Select Poems of Sidney Lanier [42]
base-born Accident of time and place -- Bigot Pretender unto Judgment's throne -- Bastard, that claimest with a cunning face Those rights the true, true Son of Man doth own By Love's authority -- thou Rebel cold [61] At head of civil wars and quarrels old -- Thou Knife on a throne --
I would thou left'st me free, to live with love, And faith, that through the love of love doth find My Lord's dear presence in the stars above, The clods below, the flesh without, the mind Within, the bread, the tear, the smile. Opinion, damned Intriguer, gray with guile, Let me alone.
____ Baltimore, 1878-9.
Notes: Remonstrance
This is the first and the greatest of the `Street-cries': see the introductory note to `Life and Song'.
For an interpretation of the poem see `Introduction', pp. xxix [Part III], xlv, xlvii [Part IV].
26, 33. Amusing illustrations of such intolerance may be found in `Jack-knife and Brambles' (Nashville, 1893), by Bishop Atticus G. Haygood, of the Methodist Church, South. One brother, we are told (p. 278), objected to hearing Bishop Haygood in 1859 because of his wearing a beard; while another (p. 281), along in the thirties, voted against licensing Bishop George F. Pierce because his hair was "combed back from his forehead"!
46. For an account of Socrates, the Greek philosopher, poisoned in 399 B.C., see Xenophon's `Memorabilia' and Plato's dialogues.
47. See St. Matthew 27:20.
54. For the burning of Nicholas Ridley, an English Bishop, on October 16, 1555, see Green's `Shorter History of England'. Michael Servetus, a Spanish scientific and theological writer, was burned as a heretic at Geneva, October 27, 1553.
Opposition
Of fret, of dark, of thorn, of chill, [1] Complain no more; for these, O heart, Direct the random of the will As rhymes direct the rage of art.
The lute's fixt fret, that runs athwart The strain and purpose of the string, For governance and nice consort Doth bar his willful wavering.
The dark hath many dear avails; The dark distils divinest dews; The dark is rich with nightingales, [11] With dreams, and with the heavenly Muse.
Bleeding with thorns of petty strife, I'll ease (as lovers do) my smart With sonnets to my lady Life Writ red in issues from the heart.
What grace may lie within the chill Of favor frozen fast in scorn! When Good's a-freeze, we call it Ill! This rosy Time is glacier-born.
Of fret, of dark, of thorn, of chill, [21] Complain thou not, O heart; for these Bank-in the current of the will To uses, arts, and charities.
____ Baltimore, 1879-80.
Notes: Opposition
As an introduction to this poem I quote a sentence from Dr. Gates's excellent essay: "As we look at the circumstances of his life, let us carry with us the strains of this poem, which interprets the use of crosses, interferences, and attempted thwartings of one's purpose; for the ethical value of Lanier's life and writings can be fully understood only by remembering how much he overcame and how heroically he persisted in manly work in his chosen art through years of such broken health as would have driven most men to the inert, self-indulgent life of an invalid. The superb power of will which he displayed is a lesson as valuable as the noble poems which it illustrates and enforces."
Marsh Song -- At Sunset
Over the monstrous shambling sea, [1] Over the Caliban sea, Bright Ariel-cloud, thou lingerest: Oh wait, oh wait, in the warm red West, -- Thy Prospero I'll be.
Over the humped and fishy sea, Over the Caliban sea, O cloud in the West, like a thought in the heart Of pardon, loose thy wing, and start, And do a grace for me.
Over the huge and huddling sea, [11] Over the Caliban sea, Bring hither my brother Antonio, -- Man, -- My injurer: night breaks the ban; Brother, I pardon thee.
____ Baltimore, 1879-80.
Notes: Marsh Song -- At Sunset
At the first reading, no doubt, this song appears
I would thou left'st me free, to live with love, And faith, that through the love of love doth find My Lord's dear presence in the stars above, The clods below, the flesh without, the mind Within, the bread, the tear, the smile. Opinion, damned Intriguer, gray with guile, Let me alone.
____ Baltimore, 1878-9.
Notes: Remonstrance
This is the first and the greatest of the `Street-cries': see the introductory note to `Life and Song'.
For an interpretation of the poem see `Introduction', pp. xxix [Part III], xlv, xlvii [Part IV].
26, 33. Amusing illustrations of such intolerance may be found in `Jack-knife and Brambles' (Nashville, 1893), by Bishop Atticus G. Haygood, of the Methodist Church, South. One brother, we are told (p. 278), objected to hearing Bishop Haygood in 1859 because of his wearing a beard; while another (p. 281), along in the thirties, voted against licensing Bishop George F. Pierce because his hair was "combed back from his forehead"!
46. For an account of Socrates, the Greek philosopher, poisoned in 399 B.C., see Xenophon's `Memorabilia' and Plato's dialogues.
47. See St. Matthew 27:20.
54. For the burning of Nicholas Ridley, an English Bishop, on October 16, 1555, see Green's `Shorter History of England'. Michael Servetus, a Spanish scientific and theological writer, was burned as a heretic at Geneva, October 27, 1553.
Opposition
Of fret, of dark, of thorn, of chill, [1] Complain no more; for these, O heart, Direct the random of the will As rhymes direct the rage of art.
The lute's fixt fret, that runs athwart The strain and purpose of the string, For governance and nice consort Doth bar his willful wavering.
The dark hath many dear avails; The dark distils divinest dews; The dark is rich with nightingales, [11] With dreams, and with the heavenly Muse.
Bleeding with thorns of petty strife, I'll ease (as lovers do) my smart With sonnets to my lady Life Writ red in issues from the heart.
What grace may lie within the chill Of favor frozen fast in scorn! When Good's a-freeze, we call it Ill! This rosy Time is glacier-born.
Of fret, of dark, of thorn, of chill, [21] Complain thou not, O heart; for these Bank-in the current of the will To uses, arts, and charities.
____ Baltimore, 1879-80.
Notes: Opposition
As an introduction to this poem I quote a sentence from Dr. Gates's excellent essay: "As we look at the circumstances of his life, let us carry with us the strains of this poem, which interprets the use of crosses, interferences, and attempted thwartings of one's purpose; for the ethical value of Lanier's life and writings can be fully understood only by remembering how much he overcame and how heroically he persisted in manly work in his chosen art through years of such broken health as would have driven most men to the inert, self-indulgent life of an invalid. The superb power of will which he displayed is a lesson as valuable as the noble poems which it illustrates and enforces."
Marsh Song -- At Sunset
Over the monstrous shambling sea, [1] Over the Caliban sea, Bright Ariel-cloud, thou lingerest: Oh wait, oh wait, in the warm red West, -- Thy Prospero I'll be.
Over the humped and fishy sea, Over the Caliban sea, O cloud in the West, like a thought in the heart Of pardon, loose thy wing, and start, And do a grace for me.
Over the huge and huddling sea, [11] Over the Caliban sea, Bring hither my brother Antonio, -- Man, -- My injurer: night breaks the ban; Brother, I pardon thee.
____ Baltimore, 1879-80.
Notes: Marsh Song -- At Sunset
At the first reading, no doubt, this song appears