Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SEA PIECE, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS


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SEA PIECE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sublime is thy prospect, thou proud-rolling ocean
Last Line: The power that can hush or arouse thee at will.
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Sea; Ocean


SUBLIME is thy prospect, thou proud rolling Ocean,
And Fancy surveys thee with solemn delight;
When thy mountainous billows are wild in commotion,
And the tempest is roused by the spirits of night.

When the moonbeams through winter-clouds faintly appearing,
At intervals gleam on the dark-swelling wave;
And the mariner, dubious, now hoping, now fearing,
May hear the stern Genius of hurricanes rave.

But now, when thine anger has long been subsiding,
And the tempest has folded the might of its wing;
How clear is thy surface, in loveliness gliding,
For April has opened the portals of spring.

Now soft on thy bosom the orient is beaming,
And tremulous breezes are waving thy breast;
On thy mirror the clouds and the shadows are streaming,
And morning and glory the picture have drest.

No gale but the balmy Favonian is blowing,
In coral caves resting, the winds are asleep;
And, rich in the sunbeam, yon pendants are glowing,
That tinge with their colours the silvery deep.

Yet smile or be dreadful, thou still-changing Ocean,
Tremendous or lovely, resistless or still;
I view thee adoring, with hallowed emotion,
The Power that can hush or arouse thee at will.





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