Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems — 1829 text

Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems — 1829 text Local reading text of the 1829 volume, assembled from its historical sections in the cited electronic transcription. All 16 distinct linked historical text files in the source contents were included; Al Aaraaf files contain both parts where present. This preserves the early text rather than substituting later Raven Edition readings. It is not a scanned original or a diplomatic facsimile: typography, ornamental rules and page layout are simplified; some half-titles are not represented by the source. Historical author notes are retained. Modern website commentary and double-bracketed editorial corrections are omitted. No independent word-by-word proofreading is claimed. [Prefatory Material] [COPY RIGHT SECURED.] [Matchett & Woods, printers.] Entiendes, Fabio, lo que voi deciendo? Toma, si, lo entendio: — Mientes, Fabio. AL AARAAF. DEDICATION. Who drinks the deepest’ — here's to him. CLEVELAND “A star was discovered by Tycho Brahe which burst forth, in a moment, with a splendor surpassing that of Jupiter — then gradually faded away and became invisible to the naked eye.” [Sonnet — To Science] SCIENCE! meet daughter of old Time thou art Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes! Why prey'st thou thus upon the poet's heart, Vulture! whose wings are dull realities! How should he love thee — or how deem thee wise Who woulds’t not leave him, in his wandering, To seek for treasure in the jewell'd skies Albeit, he soar with an undaunted wing? Hast thou not dragg'd Diana from her car, And driv’n the Hamadryad from the wood To seek a shelter in some happier star? The gentle Naiad from her fountain-flood? The elfin from the green grass? and from me The summer dream beneath the shrubbery? Al Aaraaf — Parts I and II AL AARAAF. Part I. O! NOTHING earthly save the ray [Thrown back from flowers] of Beauty's eye, As in those gardens where the day Springs from the gems of Circassy — O! nothing earthly save the thrill Of melody in woodland rill — Or [music of the passion-hearted] Joy's voice so peacefully departed That like the murmur in the shell, Its echo dwelleth and will dwell — With nothing of the dross of ours — Yet all the beauty — all the flowers That list our Love, and deck our bowers Adorn yon world afar, afar — The wandering star — 'Twas a sweet time for Nesace — for there Her world lay lolling on the golden air, Near four bright suns — a temporary rest — A garden-spot in desert of the blest. Away — away — mid seas of rays that roll Empyrean splendor o'er th' unchained soul — The soul that scarce [the billows are so dense] Can struggle to its destin'd eminence — To distant spheres, from time to time, she rode, And late to ours, the favour'd one of God — But, now, the ruler of an anchor'd realm, She throws aside the sceptre — leaves the helm, And, amid incense, and high spiritual hymns, Laves in quadruple light her angel limbs. Now happiest, loveliest in yon lovely Earth, Whence sprang the “Idea of Beauty” into birth. [Falling in wreaths thro' many a startled star, Like woman's hair 'mid pearls, until, afar, It lit on hills Archaian, and there dwelt] She look'd into Infinity — and knelt. Rich clouds, for canopies, about her curled — Fit emblems of the model of her world — Seen but in beauty — not impeding sight Of other beauty glittering thro' the light — A wreath that twined each starry form around, And all the opal'd air in colour bound. All hurriedly she knelt upon a bed Of flowers: of lilies such as rear the head * On the fair Capo Deucato, and sprang So eagerly around about to hang Upon the flying footsteps of —— deep pride — † Of her who lov'd a mortal — and so died — The Sephalica, budding with young bees, Uprear'd its purple stem around her knees — ‡ And gemmy flower, of Trebizond misnamed — Inmate of highest stars, where erst it sham'd All other loveliness: its honied dew [The fabled nectar that the heathen knew] Deliriously sweet, was dropp'd from Heaven, And fell on gard