Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ELEGIAC SONNET: 56. CAPTIVE ESCAPED IN WILDS OF AMERICA, by CHARLOTTE SMITH


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ELEGIAC SONNET: 56. CAPTIVE ESCAPED IN WILDS OF AMERICA, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: If, by his torturing, savage foes untraced
Last Line: As I, my harriet, bless thy friendship's cheering light.
Alternate Author Name(s): Smith, Charlotte Turner
Subject(s): O'neill, Henrietta (1758-1793); United States; America


If, by his torturing, savage foes untraced,
The breathless Captive gain some trackless glade,
Yet hears the war-whoop howl along the waste,
And dreads the reptile-monsters of the shade;
The giant reeds that murmur round the flood,
Seem to conceal some hideous form beneath;
And every hollow blast that shakes the wood,
Speaks to his trembling heart of woe and death.
With horror fraught, and desolate dismay,
On such a wanderer falls the starless night;
But if, far streaming, a propitious ray
Leads to some amicable fort his sight,
He hails the beam benign that guides his way,
As I, my Harriet, bless thy friendship's cheering light.





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