University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
A Poet's Harvest Home

Being One Hundred Short Poems: By William Bell Scott ... With an Aftermath of Twenty Short Poems
Scott, William Bell (1811-1890)
  
[epigraph]
  
[dedication]

collapse section 
POEMS.
  
PROLOGUE.
  
THE POET'S OPPORTUNITY.
collapse section 
THE FOXGLOVE:
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
  
THE GARDEN BOWER.
  
THE ROBIN.
  
CONTENT.
  
PHEMIE BLAYNE.
  
THE SCHOOL-CHILDREN.
  
GLENKINDIE.
  
TELIESSIN.
  
HELP.
  
OISIN.
  
THE SEA.
  
THE TIDE.
  
AT SEA.
  
THE HURRICANE.
  
THE NORNS WATERING YGGDRASILL.
  
THOROLF AND GUDRUN.
  
THE NYMPH OF ARCADIE.
  
CUPID AMONG THE MAIDENS.
  
MUSIC.
collapse section 
THE OLD OLD STORY.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
  
THE APPLE TREE.
  
THE APPLE.
  
APPLE GATHERING.
  
A BIRTHDAY.
  
BEFORE MARRIAGE.
  
TO THE DEAD.
  
ELIJAH.
  
LOVE AND DEATH.
  
THE OFFERING.
  
THE EMPEROR JULIAN ON GERMAN DRINK.
  
THE CANDIDATE.
collapse section 
THE SPHYNX.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
collapse section 
NATURE.
 I. 
[I.]
 II. 
II.
  
HORTUS PARADISI.
  
ST. COLUMBA.
  
OF ME.
  
LITTLE BOY.
  
BAGATELLE.
  
MARE SERENITATIS.
  
A GENIUS?
  
THE TWO SIDES.
  
SELF-ACCUSATION.
collapse section 
THE SUN-DIAL.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
  
MORALITY.
  
A GHOST.
  
A LOWLAND WITCH BALLAD.
  
MORNING.
  
SILENCE.
  
HERO-WORSHIP.
  
ROSE-LEAVES.
  
PARACELSUS.
  
RABELAIS.
  
A SIMILE.
collapse section 
OF POETRY.
 I. 
I. THE POET.
 II. 
II. THE POET'S BOOK.
 III. 
III. ART FOR ART'S SAKE.
 IV. 
IV. ANCIENT FORMS.
 V. 
V. ON READING MR. THEODORE WATTS' SONNET, ‘THE SONNET'S VOICE.’
 VI. 
VI. REMONSTRANCE.
collapse section 
OF POETS.
 I. 
I. STRATFORD.
 II. 
II. SHAKESPEARE.
 III. 
III. THE KESSELSTADT MASK.
 IV. 
IV. DANTE. I.
 V. 
V. DANTE. II.
 VI. 
VI. DANTE AND BEATRICE.
 VII. 
VII. WORDSWORTH.
 VIII. 
VIII. SOUTHEY.
 IX. 
IX. BURNS.
 X. 
X. CHATTERTON.
 XI. 
XI. SAPPHO.
 XII. 
XII. ORPHEUS.
 XIII. 
XIII. BYRON.
 XIV. 
XIV. SHELLEY. I.
 XV. 
XV. SHELLEY. II.
  
THE FALLING LEAF.
  
LEFT ALONE.
  
AUBADE.
  
A GARLAND, FOR ADVANCING YEARS.
  
AN AUTUMN EVENING.
  
END OF HARVEST.
  
MEMORY.
  
SEEKING FORGETFULNESS.
  
CONTINUITY OF LIFE.
  
EXPERIENCE.
  
AGE.
  
BIRTHDAY, ÆT. 70.
  
A-DIEU.
  
EPILOGUE.
collapse section 
An Aftermath.
  
INTRODUCTORY SONNET.
collapse section 
NEW YEAR BELLS.
 I. 
TWO EPOCHS. I. 1831.
 II. 
TWO EPOCHS. II. 1881.
  
RHYME OF LOVE.
  
SPRING.
  
WM. BLAKE'S DESIGNS FOR THE GRAVE.
  
CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM.
  
INFANCY.
  
AN ANNIVERSARY: THE 31st.
  
DANTE IN EXILE.
  
THE INFERNO.
  
RAPHAEL'S MADONNA DI SAN SISTO.
  
MERRY ENGLAND.
collapse section 
THE AUTO DA FE.
 I. 
I. SAINT DOMINIC.
 II. 
II. TORQUEMADA.
collapse section 
CARDINAL NEWMAN.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
collapse section 
THE SICKLE.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
  
VOICES OF SUNSET CLOUDS.
  
A LAST WALK, IN ILLNESS.
  
THE FURTHER SHORE.

collapse section Collapse All | Expand All expand section
previous section A Poet's Harvest Home
next section
81

MARE SERENITATIS.

There is a void mysterious space
Upon the full moon's face
They call Serenity's dead sea;
Changeless and blank it seems to be
Amidst continuous change elsewhere,
Untouched by tides or waves of air,
Volcanic craters yawning round.
What breathless monsters harbour there,
If any life at all may dare,
Their iron lungs in silence bound,
Silence for ever and profound!
The little boy with thinking eyes,
Steals inquiringly to me:—
Tell you more of that moon-sea
I pointed out in last night's skies?
But more no man can ever know,
We must not think of it at all,—
For if by sympathy I go
Too near that breathless sea, dear elf,
'Tis very likely I shall fall
Into breathlessness myself.
previous section A Poet's Harvest Home
next section