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Poems

Chapter 66: LINES
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About This Book

A varied collection of lyrical and occasional poems encompassing light social verse, pastoral descriptions, travel pieces gathered from earlier fugitive publication, and personal elegies. Pieces range from tranquil nature scenes and grotto meditations to expressions of romantic longing and formal dedications; a prominent elegy mourns a beloved brother and traces grief and memory. The preface frames the poems as modest divertissements written across youth and maturity, and some material derives from the author's tours. The tone alternates between playful, reflective, and mournful, favoring accessible meters and conventional poetic imagery rather than experimental forms.

LINES

WRITTEN ON DELIA, LISTENING TO HER CANARY-BIRD.

When thoughtless Delia unconcern’d surveys
    Her plumy captive, as he leans to sing,
Lo! while she smiles, the fascination stays
    The little heaven of its airy wing.

Ah! so she tastes the sorrows I impart,
    Smiles at the sound, but never feels my pain;
And many a glance deludes my captive heart
    To sigh in numbers, tho’ I sigh in vain!