The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore, Ed. with Mem. and Notes by C. Kent. Centenary Ed

by Thomas Moore

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1879 edition. ...they rode Were wing'd, and every chief a god 1 How fallen, how alter'd now! how wan Each scarr'd and faded visage shone, As round the burning shrine they came;--How deadly was the glare it cast, As mute they paused before the flame To light their torches as they pass'd! 'Twas silence all--the youth had plann'd The duties of his soldier band; And each determined brow declares His faithful chieftains well know theirs. But minutes speed--night gems the skies--And oh, how soon, ye blessed eyes. That look from heaven, ye may behold Sights that will turn your star-fires cold! Breathless with awe, impatience, hope, The maiden sees the veteran group Her litter silently prepare, And lay it at her trembling feet;--And now the youth, with gentle care, Hath placed her in the sheltcr'd seat, And press'd her hand--that lingering press Of hands, that for the last time sever; Of hearts, whose pulse of happiness, When that hold breaks, is dead for ever. And yet to her this sad caress Gives hope--so fondly hope can err! 'Twas joy, she thought, joy's mute excess--Their happy flight's dear harbinger; 'Twas warmth--assurance--tenderness--'Twas anything but leaving her. "Haste, haste!" she cried, "the clouds grow dark, But still, ere night, we'll reach the bark; And, by to-morrow's dawn--oh, bliss! With thee upon the sunbright deep, Far off, I'll but remember this, As some dark vanish'd dream of sleep 1 And thou "but ha!--he answers not--Good Heaven!--and does she go alone? She now has reach'd that dismal spot, Where, some hours since, his voice's tone Had come to soothe her fears and ills, Sweet as the angel Israfil's, When every leaf on Eden's tree Is trembling to his minstrelsy--Yet now--oh, now, he is not nigh--"Hafed! my Hafed! if it be...

Genres: Poetry

366 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1847

About the author

Thomas Moore, was an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist celebrated for his Irish Melodies. His setting of English-language verse to old Irish tunes marked the transition in popular Irish culture from Irish to English. Politically, Moore was recognised in England as a press, or "squib", writer for the aristocratic Whigs; in Ireland he was accounted a Catholic patriot.
Married to a Protestant actress and hailed as "Anacreon Moore" after the classical Greek composer of drinking songs and erotic verse, Moore did not profess religious piety. Yet in the controversies that surrounded Catholic Emancipation, Moore was seen to defend the tradition of the Church in Ireland against both evangelising Protestants and uncompromising lay Catholics. Longer prose works reveal more radical sympathies. The Life and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald depicts the United Irish leader as a martyr in the cause of democratic reform. Complementing Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent, Memoirs of Captain Rock is a saga, not of Anglo-Irish landowners, but of their exhausted tenants driven to the semi-insurrection of "Whiteboyism".
Today Moore is remembered almost alone either for his Irish Melodies (typically "The Minstrel Boy" and "The Last Rose of Summer") or, less generously, for the role he is thought to have played in the loss of the memoirs of his friend Lord Byron.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Has a nice mix of different poetical styles. some of the lanauge used can be quite hard to understand since most of it was written in the 1830's, a dictionary would be handy when attempting to read this.