8. But when Thou joinest with the Nine, We listen here on earth: The dying tones that fill the air, And charm the ear of evening fair, From thee, great God of Bards, receive their heavenly birth. HYMN TO APOLLO. I GOD of the golden bow, And of the golden lyre, Of the patient year, Where-where slept thine ire, When like a blank idiot I put on thy wreath, The light of thy story, Or was I a worm-too low crawling, for death? 2. The Thunderer grasp'd and grasp'd, The Thunderer frown'd and frown'd; The eagle's feathery mane For wrath became stiffen'd-the sound Of breeding thunder Went drowsily under, Muttering to be unbound. This also was first given in the Literary Remains, where it stood next to the preceding, though undated. As Lord Houghton retains it between the Ode to Apollo and the stanzas To Hope (dated February 1815) in the chronological Aldine edition, the date February 1815 may be presumed to be that of the Hymn as well as that of the Ode. O why didst thou pity, and for a worm Why touch thy soft lute Till the thunder was mute, Why was not I crush'd-such a pitiful germ O Delphic Apollo ! 3. The Pleiades were up, Watching the silent air; The seeds and roots in the Earth When, who-who did dare To tie, like a madman, thy plant round his brow, And grin and look proudly, And blaspheme so loudly, And live for that honour, to stoop to thee now? O Delphic Apollo ! SONNET. As from the darkening gloom a silver dove Regions of peace and everlasting love; Where happy spirits, crown'd with circlets bright Of starry beam, and gloriously bedight, Taste the high joy none but the blest can prove. There thou or joinest the immortal quire In melodies that even heaven fair Fill with superior bliss, or, at desire, Of the omnipotent Father, cleav'st the air Lord Houghton gave this sonnet in the Aldine edition of 1876, with the date 1816. There is nothing to show to whose death the poet refers. STANZAS TO MISS WYLIE. I. O COME Georgiana! the rose is full blown, 2. O come! let us haste to the freshening shades, 3. And when thou art weary I'll find thee a bed, 4. So fondly I'll breathe, and so softly I'll sigh, These stanzas, which are from the series of transcripts made by George Keats, are addressed to the object of the Sonnet to G. A. W. published in Keats's volume of 1817—to wit the lady who was after |