Poetry

Chile’s boundless forests laid,
She deigns to hear the savage youth repeat,
In loose numbers wildly sweet,
Their feather-cinctured Chiefs, and dusky Loves.
Her track, where’er the Goddess roves,
Glory pursue, and generous Shame,
The unconquerable Mind, and Freedom’s holy flame.

II. 3.

Woods, that wave o’er Delphi’s steep,61
Isles, that crown the Aegean deep,
Fields, that cool Ilissus laves,
Or where Maeander’s amber waves
In lingering labyrinths creep,
How do your tuneful echoes languish,
Mute, but to the voice of Anguish!
Where each old poetic mountain
Inspiration breathed around;
Every shade and hallowed fountain
Murmured deep a solemn sound;
Till the sad Nine in Greece’s evil hour
Left their Parnassus for the Latian plains.
Alike they scorn the pomp of tyrant-Power,
And coward Vice, that revels in her chains.
When Latium had her lofty spirit lost,
They sought, oh Albion! next thy sea-encircled coast.

III. 1.

Far from the sun and summer-gale,
In thy green lap was Nature’s Darling laid,62
What time, where lucid Avon strayed,
To him the mighty Mother did unveil
Her awful face. The dauntless Child
Stretched forth his little arms, and smiled.
This pencil take (she said) whose colours clear
Richly paint the vernal year;
Thine too these golden keys, immortal Boy!
This can unlock the gates of Joy,
Of Horror that, and thrilling Fears,
Or ope the sacred source of sympathetic Tears.

III. 2.

Nor second He, that rode sublime63
Upon the seraph-wings of Ecstasy,
The secrets of th’ Abyss to spy,
He passed the flaming bounds of Place and Time;64
The living Throne, the sapphire-blaze,65
Where Angels tremble, while they gaze,
He saw; but, blasted with excess of light,
Closed his eyes in endless night.66
Behold, where Dryden’s less presumptuous car
Wide o’er the fields of Glory bear
Two Coursers of ethereal race,67
With necks in thunder clothed, and long-resounding pace.68

III. 3.

Hark, his hands the lyre explore!
Bright-eyed Fancy hovering o’er
Scatters from her pictured urn
Thoughts, that breathe, and words, that burn.69
But ah! ’tis heard no more⁠—70
Oh! Lyre divine, what daring Spirit
Wakes thee now? tho’ he inherit
Nor the pride, nor ample pinion,
That the Theban Eagle bear71
Sailing with supreme dominion
Thro’ the azure deep of air;
Yet oft before his infant eyes would run
Such forms, as glitter in the Muse’s ray
With orient hues, unborrowed of the Sun;
Yet shall he mount, and keep his distant way
Beyond the limits of a vulgar fate,
Beneath the Good how far⁠—but far above the Great.

The Descent of Odin

An Ode from the Norse Tongue

In Bartholinus, de causis contemnendae mortis; Hafniae, 1689

Uprose the King of Men with speed,
And saddled strait his coal-black steed;
Down the yawning steep he rode,
That leads to Hela’s drear abode.72
Him the Dog of Darkness spied,
His shaggy throat he opened wide,
While from his jaws, with carnage filled,
Foam and human gore distilled;
Hoarse he bays with hideous din,
Eyes that glow, and fangs that grin;
And long pursues, with fruitless yell,
The father of the powerful spell.
Onward still his way he takes,
(The groaning earth beneath him shakes,)
Till full before his fearless eyes
The portals nine of hell arise.

Right against the eastern gate,
By the moss-grown pile he sate;
Where long of yore to sleep was laid
The dust of the prophetic Maid.
Facing to the northern clime,
Thrice he traced the runic rhyme;
Thrice pronounced, in accents dread,
The thrilling verse that wakes the dead;
Till from out the hollow ground
Slowly breathed a sullen sound.

Prophetess

What call unknown, what charms presume
To break the quiet of the tomb?
Who thus afflicts my troubled sprite,
And drags me from the realms of night?
Long on these mould’ring bones have beat
The winter’s snow, the summer’s heat,
The drenching dews, and driving rain!
Let me, let me sleep again.
Who is he, with voice unblest,
That calls me from the bed of rest?

Odin

A Traveller, to thee unknown,
Is he that calls, a Warrior’s son.
Thou the deeds of light shalt know;
Tell me what is done below,
For whom yon glitt’ring board is spread,
Drest for whom yon golden bed.

Prophetess

Mantling in the goblet see
The pure beverage of the bee,
O’er it hangs the shield of gold;
’Tis the drink of Balder bold;
Balder’s head to death is given.
Pain can reach the sons of Heaven!
Unwilling I my lips unclose;
Leave me, leave me to repose.

Odin

Once again my call obey.
Prophetess, arise, and say,
What dangers Odin’s child await,
Who the Author of his fate.

Prophetess

In Hoder’s hand the Hero’s doom;
His brother sends him to the tomb.
Now my weary lips I close;
Leave me, leave me to repose.

Odin

Prophetess, my spell obey,
Once again arise, and say,
Who th’ Avenger of his guilt,
By whom shall Hoder’s blood be spilt.

Prophetess

In the caverns of the west,
By Odin’s fierce embrace comprest,
A wond’rous Boy shall Rinda bear,
Who ne’er shall comb his raven-hair,
Nor wash his visage in the stream,
Nor see the sun’s departing beam,
Till he on Hoder’s corse shall smile
Flaming on the fun’ral pile.
Now my weary lips I close;
Leave me, leave me to repose.

Odin

Yet a while my call obey.
Prophetess, awake, and say,
What Virgins these, in speechless woe,
That bend to earth their solemn brow,
That their flaxen tresses tear,
And snowy veils, that float in air.
Tell me whence their sorrows rose;
Then I leave thee to repose.

Prophetess

Ha! no Traveller art thou,
King of Men, I know thee now;
Mightiest of a mighty line⁠—

Odin

No boding Maid of skill divine
Art thou, nor Prophetess of good;
But Mother of the giant-brood!

Prophetess

Hie thee hence, and boast at home,
That never shall enquirer come
To break my iron-sleep again;
Till Lok has burst his tenfold chain.73
Never, till substantial Night
Has reassumed her ancient right;
Till wrapped in flames, in ruin hurled,
Sinks the fabric of the world.

The Fatal Sisters

An Ode from the Norse Tongue

In The Orcades of Thormodus Torfseus; Hafniae, 1697, folio; and also in Bartholinus

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The author once had thoughts (in concert with a friend) of giving the history of English poetry. In the introduction to it he meant to have produced some specimens of the style that reigned in ancient times among the neighbouring nations, or those who had subdued the greater part of