Skip directly to:Main content Main navigation

University of Virginia Library

The Poems of Sir William Watson

1878-1935

Watson, William (1858-1935)

collapse section

collapse section

TO A FRIEND UNITING ANTIQUARIAN TASTES WITH PROGRESSIVE POLITICS

AT THE SEASON'S END

VOICE AND VISION

THE IDEAL POPULAR LEADER

LA HAUTE POLITIQUE

THE MODERN SADNESS

TO ONE WHO ACCUSED ME OF POLITICAL APOSTASY

TO ONE ESPOUSING UNPOPULAR TRUTH

TO AN AMERICAN POET

THE MOUNTAIN RAPTURE

THE ENGLISH DEAD

GLADSTONE, 1885

A DIZZYING SURMISE

NIGHT ON CURBAR EDGE

WRITTEN IN A COPY OF R.L. STEVENSON'S “CATRIONA”

ON THE AUTHOR'S SEVENTY-SIXTH BIRTHDAY

FORCE AND FREEDOM

TO A HIGHBORN BEAUTY

TO AUBREY DE VERE

THE INEXORABLE LAW

HIS SPLENDID DEFECT

SECRET COMMUNION

TRANQUIL LIBERTY

TO A SON OF WALES

THE PLAGUE OF APATHY

collapse section

THE WORLD IN ARMOUR

I.

II.

III.

TO AMERICA, CONCERNING ENGLAND

POWER AND CHARM

RESTORED ALLEGIANCE

ON EXCESSIVE DEFERENCE TO FOREIGN LITERARY OPINION

OUR EASTERN TREASURE

HOME-ROOTEDNESS

TO A SCOTTISH FRIEND

THE SCOTT MONUMENT, PRINCE'S STREET, EDINBURGH

ON HEARING MADAME OLGA SAMAROFF PLAY

collapse section

SCULPTURE AND SONG

SHELLEY AND HARRIET

THE WINGS OF EROS

THE INTERRUPTION

THE FATAL SCRUTINY

BETROTHAL AND WEDLOCK

TO CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

FROM THE SPANISH

THE UNSPOTTED ONES

AFTER READING “TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT”

THE ROBE OF THEMIS

THE APPEAL TO PARNASSUS

ON LONGFELLOW'S DEATH

IMAGINARY INSCRIPTION

JUST A POSSIBILITY

TO A BERKELEYAN IDEALIST

A WISE PRECAUTION

YOUTH THE OVERPRAISED

BACH, IN THE FUGUES AND PRELUDES

EPITAPH ON AN OBSCURE PERSON

BYRON THE VOLUPTUARY

ONE OF THE FALLACIES

THE CHURCH TO-DAY

THE NOBLE ANGUISH

YOUTH AND THE MUSE

TO A CLEVER CRITIC

FROM THE FRENCH

THREE KINDS OF SONG

TO A LADY RECOVERED FROM A DANGEROUS SICKNESS

AUREA MEDIOCRITAS

IN MEMORY OF THE LATE LORD OXFORD

ON A STATUE OF LIBERTY

ON A PEOPLE'S POET

TO ONE BEREAVED

THE BAFFLING COIL

THE MASTER RHETORICIAN

THE TOMB OF A PHARAOH

THE CHARIOT OF THE UNTARRYING

BIRTH AND DEATH

WHAT OF THE NIGHT?

collapse section

LYRICS AND LONGER POEMS

TO THE INVINCIBLE REPUBLIC

THE ETERNAL SEARCH

THE THREE GIVERS

TO RICHARD HOLT HUTTON

THE STORMS AND THE HAVENS

DAWN ON THE HEADLAND

THE KNIGHTS AND THE KING

THE HUMOUR OF OLYMPUS

THE CHURCHYARD IN THE WOLD

THE FIRST SKYLARK OF SPRING

THE WIZARD'S CRUX

THE FOILED PURSUERS

ENGLAND MY MOTHER

THE RAVEN'S SHADOW

TELL ME NOT NOW

THE MUSE IN EXILE

SCENTLESS FLOWERS

THE LUTE-PLAYER

THE WINTER SLEEP

THE VISITOR ABHORRED

THE LARK AND THE THRUSH

THE THUNDER-SHOWER

THE VOICE FROM DREAMLAND

LIBERTY REJECTED

A HUMBLE ENTREATY

THE CATHEDRAL MUSIC

THE TARN AND THE TORRENT

NAY, BID ME NOT

THE FLEETS OF INFINITY

THE FOWLS OF THE AIR

CAPRICES OF THE GODS

THE NOBLEST VICTORY

THE TRUE IMPERIALISM

A HALF-REAL SOLACE

CEASE, FOOLISH ROSEBUD

SONG FROM AN UNFINISHED PLAY

SCIENCE AND NATURE

ROME AND ANOTHER

THE FOREST VOICES

JANUARY DOWN WEST

THE FALSE SUMMER

“THE THINGS THAT ARE MORE EXCELLENT”

THE DREAM OF MAN

THE DESERT HEART

THE BLIND SUMMIT

TO A YOUNG AMERICAN LADY

THE STRANGER-MINSTREL

THE UNVANQUISHED

TO MY MOTHER'S MEMORY

THE WARRIOR LOVER

STORM IN MID-ATLANTIC

THE ELF-KING'S DAUGHTER

THE EARTH'S DESIRE

CHANGE AND INTERCHANGE

AN IDEAL PASSION

HYMN TO THE SEA

SHELLEY'S CENTENARY

THE GREAT MISGIVING

THE TOMB OF BURNS

THE TERRORS OF TRUTH

ON ONE OF THE PORTRAITS OF EMMA, LADY HAMILTON

THE INDESTRUCTIBLES

THE HEART OF THE ROSE

AN INSOLUBLE PROBLEM

THE NEWS FROM THE FIELD

THE FUGITIVE IDEAL

THE HOPE OF THE WORLD

TO THE LADY KATHARINE MANNERS

THE NORTH HAS MY HEART

A WORD WITH FORTUNE

EARTH-SWEETNESS

ODE ON THE DAY OF THE CORONATION OF KING EDWARD VII

THE MIGHTY DENIER

THE SAINT AND THE SATYR

THE EASIEST REVENGE

WALES: A GREETING

THE PEERAGE OF THE LYRE

LINES READ BY THE AUTHOR AT THE DICKENS CENTENARY CELEBRATION IN NEW YORK

WORLD-STRANGENESS

KILLINEY STRAND

THE UNKNOWN GOD

ENGLAND'S CHOICE

TO A STRENUOUS CRITIC

HER THIRD BIRTHDAY

SONG IN AN ARCHAIC MANNER

A GUESS IN ANTHROPOLOGY

THE NECESSITY OF WRATH

THE LIGHTHOUSE OF LOVE

PART OF MY STORY

THE MOUND IN THE MEADS

THE BETTER CHOICE

LACRIMÆ MUSARUM

THE ELOPING ANGELS

THE SAPPERS AND MINERS

THE HUSBANDMAN OF HEAVEN

TO A GOVERNMENT

THE BALLAD OF SEMMERWATER

TO A GREAT POET OF A PAST ERA

TO A SLOVENLY VERSIFIER

TO MY ELDEST CHILD

ODE TO LICINIUS

CROSS BROW, AMBLESIDE

DOMINE, QUO VADIS?

IN LALEHAM CHURCHYARD

VERSES TO THE DUCHESS OF HAMILTON

THE FATHER OF THE FOREST

ON A TOO PROLIFIC ESSAYIST

LINES WRITTEN IN RICHMOND PARK

THE SOVEREIGN POET

A RIDDLE OF THE THAMES

ENGLAND AND HER DOMINIONS

ON THE DEATH OF EDWARD VII

THE FAITHLESS AND THE CONSTANT

THE FATAL PRAYER

WORDSWORTH'S GRAVE

THE STONES OF STANTON DREW

EUROPE AT THE PLAY

collapse section

A STUDY IN CONTRASTS

I.

II.

THE MOSSGROWN PORCHES

THE TEST OF THE BARDS

ON BEING STYLED UNPATRIOTIC

THE UNWRITTEN PACT

LAKELAND ONCE MORE

THE FIGHT IN THE BIGHT

THE SOUL OF ROUGET DE LISLE

TO HENRY C. MONTGOMERY, OF BALLYHACKAMORE

THE BATTLEFIELDS OF THE FUTURE

THE YELLOW PANSY

ODE IN THE DAY OF TRANSITION

THE MAN WHO SAW

THIS BRINE-BEGIRT HOME

ORMAZD AND AHRIMAN

collapse section

Collapse All | Expand All expand section

174

ENGLAND'S CHOICE

Yonder where shakes with antic laughter
In elfin moonlight the spoilful sea,
What shall the stars behold hereafter—
Ireland captive or Ireland free?

Tempest or calm for the Mother who bore us,
Age-crowned England—which shall it be?
Reproach or acclaim in the morrow before us?
Ireland captive or Ireland free?

The quick and the dead have joined their voices,
O mighty and proud one, crying to thee—
“Choose—while as yet in thy hands the choice is:
Ireland captive or Ireland free.”