Poems

by William Allingham

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: XXII. THE LIGHTHOUSE. The plunging storm flies fierce against the pane, And thrills our cottage with redoubled shocks; The chimney mutters and the rafters strain; Without, the breakers roar along the rocks. See, from our fire and taper-lighted room, How savage, pitiless, and uncontroll'd The grim horizon shows its tossing gloom Of waves from unknown angry gulfs uproll'd; Where, underneath that black portentous lid, A long pale space between the night and sea Gleams awful; while in deepest darkness hid All other things in our despair agree. But lo ! what star amid the thickest dark A soft and unexpected dawn has made ? O welcome Lighthouse, thy unruffled spark, Piercing the turmoil and the deathly shade ! THE LIGHTHOUSE. 67 By such a glimpse o'er the distracted wave Full many a soul to-night is re-possest Of courage and of order, strong to save; And like effect it works within my breast. Three faithful men have set themselves to stand Against all storms that from the sky can blow, Where peril must expect no aiding hand, And tedium no relief may hope to know. Nor shout they, passing brothers to inform What weariness they feel, or what affright; But tranquilly in solitude and storm Abide from month to month, and show their light. chapter{Section 4XXIII. THE VALLEY STREAM. Stream flowing swiftly, what music is thine ! The breezy rock-pass, and the storm-wooing pine, Have taught thee their murmurs, Their wild mountain murmurs; Subdued in thy liquid response to a sound Which aids the repose of this pastoral ground; Where our valley yet mingles an awe with the love It smiles to the sheltering bastions above; Thy cloud-haunted birthplace, O Stream, flowing swiftly! Encircle our meadows with bount...

Genres: Poetry

174 pages, Paperback

First published August 12, 2015

About the author

William Allingham was an Irish poet, diarist and editor. He wrote several volumes of lyric verse, and his poem 'The Faeries' was much anthologised; but he is better known for his posthumously published Diary, in which he records his lively encounters with Tennyson, Carlyle and other writers and artists.


Librarian Note: For the English physician go to William Allingham.

Reviews

[Surreysmum · Rating 2 out of 5]

[These notes were made in 1989:]. This is a modern selection of Allingham's work, by an editor who, tho' an obvious partisan, admits that some of the material he omitted is "engagingly bad." Based on this selection, I can't say I'm a tremendous fan of Mr. Allingham, born & for some part employed in Ireland, but fleeing frequently to England & English culture. Much of what is included in this collection is balladry, a form with which I am not much in sympathy. The false metrics (music accommodates extra syllables, while the eye scanning the page does not) and inane-seeming onomatopoeic effects get on my nerves a bit. The sonnets aren't bad - they have the occasional image that takes on some reality. There's an occasional flash of political fire - most noticeably against Irish eviction procedures - but very tame compared to Grant Allen, whom I've just finished reading.