"Ah! season of delight!--could aught be found / To soothe awhile the tortur'd bosom's pain, / Of Sorrow's rankling shaft to cure the wound, / And bring life's first delusions once again, / 'Twere surely met in thee!."
— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
Chichester
Publisher
Printed by Dennett Jaques
Date
1784
Metaphor
"Ah! season of delight!--could aught be found / To soothe awhile the tortur'd bosom's pain, / Of Sorrow's rankling shaft to cure the wound, / And bring life's first delusions once again, / 'Twere surely met in thee!."
Metaphor in Context
Sonnet VIII.
To Spring
Again the wood, and long with-drawing vale,
In many a tint of tender green are drest,
Where the young leaves unfolding, scarce conceal
Beneath their early shade, the half-form'd nest
Of finch or wood-lark; and the primrose pale,
And lavish cowslip, wildly scatter'd round,
Give their sweet spirits to the sighing gale.
Ah! season of delight!--could aught be found
To soothe awhile the tortur'd bosom's pain,
Of Sorrow's rankling shaft to cure the wound,
And bring life's first delusions once again,
'Twere surely met in thee!--thy prospect fair,
Thy sounds of harmony, thy balmy air,
Have power to cure all sadness--but despair.
To Spring
Again the wood, and long with-drawing vale,
In many a tint of tender green are drest,
Where the young leaves unfolding, scarce conceal
Beneath their early shade, the half-form'd nest
Of finch or wood-lark; and the primrose pale,
And lavish cowslip, wildly scatter'd round,
Give their sweet spirits to the sighing gale.
Ah! season of delight!--could aught be found
To soothe awhile the tortur'd bosom's pain,
Of Sorrow's rankling shaft to cure the wound,
And bring life's first delusions once again,
'Twere surely met in thee!--thy prospect fair,
Thy sounds of harmony, thy balmy air,
Have power to cure all sadness--but despair.
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
At least 15 entries in the ESTC (1784, 1786, 1787, 1789, 1790, 1792, 1795, 1797, 1800).
Text drawn and corrected from OCR of 1789 edition in Google Books. Reading and comparing The Poems of Charlotte Smith, ed. Stuart Curran (New York and Oxford: OUP, 1993).
Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Essays. By Charlotte Smith of Bignor Park, In Sussex, 2nd edition (Chichester: Printed by Dennett Jaques, 1784). <Link to ECCO>
See also Elegiac Sonnets and Other Poems, by Charlotte Smith, 9th edition, 2 vols. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, Jun. and W. Davies, 1800). <Link to volume I in Google Books> <Link to volume II in ECCO> -- Note, Curran uses this edition as his base text for Sonnets 1 through 59.
Text drawn and corrected from OCR of 1789 edition in Google Books. Reading and comparing The Poems of Charlotte Smith, ed. Stuart Curran (New York and Oxford: OUP, 1993).
Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Essays. By Charlotte Smith of Bignor Park, In Sussex, 2nd edition (Chichester: Printed by Dennett Jaques, 1784). <Link to ECCO>
See also Elegiac Sonnets and Other Poems, by Charlotte Smith, 9th edition, 2 vols. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, Jun. and W. Davies, 1800). <Link to volume I in Google Books> <Link to volume II in ECCO> -- Note, Curran uses this edition as his base text for Sonnets 1 through 59.
Date of Entry
06/13/2013
