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ODE ON THE DEATH OF MR. JAMES THOMSON.
1 IN yonderc
c The scene of the following stanzas is supposed to lie on the Thames near Richmond.
grove a Druid lies2 Where slowly winds the stealing wave!
3 The year's best sweets shall duteous rise
4 To deck its Poet's sylvan grave!
5 In yon deep bed of whispering reeds
6 His airy harpd
d The harp of Aeolus, of which see a description in the Castle of Indolence.
shall now be laid,7 That he, whose heart in sorrow bleeds,
8 May love thro' life the soothing shade.
9 Then maids and youths shall linger here,
10 And while its sounds at distance swell,
11 Shall sadly seem in Pity's ear
12 To hear the woodland pilgrim's knell.
13 Remembrance oft shall haunt the shore
14 When Thames in summer wreaths is drest,
15 And oft suspend the dashing oar
16 To bid his gentle spirit rest!
17 And oft as Ease and Health retire
18 To breezy lawn, or forest deep,
19 The friend shall view yon whiteninge
e Richmond church.
spire,20 And mid the varied landscape weep.
21 But thou, who own'st that earthy bed,
22 Ah! what will every dirge avail?
23 Or tears, which Love and Pity shed,
24 That mourn beneath the gliding sail!
25 Yet lives there one, whose heedless eye
26 Shall scorn thy pale shrine glimmering near!
27 With him, sweet Bard, may Fancy die,
28 And Joy desert the blooming year.
29 But thou, lorn stream, whose sullen tide
30 No sedge-crown'd Sisters now attend,
31 Now waft me from the green-hill's side
32 Whose cold turf hides the buried friend!
33 And see, the fairy valleys fade,
34 Dun Night has veil'd the solemn view!
35 — Yet once again, dear parted shade,
36 Meek Nature's child, again adieu!
37 The genial meads assign'd to bless
38 Thy life, shall mourn thy early doom,
39 Their hinds, and shepherd-girls shall dress
40 With simple hands thy rural tomb.
41 Long, long, thy stone and pointed clay
42 Shall melt the musing Briton's eyes;
43 O! vales, and wild woods, shall he say,
44 In yonder grave your Druid lies!
About this text
Author: William Collins
Themes:
poetry; literature; writing; death
Genres:
ode
References:
DMI 32266
Text view / Document view
Source edition
Pearch, G. A collection of poems in four volumes. By several hands. Vol. II. [The second edition]. London: printed for G. Pearch, 1770, pp. 15-17. 4v. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T116245; DMI 1135; OTA K093079.002) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [(OC) 280 o.789].)
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 William Collins
- AN EPISTLE ADDRESS'D TO Sir THOMAS HANMER, On his EDITION of SHAKESPEAR'S WORKS. ()
- THE MANNERS. AN ODE. ()
- ODE ON THE POETICAL CHARACTER. ()
- ODE to EVENING. ()
- ODE TO FEAR. (); AN ODE TO FEAR. ()
- ODE TO LIBERTY. ()
- ODE TO MERCY. ()
- ODE TO PEACE, ()
- ODE TO PITY. ()
- ODE TO SIMPLICITY. ()
- ODE, to a LADY. On the Death of Col. Charles Ross, in the Action at Fontenoy. Written May 1745. ()
- ODE, Written in the same Year. ()
- ORIENTAL ECLOGUES. (); ORIENTAL ECLOGUES. ()
- THE PASSIONS. AN ODE. (); THE PASSIONS, AN ODE FOR MUSIC. ()
- A SONG FROM SHAKESPEAR's CYMBELINE. Sung by GUIDERUS and ARVIRAGUS over FIDELE, supposed to be dead. ()
- WRITTEN ON A PAPER, WHICH CONTAINED A PIECE OF BRIDE CAKE: GIVEN TO THE AUTHOR BY A LADY. ()