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Bulchevy’s Book of English Verse
Contents:
628. Ode on Melancholy
NO, no! go not to Lethe, neither twist
Wolf’s-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;
Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kist
By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;
Make not your rosary of yew-berries,
Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be
Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl
A partner in your sorrow’s mysteries;
For shade to shade will come too drowsily,
And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.
But when the melancholy fit shall fall
Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud,
That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,
And hides the green hill in an April shroud;
Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,
Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,
Or on the wealth of globed peonies;
Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows,
Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave,
And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes.
She dwells with Beauty—Beauty that must die;
And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh,
Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips:
Ay, in the very temple of Delight
Veil’d Melancholy has her sovran shrine,
Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue
Can burst Joy’s grape against his palate fine;
His soul shall taste the sadness of her might,
And be among her cloudy trophies hung.
John Keats. 1795-1821
Contents:
Chicago: Unknown, "628. Ode on Melancholy," Bulchevy’s Book of English Verse, ed. Sutherland, Alexander, 1853-1902 and trans. Seaton, R. C. in Bulchevy’s Book of English Verse (New York: George E. Wood, ""Death-bed"" edition, 1892), Original Sources, accessed September 10, 2024, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=H4PM52HQ9AU2TJ7.
MLA: Unknown. "628. Ode on Melancholy." Bulchevy’s Book of English Verse, edited by Sutherland, Alexander, 1853-1902, and translated by Seaton, R. C., in Bulchevy’s Book of English Verse, New York, George E. Wood, ""Death-bed"" edition, 1892, Original Sources. 10 Sep. 2024. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=H4PM52HQ9AU2TJ7.
Harvard: Unknown, '628. Ode on Melancholy' in Bulchevy’s Book of English Verse, ed. and trans. . cited in ""Death-bed"" edition, 1892, Bulchevy’s Book of English Verse, George E. Wood, New York. Original Sources, retrieved 10 September 2024, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=H4PM52HQ9AU2TJ7.
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