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352 347

seven bishops who refused, in 1688, to read the
King's Declaration of Indulgence. He was com-
mitted to the Tower by James II.
The song
voices the indignation of the people at his arrest.
He was afterwards tried and acquitted.

The Shandon Bells are the chimes of St. Anne
Shandon's Church in Cork.

354 348 The Sonnets from the Portuguese were written by Elizabeth Barrett, in 1849, the year before her marriage to Robert Browning. Despite the title, they are not translations, but original poems. The entire series comprises forty-four sonnets: the ones here given are numbers one, eight, ten, fourteen, and forty-three of the series.

356 353

The reference to Theocritus is to the Fifteenth Idyll, lines 103-4: —

"Still, though they move on lagging wing,

The Hours some balmy blessing bring.'

In Greek Mythology the Hours were the goddesses of the Seasons.

A Musical Instrument is from the volume of "Last Poems," published in 1862, the year after Mrs. Browning's death. The god Pan, in Greek Mythology, was the god of woods and fields, of flocks and shepherds. He was fond of music and was the inventor of the Syrinx, or Shepherd's pipe, formed of reeds of different lengths so set as to complete the musical scale. To this invention the poem has reference.

358 355 The Rubáiyát are translated by Edward FitzGerald (1809-1883) from the Persian of Omar Khayyám, the Persian poet of the 11th century. A rubai is a stanza of four lines of equal length, the first, second and fourth riming, the third left blank.

364 356

The translations of FitzGerald are exceedingly fine, many of the rubáiyát being really original stanzas on a Persian theme. The rubáiyát here given are from the original edition of FitzGerald's translations, published in 1859.

Richard Monckton Milnes, who was elevated to the peerage as Baron Houghton, by Lord Palmerston, in 1863, was a notable English parliamentarian who during his Parliamentary career took an active part in the movements of the day. He travelled extensively and befriended many young writers and artists. He published several volumes of travels and poems and was the editor, in 1848, of "The Life and Letters of Keats."

The poem here given is from his volume "Poems of Many Years," published in 1838.

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366 357 The lyrics here given from Tennyson represent different periods of his poetic life.

375 367

376 370

The Miller's Daughter is from the "Poems" of 1833; Break, break, break, from the second volume of "Poems of 1842; The Brook, from "Maud and other poems," 1855; As thro' the land, The splendour falls on castle walls, Tears, idle tears and O Swallow, Swallow, from "The Princess," 1850; Ring out, wild bells, from section cvi, "In Memoriam," 1850; Come into the garden, Maud, from "Maud, 1885; In Love, if Love be Love, from Merlin and Vivien, in "Idylls of the King," 1859.

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The three lyrics here given are from the dramatic poem "Pippa Passes," first published in 1841. In The Lost Leader, Browning had Wordsworth in mind, having the feeling that Wordsworth had grown conservative as he advanced in years. The poem is taken from "Bells and Pomegranates,' 1845. Home Thoughts, from Abroad and Home Thoughts, from the Sea are from the same edition.

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379 373 Misconceptions: from "Men and Women," 1855. A Woman's Last Word is from the second volume of the same edition.

381 375 Rabbi Ben Ezra. This poem is from "Dramatis Personæ, "1864. Ibn Ezra, or Ben Ezra, into whose mouth Browning puts the reflections in this poem, was born in Toledo, Spain, about 1090, and died about 1167. He was distinguished as philosopher, astronomer, physician, and poet, but especially as a grammarian and commentator. The ideas of the poem are drawn largely from the writings of Rabbi Ben Ezra. The opening line, "Grow old along with may be taken as an introduction to the thought of the poem, as if he had said, “Come, let us talk of old age.'

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387 376 Charles Mackay (1814-1889) was an editor of English and Scottish newspapers and a writer of songs. This poem is taken from his "Ballads and Lyrical Poems," published in 1856. The Biblical reference for Tubal Cain will be found in Genesis, iv. 22.

389 377 Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-1861) was educated at Balliol College at Oxford, was some time fellow at Oriel and afterwards in Government work in the Education Office. He was an intimate friend of Matthew Arnold, who commemorated him in his elegiac poem, Thyrsis.

Qua cursum ventus: wherever the wind directs the course.

PAGE NO. 391 379

The Choir Invisible was first published in 1874,
in "The Legend of Jubal and other Poems.'
Mary Ann Evans, afterwards Mrs. Cross,
known in literature as George Eliot (1819-
1880), was noted rather as a writer of fiction than
as a poet, and undoubtedly ranks as one of the
greatest of English novelists, though her repu-
tation is better sustained by her earlier books,
"Adam Bede," "Mill on the Floss," and "Silas
Marner,"
than by her later and more philo-

sophical novels.

392 380 Charles Kingsley (1819-1875), Clergyman, Professor of Modern History, Novelist, and Poet, lived and worked for the betterment of the condition of the poor and the oppressed.

Airly Beacon was published in 1858 in "Andromeda and other Poems"; The Sands of Dee is from the twenty-sixth chapter of the novel "Alton Locke," 1849; Young and Old is from the second chapter of Kingsley's delightful fantasy of "The Water Babies," 1863. 394 383. Jean Ingelow (1820-1897) was born in Boston, in Lincolnshire, and was the author of several popular novels and stories for children. The High Tide is taken from her "Poems," published in 1863.

399 384

409 388

413 389

414 391

Of the poems here given, A Summer Night is from "Empedocles on Etna and other Poems," 1852; Philomela and Requiescat are from the "Poems" of 1853: Rugby Chapel is from "New Poems," 1867.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) was equally noted as poet and painter and was the leader and exemplar of the Pre-Raphaelite School, both in Painting and in Poetry. In 1850, with the assistance of a few associates of the PreRaphaelite Brotherhood, he founded "The Germ,' a small monthly periodical of only four numbers, the last two of which were called 'Art and Poetry," but which gained distinction as the organ of the order and in which The Blessed Damozel appeared in 1850.

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Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894) was the sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and a poet of much distinction. The two poems here given are from her first book, "Goblin Market and other Poems," 1862.

While Alexander Smith (1820-1867) was pattern designer at Glasgow, he published poems in the "Glasgow Citizen" which won favor. In 1851, his first long poem, A Life Drama, appeared and made a sensation. He became

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417 392

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Secretary of the University of Edinburgh in 1854. Afterwards he edited an edition of Burns and published "Sonnets on the War," "City Poems," and "Edwin of Deira. The Song here given is from "City Poems," 1857. William Morris (1834-1896) gained distinction as decorative artist, as artistic painter, as poet, and as socialist and reformer. In connection with Rossetti he was one of the founders of "The Germ" and of the "Oxford and Cambridge Magazine," from which the poem here given is taken. He is especially noted as having applied the secret of beauty to decorative construction, and for the grace with which in his poetry he has reproduced the Germanic and Norse legendaries in fluent English Verse.

417 394 James Thomson (1834-1882) is best known as the author of "The City of Dreadful Night," 1880, a poem somewhat less considered now than when first published.

The lines, As we rush, are from a poem entitled Sunday at Hampstead, published in 1880. 418 394 Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909) is best known for the perfection of his rhythms and for the beauty of his musical verse. Itylus is from his first series of "Poems and Ballads," 1866; A Forsaken Garden from the second series of "Poems and Ballads," 1878.

422-396 William Ernest Henley (1849-1903) was editor, playwright, critic, and poet. The lyric here given, which is an assertion of the indomitable human will in the presence of adverse destiny, was written when Henley was himself stricken with illness.

425 397 Francis Thompson (1859-1907) was a mystical poet, aflame with religious passion. His poems, which were published in two volumes, though appealing rather to the thoughtful few than to the casual reader, have permanent value.

426 399

Of his longer poems, probably the most noted is The Hound of Heaven.

Alfred Noyes was born in 1880; he has published many books of poetry. "The heart of the child and the mind of the man are in him" says one critic. 429 402 John Masefield was born in Ledbury in Western England in 1874.

433 406

He was for many years a sailor, and he tells the secret of the seas in many of his first poems. William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin, in 1865. After the Dublin Schools, he studied art in London for three years, but turned from art to literature and the drama. He has published a number of volumes of poetry.

INDEX OF WRITERS

WITH DATES OF BIRTH AND DEATH

ALEXANDER, William (1580-1640).

To Aurora

ARNOLD, Matthew (1822-1888).

A Summer Night

Philomela

Requiescat

Rugby Chapel

BARBAULD, Anna Lætitia (1743-1825).
To Life

BARNEFIELD, Richard (16th century).

The Nightingale

BEAUMONT, Francis (1586-1616).

On the Tombs in Westminster Abbey

BLAKE, William (1757-1827).

Love's Secret

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If thou must love me.

BROWNING, Elizabeth Barrett (1806-1861).

I thought once how Theocritus had sung

What can I give thee back

Yet love, mere love

How do I love thee

A Musical Instrument

BROWNING, Robert (1812-1889).

The year's at the spring

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