The landskip such, inspiring perfect ease, And flowery beds, that slumbrous influence Where INDOLENCE (for so the wizard hight11) kest,4 Close-hid his castle mid embowering trees, From poppies breathed; and beds of pleasant That half shut out the beams of Phoebus bright, If ought of oaten stop,2 or pastoral song, 1 rustics, peasants *This song, which flows almost like an improvisation, Collins constructed from the scene in Cymbeline IV. ii, 215-229, in which Guiderius and Arviragus speak over the body of their sister Imogen, who is disguised as Fidele and O nymph reserved, while now the bright-haired whom they suppose to be dead: sun 2 The azured harebell, like thy veins, no, nor With charitable bill, this: .. bring thee all Yea, and furr'd moss besides, when flowers are none, To winter-ground thy corse. “Although less popular than The Deserted Village and Gray's Elegy, the Ode to Evening is yet like them in embodying in exquisite form sights, sounds, and feelings of such permanent beauty that age cannot wither them nor custom stale."-W. C. Bronson. See also Eng. Lit., 219-220. No children run to lisp their sire's return, 7 Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, The little tyrant of his fields withstood; Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest, Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.* 16 Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has Th' applause of listening senates to command, broke; How joeund did they drive their team afield! How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke! 8 Let not ambition mock their useful toil, 9 The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, The paths of glory lead but to the grave. 10 The threats of pain and ruin to despise, 17 Their lot forbade: nor circumscribed alone Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne, 18 The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide, 19 Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault, Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, The pealing anthem swells the note of praise. 11 Can storied urn or animated bust Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? Can honour's voice provoke the silent dust, Or flattery soothe the dull cold ear of death? 12 Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; Hands, that the rod of empire might have swayed, Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre. 13 But knowledge to their eyes her ample page 14 Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear: Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air. 15 Their sober wishes never learned to stray; 20 Yet even these bones from insult to protect, Implores the passing tribute of a sigh. 21 Their name, their years, spelt by th' unlettered The place of fame and elegy supply: 22 For who to dumb forgetfulness a prey, This pleasing anxious being e'er resigned, Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, Nor cast one longing lingering look behind? 23 On some fond breast the parting soul relies, Some village Hampden, that with dauntless 61. e.. write fattering |