THERE IS JOY IN HEAVEN, WHILE YET OUR KNELLS-(INGELOW) And yet I know past all doubting, truly— The awful river so dread to see, I say, "Thy breadth and thy depth for ever [From "Poems, by Jean Ingelow," published by Longmans. The fore- "CONTENTMENT COMES NOT, THEREFORE; STILL THERE LIES AN OUTER DISTANCE WHEN THE FIRST IS HAILED, AND STILL FOR EVER YAWNS BEFORE OUR EYES AN UTMOST-THAT IS VEILED."-JEAN INGELOW. John Keats. [THE poems of Keats, says Leigh Hunt, will be the sure companions, in field and grove, of all who love "to escape out of the strife of commonplaces into the haven of solitude and imagination." They contain poetry enough to set up a dozen ordinary poets. Like Tarpeia, they are almost crushed by the weight of the gems and gold with which a profuse imagination has overcharged them. The rich lights of a vivid fancy kindle every page, like the hues of sunset floating over a blooming garden. The grand procession of rapturous song is majestic and luxuriant as the triumphal march of an Eastern king. So full was the young poet in heart and brain --so full of fine ideas, noble images, and tender feelings-that he could not check their flow. His genius was like an impetuous river, rolling over golden sands, which it sweeps downward in its current, along with rare blossoms, and glorious foliage, and the echoes of the water-spirits. Since Shakespeare, no poet has displayed such an extraordinary wealth of imagination. That such works should have been produced by a young surgeon's apprentice, before he was twenty-five years old, is a phenomenon in the history of poetry. It cannot be denied, says Lord Houghton, that they are read by every accurate student. It is natural that the young should find especial delight in productions which take so much of their inspiration from the exuberant. vitality of the author and the world. But the eternal youth of antique beauty does not confine its influences to any portion of the life of man. And thus the admiration of the writings of Keats survives the hot impulses SOUND FOR THE SOULS....SUMMONED THERE."-JEAN INGELOW. of early years; and these pages often remain open when the clamorous Keats was born in London, October 29, 1795; was educated at Enfield; and "TIS THE ETERNAL LAW, THAT FIRST IN BEAUTY SHOULD BE FIRST IN MIGHT."-JOHN KEATS. HYMN TO PAN. [Supposed to be sung by a chorus of shepherds and young damsels at a THOU, for whose soul-soothing quiet, turtles * Passion their voices cooingly 'mong myrtles, * The turtle doves. So Byron : "The rage of the vulture, the love of the turtles." And Shakspeare: "Teach him to know turtles from jays." ↑ The peculiar character of the linnet's song is well described by Robert Nicoll: "Thou charmest by the sick child's window long." Pent-up-that is, in the cocoon or chrysalis. IT WILL NEVER PASS INTO NOTHINGNESS."-KEATS. "O MAGIC SLEEP! O COMFORTABLE BIRD THAT BROODEST O'ER THE TROUBLED SEA OF THE MIND."-KEATS. "EVERY MORROW ARE WE WREATHING A FLOWERY BAND TO BIND US TO THE EARTH."-JOHN KEATS. ALL LOVELY TALES THAT WE HAVE HEARD OR READ, HYMN TO PAN. 231 "IN SPITE OF ALL, SOME SHAPE OF BEAUTY MOVES AWAY THE PALL FROM OUR DARK SPIRITS."-KEATS. Thou, to whom every faun and satyr flies * Read it as a word of four syllables-com-ple-ti-ons. AN ENDLESS FOUNTAIN OF IMMORTAL DRINK."-KEATS. "PLEASURE IS OFT A VISITANT; BUT PAIN CLINGS CRUELLY TO US, LIKE THE GNAWING SLOTH-(JOHN KEATS) 232 "" PERHAPS YE ARE TOO HAPPY TO BE GLAD."-KEATS. JOHN KEATS. To save poor lambkins from the eagle's maw; Bewildered shepherds to their path again; For thee to tumble into Naiads' cells, And, being hidden, laugh at their out-peeping; O Hearkener to the loud-clapping shears, The many that are come to pay their vows, ["This choral hymn" (from "Endymion"), "addressed to the sylvan deity, appears to us full of beauty, and reminds us, in many places, of the finest strains of Sicilian or of English poetry."-Lord Jeffrey.] GLORY AND LOVELINESS HAVE PASSED AWAY."-KEATS. ON THE DEER'S TENDER HAUNCHES; LATE AND LOTH, 'TIS SCARED AWAY BY SLOW-RETURNING PLEASURE."-KEATS. "HENCE, PAGEANT HISTORY! HENCE GIlded cheat, SWART PLANET ON THE UNIVERSE OF DEEDS!-(KEATS) Great Liberty! How great in PLAIN ATTIRE!"-JOHN Keats. THE BOWER OF ADONIS. 233 THE BOWER OF ADONIS. [Endymion, led by a heavenly guide on a "fairy journey," enters into a FTER a thousand mazes overgone, At last, with sudden step, he came upon In midst of all, there lay a sleeping youth And coverlids, gold-tinted like the peach, Fell sleek about him in a thousand folds- Of neck and shoulder, nor the tenting swerve The creeper, mellowing for an autumn blush; LET THE FANCY ROAM. PLEASURE NEVER IS AT HOME."-KEATS. WIDE SEA, THAT ONE CONTINUOUS MURMUR BREEDS ALONG THE PEBBLED SHORE OF MEMORY!"-KEATS. |