Classic and Contemporary Poetry
UPON THE KING'S RETURN FROM SCOTLAND, by JOHN CLEVELAND Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Returned, I'll ne'er believe't; first prove him hence Last Line: Now he the counterpart comes south to us. Subject(s): Charles I, King Of England (1600-1649) | ||||||||
RETURNED, I'll ne'er believe't; first prove him hence; Kings travel by their beams and influence. Who says the soul gives out her gests, or goes A flitting progress 'twixt the head and toes? She rules by omnipresence, and shall we Deny a prince the same ubiquity? Or grant he went, and, 'cause the knot was slack, Girt both the nations with his zodiac, Yet as the tree at once both upward shoots, And just as much grows downward to the roots, So at the same time that he posted thither By counter-stages he rebounded hither. Hither and hence at once; thus every sphere Doth by a double motion interfere; And when his native form inclines him east, By the first mover he is ravished west. Have you not seen how the divided dam Runs to the summons of her hungry lamb; But when the twin cries halves, she quits the first? Nature's commendam must be likewise nursed. So were his journeys like the spider spun Out of his bowels of compassion. Two realms, like Cacus, so his steps transpose, His feet still contradict him as he goes. England's returned that was a banished soil. The bullet flying makes the gun recoil. Death's but a separation, though endorsed With spade and javelin; we were thus divorced. Our soul hath taken wing while we express The corpse, returning to our principles. But the Crab-tropic must not now prevail; Islands go back but when you're under sail. So his retreat hath rectified that wrong; Backward is forward in the Hebrew tongue. Now the Church Militant in plenty rests, Nor fears, like th' Amazon, to lose her breasts. Her means are safe; not squeezed until the blood Mix with the milk and choke the tender brood. She, that hath been the floating ark, is that She that's now seated on Mount Ararat. Quits Charles; our souls did guard him northward thus Now he the counterpart comes south to us. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A CHRISTMAS CAROL, SUNG TO THE KING IN THE PRESENCE AT WHITEHALL by ROBERT HERRICK BY THE STATUE OF KING CHARLES AT CHARING CROSS by LIONEL PIGOT JOHNSON ON THE FUNERAL OF CHARLES I; AT NIGHT, IN ST. GEORGE'S CHAPEL, WINDSOR by WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES CROMWELL'S SOLILOQUY OVER THE DEAD BODY OF CHARLES by EDWARD GEORGE EARLE LYTTON BULWER-LYTTON ON A ROYAL VISIT TO THE VAULTS by GEORGE GORDON BYRON WINDSOR POETICS by GEORGE GORDON BYRON TO THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTY PRINCE CHARLES by THOMAS CAMPION TO THE KING, AT HIS ENTRANCE INTO SAXHAM, BY MASTER JOHN CROFTS by THOMAS CAREW ELEGY UPON KING CHARLES THE FIRST, MURDERED PUBLICLY BY HIS SUBJECTS by JOHN CLEVELAND |
|