The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray/Sonnet on the Death of Mr. Richard West
SONNET
ON THE DEATH OF MR. RICHARD WEST.
[See W. S. Landori Poemata, p. 186.]
In vain to me the smiling mornings[N 1] shine,
And redd'ning Phœbus lifts his golden fire:[N 2]
The birds in vain their amorous descant[N 3] join;
Or cheerful fields resume their green attire:
These ears, alas! for other notes repine 5
A different object do these eyes require:
My lonely anguish melts no heart but mine;
And in my breast the imperfect joys expire.[N 4]
And new-born pleasure brings to happier men:
The fields to all their wonted tribute bear:
To warm their little loves[N 5] the birds complain:
I fruitless mourn to him that cannot hear,
And weep the more, because I weep in vain.[N 6]
And redd'ning Phœbus lifts his golden fire:[N 2]
The birds in vain their amorous descant[N 3] join;
Or cheerful fields resume their green attire:
These ears, alas! for other notes repine 5
A different object do these eyes require:
My lonely anguish melts no heart but mine;
And in my breast the imperfect joys expire.[N 4]
And new-born pleasure brings to happier men:
The fields to all their wonted tribute bear:
To warm their little loves[N 5] the birds complain:
I fruitless mourn to him that cannot hear,
And weep the more, because I weep in vain.[N 6]
Notes
- ↑ V. 1. Milt. P. L. v. 168, "That crown'st the smiling morn". Luke.
- ↑ V. 2. Lucret. vi, 204, "Devolet in terram liquidi color aureus ignis." Luke.
- ↑ V. 3. Milt. P. L. iv. 602, "She all night long her amorous descant sung." Luke.
- ↑ V. 8. "And in my ear the imperfect accent dies." Dryden. Ovid. Rogers.
- ↑ V. 12. Spens. B. Id. cant. iii. st. 5: "On these Cupido winged armies led, of little loves." Luke.
- ↑ V. 14. A line similar to this occurs in Cibber's Alteration of Richard the Third, act ii. sc. 2:
"So we must weep, because we weep in vain." "Solon, when he wept for his son's death, on one saying to him, 'Weeping will not help,' answered: Ai abrò di τοῦτο δακρύω, ὅτι οὐδὲν ἀνύττω I weep for that very cause, that weeping will not avail,'" See Diog. Laert. vol. i. p. 39. ed. Meibomii. It is also told of Augustus. See also Fitzgeffry's Life and Death of Sir Francis Drake, B. 99. "Oh! therefore do we plaine, And therefore weepe, because we weepe in vaine." See also Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. x. p. 139, and Bamfylde's Sonnets, p. 6. ed. Park.