Poems on Various Subjects (Coleridge)/Effusion 8, to Kosciusco

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To Kosciusko is the name shared by three sonnets written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Leigh Hunt, and John Keats. Coleridge's, the original, was written in December 1794 and published in the 16 December 1794 Morning Chronicle as the fifth of his 'Sonnets on Eminent Characters' series. Hunt and Keats were inspired to follow his poem with their own versions (under the same title) in November 1815 and December 1816, respectively. The sonnets were dedicated to the heroism of Tadeusz Kościuszko, leader of the 1794 Polish rebellion against Prussian and Russian control.

3278689Poems on Various Subjects (Coleridge) — Effusion 8, to KosciuscoSamuel Taylor Coleridge

EFFUSION VIII.

O WHAT a loud and fearful shriek[1] was there,
As tho' a thousand souls one death-groan pour'd!
Ah me! they view'd beneath an hireling's sword
Fall'n KOSKIUSKO! Thro' the burthen'd air
(As pauses the tir'd Cossac's barb'rous yell
Of Triumph) on the chill and midnight gale
Rises with frantic burst or sadder swell
The dirge of murder'd Hope! while Freedom pale
Bends in such anguish o'er her destin'd bier,
As if from eldest time some Spirit meek
Had gather'd in a mystic urn each tear
That ever furrow'd a sad Patriot's cheek;
And she had drain'd the sorrows of the bowl
Ev'n till she reel'd, intoxicate of soul!

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