Or even of the you is.
At 10:57 AM 1/4/2008, you wrote:
>the Cavern is really quite great, but the Ode that's first on that
>page, & a number of others, are very bad. not the master of the iamb,
>this guy.
>
>KS
>
>On 04/01/2008, Robin Hamilton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > > Hi all you well read hi tech academic friends -a friend of mine went to
> > > Jamaica and saw a poem -up on a wall in a cave??/called 'the Cavern of
> > > Melancholy' by Robert Charles Dallas c1778and was very impressed
> > >
> > > And would like to see it-I with my limited
> resources -ie google can't find
> > > it -any leads ??
> >
> > Patrick:
> >
> > Go here for the text:
> >
> >
> http://dev.hil.unb.ca/Texts/EPD/UNB/view-works.cgi?c=dallasro.1552&pos=2
> >
> > (In case this is too difficult for you, I'll paste the text of the Sad Cave
> > into this email. <g>
> >
> > If Chadwick Healey ever find out that their English Poetry Text Database is
> > freely available on the Web, life is going to
> become much more difficult for
> > me.)
> >
> > > Cheers Patrick -perhaps it might have a blowen in it??
> >
> > Not as far as I know, but then I haven't (see below) read through all seven
> > volumes of his _Novels and Miscellaneous Works_.
> >
> > There is, however, a connection, as Dallas was apparently a mate of Byron,
> > and as everyone knows, blowens occur in the Eleventh Canto of Don Juan,
> > courtesy of the partial memory by Byron's boxing tutor Gentleman John
> > Jackson of the broadside of "The Dog and Duck Rig".
> >
> > (A) R[oger of the Cluniac Order]
> >
> > {PS -- Copying this personally to you, my Patrick, as well as sending it to
> > the list, as I'm not sure if my posts are getting through to poetryetc.
> >
> > Robin.}
> >
> > ............................................
> >
> > Dallas, Robert Charles
> >
> > Robert Charles Dallas (1754-1824) was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He was the
> > son of Robert Dallas, a physician, and was educated at Musselburgh, in
> > Scotland, and under James Elphinston at Kensington, in England. He trained
> > as a barrister before returning to Jamaica to take possession of the family
> > estate. On a visit to England he met and married Sarah Harding and brought
> > her home. However, finding the climate of the West Indies did not suit her,
> > the couple lived for a time in France and
> America and eventually returned to
> > England. Dallas became a prolific author in many genres, including novels,
> > tales, drama, poetry, political and social non-fiction, and translations,
> > but his fame rests primarily with his
> connection to Lord Byron, his relation
> > through his sister's marriage. Dallas served as editor of Byron's early
> > poetry, and the men corresponded frequently until Byron, perhaps weary of
> > Dallas's meddling, broke off the relationship. But as a token of thanks,
> > Byron gave him letters written to his mother during his eastern travels.
> > Dallas prepared these, together with his
> recollections, to be published upon
> > Byron's death, but the executors disputed his ownership of the letters.
> > Dallas's son published The Recollections and the letters after his father's
> > death. The Recollections were also published alone the same year, followed
> > by the 1825 compilation Correspondence of Lord Byron, with a Friend:
> > Including His Letters to His Mother, Written from Portugal, Spain, Greece,
> > and the Shores of the Mediterranean, in 1809, 1810 and 1811; also,
> > Recollections of the Poet. . . . and a Continuation and Preliminary
> > Statement of the Proceedings by Which the Letters were Suppressed in
> > England, at the Suit of Lord Byron's Executors. Also among Dallas's
> > published works was Miscellaneous Writings:
> Consisting of Poems; Lucretia, a
> > Tragedy, and Moral Essays: with a Vocabulary of the Passions in Which Their
> > Sources are Pointed Out; Their Regular
> Currents Traced; and Their Deviations
> > (1797).
> >
> > Works Consulted: Matthew, H.C.G. and Brian
> Harrison, eds., Oxford Dictionary
> > of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
> >
> > The History of the Maroons (1803)
> >
> > http://books.google.com/books?id=VccCAAAAYAAJ -- vol.1
> > http://books.google.com/books?id=D8idWcD2ExQC -- vol.2
> >
> > Internet Archives -- http://www.archive.org/index.php -- have 7 volumes of
> > his _Miscellaneous Works and Novels_!!!
> >
> > Search there for "Dallas, Robert Charles" in Texts
> >
> > THE CAVERN OF MELANCHOLY:
> >
> > AN ODE.
> >
> >
> > [Note: Written after visiting a remarkable
> grotto in the parish of St. Ann's
> > in Jamaica. In one of the lofty chambers of
> it, there were some large stones
> > of extraordinary appearance. One particularly had the figure of a man,
> > nearly as described in the following ode. The features of the face had been
> > delineated (if the author was rightly informed) by Mr. Long, the historian
> > of Jamaica; the rest of the figure was evidently a lusus naturę.]
> >
> > 1: While in the Grotto's gloomy cells
> > 2: We press'd the devious way,
> > 3: Through many a chamber that expels
> > 4: With fretted roofs the day;
> > 5: Where darkness darken'd with extent,
> > 6: Seen by the rays our torches lent,
> > 7: Or one just straggling from above,
> > 8: That night's deep visage distant show'd,
> > 9: Black'ning the arch of her abode,
> > 10: A vast Cimmerian grove,
> > 11: Melpomene, in mournful vein,
> > 12: Sibylla's theme to inspire,
> > 13: To melancholy gave the strain,
> > 14: And symphoniz'd the lyre:
> > 15: In a grey cell the hermit sat,
> > 16: Remote from man; the skulking bat
> > 17: Companion of his murky cave:
> > 18: His head was canopied with stone,
> > 19: Or water into chrystal grown,
> > 20: Fix'd in a solid wave.
> > 21: Of stone himself the hermit seem'd,
> > 22: In meditation lost:
> > 23: With sparry gems his garments gleam'd,
> > 24: In many foldings crost:
> > 25: A shining beard fell down his breast,
> > 26: An elbow on his knee found rest,
> > 27: The arm upheld his reverend cheek:
> > 28: All vow'd the hermit was but stone,
> > 29: When in a mellow awful tone,
> > 30: All heard the hermit speak.
> > 31: "Go on, ye busy curious train,
> > 32: "Your active walks pursue,
> > 33: "Which Melancholy shall disdain
> > 34: "To mark with ebon hue.
> > 35: "Still trip it in the prosperous glare;
> > 36: "Ye ne'er shall see my footsteps there;
> > 37: "I shun the bustling crowded court:
> > 38: "In lonely grove or darksome room
> > 39: "I dwell, and cast an awful gloom
> > 40: "On all who near resort.
> > 41: "Go on, ye busy prating crew,
> > 42: "Ye take the happier part;
> > 43: "Ne'er shall my tear your cheeks bedew,
> > 44: "Nor sorrows press the heart:
> > 45: "Grief on light minds can never last,
> > 46: "A gloom, perhaps in rising past,
> > 47: "Scarce clouded e'er again 'tis bright;
> > 48: "'Tis not the calm yet deep-fetch'd sigh,
> > 49: "The glowing soul that melts the eye,
> > 50: "And dims the fairest light.
> > 51: "Ah far! still far, my haunts avoid;
> > 52: "A solitary road;
> > 53: "Some yew tree shade or cavern wide,
> > 54: "A gloomy drear abode.
> > 55: "Come ye! whom musing fancy leads
> > 56: "O'er awful philosophic meads,
> > 57: "Who weigh of life each parting hour:
> > 58: "Or ye, who Fortune's dross despise,
> > 59: "Yet still must feel, if off she flies,
> > 60: "The loss of generous power.
> > 61: "And ah! beware ye generous youth
> > 62: "Too prompt to yield the heart:
> > 63: "One hand the villain lifts to soothe,
> > 64: "The other holds the dart.
> > 65: "Your unsuspecting bosoms know
> > 66: "With nature's genial warmth to glow,
> > 67: "Warm friendships and fond loves enjoying:
> > 68: "But ah! the faithless crew beware,
> > 69: "They are not, what they seem, sincere,
> > 70: "And live but by destroying.
> > 71: "Near to this cavern's rocky ground
> > 72: "A lofty standard grew;
> > 73: "His foliag'd branches spread around,
> > 74: "Most comely to the view:
> > 75: "A creeping vine that grovell'd nigh
> > 76: "The tree receiv'd and rais'd on high,
> > 77: "Pleas'd to support the wanton wreath:
> > 78: "The usurping tendril wreathes too free;
> > 79: "The parasite becomes the tree,
> > 80: "The standard's hugg'd to death.
> > 81: "Come too, ye born of Sympathy,
> > 82: "Whom social woes depress,
> > 83: "To Melancholy's haunts be free,
> > 84: "Your hearts partake distress;
> > 85: "Ye turn and agonize each thought
> > 86: "With the keen pangs of mortal lot,
> > 87: "Give sigh for sigh, and groan for groan:
> > 88: "Pale misery ye contemplate,
> > 89: "Of others feel the wretched fate,
> > 90: "And make it all your own.
> > 91: "And ye who court, but court in vain,
> > 92: "Health's cheerful, roseate boon;
> > 93: "Whose hours are tarnish'd o'er with pain,
> > 94: "Whose joys are fled too soon:
> > 95: "Like poor Eugenia, form'd to please,
> > 96: "Yet doom'd the victim of disease,
> > 97: "Where Sol pours forth his torrid day:
> > 98: "Vain is her form, her song is vain,
> > 99: "She charms, but languid sinks again
> > 100: "Beneath the fervid ray.
> > 101: "And come, ye sons of simple heart,
> > 102: "Who are not fain to chuse,
> > 103: "But doom'd to hug the fatal dart,
> > 104: "And taught by Love to muse:
> > 105: "Though unavailing sighs are wind,
> > 106: "Still paint the angel on your mind,
> > 107: "Still hope the beauteous maid may turn;
> > 108: "Still see her smile, still think ye hear
> > 109: "Soft-flowing words that more endear,
> > 110: "In fancied raptures burn.
> > 111: "Come, thou black fugitive of woe,
> > 112: "Who fliest the torturing scourge;
> > 113: "Whose blood is taught through pores to flow,
> > 114: "Whom thongs to labour urge!
> > 115: "And thou, the bolder brother, thou,
> > 116: "Whom Afric never taught to bow,
> > 117: "To bondage rebel and to toil,
> > 118: "Bold Cromantee! whose fruitless strife
> > 119: "But rivets more thy chain for life,
> > 120: "But makes each link a coil.
> > 121: "Come, all ye sable sons of earth,
> > 122: "Spurn'd by the fairer race;
> > 123: "Made slaves by commerce or by birth,
> > 124: "To Reason's sad disgrace:
> > 125: "Once wanderers on your native fields,
> > 126: "Where Nature ample nurture yields;
> > 127: "Here come and mourn your social lot:
> > 128: "Quench early at the neighbouring spring,
> > 129: "A plain repast from breadnuts bring,
> > 130: "Or tax the tyrant's spot:
> > 131: "Thence mellow avocadoes gain,
> > 132: "Nor spare his roost or fold;
> > 133: "The plantain thence and juicy cane;
> > 134: "Whence Afric's bonds are told:
> > 135: "Your portion seize ere yet day dawn,
> > 136: "By nature and by hunger drawn;
> > 137: "No theft-with ease of conscience blest-
> > 138: "Then to this desert cave retire,
> > 139: "Here kindle oft your friendly fire,
> > 140: "And sink to sleep and rest.
> > 141: "Go hence, ye vain explorers! go!
> > 142: "Whose thoughts from self ne'er rove-
> > 143: "Yet learn this truth, ah! learn to know
> > 144: "All bliss must spring from love:
> > 145: "For love of God, and love of man,
> > 146: "Extend our nature's bounded plan;
> > 147: "Let tropic tyrants call it folly:
> > 148: "'Tis vice, not man, I strive to shun-
> > 149: "Ye thoughtless sons of vice begone!
> > 150: "Ye know not melancholy."
> >
|