Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, VERSES FROM THE ALGERINE CAPTIVE, by ROYALL TYLER


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

VERSES FROM THE ALGERINE CAPTIVE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The glorious sun himself
Last Line: Are the young sighings of a contrite heart.
Alternate Author Name(s): Old Simon; S.
Subject(s): Genet, Edmond Charles (1763-1834); Paine, Thomas (1737-1809); Prince, Thomas (1687-1758); Robespierre, Maximilien De (1758-1794); Sanderson, Thomas (1759-1829)


Volume I, Chapter 2
-- The glorious Sun himself
Bears on his splendid disk dark spots obscure.
Who, in his bright career, denotes those stars,
Or basely from his full meridian turns,
And scorns his grateful salutary rays?

Volume I, Chapter 4

Nor yet alone by day th' unerring hand
Of Providence unseen directs man's path;
But, in the boding vision of the night,
By antic shapes, in gay fantastic dream,
Gives dubious prospect of the coming good;
Or, with fell precipice, or deep swolen flood,
Dark dungeon, or vain flight from savage foe,
The labouring slumberer warns of future ill.

Volume I, Chapter 10

Was Milton blind, who pierc'd the gloom profound
Of lowest Hades thro' seven-fold night
Of shade; with shade compact, saw the arch fiend
From murky caves, and fathomless abyss,
Collect in close divan his fierce compeers:
Or, with the mental eye, thro' awful clouds,
And darkness thick, unveil'd the throne of him
Whose 'vengeful thunder smote the rebel fiend?
Was Sanderson, who to the seeing crowd
Of wondering pupils taught, sightless himself,
The wond'rous structure of the human eye?

Volume I, Chapter 29

Fierce Robespierre strides o'er the crimson'd scene,
And howls for lamp-posts and the guillotine;
While wretched Paine, to 'scape the bloody strife,
Damns his mean soul to save his meaner life.

Volume II, Chapter 2

Despoiled of all the honours of the free,
The beaming dignities of man eclipsed,
Degraded to a beast, and basely sold
In open shambles, like the stalled ox.

Volume II, Chapter 9

With aspect sweet as heavenly messenger
On deeds of mercy sent, a form appears:
Unfading chaplets bloom upon her brow,
Eternal smiles play o'er her winning face,
And frequent promise opes her flattering lips.
'Tis Hope, who from the dayless dungeon
Points the desponding wretch to scenes of bliss;
And ever and anon she draws the veil
Of blank futurity, and shows him where,
Far, far beyond the oppressor's cruel grasp,
His malice and his chains, he shares again
The kindred mirth and feast under the roof
Paternal, or beside his social fire
Presses the lovely partner of his heart;
While the dear pledges of their mutual love
Gambol around in sportive innocence.
Anon th' illusive phantom mocks his sight,
And leaves the frantic wretch to die
In pristine darkness, fetters, and despair!

Volume II, Chapter 15

O'er trackless seas, beneath the starless sky,
Or when thick clouds obscure the lamp of day,
The seaman, by the faithful needle led,
Dauntless pursues his devious destin'd course:
Thus, on the boundless waste of ancient time,
Still let the faithful pen unerring point
The polar truth.

Volume II, Chapter 16

Not such as erst illumin'd ancient Greece --
Cities for arts and arms and freedom fam'd --
The den of despots and the wretch's grave.

Volume II, Chapter 19

All arm'd in proof, the fierce banditti join
In horrid phalanx, urg'd by hellish rage,
To glut their vengeance in the blood of those
That worship Him who shed his blood for all.

Volume II, Chapter 20

Quaint Fashion too was there,
Whose caprice trims
The Indian's wampum
And the crown of kings.

Volume II, Chapter 21

Praetulerim scriptor delirus inersque videri,
Dum mea delectant mala me vel denique fallant.
Hor. Epist. ii.

Done into English Metre

I'd rather wield as dull a pen
As chatty B- or bungling Ben;
Tedious as doctor P-nce, or rather
As Samuel, Increase, Cotton M -- r;
And keep of truth the beaten track,
And plod the old cart-rut of fact,
Than write as fluent, false, and vain,
As cit Genet or Tommy Paine.

Volume II, Chapter 22

O prone to grovelling error, thus to quit
The firm foundations of a Saviour's love,
And build on stubble!

Volume II, Chapter 23

See childish man, neglecting reason's law,
Contend for trifles, differ for a straw.

Volume II, Chapter 35

Sweeter than the harmonica or lute,
Or lyre swept by the master's pliant hand,
Soft as the hymn of infant seraphim,
Are the young sighings of a contrite heart.





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