[Written after the poet's return from a visit to France. "I could not but be struck," he said, "with the vanity and parade of our own country, especially in great towns and cities, as contrasted with the quiet, and I may say the desolation, that the Revolution had produced in France."] Milton! thou should'st be living at this hour: England hath need of thee; she is a fen Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, Have forfeited their ancient English dower Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; Oh! raise us up, return to us again; And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. Thy soul was like a star, and dwelt apart: Thou hadst a voice whose sound was WRITTEN IN LONDON, SEPTEMBER, 1802 O friend! I know not which way I must look For comfort, being as I am, oppressed, To think that now our life is only dressed For show; mean handy-work of craftsman, cook, Or groom!-We must run glittering like a brook In the open sunshine, or we are unblest: The wealthiest man among us is the best: No grandeur now in nature or in book Delights us. Rapine, avarice, expense, This is idolatry; and these we adore: 10 Plain living and high thinking are no KUBLA KHAN SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE [Written in 1797. According to the poet's account, he had taken an anodyne to relieve pain, and was reading in the old volume called Purchas' Pilgrimage how "the Khan Kubla commanded a palace to be built," when he fell asleep. He dreamed, and on awaking recollected the dream with intense clearness, beginning to write the poem as an account of it. He was presently interrupted by a business call, and on returning to his manuscript could remember nothing further, so left the poem unfinished. Kubla Khan was an Asiatic prince of the 13th century, who founded the Mongol dynasty in China.] |