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
4

THE POET'S OPPORTUNITY.

Smoothed by this untiring tide,
The rocks that crop up on this strand
Make pleasant seats, we there abide,
And spread our white cloth on the sand.
'Twas such a gentle sea, none there
Could ever after quite forget,
Sea-mews sloped near us through warm air,
The small white cloudlets made a fret,
High, higher still, like Jacob's stair.
What do they now in ancient Rome,—
Where we were looked for certainly,
We chose this year to stay at home,
And lay the stale schoolmaster bye.
‘Art is something more than nature,’
Something from the artist's life,
Life orders and selects, makes sure,
Frees the melody from strife.
5

But that life lapses 'neath the sway
Of motives long since past and gone;
Beautiful once, they had their day,
We look for bread and find a stone.
Let the pulse beat: a verse or two
May come from this kind solitude,
By sea, in bower, 'neath cloud, or blue,
To fit our manhood's present mood.
previous section A Poet's Harvest Home
next section