Birket Foster's pictures of English landscape . , Who planted and may fell,Must yield to him both trunk and limb To mould, as likes him , spite of axe and saw and plane, Smooth planks or rough, we still retainThe central lines of the native grain. 16 XVII. A WINTER PIECE. Frost in the air, till every spray Stands diamond-set with rime,That drops a while at mid of day, With tiny tinkling the ice the ducks a-dose, Dream of the pools to be ;The sheep for warmth lie huddled close Upon the naked lea. The grey skys necked with wan white gleams, And wan and white below,On laden t
Birket Foster's pictures of English landscape . , Who planted and may fell,Must yield to him both trunk and limb To mould, as likes him , spite of axe and saw and plane, Smooth planks or rough, we still retainThe central lines of the native grain. 16 XVII. A WINTER PIECE. Frost in the air, till every spray Stands diamond-set with rime,That drops a while at mid of day, With tiny tinkling the ice the ducks a-dose, Dream of the pools to be ;The sheep for warmth lie huddled close Upon the naked lea. The grey skys necked with wan white gleams, And wan and white below,On laden trees, and locked-up streams, And roof and road—the snowAll silent shrinks the feathered throng That cheered spring-wood and wold:Only the robin pipes his song, The cheerier for the cold. Dear household bird, whose gladsome strain, Beside the window-sill,Sounds like reproof of hearts too fain To freeze in winters chill!It sings This bare bough once was green, And green again will be ;Where winter is, Ive summer seen, And summer yet shall 17 XVIII. OLD COTTAGES. The cottage-homes of England! Yes, I know, How picturesque their moss and weather-stain,Their golden thatch, whose squared eves shadows throw On white-washed wall and deep-sunk latticed pane ;Their massive chimney stacks, against the dark Of overhanging boughs, elm, ash, or lime,Here weathered white, there red as cedar-bark In sun ; their walls all warped and wrung with time ;The well-worn step that from the threshold goes Down to brown Rembrandt depths of lighted gloom,Where the thick-leaded lattice scarcely shows The nooks aud corners of the shadowy room :The guelder-roses, snow on emerald-green, The ivy twining oer grey post and pale,The white-starred jessamine, whose fragrant screen Clothes the rough walls and scents the passing gale ;The bee-skeps, and their busy buzzing swarm Laden with honey from the bean-rows deep,The grey field-path, that to the upland farm Winds oer the lea, dotted with feeding sheep ;Th
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Keywords: ., bookauthordalzielgeorge18151902, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860
