[ { "title": "Ode to Beauty", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "EXULTING BEAUTY,­phantom of an hour,", "Whose magic spells enchain the heart,", "Ah ! what avails thy fascinating pow'r,", "Thy thrilling smile, thy witching art ?", "Thy lip, where balmy nectar glows;", "Thy cheek, where round the damask rose", "A thousand nameless Graces move,", "Thy mildly speaking azure eyes,", "Thy golden hair, where cunning Love", "In many a mazy ringlet lies?", "Soon as thy radiant form is seen,", "Thy native blush, thy timid mien,", "Thy hour is past ! thy charms are vain!", "ILL-NATURE haunts thee with her sallow train,", "Mean JEALOUSY deceives thy list'ning ear,", "And SLANDER stains thy cheek with many a bitter tear.", "", "In calm retirement form'd to dwell,", "NATURE, thy handmaid fair and kind,", "For thee, a beauteous garland twin'd;", "The vale-nurs'd Lily's downcast bell", "Thy modest mien display'd,", "The snow-drop, April's meekest child,", "With myrtle blossoms undefil'd,", "Thy mild and spotless mind pourtray'd;", "Dear blushing maid, of cottage birth,", "'Twas thine, o'er dewy meads to stray,", "While sparkling health, and frolic mirth", "Led on thy laughing Day.", "", "Lur'd by the babbling tongue of FAME,", "Too soon, insidious FLATT'RY came;", "Flush'd VANITY her footsteps led,", "To charm thee from thy blest repose,", "While Fashion twin'd about thy head", "A wreath of wounding woes;", "See Dissipation smoothly glide,", "Cold Apathy, and puny Pride,", "Capricious Fortune, dull, and blind,", "O'er splendid Folly throws her veil,", "While Envy's meagre tribe assail", "Thy gentle form, and spotless mind.", "", "Their spells prevail! no more those eyes", "Shoot undulating fires;", "On thy wan cheek, the young rose dies,", "Thy lip's deep tint expires;", "Dark Melancholy chills thy mind;", "Thy silent tear reveals thy woe;", "TIME strews with thorns thy mazy way,", "Where'er thy giddy footsteps stray,", "Thy thoughtless heart is doom'd to find", "An unrelenting foe.", "", "'Tis thus, the infant Forest flow'r", "Bespangled o'er with glitt'ring dew,", "At breezy morn's refreshing hour,", "Glows with pure tints of varying hue,", "Beneath an aged oak's wide spreading shade,", "Where no rude winds, or beating storms invade.", "Transplanted from its lonely bed,", "No more it scatters perfumes round,", "No more it rears its gentle head,", "Or brightly paints the mossy ground;", "For ah! the beauteous bud, too soon,", "Scorch'd by the burning eye of day;", "Shrinks from the sultry glare of noon,", "Droops its enamell'd brow, and blushing, dies away." ], "linecount": "64" }, { "title": "Ode To Beauty", "author": "Ralph Waldo Emerson", "lines": [ "Who gave thee, O Beauty!", "The keys of this breast,", "Too credulous lover", "Of blest and unblest?", "Say when in lapsed ages", "Thee knew I of old;", "Or what was the service", "For which I was sold?", "When first my eyes saw thee,", "I found me thy thrall,", "By magical drawings,", "Sweet tyrant of all!", "I drank at thy fountain", "False waters of thirst;", "Thou intimate stranger,", "Thou latest and first!", "Thy dangerous glances", "Make women of men;", "New-born we are melting", "Into nature again.", "Lavish, lavish promiser,", "Nigh persuading gods to err,", "Guest of million painted forms", "Which in turn thy glory warms,", "The frailest leaf, the mossy bark,", "The acorn's cup, the raindrop's arc,", "The swinging spider's silver line,", "The ruby of the drop of wine,", "The shining pebble of the pond,", "Thou inscribest with a bond", "In thy momentary play", "Would bankrupt Nature to repay.", "", "Ah! what avails it", "To hide or to shun", "Whom the Infinite One", "Hath granted his throne?", "The heaven high over", "Is the deep's lover,", "The sun and sea", "Informed by thee,", "Before me run,", "And draw me on,", "Yet fly me still,", "As Fate refuses", "To me the heart Fate for me chooses,", "Is it that my opulent soul", "Was mingled from the generous whole,", "Sea valleys and the deep of skies", "Furnished several supplies,", "And the sands whereof I'm made", "Draw me to them self-betrayed?", "I turn the proud portfolios", "Which hold the grand designs", "Of Salvator, of Guercino,", "And Piranesi's lines.", "I hear the lofty Pæans", "Of the masters of the shell,", "Who heard the starry music,", "And recount the numbers well:", "Olympian bards who sung", "Divine Ideas below,", "Which always find us young,", "And always keep us so.", "Oft in streets or humblest places", "I detect far wandered graces,", "Which from Eden wide astray", "In lowly homes have lost their way.", "", "Thee gliding through the sea of form,", "Like the lightning through the storm,", "Somewhat not to be possessed,", "Somewhat not to be caressed,", "No feet so fleet could ever find,", "No perfect form could ever bind.", "Thou eternal fugitive", "Hovering over all that live,", "Quick and skilful to inspire", "Sweet extravagant desire,", "Starry space and lily bell", "Filling with thy roseate smell,", "Wilt not give the lips to taste", "Of the nectar which thou hast.", "", "All that's good and great with thee", "Stands in deep conspiracy.", "Thou hast bribed the dark and lonely", "To report thy features only,", "And the cold and purple morning", "Itself with thoughts of thee adorning,", "The leafy dell, the city mart,", "Equal trophies of thine art,", "E'en the flowing azure air", "Thou hast touched for my despair,", "And if I languish into dreams,", "Again I meet the ardent beams.", "Queen of things! I dare not die", "In Being's deeps past ear and eye,", "Lest there I find the same deceiver,", "And be the sport of Fate forever.", "Dread power, but dear! if God thou be,", "Unmake me quite, or give thyself to me." ], "linecount": "99" } ]