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All Is Vanity, Saieth the Preacher Lord Byron Fame, wisdom, love, and power were mine <--(personal feeling) And health and youth possess’d me; My goblets blush’d from every vine, And lovely forms caress’d me; I sunn’d my heart in beauty’s eyes, And felt my soul grow tender: All earth can give, or mortal prize, Was mine of regal splendour. II. I strive to number o’er what days Remembrance can discover, Which all that life or earth displays Would lure me to live over. There rose no day, there roll’d no hour Of pleasure unembitter’d; And not a trapping deck’d my power That gall’d not while it glitter’d. III. The serpent of the field, by art And spells, is won from harming; But that which coils around the heart, Oh! who hath pwer of charming? It will not list to wisdom’s lore, Nor music’s voice can lure it; But there it stings for evermore The soul that must endure it. |
"...the Poet binds together by passion and knowledge the vast empire of human society, as it is spread over the whole earth, and over all time..."
--William Wordsworth, “Preface to Lyrical Ballads". Click the highlighted name if you would like to learn more about William Wordsworth and romanticism! *In the following poems, highlighted and bold sentences indicate the personal feelings found in romantic poetry, as noted in All Is Vanity, Saieth the Preacher.* My Heart Leaps Up William Wordsworth My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! The Child is father of the Man; And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety. |