The Castaway and the other poem
Posted by Barbara on December 26, 1997 at 17:58:50:
In response to The Castaway, written by Diane L. on December 25, 1997 at 11:55:50
] It comes from the last stanza of William Cowper's poem, "The Castaway".
Here is the poem:
Obscurest night involv'd the sky,
2 Th' Atlantic billows roar'd,
3 When such a destin'd wretch as I,
4 Wash'd headlong from on board,
5 Of friends, of hope, of all bereft,
6 His floating home for ever left.
7 No braver chief could Albion boast
8 Than he with whom he went,
9 Nor ever ship left Albion's coast,
10 With warmer wishes sent.
11 He lov'd them both, but both in vain,
12 Nor him beheld, nor her again.
13 Not long beneath the whelming brine,
14 Expert to swim, he lay;
15 Nor soon he felt his strength decline,
16 Or courage die away;
17 But wag'd with death a lasting strife,
18 Supported by despair of life.
19 He shouted: nor his friends had fail'd
20 To check the vessel's course,
21 But so the furious blast prevail'd,
22 That, pitiless perforce,
23 They left their outcast mate behind,
24 And scudded still before the wind.
25 Some succour yet they could afford;
26 And, such as storms allow,
27 The cask, the coop, the floated cord,
28 Delay'd not to bestow.
29 But he (they knew) nor ship, nor shore,
30 Whate'er they gave, should visit more.
31 Nor, cruel as it seem'd, could he
32 Their haste himself condemn,
33 Aware that flight, in such a sea,
34 Alone could rescue them;
35 Yet bitter felt it still to die
36 Deserted, and his friends so nigh.
37 He long survives, who lives an hour
38 In ocean, self-upheld;
39 And so long he, with unspent pow'r,
40 His destiny repell'd;
41 And ever, as the minutes flew,
42 Entreated help, or cried--Adieu!
43 At length, his transient respite past,
44 His comrades, who before
45 Had heard his voice in ev'ry blast,
46 Could catch the sound no more.
47 For then, by toil subdued, he drank
48 The stifling wave, and then he sank.
49 No poet wept him: but the page
50 Of narrative sincere;
51 That tells his name, his worth, his age,
52 Is wet with Anson's tear.
53 And tears by bards or heroes shed
54 Alike immortalize the dead.
55 I therefore purpose not, or dream,
56 Descanting on his fate,
57 To give the melancholy theme
58 A more enduring date:
59 But misery still delights to trace
60 Its semblance in another's case.
61 No voice divine the storm allay'd,
62 No light propitious shone;
63 When, snatch'd from all effectual aid,
64 We perish'd, each alone:
65 But I beneath a rougher sea,
66 And whelm'd in deeper gulfs than he.
I made the words Edward said in red. The whole poem is linked from my Literary Companion page from the Pemberley index or here below. It is in the S&S section of the page.
The other poem where Marianne says "Is love a fancy or a feeling" comes from Sonnet VII by Hartlye Colerdige, but I can't find it online, and don't have a copy of it.
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