Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ON A PICTURE BY HOPPNER, by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ON A PICTURE BY HOPPNER, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: And you went once with myrtle crowned!'
Last Line: By goldsmith's jasmine flowers!
Alternate Author Name(s): Dobson, Austin
Subject(s): Goldsmith, Oliver (1730-1774); Hoppner, John (1758-1810); Paintings & Painters


(MRS. GWYN -- GOLDSMITH'S 'JESSAMY BRIDE')

'AND you went once with myrtle crowned!'
You once were she, for whom
Poor GOLDSMITH'S gentle genius found
That name of jasmine-bloom!

How strange it seems! You whom he loved,
You who were breathing, vital,
Not feigned in books, for us have proved
Scarce but a fragrant title;

A shade too shadowy far to stand
Beside the girl PRIMROSES --
Beside the dear old VICAR, and
Our more-than-brother, MOSES!

We cannot guess your voice, who know
Scamp TONY'S view-halloo;
For us e'en thin Beau TIBBS must show
More palpable than you!

Yet some scant news we have. You came,
When that kind soul had fled;
You begged his hair; you kept his name
Long on your lips, 'tis said;

You lived -- and died. Or when, or how,
Who asks? This age of ours
But marks your grass-grown headstone now
By GOLDSMITH'S jasmine flowers!





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