Classic and Contemporary Poetry
LINES WRITTEN AT NEEDLES HOTEL, ALUM BAY, ISLE OF WIGHT, AFTER A WEEK, by THOMAS NOON TALFOURD Poet's Biography First Line: How simple in their grandeur are the forms Last Line: Of home on english earth, and home in heaven! Alternate Author Name(s): Talfourd, Sergeant Subject(s): Wight, Isle Of | ||||||||
How simple in their grandeur are the forms That constitute this picture! Nature grants Scarce more than sternest cynic might desire -- Earth, sea, and sky, and hardly lends to each Variety of colour; yet the soul Asks nothing fairer than the scene it grasps And makes its own for ever! From the gate Of this home-featured inn, which nestling cleaves To its own shelf among the downs, begirt With trees which lift no branches to defy The fury of the storm, but crouch in love Round the low snow-white walls whence they receive More shelter than they lend -- the heart-soothed guest Views a furze-dotted common, on each side Wreath'd into waving eminences, clothed Above the furze with scanty green, in front Indented sharply to admit the sea, Spread thence in softest blue -- to which a gorge, Sinking within the valley's deepening green, Invites by grassy path; the eastern down, Swelling with pride into the waters, shows Its sward-tipp'd precipice of radiant white, And claims the dazzling peak beneath its brow Part of its ancient bulk, which hints the strength Of those famed pinnacles that still withstand The conquering waves, as fortresses maintain'd By death-devoted troops, hold out awhile After the game of war is lost, to prove The virtue of the conquer'd. -- Here are scarce Four colours for the painter; yet the charm Which permanence, mid worldly change, confers Is felt, if ever, here; for he who loves To bid this scene refresh his inward eye When far away, may feel it keeping still The very aspect that it wore for him, Sure changed by time or season: autumn finds Scant boughs on which the lustre of decay May tremble fondly; storms may rage in vain Above the clumps of sturdy furze, which stand The forest of the fairies; twilight gray Finds in the landscape's stern and simple forms Naught to conceal; the moon, although she cast Upon the element, she sways a track Like that which slanted through young Jacob's sleep From heaven to earth, and flutter'd at the soul Of shadow's mighty painter, who thence drew Hints of a glory beyond shape, reveals The clear-cut framework of the sea and downs Shelving to gloom, as unperplex'd with threads Of pallid light, as when the summer's noon Bathes them in sunshine; and the giant cliffs Scarce veiling more their lines of flint, that run Likeveins of moveless blue, through their bleak sides, In moonlight than in day, shall tower as now (Save when some moss's slender stain shall break Into the samphire's yellow in mid air, To tempt some trembling life) until the eyes Which gaze in childhood on them shall be dim. Yet deem not that these sober forms are all That Nature here provides, although she frames These in one lasting picture for the heart. Within the foldings of the coast she breathes Hues of fantastic beauty. Thread the gorge And, turning on the beach, while the low sea Spread out in mirror'd gentleness, allows A path along the curving edge, behold Such dazzling glory of prismatic tints Flung o'er the lofty crescent, as assures The orient gardens where Aladdin pluck'd Jewels for fruit no fable -- as if earth, Provoked to emulate the rainbow's gauds In lasting mould, had snatch'd its floating hues And fix'd them here; for never o'er the bay Flew a celestial arch of brighter grace Than the gay coast exhibits; here the cliff Flaunts in a brighter yellow than the stream Of Tiber wafted; then with softer shades Declines to pearly white, which blushes soon With pink as delicate as autumn's rose Wears on its scattering leaves; anon the shore Recedes into a fane-like dell, where stain'd With black, as if with sable tapestry hung, Light pinacles rise taper: further yet Swells out in solemn mass a dusky veil Of purpled crimson, -- while bright streaks of red Start out in gleam-like tint, to tell of veins Which the slow-winning sea, in distant times, Shall bare to unborn gazers. If this scene Grow too fantastic for thy pensive thought, Climb either swelling down, and gaze with joy On the blue ocean, pour'd around the heights, As it embraced the wonders of that shield Which the vow'd friend of slain Patroclus wore, To grace his fated valour; nor disdain The quiet of the vale, though not endow'd With such luxurious beauty as the coast Of Undercliff embosoms; -- mid those lines Of scanty foliage, thoughtful lanes and paths, And cottage roofs find shelter; the blue stream, That with its brief vein almost threads the isle, Flows blest with two gray towers, beneath whose The village life sleeps trustfully, whose rites Touch the old weather-harden'd fisher's heart shade With child-like softness, and shall teach the boy Who kneels, a sturdy grandson, at his side, When his frail boat amidst the breakers parts To cast the anchor of a Christian hope In an unrippled haven. Then rejoice, That in remotest point of this sweet isle, Which with fond mimicry combines each shape Of the great land that, by the ancient bond (Sea-parted once, and sea-united now) Binds her in unity -- a spirit breaths On cliff, and tower, and valley, by the side Of cottage-fire, and the low grass-grown grave, Of home on English earth, and home in heaven! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A FAREWELL TO THE ISLE OF WIGHT by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER ON THE MONUMENT OF PRINCESS ELIZABETH STUART - ISLE OF WIGHT by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER A FRIEND by THOMAS NOON TALFOURD TO THE MEMORY OF POETS by THOMAS NOON TALFOURD TO THE THAMES AT WESTMINSTER by THOMAS NOON TALFOURD VERSES TO THE MEMORY OF A CHILD NAMED AFTER CHARLES LAMB by THOMAS NOON TALFOURD THIRD BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 23 by THOMAS CAMPION ECHOES: 6 by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY A ROW IN AN OMNIBUS BOX; A LEGEND OF THE HAYMARKET by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM |
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