Festival of song: a series of evenings with the poets . fe so still they Hve and breathe in fancys beings fraught with truths imperishable hue The evils of the protracted civil war in England, prevented notonly the progress of literature, but even prostrated its very existencefor upwards of a century after the death of Chaucer. With theexceptions of Gower, Wyatt, Raleigh, and Surrey, we meet with nogreat poet till the age of Spenser. The brilliant character of theEarl of Surrey,—both as to his military career and scholasticattainments, as well as his sad end,—alike endear h
Festival of song: a series of evenings with the poets . fe so still they Hve and breathe in fancys beings fraught with truths imperishable hue The evils of the protracted civil war in England, prevented notonly the progress of literature, but even prostrated its very existencefor upwards of a century after the death of Chaucer. With theexceptions of Gower, Wyatt, Raleigh, and Surrey, we meet with nogreat poet till the age of Spenser. The brilliant character of theEarl of Surrey,—both as to his military career and scholasticattainments, as well as his sad end,—alike endear him to celebrated poem, written during his unjust imprisonment atWindsor, is universally admired ; and some of his sonnets are noless beautiful. Here is one :— 7 The soote seson, that bud and bloom forth brings,With green hath clad the hill, and eke the vale ; The nightingale with feathers new she sings ;The turtle to her make hath told her tale. Summer is come, for every spray now springs ;The hart hath hung his old head on the pale ;. The buck in brake his winter coat he flings ; The fishes flete, with new repaired scale ;The adder all her slough away she flings ; The swift swallow pursueth the flies smaleThe busy bee her honey now she mings ; Winter is worn that was the flowers thus I see among these pleasant thingsEach care decays, and yet my sorrow springs. Of Sir Philip Sidney, it has been said, that his literary renownrests more upon his prose than his verse ; Cowper indeed refers tohim as warbler of poetic prose ;—yet he has his eminent place among the poets, and here is an effusion ot his muse : it is styled IVooing Stujfe :— Faint amorist,—what, dost thou think To taste loves honey, and not drink One drachm of gall ;—or to devour A world of swete, and taste no sour r Dost thou eer think to enter Th Elysian fields, that durst not venture In Charons barge ? A lovers mind Must use to sail with every wind. He that loves, and fears to try.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksu, booksubjectenglishpoetry
