diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-03-03 15:44:54 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-03-03 15:44:54 -0800 |
| commit | de092840ed751b04cee31ba77ab5a7b97d412938 (patch) | |
| tree | 634940a2a3b70d11c8851ac9266dadff69af0cce /48306-8.txt | |
| parent | 2564a29c772eb56d957d6891292583090c5f788e (diff) | |
Diffstat (limited to '48306-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 48306-8.txt | 2184 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 2184 deletions
diff --git a/48306-8.txt b/48306-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index f7b1b66..0000000 --- a/48306-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2184 +0,0 @@ - SELECTED POEMS - - - - -This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at -http://www.gutenberg.org/license. If you are not located in the United -States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are -located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Selected Poems -Author: Rupert Brooke -Release Date: February 18, 2015 [EBook #48306] -Language: English -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SELECTED POEMS *** - - - - -Produced by Al Haines. - - - - - - *Selected Poems* - - - *by Rupert Brooke* - - - - London - Sidgwick & Jackson, Ltd. - 3 Adam St., W.C. - 1922 - - - - - First Edition, March 1917 - Second Impression, April 1917 - Third Impression, May 1918 - Fourth Impression, February 1919 - Fifth Impression, January 1920 - Sixth Impression, January 1922 - - All rights reserved - - - - -*Contents* - -Day that I have Loved -On the Death of Smet-Smet, the Hippopotamus-Goddess -Second Best -The Hill -Sonnet ("Oh! Death will find me") -Dust -Song -Kindliness -The Voice -Menelaus and Helen -The Jolly Company -Thoughts on the Shape of the Human Body -Town and Country -The Fish -Dining-room Tea -The Old Vicarage, Grantchester -The Funeral of Youth -Beauty and Beauty -The Chilterns -Love -The Busy Heart -He Wonders Whether to Praise or Blame Her -Hauntings -One Day -Sonnet (_Suggested by some of the Proceedings -of the Society for Psychical Research_) -Clouds -Mutability -Heaven -Tiare Tahiti -Retrospect -The Great Lover -The Treasure -1914: - I. Peace - II. Safety - III. The Dead - IV. The Dead - V. The Soldier - - - - - *Day that I have Loved* - - Tenderly, day that I have loved, I close your eyes, - And smooth your quiet brow, and fold your thin dead hands. - The grey veils of the half-light deepen; colour dies. - I bear you, a light burden, to the shrouded sands, - - Where lies your waiting boat, by wreaths of the sea's making - Mist-garlanded, with all grey weeds of the water crowned. - There you'll be laid, past fear of sleep or hope of waking; - And over the unmoving sea, without a sound, - - Faint hands will row you outward, out beyond our sight, - Us with stretched arms and empty eyes on the far-gleaming - And marble sand.... - Beyond the shifting cold twilight, - Further than laughter goes, or tears, further than dreaming, - - There'll be no port, no dawn-lit islands! But the drear - Waste darkening, and, at length, flame ultimate on the deep. - Oh, the last fire--and you, unkissed, unfriended there! - Oh, the lone way's red ending, and we not there to weep! - - (We found you pale and quiet, and strangely crowned with - flowers, - Lovely and secret as a child. You came with us, - Came happily, hand in hand with the young dancing hours, - High on the downs at dawn!) Void now and tenebrous, - - The grey sands curve before me.... - From the inland meadows, - Fragrant of June and clover, floats the dark and fills - The hollow sea's dead face with little creeping shadows, - And the white silence brims the hollow of the hills. - - Close in the nest is folded every weary wing, - Hushed all the joyful voices, and we, who held you dear, - Eastward we turn and homeward, alone, remembering... - Day that I loved, day that I loved, the Night is here! - - - - - *On the Death of Smet-Smet, the - Hippopotamus-Goddess* - - SONG OF A TRIBE OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS - - (_The Priests within the Temple_) - - She was wrinkled and huge and hideous? - She was our Mother. - She was lustful and lewd?--but a God; we had none other. - In the day She was hidden and dumb, but at nightfall moaned in - the shade; - We shuddered and gave Her Her will in the darkness; we were - afraid. - - (_The People without_) - - She sent us pain, - And we bowed before Her; - She smiled again - And bade us adore Her. - She solaced our woe - And soothed our sighing; - And what shall we do - Now God is dying? - - (_The Priests within_) - - She was hungry and ate our children;--how should we stay Her? - She took our young men and our maidens;--ours to obey Her. - We were loathed and mocked and reviled of all nations; that was - our pride. - She fed us, protected us, loved us, and killed us; now She has - died. - - (_The People without_) - - She was so strong; - But Death is stronger. - She ruled us long; - But Time is longer. - She solaced our woe - And soothed our sighing; - And what shall we do - Now God is dying? - - - - - *Second Best* - - Here in the dark, O heart; - Alone with the enduring Earth, and Night, - And Silence, and the warm strange smell of clover; - Clear-visioned, though it break you; far apart - From the dead best, the dear and old delight; - Throw down your dreams of immortality, - O faithful, O foolish lover! - - Here's peace for you, and surety; here the one - Wisdom--the truth!--"All day the good glad sun - Showers love and labour on you, wine and song; - The greenwood laughs, the wind blows, all day long - Till night." And night ends all things. - Then shall be - No lamp relumed in heaven, no voices crying, - Or changing lights, or dreams and forms that hover! - (And, heart, for all your sighing, - That gladness and those tears are over, over....) - - And has the truth brought no new hope at all, - Heart, that you're weeping yet for Paradise? - Do they still whisper, the old weary cries? - "_'Mid youth and song, feasting and carnival,_ - _Through laughter, through the roses, as of old_ - _Comes Death, on shadowy and relentless feet,_ - _Death, unappeasable by prayer or gold;_ - _Death is the end, the end!_" - Proud, then, clear-eyed and laughing, go to greet - Death as a friend! - Exile of immortality, strongly wise, - Strain through the dark with undesirous eyes - To what may lie beyond it. Sets your star, - O heart, for ever! Yet, behind the night, - Waits for the great unborn, somewhere afar, - Some white tremendous daybreak. And the light, - Returning, shall give back the golden hours, - Ocean a windless level, Earth a lawn - Spacious and full of sunlit dancing-places, - And laughter, and music, and, among the flowers, - The gay child-hearts of men, and the child-faces - O heart, in the great dawn! - - - - - *The Hill* - - Breathless, we flung us on the windy hill, - Laughed in the sun, and kissed the lovely grass. - You said, "Through glory and ecstasy we pass; - Wind, sun, and earth remain, the birds sing still, - When we are old, are old...." "And when we die - All's over that is ours; and life burns on - Through other lovers, other lips," said I, - --"Heart of my heart, our heaven is now, is won!" - - "We are Earth's best, that learnt her lesson here. - Life is our cry. We have kept the faith!" we said; - "We shall go down with unreluctant tread - Rose-crowned into the darkness!" ... Proud we were, - And laughed, that had such brave true things to say. - --And then you suddenly cried, and turned away. - - - - - *Sonnet* - - Oh! Death will find me, long before I tire - Of watching you; and swing me suddenly - Into the shade and loneliness and mire - Of the last land! There, waiting patiently, - - One day, I think, I'll feel a cool wind blowing, - See a slow light across the Stygian tide, - And hear the Dead about me stir, unknowing, - And tremble. And _I_ shall know that you have died, - - And watch you, a broad-browed and smiling dream, - Pass, light as ever, through the lightless host, - Quietly ponder, start, and sway, and gleam-- - Most individual and bewildering ghost!-- - - And turn, and toss your brown delightful head, - Amusedly, among the ancient Dead. - - - - - *Dust* - - When the white flame in us is gone, - And we that lost the world's delight - Stiffen in darkness, left alone - To crumble in our separate night; - - When your swift hair is quiet in death, - And through the lips corruption thrust - Has stilled the labour of my breath-- - When we are dust, when we are dust!-- - - Not dead, not undesirous yet, - Still sentient, still unsatisfied, - We'll ride the air, and shine, and flit, - Around the places where we died, - - And dance as dust before the sun, - And light of foot, and unconfined, - Hurry from road to road, and run - About the errands of the wind. - - And every mote, on earth or air, - Will speed and gleam, down later days, - And like a secret pilgrim fare - By eager and invisible ways, - - Nor ever rest, nor ever lie, - Till, beyond thinking, out of view, - One mote of all the dust that's I - Shall meet one atom that was you. - - Then in some garden hushed from wind, - Warm in a sunset's afterglow, - The lovers in the flowers will find - A sweet and strange unquiet grow - - Upon the peace; and, past desiring, - So high a beauty in the air, - And such a light, and such a quiring, - And such a radiant ecstasy there, - - They'll know not if it's fire, or dew, - Or out of earth, or in the height, - Singing, or flame, or scent, or hue, - Or two that pass, in light, to light, - - Out of the garden, higher, higher... - But in that instant they shall learn - The shattering ecstasy of our fire, - And the weak passionless hearts will burn - - And faint in that amazing glow, - Until the darkness close above; - And they will know--poor fools, they'll know!-- - One moment, what it is to love. - - - - - *Song* - - "Oh! Love," they said, "is King of Kings, - And Triumph is his crown. - Earth fades in flame before his wings, - And Sun and Moon bow down."-- - But that, I knew, would never do; - And Heaven is all too high. - So whenever I meet a Queen, I said, - I will not catch her eye. - - "Oh! Love," they said, and "Love," they said, - - "The gift of Love is this; - A crown of thorns about thy head, - And vinegar to thy kiss!"-- - But Tragedy is not for me; - And I'm content to be gay. - So whenever I spied a Tragic Lady, - I went another way. - - And so I never feared to see - You wander down the street, - Or come across the fields to me - On ordinary feet. - For what they'd never told me of, - And what I never knew, - It was that all the time, my love, - Love would be merely you. - - - - - *Kindliness* - - When love has changed to kindliness-- - Oh, love, our hungry lips, that press - So tight that Time's an old god's dream - Nodding in heaven, and whisper stuff - Seven million years were not enough - To think on after, make it seem - Less than the breath of children playing, - A blasphemy scarce worth the saying, - A sorry jest, "When love has grown - To kindliness--to kindliness!" ... - And yet--the best that either's known - Will change, and wither, and be less, - At last, than comfort, or its own - Remembrance. And when some caress - Tendered in habit (once a flame - All heaven sang out to) wakes the shame - Unworded, in the steady eyes - We'll have,--_that_ day, what shall we do? - Being so noble, kill the two - Who've reached their second-best? Being wise, - Break cleanly off, and get away, - Follow down other windier skies - New lures, alone? Or shall we stay, - Since this is all we've known, content - In the lean twilight of such day, - And not remember, not lament? - That time when all is over, and - Hand never flinches, brushing hand; - And blood lies quiet, for all you're near; - And it's but spoken words we hear, - Where trumpets sang; when the mere skies - Are stranger and nobler than your eyes; - And flesh is flesh, was flame before; - And infinite hungers leap no more - In the chance swaying of your dress; - And love has changed to kindliness. - - - - - *The Voice* - - Safe in the magic of my woods - I lay, and watched the dying light. - Faint in the pale high solitudes, - And washed with rain and veiled by night, - - Silver and blue and green were showing. - And the dark woods grew darker still; - And birds were hushed; and peace was growing; - And quietness crept up the hill; - - And no wind was blowing ... - - And I knew - That this was the hour of knowing, - And the night and the woods and you - Were one together, and I should find - Soon in the silence the hidden key - Of all that had hurt and puzzled me-- - Why you were you, and the night was kind, - And the woods were part of the heart of me. - - And there I waited breathlessly, - Alone; and slowly the holy three, - The three that I loved, together grew - One, in the hour of knowing, - Night, and the woods, and you---- - - And suddenly - There was an uproar in my woods, - The noise of a fool in mock distress, - Crashing and laughing and blindly going, - Of ignorant feet and a swishing dress, - And a Voice profaning the solitudes. - - The spell was broken, the key denied me. - And at length your flat clear voice beside me - Mouthed cheerful clear flat platitudes. - - You came and quacked beside me in the wood. - You said, "The view from here is very good!" - You said, "It's nice to be alone a bit!" - And, "How the days are drawing out!" you said. - You said, "The sunset's pretty, isn't it?" - - * * * * * - - By God! I wish--I wish that you were dead! - - - - - *Menelaus and Helen* - - *I* - - Hot through Troy's ruin Menelaus broke - To Priam's palace, sword in hand, to sate - On that adulterous whore a ten years' hate - And a king's honour. Through red death, and smoke, - And cries, and then by quieter ways he strode, - Till the still innermost chamber fronted him. - He swung his sword, and crashed into the dim - Luxurious bower, flaming like a god. - - High sat white Helen, lonely and serene. - He had not remembered that she was so fair, - And that her neck curved down in such a way; - And he felt tired. He flung the sword away, - And kissed her feet, and knelt before her there, - The perfect Knight before the perfect Queen. - - - *II* - - So far the poet. How should he behold - That journey home, the long connubial years? - He does not tell you how white Helen bears - Child on legitimate child, becomes a scold, - Haggard with virtue. Menelaus bold - Waxed garrulous, and sacked a hundred Troys - 'Twixt noon and supper. And her golden voice - Got shrill as he grew deafer. And both were old. - - Often he wonders why on earth he went - Troyward, or why poor Paris ever came. - Oft she weeps, gummy-eyed and impotent; - Her dry shanks twitch at Paris' mumbled name. - So Menelaus nagged; and Helen cried; - And Paris slept on by Scamander side. - - - - - *The Jolly Company* - - The stars, a jolly company, - I envied, straying late and lonely; - And cried upon their revelry: - "O white companionship! You only - In love, in faith unbroken dwell, - Friends radiant and inseparable!" - - Light-heart and glad they seemed to me - And merry comrades (even so - _God out of Heaven may laugh to see_ - _The happy crowds; and never know_ - _That in his lone obscure distress_ - _Each walketh in a wilderness)_. - - But I, remembering, pitied well - And loved them, who, with lonely light, - In empty infinite spaces dwell, - Disconsolate. For, all the night, - I heard the thin gnat-voices cry, - Star to faint star, across the sky. - - - - - *Thoughts on the Shape of the Human Body* - - How can we find? how can we rest? how can - We, being gods, win joy, or peace, being man? - We, the gaunt zanies of a witless Fate, - Who love the unloving, and the lover hate, - Forget the moment ere the moment slips, - Kiss with blind lips that seek beyond the lips, - Who want, and know not what we want, and cry - With crooked mouths for Heaven, and throw it by. - Love's for completeness! No perfection grows - 'Twixt leg, and arm, elbow, and ear, and nose, - And joint, and socket; but unsatisfied - Sprawling desires, shapeless, perverse, denied. - Finger with finger wreathes; we love, and gape, - Fantastic shape to mazed fantastic shape, - Straggling, irregular, perplexed, embossed, - Grotesquely twined, extravagantly lost - By crescive paths and strange protuberant ways - From sanity and from wholeness and from grace. - How can love triumph, how can solace be, - Where fever turns toward fever, knee toward knee? - Could we but fill to harmony, and dwell - Simple as our thought and as perfectible, - Rise disentangled from humanity - Strange whole and new into simplicity, - Grow to a radiant round love, and bear - Unfluctuant passion for some perfect sphere, - Love moon to moon unquestioning, and be - Like the star Lunisequa, steadfastly - Following the round clear orb of her delight, - Patiently ever, through the eternal night! - - - - - *Town and Country* - - Here, where love's stuff is body, arm and side - Are stabbing-sweet 'gainst chair and lamp and wall. - In every touch more intimate meanings hide; - And flaming brains are the white heart of all - - Here, million pulses to one centre beat: - Closed in by men's vast friendliness, alone, - Two can be drunk with solitude, and meet - On the sheer point where sense with knowing's one. - - Here the green-purple clanging royal night, - And the straight lines and silent walls of town, - And roar, and glare, and dust, and myriad white - Undying passers, pinnacle and crown - - Intensest heavens between close-lying faces - By the lamp's airless fierce ecstatic fire; - And we've found love in little hidden places, - Under great shades, between the mist and mire. - - Stay! though the woods are quiet, and you've heard - Night creep along the hedges. Never go - Where tangled foliage shrouds the crying bird, - And the remote winds sigh, and waters flow! - - Lest--as our words fall dumb on windless noons, - Or hearts grow hushed and solitary, beneath - Unheeding stars and unfamiliar moons, - Or boughs bend over, close and quiet as death,-- - - Unconscious and unpassionate and still, - Cloud-like we lean and stare as bright leaves stare, - And gradually along the stranger hill - Our unwalled loves thin out on vacuous air, - - And suddenly there's no meaning in our kiss, - And your lit upward face grows, where we lie - Lonelier and dreadfuller than sunlight is, - And dumb and mad and eyeless like the sky. - - - - - *The Fish* - - In a cool curving world he lies - And ripples with dark ecstasies. - The kind luxurious lapse and steal - Shapes all his universe to feel - And know and be; the clinging stream - Closes his memory, glooms his dream, - Who lips the roots o' the shore, and glides - Superb on unreturning tides. - Those silent waters weave for him - A fluctuant mutable world and dim, - Where wavering masses bulge and gape - Mysterious, and shape to shape - Dies momently through whorl and hollow, - And form and line and solid follow - Solid and line and form to dream - Fantastic down the eternal stream; - An obscure world, a shifting world, - Bulbous, or pulled to thin, or curled, - Or serpentine, or driving arrows, - Or serene slidings, or March narrows. - There slipping wave and shore are one, - And weed and mud. No ray of sun, - But glow to glow fades down the deep - (As dream to unknown dream in sleep); - Shaken translucency illumes - The hyaline of drifting glooms; - The strange soft-handed depth subdues - Drowned colour there, but black to hues, - As death to living, decomposes-- - Red darkness of the heart of roses, - Blue brilliant from dead starless skies, - And gold that lies behind the eyes, - The unknown unnameable sightless white - That is the essential flame of night, - Lustreless purple, hooded green, - The myriad hues that lie between - Darkness and darkness!... - - And all's one, - Gentle, embracing, quiet, dun, - The world he rests in, world he knows, - Perpetual curving. Only--grows - An eddy in that ordered falling, - A knowledge from the gloom, a calling - Weed in the wave, gleam in the mud-- - The dark fire leaps along his blood; - Dateless and deathless, blind and still, - The intricate impulse works its will; - His woven world drops back; and he, - Sans providence, sans memory, - Unconscious and directly driven, - Fades to some dank sufficient heaven. - - O world of lips, O world of laughter, - Where hope is fleet and thought flies after, - Of lights in the clear night, of cries - That drift along the wave and rise - Thin to the glittering stars above, - You know the hands, the eyes of love! - The strife of limbs, the sightless clinging, - The infinite distance, and the singing - Blown by the wind, a flame of sound, - The gleam, the flowers, and vast around - The horizon, and the heights above-- - You know the sigh, the song of love! - - But there the night is close, and there - Darkness is cold and strange and bare; - And the secret deeps are whisperless; - And rhythm is all deliciousness; - And joy is in the throbbing tide, - Whose intricate fingers beat and glide - In felt bewildering harmonies - Of trembling touch; and music is - The exquisite knocking of the blood. - Space is no more, under the mud; - His bliss is older than the sun. - Silent and straight the waters run. - The lights, the cries, the willows dim, - And the dark tide are one with him. - - - - - *Dining-room Tea* - - When you were there, and you, and you, - Happiness crowned the night; I too, - Laughing and looking, one of all, - I watched the quivering lamplight fall - On plate and flowers and pouring tea - And cup and cloth; and they and we - Flung all the dancing moments by - With jest and glitter. Lip and eye - Flashed on the glory, shone and cried, - Improvident, unmemoried; - And fitfully and like a flame - The light of laughter went and came. - Proud in their careless transience moved - The changing faces that I loved. - - Till suddenly, and otherwhence, - I looked upon your innocence. - For lifted clear and still and strange - From the dark woven flow of change - Under a vast and starless sky - I saw the immortal moment lie. - One instant I, an instant, knew - As God knows all. And it and you - I, above Time, oh, blind! could see - In witless immortality. - I saw the marble cup; the tea, - Hung on the air, an amber stream; - I saw the fire's unglittering gleam, - The painted flame, the frozen smoke. - No more the flooding lamplight broke - On flying eyes and lips and hair; - But lay, but slept unbroken there, - On stiller flesh, and body breathless, - And lips and laughter stayed and deathless, - And words on which no silence grew. - Light was more alive than you. - - For suddenly, and otherwhence, - I looked on your magnificence. - I saw the stillness and the light, - And you, august, immortal, white, - Holy and strange; and every glint - Posture and jest and thought and tint - Freed from the mask of transiency, - Triumphant in eternity, - Immote, immortal. - - Dazed at length - Human eyes grew, mortal strength - Wearied; and Time began to creep. - Change closed about me like a sleep. - Light glinted on the eyes I loved. - The cup was filled. The bodies moved. - The drifting petal came to ground. - The laughter chimed its perfect round. - The broken syllable was ended. - And I, so certain and so friended, - How could I cloud, or how distress, - The heaven of your unconsciousness? - Or shake at Time's sufficient spell, - Stammering of lights unutterable? - The eternal holiness of you, - The timeless end, you never knew, - The peace that lay, the light that shone. - You never knew that I had gone - A million miles away, and stayed - A million years. The laughter played - Unbroken round me; and the jest - Flashed on. And we that knew the best - Down wonderful hours grew happier yet. - I sang at heart, and talked, and eat, - And lived from laugh to laugh, I too, - When you were there, and you, and you. - - - - - *The Old Vicarage, Grantchester* - - _Café des Westens_ - _Berlin, May 1912_ - - Just now the lilac is in bloom, - All before my little room; - And in my flower-beds, I think, - Smile the carnation and the pink; - And down the borders, well I know, - The poppy and the pansy blow... - Oh! there the chestnuts, summer through, - Beside the river make for you - A tunnel of green gloom, and sleep - Deeply above; and green and deep - The stream mysterious glides beneath, - Green as a dream and deep as death. - --Oh, damn! I know it! And I know - How the May fields all golden show, - And when the day is young and sweet, - Gild gloriously the bare feet - That run to bathe.... - _Du lieber Gott!_ - Here am I, sweating, sick, and hot, - And there the shadowed waters fresh - Lean up to embrace the naked flesh. - - _Temperamentvott_ German Jews - Drink beer around;--and there the dews - Are soft beneath a morn of gold. - Here tulips bloom as they are told; - Unkempt about those hedges blows - An English unofficial rose; - And there the unregulated sun - Slopes down to rest when day is done, - And wakes a vague unpunctual star, - A slippered Hesper; and there are - Meads towards Haslingfield and Coton - Where _das Betreten_'s not _verboten_.... - - [Greek: eíthe genoimen] ... would I were - In Grantchester, in Grantchester!-- - Some, it may be, can get in touch - With Nature there, or Earth, or such. - And clever modern men have seen - A Faun a-peeping through the green, - And felt the Classics were not dead, - To glimpse a Naiad's reedy head, - Or hear the Goat-foot piping low; - But these are things I do not know. - I only know that you may lie - Day long and watch the Cambridge sky, - And, flower-lulled in sleepy grass, - Hear the cool lapse of hours pass, - Until the centuries blend and blur - In Grantchester, in Grantchester.... - Still in the dawnlit waters cool - His ghostly Lordship swims his pool, - And tries the strokes, essays the tricks, - Long learnt on Hellespont, or Styx, - Dan Chaucer hears his river still - Chatter beneath a phantom mill. - Tennyson notes, with studious eye, - How Cambridge waters hurry by.... - And in that garden, black and white, - Creep whispers through the grass all night; - And spectral dance, before the dawn, - A hundred Vicars down the lawn; - Curates, long dust, will come and go - On lissom, clerical, printless toe; - And oft between the boughs is seen - The sly shade of a Rural Dean.... - Till, at a shiver in the skies, - Vanishing with Satanic cries, - The prim ecclesiastic rout - Leaves but a startled sleeper-out, - Grey heavens, the first bird's drowsy calls, - The falling house that never falls. - - God! I will pack, and take a train, - And get me to England once again! - For England's the one land, I know, - Where men with Splendid Hearts may go; - And Cambridgeshire, of all England, - The shire for Men who Understand; - And of _that_ district I prefer - The lovely hamlet Grantchester. - For Cambridge people rarely smile, - Being urban, squat, and packed with guile; - And Royston men in the far South - Are black and fierce and strange of mouth; - At Over they fling oaths at one, - And worse than oaths at Trumpington, - And Ditton girls are mean and dirty, - And there's none in Harston under thirty, - And folks in Shelford and those parts - Have twisted lips and twisted hearts, - And Barton men make Cockney rhymes, - And Coton's full of nameless crimes, - And things are done you'd not believe - At Madingley, on Christmas Eve. - Strong men have run for miles and miles, - When one from Cherry Hinton smiles; - Strong men have blanched, and shot their wives - Rather than send them to St. Ives; - Strong men have cried like babes, bydam, - To hear what happened at Babraham. - But Grantchester! ah, Grantchester! - There's peace and holy quiet there, - Great clouds along pacific skies, - And men and women with straight eyes, - Lithe children lovelier than a dream, - A bosky wood, a slumbrous stream, - And little kindly winds that creep - Round twilight corners, half asleep. - In Grantchester their skins are white; - They bathe by day, they bathe by night; - The women there do all they ought; - The men observe the Rules of Thought. - They love the Good; they worship Truth; - They laugh uproariously in youth; - (And when they get to feeling old, - They up and shoot themselves, I'm told).... - - Ah God! to see the branches stir - Across the moon at Grantchester! - To smell the thrilling-sweet and rotten - Unforgettable, unforgotten - River-smell, and hear the breeze - Sobbing in the little trees. - Say, do the elm-clumps greatly stand, - Still guardians of that holy land? - The chestnuts shade, in reverend dream, - The yet unacademic stream? - Is dawn a secret shy and cold - Anadyomene, silver-gold? - And sunset still a golden sea - From Haslingfield to Madingley? - And after, ere the night is born, - Do hares come out about the corn? - Oh, is the water sweet and cool, - Gentle and brown, above the pool? - And laughs the immortal river still - Under the mill, under the mill? - Say, is there Beauty yet to find? - And Certainty? and Quiet kind? - Deep meadows yet, for to forget - The lies, and truths, and pain? ... oh! yet - Stands the Church clock at ten to three? - And is there honey still for tea? - - - - - *The Funeral of Youth: Threnody* - - The day that _Youth_ had died, - There came to his grave-side, - In decent mourning, from the county's ends, - Those scattered friends - Who had lived the boon companions of his prime, - And laughed with him and sung with him and wasted, - In feast and wine and many-crown'd carouse, - The days and nights and dawnings of the time - When _Youth_ kept open house, - Nor left untasted - Aught of his high emprise and ventures dear, - No quest of his unshar'd-- - All these, with loitering feet and sad head bar'd, - Followed their old friend's bier. - _Folly_ went first, - With muffled bells and coxcomb still revers'd; - And after trod the bearers, hat in hand-- - _Laughter_, most hoarse, and Captain _Pride_ with tanned - And martial face all grim, and fussy _Joy_, - Who had to catch a train, and _Lust_, poor, snivelling boy; - These bore the dear departed. - Behind them, broken-hearted, - Came _Grief_, so noisy a widow, that all said, - "Had he but wed - Her elder sister _Sorrow_, in her stead." - And by her, trying to soothe her all the time, - The fatherless children, _Colour_, _Tune_, and _Rhyme_ - (The sweet lad _Rhyme_), ran all-uncomprehending. - Then, at the way's sad ending, - Round the raw grave they stay'd. Old _Wisdom_ read, - In mumbling tone, the Service for the Dead. - There stood _Romance_, - The furrowing tears had mark'd her rougèd cheek; - Poor old _Conceit_, his wonder unassuag'd; - Dead _Innocency's_ daughter, _Ignorance_; - And shabby, ill-dress'd _Generosity_; - And _Argument_, too full of woe to speak; - _Passion_, grown portly, something middle-aged; - And _Friendship_--not a minute older, she; - _Impatience_, ever taking out his watch; - _Faith_, who was deaf, and had to lean to catch - Old _Wisdom's_ endless drone. - _Beauty_ was there, - Pale in her black; dry-eyed; she stood alone. - Poor maz'd _Imagination_; _Fancy_ wild; - _Ardour_, the sunlight on his greying hair; - _Contentment_, who had known _Youth_ as a child - And never seen him since. And _Spring_ came too, - Dancing over the tombs, and brought him flowers-- - She did not stay for long. - And _Truth_, and _Grace_, and all the merry crew, - The laughing _Winds_ and _Rivers_, and lithe _Hours_; - And _Hope_, the dewy-eyed; and sorrowing _Song_;-- - Yes, with much woe and mourning general, - At dead _Youth's_ funeral, - Even these were met once more together, all, - Who erst the fair and living _Youth_ did know; - All, except only _Love_. _Love_ had died long ago. - - - - - *Beauty and Beauty* - - When Beauty and Beauty meet - All naked, fair to fair, - The earth is crying-sweet, - And scattering-bright the air, - Eddying, dizzying, closing round, - With soft and drunken laughter; - Veiling all that may befall - After--after-- - - Where Beauty and Beauty met, - Earth's still a-tremble there, - And winds are scented yet, - And memory-soft the air, - Bosoming, folding glints of light, - And shreds of shadowy laughter; - Not the tears that fill the years - After--after-- - - - - - *The Chilterns* - - Your hands, my dear, adorable, - Your lips of tenderness - --Oh, I've loved you faithfully and well, - Three years, or a bit less. - It wasn't a success. - - Thank God, that's done! and I'll take the road, - Quit of my youth and you, - The Roman road to Wendover - By Tring and Lilley Hoo, - As a free man may do. - - For youth goes over, the joys that fly, - The tears that follow fast; - And the dirtiest things we do must lie - Forgotten at the last; - Even Love goes past. - - What's left behind I shall not find, - The splendour and the pain; - The splash of sun, the shouting wind, - And the brave sting of rain, - I may not meet again. - - But the years, that take the best away, - Give something in the end; - And a better friend than love have they, - For none to mar or mend, - That have themselves to friend. - - I shall desire and I shall find - The best of my desires; - The autumn road, the mellow wind - That soothes the darkening shires. - And laughter, and inn-fires. - - White mist about the black hedgerows, - The slumbering Midland plain, - The silence where the clover grows, - And the dead leaves in the lane, - Certainly, these remain. - - And I shall find some girl perhaps, - And a better one than you, - With eyes as wise, but kindlier, - And lips as soft, but true. - And I daresay she will do. - - - - - *Love* - - Love is a breach in the walls, a broken gate, - Where that comes in that shall not go again; - Love sells the proud heart's citadel to Fate. - They have known shame, who love unloved. Even then - When two mouths, thirsty each for each, find slaking, - And agony's forgot, and hushed the crying - Of credulous hearts, in heaven--such are but taking - Their own poor dreams within their arms, and lying - Each in his lonely night, each with a ghost. - Some share that night. But they know, love grows colder, - Grows false and dull, that was sweet lies at most. - Astonishment is no more in hand or shoulder, - But darkens, and dies out from kiss to kiss. - All this is love; and all love is but this. - - - - - *The Busy Heart* - - Now that we've done our best and worst, and parted, - I would fill my mind with thoughts that will not rend. - (O heart, I do not dare go empty-hearted) - I'll think of Love in books, Love without end; - Women with child, content; and old men sleeping; - And wet strong ploughlands, scarred for certain grain; - And babes that weep, and so forget their weeping; - And the young heavens, forgetful after rain; - And evening hush, broken by homing wings; - And Song's nobility, and Wisdom holy, - That live, we dead. I would think of a thousand things, - Lovely and durable, and taste them slowly, - One after one, like tasting a sweet food. - I have need to busy my heart with quietude. - - - - - *He Wonders Whether to Praise - or to Blame Her* - - I have peace to weigh your worth, now all is over, - But if to praise or blame you, cannot say. - For, who decries the loved, decries the lover; - Yet what man lauds the thing he's thrown away? - - Be you, in truth, this dull, slight, cloudy naught, - The more fool I, so great a fool to adore; - But if you're that high goddess once I thought, - The more your godhead is, I lose the more. - - Dear fool, pity the fool who thought you clever! - Dear wisdom, do not mock the fool that missed you! - Most fair,--the blind has lost your face for ever! - Most foul,--how could I see you while I kissed you? - - So ... the poor love of fools and blind I've proved you, - For, foul or lovely, 'twas a fool that loved you. - - - - - *Hauntings* - - In the grey tumult of these after years - Oft silence falls; the incessant wranglers part; - And less-than-echoes of remembered tears - Hush all the loud confusion of the heart; - And a shade, through the toss'd ranks of mirth and crying, - Hungers, and pains, and each dull passionate mood,-- - Quite lost, and all but all forgot, undying, - Comes back the ecstasy of your quietude. - - So a poor ghost, beside his misty streams, - Is haunted by strange doubts, evasive dreams, - Hints of a pre-Lethean life, of men, - Stars, rocks, and flesh, things unintelligible, - And light on waving grass, he knows not when, - And feet that ran, but where, he cannot tell. - - THE PACIFIC, 1914 - - - - - *One Day* - - Today I have been happy. All the day - I held the memory of you, and wove - Its laughter with the dancing light o' the spray, - And sowed the sky with tiny clouds of love, - And sent you following the white waves of sea, - And crowned your head with fancies, nothing worth, - Stray buds from that old dust of misery, - Being glad with a new foolish quiet mirth. - - So lightly I played with those dark memories, - Just as a child, beneath the summer skies, - Plays hour by hour with a strange shining stone, - For which (he knows not) towns were fire of old, - And love has been betrayed, and murder done, - And great kings turned to a little bitter mould. - - THE PACIFIC, _October_ 1913 - - - - - *Sonnet* - - (_Suggested by some of the Proceedings of the_ - _Society for Psychical Research_) - - Not with vain tears, when we're beyond the sun, - We'll beat on the substantial doors, nor tread - Those dusty high-roads of the aimless dead - Plaintive for Earth; but rather turn and run - Down some close-covered by-way of the air, - Some low sweet alley between wind and wind, - Stoop under faint gleams, thread the shadows, find - Some whispering ghost-forgotten nook, and there - - Spend in pure converse our eternal day; - Think each in each, immediately wise; - Learn all we lacked before; hear, know, and say - What this tumultuous body now denies; - And feel, who have laid our groping hands away; - And see, no longer blinded by our eyes. - - - - - *Clouds* - - Down the blue night the unending columns press - In noiseless tumult, break and wave and flow, - Now tread the far South, or lift rounds of snow - Up to the white moon's hidden loveliness. - Some pause in their grave wandering comradeless, - And turn with profound gesture vague and slow, - As who would pray good for the world, but know - Their benediction empty as they bless. - - They say that the Dead die not, but remain - Near to the rich heirs of their grief and mirth. - I think they ride the calm mid-heaven, as these, - In wise majestic melancholy train, - And watch the moon, and the still-raging seas, - And men, coming and going on the earth. - - THE PACIFIC, _October_ 1913 - - - - - *Mutability* - - They say there's a high windless world and strange, - Out of the wash of days and temporal tide, - Where Faith and Good, Wisdom and Truth abide, - _Æterna corpora_, subject to no change. - There the sure suns of these pale shadows move; - There stand the immortal ensigns of our war; - Our melting flesh fixed Beauty there, a star, - And perishing hearts, imperishable Love.... - - Dear, we know only that we sigh, kiss, smile; - Each kiss lasts but the kissing; and grief goes over; - Love has no habitation but the heart. - Poor straws! on the dark flood we catch awhile, - Cling, and are borne into the night apart. - The laugh dies with the lips, "Love" with the lover. - - SOUTH KENSINGTON--MAKAWELI, 1913 - - - - - *Heaven* - - Fish (fly-replete, in depth of June, - Dawdling away their wat'ry noon) - Ponder deep wisdom, dark or clear, - Each secret fishy hope or fear. - Fish say, they have their Stream and Pond; - But is there anything Beyond? - This life cannot be All, they swear, - For how unpleasant, if it were! - One may not doubt that, somehow, good - Shall come of Water and of Mud; - And, sure, the reverent eye must see - A Purpose in Liquidity. - We darkly know, by Faith we cry, - The future is not Wholly Dry. - Mud unto Mud!--Death eddies near-- - Not here the appointed End, not here! - But somewhere, beyond Space and Time, - Is wetter water, slimier slime! - And there (they trust) there swimmeth One - Who swam ere rivers were begun, - Immense, of fishy form and mind, - Squamous, omnipotent, and kind; - And under that Almighty Fin, - The littlest fish may enter in. - Oh! never fly conceals a hook, - Fish say, in the Eternal Brook, - But more than mundane weeds are there, - And mud, celestially fair; - Fat caterpillars drift around, - And Paradisal grubs are found; - Unfading moths, immortal flies, - And the worm that never dies. - And in that Heaven of all their wish, - There shall be no more land, say fish. - - - - - *Tiare Tahiti* - - Mamua, when our laughter ends, - And hearts and bodies, brown as white, - Are dust about the doors of friends, - Or scent a-blowing down the night, - Then, oh! then, the wise agree, - Comes our immortality. - Mamua, there waits a land - Hard for us to understand. - Out of time, beyond the sun, - All are one in Paradise, - You and Pupure are one, - And Taü, and the ungainly wise. - There the Eternals are, and there - The Good, the Lovely, and the True, - And Types, whose earthly copies were - The foolish broken things we knew; - There is the Face, whose ghosts we are; - The real, the never-setting Star; - And the Flower, of which we love - Faint and fading shadows here; - Never a tear, but only Grief; - Dance, but not the limbs that move; - Songs in Song shall disappear; - Instead of lovers, Love shall be; - For hearts, Immutability; - And there, on the Ideal Reef, - Thunders the Everlasting Sea! - - And my laughter, and my pain, - Shall home to the Eternal Brain. - And all lovely things, they say, - Meet in Loveliness again; - Miri's laugh, Teïpo's feet, - And the hands of Matua, - Stars and sunlight there shall meet, - Coral's hues and rainbows there, - And Teüra's braided hair; - And with the starred _tiare's_ white, - And white birds in the dark ravine, - And _flamboyants_ ablaze at night, - And jewels, and evening's after-green, - And dawns of pearl and gold and red, - Mamua, your lovelier head! - And there'll no more be one who dreams - Under the ferns, of crumbling stuff, - Eyes of illusion, mouth that seems, - All time-entangled human love. - And you'll no longer swing and sway - Divinely down the scented shade, - Where feet to Ambulation fade, - And moons are lost in endless Day. - How shall we wind these wreaths of ours, - Where there are neither heads nor flowers? - Oh, Heaven's Heaven!--but we'll be missing - The palms, and sunlight, and the south; - And there's an end, I think, of kissing, - When our mouths are one with Mouth.... - - _Taü here_, Mamua, - Crown the hair, and come away! - Hear the calling of the moon, - And the whispering scents that stray - About the idle warm lagoon. - Hasten, hand in human hand, - Down the dark, the flowered way, - Along the whiteness of the sand, - And in the water's soft caress - Wash the mind of foolishness, - Mamua, until the day. - Spend the glittering moonlight there - Pursuing down the soundless deep - Limbs that gleam and shadowy hair, - Or floating lazy, half-asleep. - Dive and double and follow after, - Snare in flowers, and kiss, and call, - With lips that fade, and human laughter, - And faces individual, - Well this side of Paradise! .... - There's little comfort in the wise. - - PAPEETE, February 1914 - - - - - *Retrospect* - - In your arms was still delight, - Quiet as a street at night; - And thoughts of you, I do remember, - Were green leaves in a darkened chamber, - Were dark clouds in a moonless sky. - Love, in you, went passing by, - Penetrative, remote, and rare, - Like a bird in the wide air, - And, as the bird, it left no trace - In the heaven of your face. - In your stupidity I found - The sweet hush after a sweet sound. - All about you was the light - That dims the greying end of night; - Desire was the unrisen sun, - Joy the day not yet begun, - With tree whispering to tree, - Without wind, quietly. - Wisdom slept within your hair, - And Long-Suffering was there, - And, in the flowing of your dress, - Undiscerning Tenderness. - And when you thought, it seemed to me, - Infinitely, and like a sea, - About the slight world you had known - Your vast unconsciousness was thrown. - - O haven without wave or tide! - Silence, in which all songs have died! - Holy book, where hearts are still! - And home at length under the hill! - O mother quiet, breasts of peace, - Where love itself would faint and cease! - O infinite deep I never knew, - I would come back, come back to you, - Find you, as a pool unstirred, - Kneel down by you, and never a word, - Lay my head, and nothing said, - In your hands, ungarlanded; - And a long watch you would keep; - And I should sleep, and I should sleep! - - MATAIEA, _January_ 1914 - - - - - *The Great Lover* - - I have been so great a lover: filled my days - So proudly with the splendour of Love's praise, - The pain, the calm, and the astonishment, - Desire illimitable, and still content, - And all dear names men use, to cheat despair, - For the perplexed and viewless streams that bear - Our hearts at random down the dark of life. - Now, ere the unthinking silence on that strife - Steals down, I would cheat drowsy Death so far, - My night shall be remembered for a star - That outshone all the suns of all men's days. - Shall I not crown them with immortal praise - Whom I have loved, who have given me, dared with me - High secrets, and in darkness knelt to see - The inenarrable godhead of delight? - Love is a flame:--we have beaconed the world's night. - A city:--and we have built it, these and I. - An emperor:--we have taught the world to die. - So, for their sakes I loved, ere I go hence, - And the high cause of Love's magnificence, - And to keep loyalties young, I'll write those names - Golden for ever, eagles, crying flames, - And set them as a banner, that men may know, - To dare the generations, burn, and blow - Out on the wind of Time, shining and streaming.. - - These I have loved: - White plates and cups, clean-gleaming, - Ringed with blue lines; and feathery, faery dust; - Wet roofs, beneath the lamplight; the strong crust - Of friendly bread; and many-tasting food; - Rainbows; and the blue bitter smoke of wood; - And radiant raindrops couching in cool flowers; - And flowers themselves, that sway through sunny hours, - Dreaming of moths that drink them under the moon; - Then, the cool kindliness of sheets, that soon - Smooth away trouble; and the rough male kiss - Of blankets; grainy wood; live hair that is - Shining and free; blue-massing clouds; the keen - Unpassioned beauty of a great machine; - The benison of hot water; furs to touch; - The good smell of old clothes; and other such, - The comfortable smell of friendly fingers, - Hair's fragrance, and the musty reek that lingers - About dead leaves and last year's ferns.... - - Dear names, - And thousand other throng to me! Royal flames; - Sweet water's dimpling laugh from tap or spring; - Holes in the ground; and voices that do sing; - Voices in laughter, too; and body's pain, - Soon turned to peace; and the deep-panting train; - Firm sands; the little dulling edge of foam - That browns and dwindles as the wave goes home; - And washen stones, gay for an hour; the cold - Graveness of iron; moist black earthen mould; - Sleep; and high places; footprints in the dew; - And oaks; and brown horse-chestnuts, glossy-new; - And new-peeled sticks; and shining pools on grass; - All these have been my loves. And these shall pass, - Whatever passes not, in the great hour, - Nor all my passion, all my prayers, have power - To hold them with me through the gate of Death. - They'll play deserter, turn with the traitor breath, - Break the high bond we made, and sell Love's trust - And sacramented covenant to the dust. - ----Oh, never a doubt but, somewhere, I shall wake, - And give what's left of love again, and make - New friends, now strangers.... - But the best I've known, - Stays here, and changes, breaks, grows old, is blown - About the winds of the world, and fades from brains - Of living men, and dies. - Nothing remains. - O dear my loves, O faithless, once again - This one last gift I give: that after men - Shall know, and later lovers, far-removed, - Praise you, "All these were lovely"; say, "He loved." - - MATAIEA, 1914 - - - - - *The Treasure* - - When colour goes home into the eyes, - And lights that shine are shut again - With dancing girls and sweet birds' cries - Behind the gateways of the brain; - And that no-place which gave them birth, shall close - The rainbow and the rose:-- - - Still may Time hold some golden space - Where I'll unpack that scented store - Of song and flower and sky and face, - And count, and touch, and turn them o'er, - Musing upon them; as a mother, who - Has watched her children all the rich day through, - Sits, quiet-handed, in the fading light, - When children sleep, ere night. - - - - - *1914* - - I. Peace - - Now, God be thanked Who has matched us with His hour, - And caught our youth, and wakened us from sleeping, - With hand made sure, clear eye, and sharpened power, - To turn, as swimmers into cleanness leaping, - Glad from a world grown old and cold and weary, - Leave the sick hearts that honour could not move, - And half-men, and their dirty songs and dreary, - And all the little emptiness of love! - - Oh! we, who have known shame, we have found release there, - Where there's no ill, no grief, but sleep has mending, - Naught broken save this body, lost but breath; - Nothing to shake the laughing heart's long peace there - But only agony, and that has ending; - And the worst friend and enemy is but Death. - - - II. Safety - - Dear! of all happy in the hour, most blest - He who has found our hid security, - Assured in the dark tides of the world that rest, - And heard our word, 'Who is so safe as we?' - We have found safety with all things undying, - The winds, and morning, tears of men and mirth, - The deep night, and birds singing, and clouds flying, - And sleep, and freedom, and the autumnal earth. - - We have built a house that is not for Time's throwing. - We have gained a peace unshaken by pain for ever. - War knows no power. Safe shall be my going, - Secretly armed against all death's endeavour; - Safe though all safety's lost; safe where men fall; - And if these poor limbs die, safest of all. - - - III. The Dead - - Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead! - There's none of these so lonely and poor of old, - But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold. - These laid the world away; poured out the red - Sweet wine of youth; gave up the years to be - Of work and joy, and that unhoped serene, - That men call age; and those who would have been, - Their sons, they gave, their immortality. - - Blow, bugles, blow! They brought us, for our dearth, - Holiness, lacked so long, and Love, and Pain. - Honour has come back, as a king, to earth, - And paid his subjects with a royal wage; - And Nobleness walks in our ways again; - And we have come into our heritage. - - - IV. The Dead - - These hearts were woven of human joys and cares. - Washed marvellously with sorrow, swift to mirth. - The years had given them kindness. Dawn was theirs, - And sunset, and the colours of the earth. - These had seen movement, and heard music; known - Slumber and waking; loved; gone proudly friended; - Felt the quick stir of wonder; sat alone; - Touched flowers and furs and cheeks. All this is ended. - - There are waters blown by changing winds to laughter - And lit by the rich skies, all day. And after, - Frost, with a gesture, stays the waves that dance - And wandering loveliness. He leaves a white - Unbroken glory, a gathered radiance, - A width, a shining peace, under the night. - - - V. The Soldier - - If I should die, think only this of me: - That there's some corner of a foreign field - That is for ever England. There shall be - In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; - A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, - Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam, - A body of England's breathing English air, - Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home. - - And think, this heart, all evil shed away, - A pulse in the eternal mind, no less - Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given; - Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day; - And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness, - In hearts at peace, under an English heaven. - - - - PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY - BILLING AND SONS, LIMITED - GUILDFORD AND ESHER - - - - - * * * * * * * * - - - - - *Poems* - - - *by Rupert Brooke* - - (Originally published in 1911) - - _Twenty-eighth Impression_ - 3s. 6d. _net_ - -"The volume of 'Poems' published in 1911, which contains work written as -early as 1905, when he was eighteen, shows an art curiously personal, -skilful, deliberate. It shows, too, an intellectual deftness altogether -unexpected in so young a poet, and it shows finally, not always but -often, an indifference to the normal material upon which poets good and -bad are apt to work from the outset, and in the shaping of which -ultimately comes all poetry that is memorable. Nearly every page is -interesting on account of its art and intellectual deftness, qualities -that we should not expect to be marked.... - -"... Even in the poems where most we feel the lack of emotional truth -there is a beauty of word that made the book full of the most exciting -promise. Already, too there was in certain poems assurance against the -danger that this intellectual constraint might degenerate into -virtuosity."--From "RUPERT BROOKE," by John Drinkwater, in the -_Contemporary Review_, December 1915. - -*** The poems on pp. 7-38 of _Selected Poems_ are taken from the above -volume. - - - - * * * * * - - - - *1914 and other Poems* - - *by Rupert Brooke* - - *With a Photogravure Portrait by - SHERRIL SCHELL* - - _Twenty-eighth Impression_ - 3s. 6d. _net_ - -"To those of us who see in poetry the perfect flowering of life, the -story of Rupert Brooke will always mean chiefly the score or so of poems -in which he reached to the full maturity of his genius and gave -imperishable expression to the very heart of his personality.... Not -even the fact that the man who wrote the sonnets, than which after long -generations nothing shall make the year 1914 more memorable, served and -died for England at war, can add one beat to their pulse. The poetry -that shines and falls across them in one perfect and complete wave is, -as poetry must always be, independent of all factual experience, and -comes wholly from the deeper experience of the imagination."--From -"RUPERT BROOKE" by John Drinkwater, in the _Contemporary Review_. -December 1915. - -*** The poems on pp. 39-75 of _Selected Poems_ are taken from the above -volume. - - - - * * * * * - - - - _UNIFORM EDITION_ - - *The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke* - - *With a Memoir* - - *Two Photogravure Portraits from Photographs - by SHERRIL SCHELL* - - Extra crown 8vo. Buckram - _Ninth Impression_ - 12s. 6d. _net_ - - _Some Press Opinions of the "Memoir"_ - -"To me this picture of Rupert Brooke is one of the pleasantest and most -inspiriting that I have read in biographical literature for many a day. -Here are 160 pages of pure gold."--C. K. S. in _The Sphere_. - -"A model of what a memoir should be."--_Liverpool Post_. - -"The Memoir ... is one of the most perfect we have ever read."--_Pall -Mall Gazette_. - -"An admirable picture of one whom the gods loved and gifted -generously."--_Punch_. - -*** The Memoir may also be obtained separately, uniform with 'Poems' and -'1914,' with a Portrait from a photograph by SHERRIL SCHELL, price 6s. -net. - - - - * * * * * - - - - _UNIFORM EDITION_ - - *Letters from America: - by Rupert Brooke* - - *With a Preface - by Henry James* - - Photogravure Portrait from a photograph by - SHERRIL SCHELL - - Extra crown 8vo. Buckram - _Fourth Impression_ - 12s. 6d. _net_ - - - - * * * * * - - - - *John Webster and the Elizabethan Drama* - - *by Rupert Brooke* - - Extra crown 8vo. Buckram - _Second Impression * - 12s. 6d. *net_ - -*** This is the 'dissertation,' written in 1911-12, by which Rupert -Brooke gained his Fellowship at King's College, Cambridge, in 1913. - - - - SIDGWICK & JACKSON, Ltd., 3 Adam St., London, W.C. - - - - - - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SELECTED POEMS *** - - - - -A Word from Project Gutenberg - - -We will update this book if we find any errors. - -This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48306 - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so -the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. -Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this -license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg(tm) -electronic works to protect the Project Gutenberg(tm) concept and -trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be -used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific -permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, -complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly -any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances -and research. They may be modified and printed and given away - you may -do practically _anything_ in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. - - - -The Full Project Gutenberg License - - -_Please read this before you distribute or use this work._ - -To protect the Project Gutenberg(tm) mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or -any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project -Gutenberg(tm) License available with this file or online at -http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - - -Section 1. General Terms of Use & Redistributing Project Gutenberg(tm) -electronic works - - -*1.A.* By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg(tm) -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the -terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy all -copies of Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic works in your possession. If -you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project -Gutenberg(tm) electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the -terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or -entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. - -*1.B.* "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few things -that you can do with most Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic works even -without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See paragraph -1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg(tm) electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement -and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic -works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -*1.C.* The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of -Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic works. Nearly all the individual works -in the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an -individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the United States and -you are located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent -you from copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating -derivative works based on the work as long as all references to Project -Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the -Project Gutenberg(tm) mission of promoting free access to electronic -works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg(tm) works in compliance with -the terms of this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg(tm) name -associated with the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this -agreement by keeping this work in the same format with its attached full -Project Gutenberg(tm) License when you share it without charge with -others. - - -*1.D.* The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in -a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check -the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement -before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or -creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project -Gutenberg(tm) work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning -the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United -States. - -*1.E.* Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -*1.E.1.* The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg(tm) License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg(tm) work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United - States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with - almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away - or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License - included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org . - If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to - check the laws of the country where you are located before using - this ebook. - -*1.E.2.* If an individual Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not contain -a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the copyright -holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in the United -States without paying any fees or charges. If you are redistributing or -providing access to a work with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" -associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply either with -the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or obtain permission -for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg(tm) trademark as set -forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -*1.E.3.* If an individual Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic work is -posted with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and -distribution must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and -any additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg(tm) License for all works posted -with the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of -this work. - -*1.E.4.* Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project -Gutenberg(tm) License terms from this work, or any files containing a -part of this work or any other work associated with Project -Gutenberg(tm). - -*1.E.5.* Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg(tm) License. - -*1.E.6.* You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any -word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or -distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg(tm) work in a format other than -"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version -posted on the official Project Gutenberg(tm) web site -(http://www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or -expense to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a -means of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original -"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include -the full Project Gutenberg(tm) License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -*1.E.7.* Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg(tm) works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -*1.E.8.* You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic works -provided that - - - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg(tm) works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg(tm) trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - - - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg(tm) - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg(tm) - works. - - - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - - - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg(tm) works. - - -*1.E.9.* If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg(tm) electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg(tm) -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3. below. - -*1.F.* - -*1.F.1.* Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg(tm) collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg(tm) -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual -property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a -computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by your -equipment. - -*1.F.2.* LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg(tm) trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg(tm) electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal fees. -YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, -BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN -PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK OWNER, AND -ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR -ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES -EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. - -*1.F.3.* LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with -your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with -the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a -refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity -providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to -receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy -is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further -opportunities to fix the problem. - -*1.F.4.* Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER -WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO -WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -*1.F.5.* Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. -If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the -law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be -interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by -the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any -provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. - -*1.F.6.* INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic works in accordance -with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, -promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic works, -harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, -that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do -or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg(tm) -work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any -Project Gutenberg(tm) work, and (c) any Defect you cause. - - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg(tm) - - -Project Gutenberg(tm) is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers -including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists -because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from -people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg(tm)'s -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg(tm) collection will remain -freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure and -permanent future for Project Gutenberg(tm) and future generations. To -learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and -how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and the -Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org . - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive -Foundation - - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the state -of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Revenue -Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification number is -64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at -http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf . Contributions to the -Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the -full extent permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its volunteers -and employees are scattered throughout numerous locations. Its business -office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, -(801) 596-1887, email business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at http://www.pglaf.org - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - - -Project Gutenberg(tm) depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations where -we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state -visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make any -statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from outside -the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other ways -including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To donate, -please visit: http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate - - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic -works. - - -Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg(tm) -concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared -with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project -Gutenberg(tm) eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg(tm) eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - -Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's eBook -number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, -compressed (zipped), HTML and others. - -Corrected _editions_ of our eBooks replace the old file and take over -the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. -_Versions_ based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving -new filenames and etext numbers. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg(tm), -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |