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George Crabbe: Poems, Volume 3 (of 3) cover

George Crabbe: Poems, Volume 3 (of 3)

Chapter 106: [REVIVAL.]
By George Crabbe
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British LiteraturePoetry

About This Book

The volume gathers later narrative and miscellaneous poems, presenting a sequence of Tales of the Hall followed by posthumous pieces and shorter lyrics. An editor’s preface and textual notes outline manuscript sources and variant readings. The poems offer realistic portraits of rural and domestic life, closely observed scenes, and moral reflection on passions such as pride, grief, revenge, and belated refinement, delivered through narrative sketches and reflective commentary. Tone alternates between anecdotal storytelling, satirical observation, and sober moralizing.

[REVIVAL.]

(Sept. 29–30.)
Say, can there be a second Spring
Thus fair and frail, so gay and brief;
Will Time the autumnal Blossom bring
To glow beside the withering Leaf?
No, no! the Voice of Nature cries:
“The Flower that’s dead for ever dies.”
Say, can a second Youth be felt
Again its freshness to impart;
To bid Life’s freezing Current melt;
To thrill with Joy the languid Heart? 10 
No, no! Youth’s Warmth and rosy Hue
Shall Time no more in Life renew.
Yet Love shall have another Spring
And, more than Nature’s, fair and gay;
A second Hope of Blessing bring
That seemed with Youth to fly away:
It is the Mind that makes the Truth,
And feels again the Spring of Youth!
Love can awaken all the Fires
That dormant in the Bosom lie; 20 
Love every sleeping Sense inspires
To feel new Charms when Nature’s die;
He all around his Magic throws
And all that he [can give] bestows.