To one who in this lonely isle hath been The watcher of thy sleep and hours of life, From the young day when first thy infant hand Pluck'd witless the weak flowers, till thine arm Could bend that bow heroic to all times. Show thy heart's secret to an ancient Power Who hath forsaken old and sacred thrones For prophecies of thee, and for the sake Of loveliness new born."-Apollo then, With sudden scrutiny and gloomless eyes, Thus answer'd, while his white melodious throat Throbb'd with the syllables.-" Mnemosyne! Thy name is on my tongue, I know not how: Why should I tell thee what thou so well seest? Why should I strive to show what from thy lips Would come no mystery? For me, dark, dark, And painful vile oblivion seals my eyes: I strive to search wherefore I am so sad, Until a melancholy numbs my limbs ; And then upon the grass I sit, and moan, Like one who once had wings.-O why should I Feel curs'd and thwarted, when the liegeless air Yields to my step aspirant? why should I Spurn the green turf as hateful to my feet? Goddess benign, point forth some un known thing: Are there not other regions than this isle? What are the stars? There is the sun, Names, deeds, gray legends, dire events, rebellions, Majesties, sovran voices, agonies, While his enkindled eyes, with level glance Beneath his white soft temples, steadfast kept Trembling with light upon Mnemosyne. Soon wild commotions shook him, and made flush All the immortal fairness of his limbs; Most like the struggle at the gate of death; Or liker still to one who should take leave Of pale immortal death, and with a pang As hot as death's is chill, with fierce O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms ! I see a lily on thy brow With anguish moist and fever dew, And on thy cheeks a fading rose Fast withereth too. I met a lady in the meads, Full beautiful- a faery's child, I made a garland for her head, I set her on my pacing steed, And nothing else saw all day long. For sidelong would she bend, and sing A faery's song. She found me roots of relish sweet, And honey wild, and manna dew, And sure in language strange she said— "I love thee true." She took me to her elfin grot, And there she wept, and sigh'd full sore, And there I shut her wild wild eyes With kisses four. And there she lulléd me asleep. And there I dream'd-Ah! woe betide! The latest dream I ever dream'd On the cold hill's side. I saw pale kings and princes too, Pale warriors, death-pale were they all; They cried-"La Belle Dame sans Merci Hath thee in thrall!” I saw their starv'd lips in the gloam, And this is why I sojourn here, lake And no birds sing. 1819. May 10, 1820. LANDOR LIST OF REFERENCES EDITIONS Works, 8 volumes, Chapman & Hall, London, 1874-76. Works, 10 vol. umes, edited by C. G. Crump, The Macmillan Co. Poems, Dialogues in Verse, and Epigrams, 2 volumes, edited by C. G. Crump, the Macmillan Co. Letters and other unpublished Writings, edited by S. Wheeler, London, 1897. Letters, Private and Public, edited by S. Wheeler, London, 1899. Selections from Landor, edited by Sidney Colvin (Golden Treasury Series). BIOGRAPHY *FORSTER (John), W. S. Landor: A Biography, 2 volumes, 1869; also (abridged) as Vol. I. of Works, 1874. *COLVIN (Sidney), Landor (English Men of Letters Series). REMINISCENCES AND EARLY CRITICISM ROBINSON (H. C.), Diary, Vol. II, Chap. XII, etc. MITFORD (M. R.), Recollections of a Literary Life. BROWNING (Elizabeth Barrett), in Horne's New Spirit of the Age. EMERSON, Natural History of Intellect. DE QUINCEY, Masson's edition, Vol. XI. DUFFY (C. Gavan), Conversations with Carlyle. HUNT (Leigh), Lord Byron and his Contemporaries. BLESSINGTON (Marguerite), The Idler in Italy. MADDEN (R. R.), The Literary Life and Correspondence of the Countess of Blessington. See also the Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. LATER CRITICISM * BOYNTON (H. W.), Poetry of Landor, in the Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 90, page 126, July, 1902, * COLVIN (Sidney), Preface to the volume of Selections in the Golden Treasury Series. * DOWDEN (Edward), Studies in Literature. EVANS (E. W.), A Study of Landor. HENLEY (W. E.), Views and Reviews. LEE (Vernon), Studies in Literary Psychology: The Rhetoric of Landor, in the Contemporary Review, Vol. 84, Page 856, 1903. LOWELL (J. R.), Latest Literary Essays and Addresses. OLIPHANT (Margaret), Victorian Age of English Literature. SAINTSBURY (George), Essays in English Literature, Second Series. SCUDDER (H. E.), Men and Letters: Landor as a Classic. * STEDMAN (E C.), Victorian Poets. STEPHEN (Leslie), Hours in a Library, Vol. II. *SWINBURNE, Miscella* WOODBERRY (G. E.), Studies in Letters and Life. nies. BROOKS (S. W.), English Poets. DE VERE (Aubrey), Essays, chiefly on Poetry, Vol. II. DEVEY (J.), Comparative Estimate of Modern English Poets. DIXON (W. M.), English Poetry. DOWDEN (Edward), French Revolution and English Literature. NENCIONI (E.), Letteratura inglese: Colvin, Biografia di Landor. PAYNE (W. M.), Greater English Poets of the Nineteenth Century, 1907. SYMONS (A.), The Poetry of Landor; in the Atlantic, June, 1906. SYMONS (A.), The Romantic Movement in English Poetry, 1909. WHITING (L.), The Florence of Landor, 1905. TRIBUTES IN VERSE. **WATSON (W.), Landor's Hellenics. JAPP (A. H.), Landor, in Stedman's Victorian Anthology. ** SWINBURNE, Poems and Ballads, First Series: In Memory of Walter Savage Landor. * SWINBURNE, Studies in Song: Song for the Centenary of Walter Savage Landor. BIBLIOGRAPHY WHEELER (S.), in Letters and Other Unpublished Writings of Landor. LANDOR GEBIR Nor shield immense nor coat of massive mail, But that upon their towering heads they Each a huge stone, refulgent as the stars. Next to a mother's held a nurse's name, days, Love me, tho' 'twere because you lov'd me then." But whether confident in magic rites Or touched with sexual pride to stand implor'd, Dalica smiled, then spake: "Away those fears, Though stronger than the strongest of his kind, He falls on me devolve that charge; he falls. Rather than fly him, stoop thou to al- Nay, journey to his tents. A city stood self |