[Page 164][Page 165]
WRITTEN EXTEMPORE ON THE SEA SHORE.
1 THOU restless fluctuating deep,
2 Expressive of the human mind,
3 In thy for ever varying form
4 My own inconstant self I find.
5 How soft now flow thy peaceful waves,
6 In just gradations to the shore:
7 While on thy brow unclouded shines
8 The regent of the midnight hour.
9 Blest emblem of that equal state,
10 Which I this moment feel within:
11 Where thought to thought succeeding rolls,
12 And all is placid and serene.
13 As o'er thy smoothly flowing tide.
14 Their light the trembling moon-beams dart,
15 My lov'd Eudocia's image smiles,
16 And gaily brightens all my heart.
17 But ah! this flattering scene of peace
18 By neither can be long possest,
19 When Eurus breaks thy transient calm,
20 And rising sorrows shake my breast.
21 Obscur'd thy Cynthia's silver ray
22 When clouds opposing intervene:
23 And every joy that Friendship gives
24 Shall fade beneath the gloom of Spleen.
About this text
Author: Elizabeth Carter
Themes:
grief; sadness; melancholy; nature
Genres:
meditation
References:
DMI 32293
Text view / Document view
Source edition
Pearch, G. A collection of poems in four volumes. By several hands. Vol. I. [The second edition]. London: printed for G. Pearch, 1770, pp. 164-165. 4v. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T116245; DMI 1122; OTA K093079.001) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [(OC) 280 o.788].)
Editorial principles
The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.
Other works by Elizabeth Carter
- A NIGHT-PIECE. ()
- ODE TO MELANCHOLY. ()
- ODE to WISDOM. ()
- ODE, to a LADY in LONDON. ()
- ODE. ()
- To a GENTLEMAN, On his intending to cut down a GROVE to enlarge his Prospect. ()
- To Miss ****. ()
- TO MRS. —. ()
- TO —. ()
- TO —. OCCASIONED BY AN ODE WRITTEN BY MRS. PHILIPS. ()
- WRITTEN AT MIDNIGHT IN A THUNDER STORM. ()