Works

Seeking to find his home, Odysseus crosses each water;
Through Charybdis so dread; ay, and through Scylla's wild yells,
Through the alarms of the raging sea, the alarms of the land too,...

I.

A bridge of pearls its form uprears
High o'er a gray and misty sea;
E'en in a moment it appears,
And rises upwards giddily.

Beneath its arch can find a road...

E'en by the hand of the wicked can truth be working with vigor;
But the vessel is filled by what is beauteous alone.

Once to a horse-fair, it may perhaps have been
Where other things are bought and sold, I mean
At the Haymarket, there the muses' horse
A hungry poet brought to sell, of course.
...

All that thou doest is right; but, friend, don't carry this precept
On too far, be content, all that is right to effect.
It is enough to true zeal, if what is existing be perfect;...

What wonder this? we ask the lympid well,
O earth! of thee and from thy solemn womb
What yieldest thou? is there life in the abyss
Doth a new race beneath the lava dwell?...

Four elements, joined in
Harmonious strife,
Shadow the world forth,
And typify life.

Into the goblet
The lemon's juice pour;
Acid is ever
Life's innermost core.
...

You tell me that you feel surprise
Because Quirl's paper's grown in size;
And yet they're crying through the street
That there's a rise in bread and meat.

From earth I seem to wing my flight,
And sun myself in Heaven's pure light,
When thy sweet gaze meets mine
I dream I quaff ethereal dew,
When my own form I mirrored view
In those blue eyes divine!
...

Maiden, stay! oh, whither wouldst thou go?
Do I still or pride or grandeur show?
Maiden, was it right?
Thou the giant mad'st a dwarf once more,
Scattered'st far the mountains that of yore...

Yes! even I was in Arcadia born,
And, in mine infant ears,
A vow of rapture was by Nature sworn;
Yes! even I was in Arcadia born,
And yet my short spring gave me only tears!
...

Monument of our own age's shame,
On thy country casting endless blame,
Rousseau's grave, how dear thou art to me
Calm repose be to thy ashes blest!
In thy life thou vainly sought'st for rest,...

Let the creative art breathe life, and the bard furnish spirit;
But the soul is expressed by Polyhymnia alone.

Dramatis Personae.

JUNO.
SEMELE, Princess of Thebes.
JUPITER.
MERCURY.

SCENE The Palace of Cadmus at Thebes.



SCENE I.
...

I, too, at length discerned great Hercules' energy mighty,
Saw his shade. He himself was not, alas, to be seen.
Round him were heard, like the screaming of birds, the screams of tragedians,...

A mighty oak here ruined lies,
Its top was wont to kiss the skies,
Why is it now o'erthrown?
The peasants needed, so they said,
Its wood wherewith to build a shed,
And so they've cut it down.

Both of us seek for truth in the world without thou dost seek it,
I in the bosom within; both of us therefore succeed.
If the eye be healthy, it sees from without the Creator;...

Wilt thou not the lambkins guard?
Oh, how soft and meek they look,
Feeding on the grassy sward,
Sporting round the silvery brook!
"Mother, mother, let me go
On yon heights to chase the roe!"
...

Nowhere in the organic or sensitive world ever kindles
Novelty, save in the flower, noblest creation of life.

That which Grecian art created,
Let the Frank, with joy elated,
Bear to Seine's triumphant strand,
And in his museums glorious
Show the trophies all-victorious
To his wondering fatherland.
...