ON READING WORDSWORTH'S SONNETS IN DEFENCE OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT - Druckversion +- Sonett-Forum (https://sonett-archiv.com/forum) +-- Forum: Sonett-Archiv (https://sonett-archiv.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=126) +--- Forum: Sonette aus germanischen Sprachen (https://sonett-archiv.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=394) +---- Forum: Englische Sonette (https://sonett-archiv.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=818) +----- Forum: Autoren L (https://sonett-archiv.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=839) +------ Forum: Lowell, James Russell (https://sonett-archiv.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=1003) +------ Thema: ON READING WORDSWORTH'S SONNETS IN DEFENCE OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT (/showthread.php?tid=23302) |
ON READING WORDSWORTH'S SONNETS IN DEFENCE OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT - ZaunköniG - 27.08.2014 ON READING WORDSWORTH'S SONNETS IN DEFENCE OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT As the broad ocean endlessly upheaveth, With the majestic beating of his heart, The mighty tides, whereof its rightful part Each sea-wide bay and little weed receiveth. So, through his soul who earnestly believeth, Life from the universal Heart doth flow, Whereby some conquest of the eternal Woe, By instinct of God's nature, he achieveth; A fuller pulse of this all-powerful beauty Into the poet's gulf-like heart doth tide, And he more keenly feels the glorious duty Of serving Truth, despised and crucified,-- Happy, unknowing sect or creed, to rest, And feel God flow forever through his breast. RE: ON READING WORDSWORTH'S SONNETS IN DEFENCE OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT - ZaunköniG - 27.08.2014 THE SAME CONTINUED Once hardly in a cycle blossometh A flower-like soul ripe with the seeds of song, A spirit foreordained to cope with wrong, Whose divine thoughts are natural as breath, Who the old Darkness thickly scattereth With starry words, that shoot prevailing light Into the deeps, and wither, with the blight Of serene Truth, the coward heart of Death: Woe, if such spirit thwart its errand high, And mock with lies the longing soul of man! Yet one age longer must true Culture lie, Soothing her bitter fetters as she can, Until new messages of love out-start At the next beating of the infinite Heart. RE: ON READING WORDSWORTH'S SONNETS IN DEFENCE OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT - ZaunköniG - 27.08.2014 THE SAME CONTINUED The love of all things springs from love of one; Wider the soul's horizon hourly grows, And over it with fuller glory flows The sky-like spirit of God; a hope begun In doubt and darkness 'neath a fairer sun Cometh to fruitage, if it be of Truth: And to the law of meekness, faith, and ruth, By inward sympathy, shall all be won: This thou shouldst know, who, from the painted feature Of shifting Fashion, couldst thy brethren turn Unto the love of ever-youthful Nature, And of a beauty fadeless and eterne; And always 'tis the saddest sight to see An old man faithless in Humanity. RE: ON READING WORDSWORTH'S SONNETS IN DEFENCE OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT - ZaunköniG - 27.08.2014 THE SAME CONTINUED A poet cannot strive for despotism; His harp falls shattered; for it still must be The instinct of great spirits to be free, And the sworn foes of cunning barbarism: He who has deepest searched the wide abysm Of that life-giving Soul which men call fate, Knows that to put more faith in lies and hate Than truth and love is the true atheism: Upward the soul forever turns her eyes: The next hour always shames the hour before; One beauty, at its highest, prophesies That by whose side it shall seem mean and poor; No Godlike thing knows aught of less and less, But widens to the boundless Perfectness. RE: ON READING WORDSWORTH'S SONNETS IN DEFENCE OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT - ZaunköniG - 27.08.2014 THE SAME CONTINUED Therefore think not the Past is wise alone, For Yesterday knows nothing of the Best, And thou shalt love it only as the nest Whence glory-winged things to Heaven have flown: To the great Soul only are all things known; Present and future are to her as past, While she in glorious madness doth forecast That perfect bud, which seems a flower full-blown To each new Prophet, and yet always opes Fuller and fuller with each day and hour, Heartening the soul with odor of fresh hopes, And longings high, and gushings of wide power, Yet never is or shall be fully blown Save in the forethought of the Eternal One. RE: ON READING WORDSWORTH'S SONNETS IN DEFENCE OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT - ZaunköniG - 27.08.2014 THE SAME CONCLUDED Far 'yond this narrow parapet of Time, With eyes uplift, the poet's soul should look Into the Endless Promise, nor should brook One prying doubt to shake his faith sublime; To him the earth is ever in her prime And dewiness of morning; he can see Good lying hid, from all eternity, Within the teeming womb of sin and crime; His soul should not be cramped by any bar, His nobleness should be so Godlike high, That his least deed is perfect as a star, His common look majestic as the sky, And all o'erflooded with a light from far, Undimmed by clouds of weak mortality. |