Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ROSAMUND: ROSAMOND'S SONG, by JOSEPH ADDISON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ROSAMUND: ROSAMOND'S SONG, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: From walk to walk, from shade to shade
Last Line: Fly to my arms, my monarch, fly!
Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Love; Passion; Singing & Singers; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens; Songs


FROM walk to walk, from shade to shade,
From stream to purling stream convey'd,
Through all the mazes of the grove,
Through all the mingling tracts I rove,
Turning,
Burning,
Changing,
Ranging,
Full of grief and full of love,
Impatient for my lord's return
I sigh, I pine, I rave, I mourn.
Was ever passion cross'd like mine?
To rend my breast,
And break my rest,
A thousand ills combine.
Absence wounds me,
Fear surrounds me,
Guilt confounds me,
Was ever passion cross'd like mine?

How does my constant grief deface
The pleasures of this happy place!
In vain the spring my senses greets,
In all her colours, all her sweets;
To me the rose
No longer glows,
Every plant
Has lost his scent;
The vernal blooms of various hue,
The blossoms fresh with morning dew,
The breeze, that sweeps these fragrant bowers,
Fill'd with the breath of op'ning flowers,
Purple scenes,
Winding greens,
Glooms inviting,
Birds delighting
(Nature's softest, sweetest store),
Charm my tortur'd soul no more.
Ye powers, I rave, I faint, I die:
Why so slow, great Henry, why?
From death and alarms
Fly, fly to my arms,
Fly to my arms, my monarch, fly!





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