English poetry

PoetsBiographiesPoems by ThemesRandom Poem
The Rating of PoetsThe Rating of Poems

Poem by Anna Seward


Sonnet 60. Why view'st thou, Edwy, with disdainful mien


Why view'st thou, Edwy, with disdainful mien
    The little Naiad of the Downton Wave?
    High 'mid the rocks, where her clear waters lave
    The circling, gloomy basin.—In such scene,
Silent, sequester'd, few demand, I ween,
    That last perfection Phidian chisels gave.
    Dimly the soft and musing Form is seen
    In the hush'd, shelly, shadowy, lone concave.—
As sleeps her pure, tho' darkling fountain there,
    I love to recollect her, stretch'd supine
    Upon its mossy brink, with pendent hair,
As dripping o'er the flood.—Ah! well combine
    Such gentle graces, modest, pensive, fair,
    To aid the magic of her watry shrine.

The above Sonnet was addressed to a Friend, who had fastidiously despised, because he did not think it exquisite sculpture, the Statue of a Water-Nymph in Mr. Knight's singular, and beautiful Cold Bath at Downton Castle near Ludlow. It rises amidst a Rotunda, formed by Rocks, and covered with shells, and fossils, in the highest elevation of that mountainous and romantic Scene.



Anna Seward


Anna Seward's other poems:
  1. Sonnet 30. That song again!—its sounds my bosom thrill
  2. Sonnet 28. O, Genius! does thy Sun-resembling beam
  3. Sonnet 52. Long has the pall of Midnight quench'd the scene
  4. Sonnet 63. Thy Genius, Colebrooke, faithless to his charge
  5. Sonnet 25. Fortunate Vale! exulting Hill! dear Plain!

Warning: mysql_num_rows(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/geocafeana/eng-poetry.ru/docs/english/Poem.php on line 211


Poem to print Print

1266 Views



Last Poems


To Russian version


Ðåéòèíã@Mail.ru

English Poetry. E-mail eng-poetry.ru@yandex.ru