"People! your chains are severing link by link; Soon shall the Rich be leveled down the Poor Meet them half way." Vain boast! for These, the more They thus would rise, must low and lower sink...
Through shattered galleries, 'mid roofless halls, Wandering with timid footsteps oft betrayed, The Stranger sighs, nor scruples to upbraid Old Time, though he, gentlest among the Thralls...
If with old love of you, dear Hills! I share New love of many a rival image brought From far, forgive the wanderings of my thought: Nor art thou wronged, sweet May! when I compare...
I dropped my pen; and listened to the Wind That sang of trees uptorn and vessels tost A midnight harmony; and wholly lost To the general sense of men by chains confined...
What mischief cleaves to unsubdued regret, How fancy sickens by vague hopes beset; How baffled projects on the spirit prey, And fruitless wishes eat the heart away,...
Fair Star of evening, Splendour of the west, Star of my Country! on the horizon's brink Thou hangest, stooping, as might seem, to sink On England's bosom; yet well pleased to rest,...
Clouds, lingering yet, extend in solid bars Through the grey west; and lo! these waters, steeled By breezeless air to smoothest polish, yield A vivid repetition of the stars;...
One who was suffering tumult in his soul, Yet failed to seek the sure relief of prayer, Went forth, his course surrendering to the care Of the fierce wind, while mid-day lightnings prowl...
With each recurrence of this glorious morn That saw the Saviour in his human frame Rise from the dead, 'erewhile the Cottage-dame Put on fresh raiment, till that hour unworn:...
The wind is now thy organist; a clank (We know not whence) ministers for a bell To mark some change of service. As the swell Of music reached its height, and even when sank...
"This Land of Rainbows spanning glens whose walls, Rock-built, are hung with rainbow-coloured mists Of far-stretched Meres whose salt flood never rests Of tuneful Caves and playful Waterfalls...
Here, on our native soil, we breathe once more. The cock that crows, the smoke that curls, that sound Of bells; those boys who in yon meadow-ground In white-sleeved shirts are playing; and the roar...
Jones! as from Calais southward you and I Went pacing side by side, this public Way Streamed with the pomp of a too-credulous day, When faith was pledged to new-born Liberty:...
Life with you Lambs, like day, is just begun, Yet Nature seems to them a heavenly guide. Does joy approach? they meet the coming tide; And sullenness avoid, as now they shun...
Dogmatic Teachers, of the snow-white fur! Ye wrangling Schoolmen, of the scarlet hood! Who, with a keenness not to be withstood, Press the point home, or falter and demur,...
What need of clamorous bells, or ribands gay, These humble nuptials to proclaim or grace? Angels of love, look down upon the place; Shed on the chosen vale a sun-bright day!...
Had this effulgence disappeared With flying haste, I might have sent, Among the speechless clouds, a look Of blank astonishment; But 'tis endued with power to stay,...
Earth has not anything to show more fair: Dull would he be of soul who could pass by A sight so touching in its majesty: This City now doth, like a garment, wear The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,...
Not 'mid the world's vain objects that enslave The free-born Soul, that World whose vaunted skill In selfish interest perverts the will, Whose factions lead astray the wise and brave,...