Classic and Contemporary Poetry
STANZAS ON THE DEATH OF MRS. HEMANS, by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Bring flowers to crown the cup and lute Last Line: And I can write no more. Alternate Author Name(s): L. E. L.; Maclean, Letitia Subject(s): Hemans, Felicia (1793-1835) | ||||||||
BRING flowers to crown the cup and lute, -- Bring flowers, -- the bride is near; Bring flowers to soothe the captive's cell, Bring flowers to strew the bier! Bring flowers! thus said the lovely song; And shall they not be brought To her who linked the offering With feeling and with thought? Bring flowers, -- the perfumed and the pure, -- Those with the morning dew, A sigh in every fragrant leaf, A tear on every hue. So pure, so sweet thy life has been, So filling earth and air With odours and with loveliness, Till common scenes grew fair. Thy song around our daily path Flung beauty born of dreams, And scattered o'er the actual world The spirit's sunny gleams. Mysterious influence, that to earth Brings down the heaven above, And fills the universal heart With universal love. Such gifts were thine, -- as from the block, The unformed and the cold, The sculptor calls to breathing life Some shape of perfect mould, So thou from common thoughts and things Didst call a charmed song, Which on a sweet and swelling tide Bore the full soul along. And thou from far and foreign lands Didst bring back many a tone, And given such new music still, A music of thine own. A lofty strain of generous thoughts, And yet subdued and sweet, -- An angel's song, who sings of earth, Whose cares are at his feet. And yet thy song is sorrowful, Its beauty is not bloom; The hopes of which it breathes, are hopes That look beyond the tomb. Thy song is sorrowful as winds That wander o'er the plain, And ask for summer's vanish'd flowers, And ask for them in vain. Ah! dearly purchased is the gift, The gift of song like thine; A fated doom is her's who stands The priestess of the shrine. The crowd -- they only see the crown, They only hear the hymn; -- They mark not that the cheek is pale, And that the eye is dim. Wound to a pitch too exquisite, The soul's fine chords are wrung; With misery and melody They are too highly strung. The heart is made too sensitive Life's daily pain to bear; It beats in music, but it beats Beneath a deep despair. It never meets the love it paints, The love for which it pines; Too much of Heaven is in the faith That such a heart enshrines. The meteor-wreath the poet wears Must make a lonely lot; It dazzles, only to divide From those who wear it not. Didst thou not tremble at thy fame, And loathe its bitter prize, While what to others triumph seemed, To thee was sacrifice? Oh, Flower brought from Paradise To this cold word of ours, Shadows of beauty such as thine Recall thy native bowers. Let others thank thee -- 'twas for them Thy soft leaves thou didst wreathe; The red rose wastes itself in sighs Whose sweetness others breathe! And they have thanked thee -- many a lip Has asked of thine for words, When thoughts, life's finer thoughts, have touched The spirit's inmost chords. How many loved and honoured thee Who only knew thy name; Which o'er the weary working world Like starry music came! With what still hours of calm delight Thy songs and image blend; I cannot choose but think thou wert An old familiar friend. The charm that dwelt in songs of thine My inmost spirit moved; And yet I feel as thou hadst been Not half enough beloved. They say that thou wert faint, and worn With suffering and with care; What music must have filled the soul That had so much to spare! Oh, weary One! since thou art laid Within thy mother's breast -- The green, the quiet mother-earth -- Thrice blessed be thy rest! Thy heart is left within our hearts, Although life's pang is o'er; But the quick tears are in my eyes, And I can write no more. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CASABIANCA by ELIZABETH BISHOP FELICIA HEMANS by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON LINES WRITTEN ON THE DEATH OF MRS. HEMANS by MARIA ABDY TO L.E.L. ON THE DEATH OF FELICIA HEMANS by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING "ANSWER TO 'THE MESSENGER BIRD,' BY AN AMERICAN QUAKER LADY" by ANONYMOUS CASABIANCA by ELIZABETH BISHOP STATELY HOMES OF ENGLAND by NOEL COWARD CALYPSO WATCHING THE OCEAN by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON FELICIA HEMANS by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON THE CASTLE OF CHILLON by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON THE FACTORY; 'TIS AN ACCURSED THING! by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON |
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