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Proud , as a charger curvetting and stamping , And tossiug his matte th $ storoi ' s fury to brave , * In royal defiance the foamy bit champipg— 45 So fearless he trod before chieftain and slave . Like a spring-day of gladness , hre life swiftly hurried ,
Sparkling , away , with an evening-stars glance , In the golden-bright wine-cup his sorrows he buried , And scatter ed his cares in the maze of the dance . 5 ^ Worlds of rich promise lay hid in bis bosom , Oh !—when he reaches his manhood ' s fair prime , Kejoice , thou blest Father , rejoice in the blossom Thy bud may put forth in its fulness of time .
No!—Hark ! a sound that church-yard portal gave , 55 Its iron-hinges grate upon thine ears , Opening a vista to yon vaulted grave , — No , Father ! give a loose to all thy tears . Go , lovM one , tread the path-way of the sun , Perfect , exalt , enjoy thy deathless powers , ( Jo Quench now , at length thy pilgrim journey done , Thy god-like thirst of bliss , amid Valhalla ' s bowers . Look , rapturous thought ! look there at Eden ' s door !
Hark 1 now the coffin drops within the ground With dumb and sullen clang ; while , rattling , pour 65 The updrawn grave-cords their complaining sound . There , drunk with sorrow , how we dash'd and roll'd Against each other—not a word we spoke ; Our eyes , our bitter murmurs cried , Hold , hold ! Our tears in warmer , faster streams outbroke . 70
With deaden'd rays O ' er still sepulchral groves the moon delays , Sighing , the Night-Spirit sweeps the vaulted gloom ; The mist-clouds lower—The stars j ust shower 75
Faint , mournful beams , like lamps within the tomb . The coffin yields a dull and hollow din . Oh for one glance , though worlds the price should pay ! The grave , when once , for ever closes in—Dull , duller , rings that tumbling earth-heap ' s din . The grave must ne ' er give back its prey » 81
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Commentary .
The principal object of the poem is to represent the succession of mournful ideas , of bitter recollections , of half delirious , but immediately extinguished hopes , of imaginations , reflections , and even seasonal
impressions ; at one instant wild and delusive , and at another religious and sober , which throng through the soul of an aged father who is following the corpse of a beloved son to the tomb . The first twenty-four lines are a narrative description uttered directly in the person of the author .
Ver . 9 . The poet must be supposed walking in this train , or at least joining them soon afterwards aud mingling in their grief . ( See Ters . 67—70 . ) 16 . The old man who is introduced
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staggering on his crutch in convulsive grief before the train , is supposed in this line to be for an instant roused from his reverie by the imaginary vibration on his ear of the word Father . The lines which follow ( 16—30 ) describe , first , his confused terror at the sound , and next , the agony he experiences when the view of the hearse before him corrects his
mistake , and brings anew to his recollection the full truth and reality of his situation . From vers . 25 to 64 , either the poet or some other sympathetic spectator seems to be reading the thoug hts and feelings of the father , and then describing them in a kind of apostrophe . 30—51 . The old man , after this
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584 Critical Synopsis of the Monthly Repository for October ; 1825 *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1826, page 584, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2553/page/12/
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