Barbauld, Anna Letitia [née Aikin] (1743-1825)

Lines Written in a Young Lady's Album of Different-Coloured Paper [from Works]

London

Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green

1825

The "white page of innocence and youth" may be tinted.

Life's chequered scenes these varied leaves display,
Pure white, and tenderest blush, and fading gray:--
The rosy tints of morning will not last,
And youth's gay flattering season soon is past.
O may thy gentle breast no changes know,
But such as from time's smoothest current flow;
No cares, but those whose mellowing influence steals
Mild o'er the' expansive heart that thinks and feels;
And with affection tried, experienced truth
Tint the white page of innocence and youth!
May Love for thee exert his fullest power,
And gild with sunniest gleams life's latest hour!
And friendship, health, and pleasure long be thine,
When cold the heart that pens this feeble line!
(ll. )

Writing::Blank Paper

HDIS

Some text drawn from The Works of Anna Lætitia Barbauld. With a Memoir by Lucy Aikin (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Browne, and Green, 1825).

Reading McCarthy, William and Kraft, Elizabeth, eds. Anna Letitia Barbauld: Selected Poetry and Prose (Ontario: Broadview Press, 2002).

Blank Slate

01/03/2004