Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ELEGY WRITTEN AFTER READING THE 'SORROWS OF WERTER', by ROBERT MERRY



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ELEGY WRITTEN AFTER READING THE 'SORROWS OF WERTER', by                    
First Line: Alas, poor werter! To himself a prey
Last Line: He lost that charlotte, and he sought for rest!
Alternate Author Name(s): Della Crusca
Subject(s): Grief; Loss; Prejudice; Rest; Sorrow; Sadness; Bias; Intolerance


ALAS, poor Werter! to himself a prey,
The heart's excessive workings could not bear;
But sought his native heaven the nearest way,
And fled from grief, from anguish, and despair.

The joys of prejudice he scorned to own,
He pitied pride, and avarice, and power;
But oft on some rude rock at random thrown,
He welcomed midnight's melancholy hour.

To view the moon's pale glimpse illume the wave,
To list the sweeping blasts that sadly blow;
Down the rough steep, to hear the cat'racts rave;
Such were the pleasures of this man of woe.

An isolated being here he stood,
His strong sensations with how few could blend!
The wise, the great, the gay, perhaps the good,
They knew him not—they could not comprehend.

Charlotte alone, by nature was designed
To fill the vacuum of his generous breast;
He loved her beauty, he admired her mind;
He lost that Charlotte, and he sought for rest!





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