Welcome Bat and Owlet Gray. O welcome bat and owlet gray, Upon the soft wind floats her hair, Tennyso n. Alfred Tennyson ward um 1816 geboren, ist der Sohn eines Predigers in Lincolnshire, studirte zu Cambridge und hat bis jetzt zwei Bände Poesieen veröffentlicht, in welchen er sich Keats zum Vorbilde genommen. Seine Leistungen zeichnen sich durch reiche Phantasie, Kraft und Leichtigkeit aus, doch hascht er oft nach eigenthümlichen Ausdrücken und Empfindungen, deren Gesuchtheit ihre Wirkung schwächt. Buonaparte. He thought to quell the stubborn hearts of oak, Madman! to chain with chains, and bind with bands That island queen that sways the floods and From Ind to Ind, but in fair daylight woke, Mariana. With blackest moss the flower plots That held the peach to the garden wall. She only said, "My life is dreary, Peal after peal, the British battle broke, briars. Her tears fell with the dews at even, Either at morn or eventide. When thickest dark did trance the sky, She drew her casement curtain by, And glanced athwart the glooming flats. And ever when the moon was low, She saw the gusty shadow sway. And wild winds bound within their cell, She only said, "The night is dreary, She said, "I am aweary, aweary, All day within the dreamy house, The doors upon their hinges creaked; The blue fly sung i' the pane; the mouse Behind the mouldering wainscot shrieked, Or from the crevice peered about. Old faces glimmered through the doors, She only said, "My life is dreary, The sparrow's chirrup on the roof, The slow clock ticking, and the sound Which to the wooing wind aloof The poplar made, did all confound Her sense; but most she loathed the hour When the thick moted sunbeam lay Athwart the chambers, and the day Down-sloped was westering in his bower. Then, said she, "I am very dreary, He will not come," she said; She wept, "I am aweary, aweary, Oh, God, that I were dead!" The Merman. Who would be A merman bold, Sitting alone, Singing alone Under the sea, With a crown of gold On a throne? I would be a merman bold; I would sit and sing the whole of the day; And then we would wander away, away, I would kiss them often under the sea, And kiss them again till they kissed me Laughingly, laughingly. Oh! what a happy life were mine Under the hollow-hung ocean green! Soft are the moss-beds under the sea; We would live merrily, merrily. The Mermaid. Who would be Singing alone, In a golden curl, With a comb of pearl, On a throne? I would be a mermaid fair; I would sing to myself the whole of the day; From under my starry sea-bud crown, And I should look like a fountain of gold With a shrill inner sound, Over the throne In the midst of the hall; Till that great sea-snake under the sea, Round the hall where I sate, and look in at the gate, With his large calm eyes for the love of me. Die in their hearts for the love of me. But at night I would wander away, away, I would fling on each side my low flowing locks; And lightly vault from the throne and play With the mermen in and out of the rocks; We would run to and fro, and hide and seek On the broad seawolds i' the crimson shells, Whose silvery spikes are nighest the sea. But if any came near I would call, and shriek, And adown the steep like a wave I would leap, From the diamond ledges that jut from the dells: For I would not be kiss'd by all who list, In the purple twilights under the sea; And if I should carol aloud, from aloft All things that are forked, and horned, and soft Would lean out from the hollow sphere of the sea, All looking down for the love of me. Lilian. Airy, fairy Lilian, Flitting, fairy Lilian, When I ask her if she love me, Claps her tiny hands above me, Laughing all she can; She'll not tell me if she love me, Cruel little Lilian. When my passion seeks She, looking through and through me, Smiling, never speaks: So innocent-arch, so cunning-simple, From beneath her purfled wimple, Glancing with black-beaded eyes Till the lightning laughters dimple, The baby roses in her cheeks, Then away she flies. Prythee weep, May Lilian! Gaiety without eclipse Wearieth me, May Lilian; Through my very heart it thrilleth When from crimson threaded lips Silver treble laughter trilleth; Prythee weep, May Lilian, If prayers will not hush thee, Like a rose-leaf I will crush thee, Love and Death. Love wept, and spread his sheeny vans for flight; Thou art the shadow of life, and as the tree What time the mighty moon was gathering light Yet, ere he parted, said, "This hour is thine: Life eminent creates the shade of death; Howitt. Mary Howitt, einer Quäkerfamilie angehörend und mütterlicher Seite von dem berühmten Charles Wood abstammend, welcher zuerst die Platina in England einführte, ward um 1806 zu Coleford in Gloucestershire geboren und vermählte sich in ihrem einundzwanzigsten Jahre mit dem gleichfalls als Schriftsteller ausgezeichneten William Howitt. Sie lebten nach ihrer Verheirathung anfangs zu Nottingham, dann zu Esher in Surrey und haben in den letzteren Jahren längere Zeit in Deutschland, namentlich in Heidelberg, zugebracht. Theils in Verbindung mit ihrem Gatten, theils allein gab Mistress Howitt heraus: The Forest Minstrel, London 1823; the Desolation of Eyam and other Poems, London 1827; The seven Temptations, a series of dramatic poems, London 1834; ferner Jugendschriften wie: Sketches of Natural History, Tales in Verse, u. A. m. sowie einzelne Gedichte und Aufsätze in Zeitschriften und Almanachen. Tiefe, echte Frömmigkeit, reiche Einbildungskraft, warmes Gefühl, Herrschaft über Sprache und Form und grosse Anmuth der Darstellung, haben ihren Leistungen viele Freunde erworben und ihr eine sehr ehrenvolle Stellung in der englischen literarischen Welt gesichert. "But I saw his white and palsied lips, When he turned in hurried haste away, He was chained to the deck with his heavy "In his cabin, alone, the captain kept, guilt, And the blood that was not dry. And he bolted fast the door; "The captain's son was on board with us, "And the plagues of the storm will follow us, "I loved the child, For Heaven his groans hath heard!' Still the captain's eye was fixed on me, and I took his hand, And made him kneel, and pray That the crime, for which the calm was sent, |