Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE ANGEL IN THE HOUSE: BOOK 1. CANTO 10. GOING TO CHURCH, by COVENTRY KERSEY DIGHTON PATMORE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I woke at three; for I was bid Last Line: By the vibrations of my heart. Subject(s): Public Worship; Church Attendance | ||||||||
1 I woke at three; for I was bid To breakfast with the Dean at nine, And thence to Church. My curtain slid, I found the dawning Sunday fine; And could not rest, so rose. The air Was dark and sharp; the roosted birds Cheep'd, 'Here am I, Sweet; are you there?' On Avon's misty flats the herds Expected, comfortless, the day, Which slowly fired the clouds above; The cock scream'd, somewhere far away; In sleep the matrimonial dove Was crooning; no wind waked the wood, Nor moved the midnight river-damps, Nor thrill'd the poplar; quiet stood The chestnut with its thousand lamps; The moon shone yet, but weak and drear, And seem'd to watch, with bated breath, The landscape, all made sharp and clear By stillness, as a face by death. 2 My pray'rs for her being done, I took Occasion by the quiet hour To find and know, by Rule and Book, The rights of love's beloved power. 3 Fronting the question without ruth, Nor ignorant that, evermore, If men will stoop to kiss the Truth, She lifts them higher than before, I, from above, such light required As now should once for all destroy The folly which at times desired A sanction for so great a joy. 4 Thenceforth, and through that pray'r, I trod A path with no suspicions dim. I loved her in the name of God, And for the ray she was of Him; I ought to admire much more, not less; Her beauty was a godly grace; The mystery of loveliness, Which made an altar of her face, Was not of the flesh, though that was fair, But a most pure and living light Without a name, by which the rare And virtuous spirit flamed to sight. If oft, in love, effect lack'd cause And cause effect, 'twere vain to soar Reasons to seek for that which was Reason itself, or something more. My joy was no idolatry Upon the ends of the vile earth bent, For when I loved her most then I Most yearn'd for more divine content. That other doubt, which, like a ghost, In the brain's darkness haunted me, Was thus resolved: Him loved I most, But her I loved most sensibly. Lastly, my giddiest hope allow'd No selfish thought, or earthly smirch; And forth I went, in peace, and proud To take my passion into Church; Grateful and glad to think that all Such doubts would seem entirely vain To her whose nature's lighter fall Made no divorce of heart from brain. 5 I found them, with exactest grace And fresh as Spring, for Spring attired; And by the radiance in her face I saw she felt she was admired; And, through the common luck of love, A moment's fortunate delay, To fit the little lilac glove, Gave me her arm; and I and they (They true to this and every hour, As if attended on by Time), Enter'd the Church while yet the tower Was noisy with the finish'd chime. 6 Her soft voice, singularly heard Beside me, in her chant, withstood The roar of voices, like a bird Sole warbling in a windy wood; And, when we knelt, she seem'd to be An angel teaching me to pray; And all through the high Liturgy My spirit rejoiced without allay, Being, for once, borne clearly above All banks and bars of ignorance, By this bright spring-tide of pure love And floated in a free expanse, Whence it could see from side to side, The obscurity from every part Winnow'd away and purified By the vibrations of my heart. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE WHEELING GOSPEL TABERNACLE by JAMES WRIGHT GIRLS GOING TO CHURCH by JOHN CIARDI EFFECT OVER DISTANCE by ALBERT GOLDBARTH THE RESPECTABLE BURGHER, ON 'THE HIGHER CRITICISM' by THOMAS HARDY GOSPEL VILLANELLE by ANDREW HUDGINS SONG BEFORE SORROW by LOUISE A. BALDWIN REMARKS TO THE BACK OF A PEW by WILLIAM ROSE BENET WHITE SPIRITUAL by WILLIAM BERRY A LONDON FETE by COVENTRY KERSEY DIGHTON PATMORE |
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