Collected poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

Collected poems

By Austin Dobson: Ninth edition

Dobson, Austin (1840-1921)

[epigraph]

[section]

[To you I sing, whom towns immure]

OLD-WORLD IDYLLS

A DEAD LETTER

A GENTLEMAN OF THE OLD SCHOOL

A GENTLEWOMAN OF THE OLD SCHOOL

THE BALLAD OF “BEAU BROCADE”

UNE MARQUISE

THE STORY OF ROSINA

PROVERBS IN PORCELAIN

PROLOGUE

THE BALLAD À-LA-MODE

THE METAMORPHOSIS

THE SONG OUT OF SEASON

THE CAP THAT FITS

THE SECRETS OF THE HEART

“GOOD-NIGHT, BABETTE!”

EPILOGUE

VIGNETTES IN RHYME

THE DRAMA OF THE DOCTOR'S WINDOW

A DIALOGUE FROM PLATO

THE ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE

THE IDYLL OF THE CARP

A NIGHTINGALE IN KENSINGTON GARDENS

MISCELLANEOUS PIECES

A SONG OF THE FOUR SEASONS

THE PARADOX OF TIME

TO A GREEK GIRL

THE DEATH OF PROCRIS

THE PRAYER OF THE SWINE TO CIRCE

A CASE OF CAMEOS

LOVE'S QUEST

THE SICK MAN AND THE BIRDS

A FLOWER SONG OF ANGIOLA

A SONG OF ANGIOLA IN HEAVEN

ANDRÉ LE CHAPELAIN

THE DYING OF TANNEGUY DU BOIS

PALOMYDES

THE MOSQUE OF THE CALIPH

IN THE BELFRY

ARS VICTRIX

AT THE SIGN OF THE LYRE

[“At the Sign of the Lyre,”]

THE LADIES OF ST. JAMES'S

THE OLD SEDAN CHAIR

TO AN INTRUSIVE BUTTERFLY

THE CURÉ'S PROGRESS

THE MASQUE OF THE MONTHS

TWO SERMONS

“AU REVOIR”

THE CARVER AND THE CALIPH

TO AN UNKNOWN BUST IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM

TO A MISSAL OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY

A REVOLUTIONARY RELIC

A MADRIGAL

A SONG TO THE LUTE

A GARDEN SONG

A CHAPTER OF FROISSART

TO THE MAMMOTH-TORTOISE

A ROMAN ROUND-ROBIN

VERSES TO ORDER

A LEGACY

“LITTLE BLUE-RIBBONS”

LINES TO A STUPID PICTURE

TO A CHILD

THE COLLECTOR TO HIS LIBRARY

THE BOOK-PLATE'S PETITION

THE WATER OF GOLD

A FANCY FROM FONTENELLE

A POSTSCRIPT TO “RETALIATION”

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

CHARLES GEORGE GORDON

VICTOR HUGO

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

FABLES OF LITERATURE AND ART

THE POET AND THE CRITICS

THE TOYMAN

THE SUCCESSFUL AUTHOR

THE DILETTANT

THE TWO PAINTERS

THE CLAIMS OF THE MUSE

THE 'SQUIRE AT VAUXHALL

THE CLIMACTERIC

TALES IN RHYME

THE VIRGIN WITH THE BELLS

A TALE OF POLYPHEME

A STORY FROM A DICTIONARY

THE SCREEN IN THE LUMBER ROOM

THE MALTWORM'S MADRIGAL

AN APRIL PASTORAL

A NEW SONG OF THE SPRING GARDENS

FOR A COPY OF HERRICK

WITH A VOLUME OF VERSE

FOR THE AVERY “KNICKER-BOCKER”

TO A PASTORAL POET

TO ONE WHO BIDS ME SING

“SAT EST SCRIPSISSE”

PROLOGUES AND EPILOGUES

PROLOGUE TO ABBEY'S EDITION OF “SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER”

L'ENVOI

PROLOGUE TO ABBEY'S “QUIET LIFE”

DEDICATION OF “THE STORY OF ROSINA”

PROLOGUE TO “EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY VIGNETTES”

EPILOGUE TO “EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY VIGNETTES

ESSAYS IN OLD FRENCH FORMS

[As, to the pipe, with rhythmic feet]

“WITH PIPE AND FLUTE”

TO A JUNE ROSE

TO DAFFODILS

ON THE HURRY OF THIS TIME

“WHEN BURBADGE PLAYED”

“WHEN I SAW YOU LAST, ROSE”

ON A NANKIN PLATE

FOR A COPY OF THEOCRITUS

“TU NE QUAESIERIS”

THE PRODIGALS

ON A FAN THAT BELONGED TO THE MARQUISE DE POMPADOUR

A BALLAD TO QUEEN ELIZABETH of the Spanish Armada

A BALLAD OF HEROES

THE BALLAD OF THE THRUSH

THE BALLAD OF THE BARMECIDE

THE BALLAD OF IMITATION

THE BALLAD OF PROSE AND RHYME

FOR A COPY OF “THE COMPLEAT ANGLER”

VERSES READ AT THE DINNER OF THE OMAR KHAYYÁM CLUB

VERSES WRITTEN FOR THE MENU OF THE OMAR KHAYYÁM CLUB

FOR “AN APPENDIX TO THE ROWFANT LIBRARY”

FOR A CHARITY ANNUAL

FOR A COPY OF “THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD”

AFTER A HOLIDAY

THE BALLAD OF THE BORE

TO THE LADY DOROTHY NEVILL

TO EDMUND GOSSE

TO THE SAME

FOR LOCKER'S “LONDON LYRICS”

TO BRANDER MATTHEWS

TO THE LATE H. C. BUNNER

TO RICHARD WATSON GILDER

“GOOD LUCK TO YOUR FISHING!”

A BALLAD OF ANTIQUARIES

A SECOND BALLAD OF ANTIQUARIES

LUDIBRIA VENTIS

R. L. S.

A BALLAD OF INCAPACITY

“A VOICE IN THE SCENTED NIGHT”

A WELCOME FROM THE JOHNSON CLUB

SURGE ET AMBULA

SNAP-SHOT

HORATIAN ODE ON THE TERCENTENARY OF “DON QUIXOTE”

THE PASSIONATE PRINTER TO HIS LOVE

AN EPISTLE TO AN EDITOR

TO THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH

TO MYRTALÉ

“FAME IS A FOOD THAT DEAD MEN EAT”

A WAIF

LONGFELLOW

A PLEASANT INVECTIVE AGAINST PRINTING

THE FRIEND OF HUMANITY AND THE RHYMER

TO A FRIEND WHO DEPLORED THE BRIEF LIFE OF LITERARY PERSONALITY

A PROEM

THE LAST PROOF

AN EPITAPH (FOR A PARISH MAGAZINE)

THE HAPPY PRINTER

A MILTONIC EXERCISE

PROLOGUE TO “DE LIBRIS”

A SONG OF THE GREENAWAY CHILD

FOR A VISITORS' BOOK

“TWO MAIDS UPROSE IN THE SHIMMERING LIGHT”

VERSES WRITTEN FOR THE MENU OF THE OMAR KHAYYÁM CLUB

LA BONNE COMÉDIE

IN MEMORIAM

THREESCORE AND TEN

AN HORATIAN ODE TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY

WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY

TO HUGH THOMSON

TO TIME, THE TYRANT

ADDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS

[(Too hard it is to sing]

ROSE, IN THE HEDGEROW GROWN

JULY

A FABLE (IN THE MANNER OF MR. JOHN GAY)

ON A PICTURE BY HOPPNER

ON THE BELFRY TOWER

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PORCH

THE HOLOCAUST

THE SONG OF THE SEA WIND

HILL AND VALLEY

A BALLAD OF THE QUEEN'S MAJESTY

TO A FRIEND (ON RECEIVING HIS “COMPLETE POEMS”)

THE SONNET OF THE MOUNTAIN

REGRETS

TO MONSIEUR DE LA MOTHE LE VAYER, UPON THE DEATH OF HIS SON

“ALBI, NE DOLEAS”

AD LYRAM

THE BALLAD OF BITTER FRUIT

TO MAECENAS

[In after days when grasses high]

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277

TO A CHILD

These lines were written for the Garland of Rachel (an English imitation of the famous Guirlande de Julie), which was issued in 1881 from the private press of Mr. H. Daniel of Oxford.

(FROM THE “GARLAND OF RACHEL”)

How shall I sing you, Child, for whom
So many lyres are strung;
Or how the only tone assume
That fits a Maid so young?

What rocks there are on either hand!
Suppose—'tis on the cards—
You should grow up with quite a grand
Platonic hate for bards!

How shall I then be shamed, undone,
For ah! with what a scorn
Your eyes must greet that luckless One
Who rhymed you, newly born,—

Who o'er your “helpless cradle” bent,
His idle verse to turn;
And twanged his tiresome instrument
Above your unconcern!

278

Nay,—let my words be so discreet,
That, keeping Chance in view,
Whatever after fate you meet
A part may still be true.

Let others wish you mere good looks,—
Your sex is always fair;
Or to be writ in Fortune's books,—
She's rich who has to spare:

I wish you but a heart that's kind,
A head that's sound and clear;
(Yet let the heart be not too blind,
The head not too severe!)

A joy of life, a frank delight;
A not-too-large desire;
And—if you fail to find a Knight—
At least . . . a trusty Squire.

University of Virginia Library

TO A CHILD These lines were written for the Garland of Rachel (an English imitation of the famous Guirlande de Julie), which was issued in 1881 from the private press of Mr. H. Daniel of Oxford.

(FROM THE “GARLAND OF RACHEL”)

TO A CHILD

These lines were written for the Garland of Rachel (an English imitation of the famous Guirlande de Julie), which was issued in 1881 from the private press of Mr. H. Daniel of Oxford.