FROM THE GREEK OR
AESCHYLUS
153
A LAMENT FOR ADONIS.
A LAMENT FOR ADONIS.
Elizabeth Browning
I never mistook pleasure for the
final cause of poetry; nor leisure, for the hour of the poet. I have
done my work, so far, as work,--not as mere hand and head work, apart
from the personal being,--but as the completest expression of that being
to which I could attain,--and as work I offer it to the public,--feeling
its shortcomings more deeply than any of my readers, because measured
from the height of my aspiration,--but feeling also that the reverence
and sincerity with which the work was done should give it some
protection with the reverent and sincere.
LONDON: 50 WIMPOLE STREET,
1844.
ADVERTISEMENT.
This edition, including my earlier and later writings, I have
endeavoured to render as little unworthy as possible of the indulgence
of the public. Several poems I would willingly have withdrawn, if it
were not almost impossible to extricate what has been once caught and
involved in the machinery of the press. The alternative is a request to
the generous reader that he may use the weakness of those earlier
verses, which no subsequent revision has succeeded in strengthening,
less as a reproach to the writer, than as a means of marking some
progress in her other attempts.
E. B. B.
LONDON, 1856.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
A DRAMA OF EXILE. 1
THE SERAPHIM.
PART THE FIRST 107
PART THE SECOND 121
EPILOGUE 150
PROMETHEUS BOUND.
FROM THE GREEK OR AESCHYLUS 153
A LAMENT FOR ADONIS. FROM THE GREEK OF BION 213
A VISION OF POETS 223
THE POET'S VOW.
PART THE FIRST 277
PART THE SECOND 284
PART THE THIRD 292
PART THE FOURTH 295
PART THE FIFTH 300
A DRAMA OF EXILE
_PERSONS. _
CHRIST, _in a Vision. _
ADAM.
EVE.
GABRIEL.
LUCIFER.
_Angels, Eden Spirits, Earth Spirits, and Phantasms. _
A DRAMA OF EXILE.
SCENE--_The outer side of the gate of Eden shut fast with cloud, from
the depth of which revolves a sword of fire self-moved. ADAM and EVE are
seen, in the distance flying along the glare. _
LUCIFER, _alone. _
Rejoice in the clefts of Gehenna,
My exiled, my host!
Earth has exiles as hopeless as when a
Heaven's empire was lost.
Through the seams of her shaken foundations,
Smoke up in great joy!
final cause of poetry; nor leisure, for the hour of the poet. I have
done my work, so far, as work,--not as mere hand and head work, apart
from the personal being,--but as the completest expression of that being
to which I could attain,--and as work I offer it to the public,--feeling
its shortcomings more deeply than any of my readers, because measured
from the height of my aspiration,--but feeling also that the reverence
and sincerity with which the work was done should give it some
protection with the reverent and sincere.
LONDON: 50 WIMPOLE STREET,
1844.
ADVERTISEMENT.
This edition, including my earlier and later writings, I have
endeavoured to render as little unworthy as possible of the indulgence
of the public. Several poems I would willingly have withdrawn, if it
were not almost impossible to extricate what has been once caught and
involved in the machinery of the press. The alternative is a request to
the generous reader that he may use the weakness of those earlier
verses, which no subsequent revision has succeeded in strengthening,
less as a reproach to the writer, than as a means of marking some
progress in her other attempts.
E. B. B.
LONDON, 1856.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
A DRAMA OF EXILE. 1
THE SERAPHIM.
PART THE FIRST 107
PART THE SECOND 121
EPILOGUE 150
PROMETHEUS BOUND.
FROM THE GREEK OR AESCHYLUS 153
A LAMENT FOR ADONIS. FROM THE GREEK OF BION 213
A VISION OF POETS 223
THE POET'S VOW.
PART THE FIRST 277
PART THE SECOND 284
PART THE THIRD 292
PART THE FOURTH 295
PART THE FIFTH 300
A DRAMA OF EXILE
_PERSONS. _
CHRIST, _in a Vision. _
ADAM.
EVE.
GABRIEL.
LUCIFER.
_Angels, Eden Spirits, Earth Spirits, and Phantasms. _
A DRAMA OF EXILE.
SCENE--_The outer side of the gate of Eden shut fast with cloud, from
the depth of which revolves a sword of fire self-moved. ADAM and EVE are
seen, in the distance flying along the glare. _
LUCIFER, _alone. _
Rejoice in the clefts of Gehenna,
My exiled, my host!
Earth has exiles as hopeless as when a
Heaven's empire was lost.
Through the seams of her shaken foundations,
Smoke up in great joy!
