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Sonnets on English Dramatic Poets (1590-1650)
Taken from The Collected Poetical Works of Algernon Charles Swinburne, Vol V.
II. SONGS BEFORE SUNRISE, and SONGS OF TWO NATIONS.
III. POEMS AND BALLADS (Second and Third Series), and SONGS OF THE SPRINGTIDES.
IV. TRISTRAM OF LYONESSE, THE TALE OF BALEN, ATALANTA IN CALYDON, ERECHTHEUS.
V. STUDIES IN SONG, A CENTURY OF ROUNDELS, SONNETS ON ENGLISH DRAMATIC POETS, THE HEPTALOGIA, ETC.
VI. A MIDSUMMER HOLIDAY, ASTROPHEL, A CHANNEL PASSAGE AND OTHER POEMS.
_First printed (Chatto), 1904_ _Reprinted 1904, '09, '10, '12_ _(Heinemann), 1917_
HOPE AND FEAR 227 AFTER SUNSET 228 A STUDY FROM MEMORY 230 TO DR. JOHN BROWN 231 TO WILLIAM BELL SCOTT 232 A DEATH ON EASTER DAY 233 ON THE DEATHS OF THOMAS CARLYLE AND GEORGE ELIOT 234 AFTER LOOKING INTO CARLYLE'S REMINISCENCES 235 A LAST LOOK 237 DICKENS 238 ON LAMB'S SPECIMENS OF DRAMATIC POETS 239 TO JOHN NICHOL 241 DYSTHANATOS 243 EUONYMOS 244 ON THE RUSSIAN PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS 245 BISMARCK AT CANOSSA 246 QUIA NOMINOR LEO 247 THE CHANNEL TUNNEL 249 SIR WILLIAM GOMM 250
I. Christopher Marlowe 297 II. William Shakespeare 298 III. Ben Jonson 299 IV. Beaumont and Fletcher 300 V. Philip Massinger 301 VI. John Ford 302 VII. John Webster 303 VIII. Thomas Decker 304 IX. Thomas Middleton 305 X. Thomas Heywood 306 XI. George Chapman 307 XII. John Marston 308 XIII. John Day 309 XIV. James Shirley 310 XV. The Tribe of Benjamin 311 XVI. Anonymous Plays: "Arden of Feversham" 312 XVII. Anonymous Plays 313 XVIII. Anonymous Plays 314 XIX. The Many 315 XX. The Many 316 XXI. Epilogue 317
Beneath the shadow of dawn's aerial cope, With eyes enkindled as the sun's own sphere, Hope from the front of youth in godlike cheer Looks Godward, past the shades where blind men grope Round the dark door that prayers nor dreams can ope, And makes for joy the very darkness dear That gives her wide wings play; nor dreams that fear At noon may rise and pierce the heart of hope. Then, when the soul leaves off to dream and yearn, May truth first purge her eyesight to discern What once being known leaves time no power to appal; Till youth at last, ere yet youth be not, learn The kind wise word that falls from years that fall-- "Hope thou not much, and fear thou not at all."