text,updated_at,metaphor,created_at,context,theme,reviewed_on,dictionary,comments,provenance,id,work_id
"But come kind Mem'ry! now thy influence shed,
Hide from my heart its prophecies of dread,
Indulge fond fancy, and recal the hour,
When o'er the ruins of that tort'ring tow'r,
I saw gay youths, and festive maids advance,
And read with rapt'rous tears, ""Ici l'on danse.""
'Twas at the closing of the day renown'd,
When public choice a monarch more than crown'd;
When to the holy altar of the state,
The nation throng'd, and pour'd their vow elate,
A vow, which plotting miscreants shall defy,
""To live for Freedom, or for Freedom die!""
Heav'n's! as I wander'd 'mongst the scatter'd stone,
Whose pile was late the bulwark of a throne,
And o'er Imagination's gloomy glass,
Despair's mute sons like Banquo's visions pass,
Scourg'd--mask'd in iron--famish'd, a sad train!
While bleeding Pity wept in ev'ry vein;
How sweetly burst the merry tabor's sound!
What swift enchantment deck'd the fairy ground!
Methought Amphion's fabled potent shell,
Had sudden breath'd its counteracting spell;
Had dash'd the dome from its Tartarean base,
To spread a fair Elysium in its place.
Then blissful blessings round my senses hung,
A true devotion touch'd my trembling tongue!
And could'st thou wonder, lib'ral Burke! to see
Revenge lead on the steps of Liberty,
Could men yet smarting with the tyrant's stroke,
Forgive the tribe that bow'd them to the yoke,
Forget, how oft the pittance, from their hands
Was torn, by each relentless Lord's commands;
Condemn'd almost to starve, where plenty reign'd,
And those were criminals who e'er complain'd?
O could'st thou wonder when th'explosion came,
Which burst the o'ercharg'd culverin of shame,
That ev'ry suff'rer starting to new life,
Against his proud oppressor bared the knife,
That palaces were rifled, villains bled,
And many a murd'rous traitor lost his head?
Sure manly Moralist! a soul like thine,
Where all the nobler qualities combine,
Where Virtue rises from its purest source,
And Learning gives true genius double force;
Sure such a soul must own, the lantern's cord,
Compar'd to dungeons, cannon, and the sword,
Was but a trifling ill, the People's rage
A moment rous'd, a moment could assuage,
But vengeful Ministers no pity feel,
They bring their direst chain, their racking wheel,
Doom their sad victims length'ning pangs to share,
And even think it mercy when they spare!",2009-09-14 19:43:17 UTC,"""And o'er Imagination's gloomy glass, / Despair's mute sons like Banquo's visions pass""",2006-01-25 00:00:00 UTC,"","",,"",•I've included twice: Glass and Ghost,Searching in HDIS (Poetry),15299,5738
"Who, from his far-divided shore,
The half-expiring Captive bore?
Those, whom the traffic of their race
Has robb'd of every human grace;
Whose harden'd souls no more retain
Impressions Nature stamp'd in vain;
All that distinguishes their kind,
For ever blotted from their mind;
As streams, that once the landscape gave
Reflected on the trembling wave,
Their substance change, when lock'd in frost,
And rest, in dead contraction lost;--
Who view unmov'd, the look, that tells
The pang that in the bosom dwells;
Heed not the nerves that terror shakes,
The heart convulsive anguish breaks;
The shriek that would their crimes upbraid,
But deem despair a part of trade.--
Such only, for detested gain,
The barb'rous commerce would maintain.
The gen'rous sailor, he, who dares
All forms of danger, while he bears
The BRITISH Flag o'er untrack'd seas,
And spreads it on the polar breeze;
He, who in Glory's high career,
Finds agony, and death are dear;
To whose protecting arm we owe
Each blessing that the happy know;
Whatever charms the soften'd heart,
Each cultur'd grace, each finer art,
E'en thine, most lovely of the train!
Sweet Poetry! thy heav'n-taught strain--
His breast, where nobler passions burn,
In honest poverty, would spurn
That wealth, Oppression can bestow,
And scorn to wound a fetter'd foe.
True courage in the unconquer'd soul
Yields to Compassion's mild controul;
As, the resisting frame of steel
The magnet's secret force can feel.
(pp. 13-6, ll. 209-247)",2011-09-02 19:07:30 UTC,"There are those ""whom the traffic of their race / Has robb'd of every human grace; / Whose harden'd souls no more retain / Impressions Nature stamp'd in vain; / All that distinguishes their kind, / For ever blotted from their mind; / As streams, that once the landscape gave / Reflected on the trembling wave, / Their substance change, when lock'd in frost, / And rest, in dead contraction lost.""",2011-09-02 19:05:38 UTC,"","",,Impressions,"",Reading,19125,7080