Hymn To Woden by William Lisle Bowles
God of the battle, hear our prayer! By the lifted falchion’s glare; By the uncouth fane sublime, Marked with many a Runic rhyme; By the “weird sisters” dread, That, posting through the battle red, Choose the slain, and with them go To Valhalla’s halls below, Where the phantom-chiefs prolong Their echoing feast, a giant throng, […]
Hope, An Allegorical Sketch by William Lisle Bowles
I am the comforter of them that mourn; My scenes well shadowed, and my carol sweet, Cheer the poor passengers of life’s rude bourne, Till they are sheltered in that last retreat, Where human toils and troubles are forgot. These sounds I heard amid this mortal road, When I had reached with pain one pleasant […]
Epitaph On H. Walmsley, Esq., by William Lisle Bowles
IN ALVERSTOKE CHURCH, HANTS. Oh! they shall ne’er forget thee, they who knew Thy soul benevolent, sincere, and true; The poor thy kindness cheered, thy bounty fed, Whom age left shivering in its dreariest shed; Thy friends, who sorrowing saw thee, when disease Seemed first the genial stream of life to freeze, Pale from thy […]
Elegy Written At Hotwells, Bristol by William Lisle Bowles
INSCRIBED TO THE REV. W. HOWLEY. The morning wakes in shadowy mantle gray, The darksome woods their glimmering skirts unfold, Prone from the cliff the falcon wheels her way, And long and loud the bell’s slow chime is tolled. The reddening light gains fast upon the skies, And far away the glistening vapours sail, Down […]
Distant View Of England From The Sea by William Lisle Bowles
Yes! from mine eyes the tears unbidden start, As thee, my country, and the long-lost sight Of thy own cliffs, that lift their summits white Above the wave, once more my beating heart With eager hope and filial transport hails! Scenes of my youth, reviving gales ye bring, As when erewhile the tuneful morn of […]
Death Of Captain Cooke, by William Lisle Bowles
OF “THE BELLEROPHON,” KILLED IN THE SAME BATTLE. When anxious Spain, along her rocky shore, From cliff to cliff returned the sea-fight’s roar; When flash succeeding flash, tremendous broke The haze incumbent, and the clouds of smoke, As oft the volume rolled away, thy mien, Thine eye, serenely terrible, was seen, My gallant friend.–Hark! the […]
Battle Of Corruna by William Lisle Bowles
The tide of fate rolls on!–heart-pierced and pale, The gallant soldier lies, nor aught avail, The shield, the sword, the spirit of the brave, From rapine’s armed hand thy vales to save, Land of illustrious heroes, who, of yore, Drenched the same plains with the invader’s gore, Stood frowning, in the front of death, and […]
Avenue In Savernake Forest by William Lisle Bowles
How soothing sound the gentle airs that move The innumerable leaves, high overhead, When autumn first, from the long avenue, That lifts its arching height of ancient shade, Steals here and there a leaf! Within the gloom, In partial sunshine white, some trunks appear, Studding the glens of fern; in solemn shade Some mingle their […]
At Tynemouth Priory by William Lisle Bowles
AFTER A TEMPESTUOUS VOYAGE. As slow I climb the cliff’s ascending side, Much musing on the track of terror past, When o’er the dark wave rode the howling blast, Pleased I look back, and view the tranquil tide That laves the pebbled shore: and now the beam Of evening smiles on the gray battlement, And […]
At Oxford by William Lisle Bowles
Bereave me not of Fancy’s shadowy dreams, Which won my heart, or when the gay career Of life begun, or when at times a tear Sat sad on memory’s cheek–though loftier themes Await the awakened mind to the high prize Of wisdom, hardly earned with toil and pain, Aspiring patient; yet on life’s wide plain […]
At Malvern by William Lisle Bowles
I shall behold far off thy towering crest, Proud mountain! from thy heights as slow I stray Down through the distant vale my homeward way, I shall behold upon thy rugged breast, The parting sun sit smiling: me the while Escaped the crowd, thoughts full of heaviness May visit, as life’s bitter losses press Hard […]
At Dover by William Lisle Bowles
Thou, whose stern spirit loves the storm, That, borne on Terror’s desolating wings, Shakes the high forest, or remorseless flings The shivered surge; when rising griefs deform Thy peaceful breast, hie to yon steep, and think,– When thou dost mark the melancholy tide Beneath thee, and the storm careering wide,– Tossed on the surge of […]
Approach Of Summer by William Lisle Bowles
How shall I meet thee, Summer, wont to fill My heart with gladness, when thy pleasant tide First came, and on the Coomb’s romantic side Was heard the distant cuckoo’s hollow bill! Fresh flowers shall fringe the margin of the stream, As with the songs of joyance and of hope The hedge-rows shall ring loud, […]
Abba Thule’s Lament For His Son Prince Le Boo by William Lisle Bowles
I climb the highest cliff; I hear the sound Of dashing waves; I gaze intent around; I mark the gray cope, and the hollowness Of heaven, and the great sun, that comes to bless The isles again; but my long-straining eye, No speck, no shadow can, far off, descry, That I might weep tears of […]
A Rustic Seat Near The Sea by William Lisle Bowles
To him, who, many a night upon the main, At mid-watch, from the bounding vessel’s side, Shivering, has listened to the rocking tide, Oh, how delightful smile thy views again, Fair Land! the sheltered hut, and far-seen mill That safe sails round and round; the tripping rill That o’er the gray sand glitters; the clear […]
A Garden-Seat At Home by William Lisle Bowles
Oh, no; I would not leave thee, my sweet home, Decked with the mantling woodbine and the rose, And slender woods that the still scene inclose, For yon magnificent and ample dome That glitters in my sight! yet I can praise Thee, Arundel, who, shunning the thronged ways Of glittering vice, silently dost dispense The […]