy fellow men]

ON SENDING SOME SONNETS TO THE EDITOR OF THE EXAMINER.

PARALLEL BETWEEN THE ARCHITECTS OF CATHEDRALS, AND OF THE MORAL FABRICS OF SOCIETY.

ON SEEING, OR, RATHER, NOT SEEING, WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

ON MOZART, WHO LIVED IN NEGLECT, AND DIED IN POVERTY.

ON A LATE FLOWERING FORGETMENOT.

SCANDAL-MONGERS.

ON SOME OLD ARMOUR.

ON THE CLOSE OF A MOST BEAUTIFULLY CALM AND SUNNY DAY.

ON THE ROSEMARY.

ON THE CHRISTMAS CUSTOM OF LIGHTING THE NEW LOG AT THE REMNANT OF THE OLD.

ON THE DRUIDS CUTTING MISTLETOE WITH A GOLDEN SICKLE, FOR THEIR RITES.

TO THE SCORNERS.

TO MAN.

ON A DEWDROP IN THE SUN.

TO IMOGEN.

ON A QUIET SUMMER-EVENING, BY THE SEA.

ASPIRATIONS.

ON GOING A SHORT DISTANCE OUT OF LONDON, IN THE SPRING.

TO THOSE WHO MEASURE MEN BY THEIR WEALTH AND APPEARANCE.

SELF-ENCOURAGEMENT.

RETROSPECTIVE.

ON PEACE BEWEEN ENGLAND AND AMERICA.

STATECRAFT SIMPLIFIED.

THE PRIDE OF THE FOREST.

ON SEEING A FINE MERCHANT-VESSEL COMING OUT OF PORT.

REFLECTIONS ON PUBLISHING MY POEMS.

TO THE CHARTISTS, UPON THEIR SUPPRESSING PUBLIC MEETINGS.

ON SOME FLOWERS ABOUT A NEAT COTTAGE DOOR.

ON SEEING A BEAUTIFUL REVENUE-CUTTER PUT OUT TO ASSIST A VESSEL IN DISTRESS.

TO SHAKSPEAR.

ON MISTAKEN GRANDEUR.

ON A LOVELY REFLECTION IN WATER.

MEANS OF CIVILIZATION.

ON THE SEASHORE, ON A STORMY DAY.

TO TIME.

TO NAPOLEON.

ON PLUCKING A FLOWER.

WRITTEN WITH A STRAY FEATHER FROM CUPID'S WING.

SUNSET.

TO NELSON.

REMINISCENCES OF BOYHOOD.

TO AN ARBUTUS.

ON THE BIRTH OF MY MUSE'S FIRST CHILD.

ON THE FIRST INTRODUCTION OF THE PRIMROSE INTO NEW HOLLAND BY A LADY.

CONTENTMENT, IN WHAT IT LIES.

TO CERTAIN FINGER-RHYMERS.

ON A CHILD, SITTING IN THE SUMMER-GRASS.

ON THE ARRIVAL OF THE VESSEL ANNOUNCING THE SETTLEMENT OF DIFFERENCES WITH AMERICA.

TO SIR JOHN HANMER, ON READING HIS SONNETS.

THE IMPRESSION PRODUCED BY LONDON NEAR AND AT A DISTANCE.

ON A PECULIAR EFFECT OF THE SMOKE OVER LONDON, SEEN BY A FROSTY SUNSET.

TO HERODOTUS.

RESPONSIBILITY OF AUTHORS.

EXCULPATION OF CHAUCER'S UNIONS OR APPOSITIONS OF MYTHOLOGICAL AND CHRISTIAN IDEAS, SUCH AS THE ANACHRONISM INVOLVED IN MARS BEING CALLED A KNIGHT, AND VENUS A SAINT.

A SUMMER REVÉRIE.

A SUMMER-DAY'S RAMBLE.

PERSONAL FEELING.

TO THE PSEUDO-GREAT.

ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REASON IMAGINATIVE AND UNIMAGINATIVE.

ON THE ADAPTATIONS OF PROVIDENCE.

MY MUSE IN HER TEENS.

ON SEEING A WHALE ON SHORE.

HOW GOD THINKS.

CHILDREN'S QUESTIONS.

AMBITION.

ON SOME FLIES IN THE SUNBEAMS.

MY OWN EPITAPH.

TO THE CHARTISTS, UNDER FROST.

ON A GRECIAN BAS-RELIEF, REPRESENTING A SACRIFICE.

NATURE'S MUSIC.

THE POETS' JUDGMENT.

THE DANGER OF ATTEMPTING SUDDENLY TO ROOT OUT NATIONAL PREJUDICES.

BY THE SEA-SHORE.

MY MUSE.

TO MY COUNTRYMEN.

THE HEART'S PLACES OF WORSHIP.

ON AN OLD AND DIRTY COPY OF SHAKSPEAR.

ON THE NEGLECT OF NATIONAL EDUCATION.

TO ------ AFTER ABSENCE.

ON THE AUTOMATIC TENDENCIES OF MACHINERY.

NEGLECT OF POETRY.

ON HEARING SOME SINGING BY NIGHT.

UTILITY.

TO ------

A SUNSET THOUGHT, AT HAMPTON COURT.

THE GOOD AND EVIL OF LIFE.

ON A CANKERED BRANCH.

ON BURNS, THE POET AND EXCISEMAN.

HUMAN DEPRAVITY.

SECOND-THOUGHTS ON THE ABOVE.

THE CORRESPONDENCIES OF NATURE WITH MAN.

MISCELLANEOUS PIECES.

POEMS.

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AGAINST THOSE CRITICS WHO CAVIL AT THE UNCHRONOLOGICAL JUXTAPOSITIONS OF THE OLD PAINTERS, AND CONDEMN A PLAY OF SHAKSPEARE, BECAUSE HE REPRESENTS ANTIGONUS LANDING WITH PERDITA ON THE SEA-COAST OF BOHEMIA.

The Muse has other charts than yours—she has
Lands not yet marked, Hesperian isles (in vain
Sought for by ye) in Poesy's wide Main:
(For these Geography not yet doth class
'Mongst her discoveries!) at which she, as
She voyages, touches ever, to obtain
Fresh water from some new Castalian vein,
Which Commerce, in her dull routine, would pass!
O happy, happy he, who with her sails,
Her compass true to the great pole of Truth,
Though, now and then, she deviate in details—
Through literal error reaching purest sooth,
She time and space at will doth join and change,
To give Truth universal wider range!