The Earlier Poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1878. Excerpt: ... ESSAY ON MIND. BOOK I. SINCE Spirit first inspir'd, pervaded all, And Mind met Matter, at tV Eternal call--Since dust weigh'd Genius down, or Genius gave TV immortal halo to the mortal's grave; TV ambitious soul her essence hath defin'd, And Mind hath eulogiz'd the pow'rs of Mind. Ere Revelation's holy light began To strengthen Nature, and illumine Man--When Genius, on Icarian pinions, flew, And Nature's pencil, Nature's portrait, drew; When Reason shudder'd at her own wan beam, And Hope turn'd pale beneath the sickly gleam--Ev'n then hath Mind's triumphant influence spoke, Dust own'd the spell, and Plato's spirit woke--Spread her eternal wings, and rose sublime Beyond th' expanse of circumstance and time; Blinded, but free, with faith instinctive, soar'd, And found her home, where prostrate saints ador'd Thou thing of light that warm'st the breasts of man, Breath'st from the lips, and tremblest from the pen Thou, form'd at once t' astonish, fire, beguile, --With Bacon reason, and with Shakespeare smile I The subtle cause, ethereal essence say, Why dust rules dust, and clay surpasses clay; Why a like mass of atoms should combine To form a Tully, and a Catiline 1 Or why, with flesh perchance of equal weight, One cheers a prize-fight, and one frees a state 1 Why do not I the muse of Homer call, Or why, indeed, did Homer sing at all 1 Why wrote not Blackstone upon love's delusion, Or Moore, a libel on the Constitution Why must the faithful page refuse to tell That Dante, Laura sang, and Petrarch, Hell-That Tom Paine argued in the throne's defence--That Byron nonsense wrote, and Thurlow sense--That Southey sigh'd with all a patriot's cares, While Locke gave utterance to Hexameters 1 Thou thing of light instruct my pen to find Th' unequal pow'rs, the vari...