'MONGST the world's wonders, there doth yet remain One greater than the rest, that 's all those o'er again, And her own self beside: a lady whose soft breast Is with vast honour's soul and virtue's life possess'd. Fair, as original light first from the chaos shot, When day in virgin-beams triumph'd, and night was not. And as that breath infus'd in the new-breather good, When ill unknown was dumb, and bad not understood; Cheerful, as that aspect at this world's finishing, When Cherubims clapp'd wings, and th' Sons of Heav'n did sing; Chaste as th' Arabian bird, who all the air denies, And ev'n in flames expires, when with herself she lies. Oh! she 's as kind as drops of new fall'n April showers, That on each gentle breast spring fresh perfuming flowers; She 's constant, gen'rous, fix'd, she 's calm, she is the all We can of virtue, honour, faith, or glory call, And she is (whom I thus transmit to endless fame) Mistress o' th' world and me, and LAURA is her name. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...I WANT TO LIVE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON SONGS OF EXPERIENCE: INTRODUCTION by WILLIAM BLAKE SONNET: 18. ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEDMONT by JOHN MILTON ELEGIAC STANZAS SUGGESTED BY A PICTURE OF PEELE CASTLE, IN A STORM by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH THE FROGS: THE RIVAL POETS by ARISTOPHANES SONG OF THE GREEK AMAZON by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT SONGS OF THE SEA CHILDREN: PRELUDE by BLISS CARMAN TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: PART 4. EASTER DAY ON MT. MOUNIER by EDWARD CARPENTER |