English Poetry. William Lisle Bowles. Sonnet 3. O thou, whose stern command and precepts pure. Уильям Лайл Боулз.

William Lisle Bowles (Уильям Лайл Боулз)

Sonnet 3. O thou, whose stern command and precepts pure

O thou, whose stern command and precepts pure
(Tho' agony in every vein should start,
And slowly drain the blood-drops from the heart)
Have bade the patient spirit still endure;
Thou, who to sorrow hast a beauty lent,
On the dark brow, with resolution clad,
Illumining the dreary traces sad,
Like the cold taper on a monument;
O firm Philosophy! display the tide
Of human misery, and oft relate
How silent sinking in the storms of fate,
The brave and good have bow'd their head and died.
So taught by Thee, some solace I may find,
Remembering the sorrows of mankind.

William Lisle Bowles’s other poems:

1. Sonnet 11. Written at Ostend
2. Elegy Written at the Hot-Wells, Bristol
3. Sonnet 13. O Time!
4. Netley Abbey
5. Sonnet 5. To the River Tweed

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