University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Sonnets

By Emily Pfeiffer: Revised and Enlarged Ed.
Pfeiffer, Emily (1827-1890)

collapse section 
[section]
  
DEDICATION TO J. E. P.
  
ENVOY TO C. R. AND M. L.
  
THE PALMER LOVE.
  
ETNA.
collapse section 
ASPIRATION.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
collapse section 
LEARN OF THE DOG.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
collapse section 
THE LOST LIGHT.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
collapse section 
A PLEA.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
collapse section 
HELLAS.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
collapse section 
SHELLEY.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
  
INVOCATION.
  
INVOCATION.
  
A REMINISCENCE.
  
THE JOY OF JOYS.
  
THE SORROW OF SORROWS.
  
TO THE MOURNERS OF LOVE.
  
WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT.
  
A WIND FROM OFF THE SEA.
collapse section 
TO NATURE
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
  
PAST AND FUTURE.
  
BROKEN SPEECH.
  
TO THE BLIND ARCHITECT OF THE CITY OF LIFE
  
TO A MOTH THAT DRINKETH OF THE RIPE OCTOBER.
  
THE WINGED SOUL.
  
THE GOSPEL OF DREAD TIDINGS.
  
DREAMING.
collapse section 
ON HEARING THE INTRODUCTION TO “LOHENGRIN.”
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
  
A CHRYSALIS.
  
THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT.
  
AN INVOCATION.
  
THE “STING OF DEATH.”
  
TO L. C. SMITH.
  
AMONG THE GLACIERS.
  
ON THE THUNER SEE.
  
THE HUNGER OF LIFE.
  
EVOLUTION.
  
LOVE AND JOY.
  
LOVE AND SORROW.
  
THE PRISONER IN THE HOUSE OF LIFE.
  
ON LOCH KATRINE.
  
AMONG THE HEBRIDES.
  
TO THE HERALD HONEYSUCKLE.
  
TO IMMORTAL MUSIC.
  
TRANSFIGURATION.
collapse section 
TO THE FRIENDS OF LOVE.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
collapse section 
[subsection]
 I. 
I.FALLEN FROM GRACE.
 II. 
II.UNDER THE ROSE.
  
ON GUARD.
collapse section 
[subsection]
 I. 
I.TO A FLEDGLING ROBIN.
 II. 
II.TO THE SAME, ON BEGINNING HIS SONG.
collapse section 
STUDIES FROM THE ANTIQUE.
collapse section 
KASSANDRA.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
collapse section 
KLYTEMNESTRA.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
collapse section 
TO DR. WILHELM JORDAN.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
collapse section 
[subsection]
 I. 
I.IN LOVE'S ECLIPSE.
 II. 
II.LOVE THE REVEALER.
  
A PARTNERSHIP.
  
TO E. BURNE JONES, ON HIS PICTURE OF THE ANNUNCIATION.
  
SUGGESTED BY THE PICTURE OF THE ANNUNCIATION, BY E. BURNE JONES.
  
KING COPHETUA AND THE BEGGAR MAID.
collapse section 
[subsection]
 I. 
I.LOVE AND DEATH.
 II. 
II.LOVE AND LIFE.
collapse section 
CAIN AND ABEL.
 I. 
I.CAIN AND ABEL.
 II. 
II.OUTCAST CAIN.
 III. 
III.CAIN REPENTANT.
  
HOPE.
  
DEAF.
  
MID-OCEAN.
  
NIAGARA.
  
BEATING THE AIR.
  
THE SOUDAN.
  
GORDON.
collapse section 
A PROTEST.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
  
THE COMING DAY.
collapse section 
[subsection]
 I. 
I.THE SOUL'S PRAYER.
 II. 
II.THE SOUL'S PRIDE.
  
WEARIHEAD.
collapse section 
SIX 14-LINE POEMS.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 V. 
V.
 VI. 
VI.
collapse section 
[section]
collapse section 
A SYMPHONY OF SONNETS. I. TO X.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
 V. 
V.
 VI. 
VI.
 VII. 
VII.
 VIII. 
VIII.
 IX. 
IX.
 X. 
X.

collapse section Collapse All | Expand All expand section
previous section Sonnets
next section

I.

O NATURE! thou whom I have thought to love,
Seeing in thine the reflex of God's face,
A loathed abstraction would usurp thy place,—
While Him they not dethrone, they but disprove.
Weird Nature! can it be that joy is fled,
And bald unmeaning lurks beneath thy smile?
That beauty haunts the dust but to beguile,
And that with Order, Love and Hope are dead?
Pitiless Force, all-moving, all-unmoved,
Dread mother of unfathered worlds, assuage
Thy wrath on us,—be this wild life reproved,
And trampled into nothing in thy rage!
Vain prayer, although the last of human kind,—
Force is not wrath,—but only deaf and blind.
previous section Sonnets
next section