PART I

POEMS OF NATURE.

'Tis born with all: the love of Nature's works
Is an ingredient in the compound, man,
Infused at the creation of the kind.
And, though the Almighty Maker has throughout
Discriminated each from each, by strokes
And touches of his hand, with so much art
Diversified, that two were never found
Twins at all points-yet this obtains in all,
That all discern a beauty in his works,
And all can taste them: minds that have been form'd
And tutor'd with a relish more exact,
But none without some relish, none unmoved.

COWPER

Nature's voice is sweet
Wherever heard; her works, wherever seen,
Are might and beauty to the mind and eye;
To the lone heart, though oceans roll between,
She speaks of things that but with life can die.

LLIOTT

POEMS OF NATURE.

The World is too much with us. THE world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers : Little we see in nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon; The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gather'd now like sleeping flowers ; For this, for every thing, we are out of tune; It moves us not.-Great God! I'd rather be A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn ; Have sight of Proteus coming from the sea ; Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

WORDSWORTH.

Ministrations of Nature. WITH other ministrations thou, O Nature, Healest thy wandering and distemper'd child ! Thou pourest on him thy soft influences, Thy sunny hues, fair forms, and breathing sweets, Thy melodies of woods, and winds, and waters; Till he relent, and can no more endure To be a jarring and discordant thing Amid this general dance and minstrelsy; But, bursting into tears, wins back his way, His angry spirit heal'd and harmonized By the benignant touch of love and beauty.

COLERIDGE

Flowers, the Stars of Earth.
SPAKE full well, in language quaint and olden,

One who dwelleth by the castled Rhine,
When he call'd the flowers, so blue and golden,

Stars, that in earth’s firmament do shine.
Stars they are, wherein we read our history,

As astrologers and seers of eld;
Yet not wrapp'd about with awful mystery,

Like the burning stars which they beheld.
Wondrous truths, and manifold as wondrous,

God hath written in those stars above; But not less in the bright flowerets under us

Stands the revelation of his love. Bright and glorious is that revelation

Written all over this great world of ours; Making evident our own creation,

In these stars of earth—these golden flowers. And the Poet, faithful and far-seeing,

Sees, alike in stars and flowers, a part Of the self-same universal being,

Which is throbbing in his brain and heart. Gorgeous flowerets in the sun-light shining;

Blossoms flaunting in the eye of day,
Tremulous leaves, with soft and silver lining,

Buds that open only to decay;
Brilliant hopes, all woven in gorgeous tissues,

Flaunting gaily in the golden light;
Large desires, with most uncertain issues;

Tender wishes, blossoming at night! These in flowers and men are more than seeming;

Workings are they of the self-same powers, Which the Poet, in no idle dreaming,

Seeth in himself and in the flowers. Everywhere about us are they glowing,

Some like stars, to tell us Spring is born ; Others, their blue eyes with tears o'erflowing,

Stand like Ruth amid the golden corn;