by Coleridge · Cluster: Faith · Providence · Divine Love
Abstract
A metrical experiment singing of Jove’s bounteous store, of fearless faith amid polar cold and a transfigured radiant joy; prosody combined with a quasi-hymn to providence.
Connections
Themes & Concepts: Faith, Providence, Joy Forms & Genres: Fragment, Hymn Historical References: Greek Mythology
Testo integrale / Full text
[AN EXPERIMENT FOR A METRE]
I wish on earth to sing
Of Jove the bounteous store,
That all the Earth may ring
With Tale of Wrong no more.
I fear no foe in field or tent,
Tho’ weak our cause yet strong his Grace:
As Polar roamers clad in Fur,
Unweeting whither we were bent
We found as ‘twere a native place,
Where not a Blast could stir:
{ For Jove had his Almighty Presence lent:
{ Each eye beheld, in each transfigured Face,
{ The radiant light of Joy, and Hope’s forgotten Trace.
or
{ O then I sing Jove’s bounteous store —
{ On rushing wing while sea-mews roar,
{ And raking Tides roll Thunder on the shore.
Now first published from an MS.