Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DEATH-SMILE OF COWPER, by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DEATH-SMILE OF COWPER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O orphan smile! Born since our mourner died
Last Line: A death-smile, and the sorrow that it quelled.
Subject(s): Cowper, William (1731-1800); Poetry & Poets


'O orphan smile! born since our mourner died -
We ever long'd for thee, but saw thee not,
Till now, in posthumous beauty; nought beside
Could have so moved us, while our tears were hot
And thrilling. Art thou not to each sad friend
The symbol of a long-desired release?
A lovely prelude of immortal peace,
Now that the storm of life has reached its end?'
Fresh from kind Hayley's page these words I wrote,
As though I lean'd o'er Cowper, and beheld,
As present fact, what I from records quote;
By rapture of pure sympathy impell'd
To join those first eye-witnesses, and note
A death-smile, and the sorrow that it quelled.





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