Anne Whitney

1821-1915

 

So reed-like fragile, in the world's whirl nought...

by Anne Whitney

So reed-like fragile, in the world's whirl nought,
Beggared in earthly hope, alone and bare, --
Heart pierced, wings clipped, feet bound, but grandly there,
Ay and with odds 'gainst Fate, thou standest, fraught
With courage to know all! -- Thus is thy lot
Worlds deep beneath thee. -- Lovest thou that keen air?
Thou ask'st not hope, nor may the falsely fair
Approach thy clear integrity of thought.
Such power, what shall we call it? For this time,
Not love, nor yet faith; but Eternity
Dilating the mean Day, -- the spirit, free
And self-reliant, from its purer clime
O'erruling earth, by spirit-law sublime --
God cleaving for thee the remorseless sea.

Source:

Poems
Copyright 1859
346 & 348 Broadway
D. Appleton & Company
New York
 

Recommended Works

Largess from seven-fold heavens, I pray, descend... - Anne WhitneyO Mankind's God! most silent and most lowly - Anne WhitneyTo _. (Had I a man's fair form, then might my sighs ...) - John KeatsOn A Picture Of Leander - John KeatsTo _. (Time's sea hath been five years at its low ebb, ...) - John KeatsCheerfulness Taught By Reason - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningWork (What are we set on earth for? ...) - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningHow many bards gild the lapses of time! - John KeatsWritten On The Day That Mr. Leigh Hunt Left Prison - John KeatsO fair mistrust of earth's more solid shows... - Anne WhitneyAddressed To Haydon - John KeatsOn A Dream - John KeatsBy every sweet tradition of true hearts,... - Thomas HoodAfter dark vapors have oppress'd our plains ... - John KeatsOn First Looking Into Chapman's Homer - John KeatsHow bravely Autumn paints upon the sky - Thomas HoodTo Kosciusko - John KeatsAddressed To The Same - John KeatsTo ____. (My heart is sick with longing, though I feed) - Thomas HoodTo Fancy - Thomas HoodPast And Future - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningContinence - Anne WhitneyFalse Poets And True - Thomas HoodThe Passion Flower - Anne WhitneyStoop low, dear Night, a little star-breeze wakes - Anne WhitneyO night, a terrible dismay still lurks... - Anne WhitneyIf by dull rhymes our English must be chain'd ... - John KeatsThis pleasant tale is like a little copse: ... - John KeatsOn Leigh Hunt's Poem, The Story Of Rimini. - John KeatsOn Receiving A Gift - Thomas HoodDark rolling clouds in wild confusion driven... - Caroline Bowles SoutheyThe Look - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOn Fame (How fever'd is the man, who cannot look ...) - John KeatsWithin my life another life runs deep, - Anne WhitneyTo My Brother - John KeatsDiscontent - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo one who has been long in city pent, ... - John KeatsTo A Young Lady Who Sent Me A Laurel Crown. - John KeatsThe day is gone, and all its sweets are gone! ... - John KeatsOh! how I love, on a fair summer's eve, ... - John KeatsTears - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningFor The Fourteenth Of February - Thomas HoodFrom all these mounds, though day blows fresh and warm, - Anne WhitneyAn Apprehension - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningIn the still hours, a stiller strength was born - Anne WhitneyTo The Spirit - Anne WhitneyTO G. A. W. - John KeatsThe Prisoner - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningWhy did I laugh to-night? - John KeatsKeen Fitful Gusts Are Whispering Here And There - John KeatsTo A Sleeping Child - Thomas HoodThou seem'st to solve the eternal unity... - Anne WhitneyOn Leaving Some Friends At An Early Hour - John KeatsThe Two Sayings - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningSonnet To A Sonnet - Thomas HoodI know this spirit bridges unknown space... - Anne WhitneyIrreparableness - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningThe Soul's Expression - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOn Sitting Down To Read King Lear Once Again. - John KeatsIt is not death, that sometime in a sigh... - Thomas HoodBereavement - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo A Friend Who Sent Me Some Roses - John KeatsA Thought For A Lonely Death-Bed - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningThe Meaning Of The Look - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo The Same - Anne WhitneyOf better fortune coming, then, talk not... - Anne WhitneyTo My Brother George - John KeatsTo George Sand: A Desire - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningAlas! and yesternight I woke in terror, - Anne WhitneyThe Human Seasons - John KeatsThe Same (Might we make quest ...) - Anne WhitneyO high-born souls, such as God sends to mould... - Anne WhitneyFuturity - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningThe Seraph And Poet - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningAnd for that thou art Beauty, and thy name... - Anne WhitneyC. L'E. - Anne WhitneyTo An Enthusiast - Thomas HoodTo Ailsa Rock - John KeatsI cry your mercy -- pity -- love -- ay, love ... - John KeatsThe Same (Twas then we said...) - Anne WhitneyInsufficiency - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo The Nile - John KeatsAnswer To A Sonnet Ending Thus: -- - John KeatsOn A Portrait Of Wordsworth - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningWhen I have fears that I may cease to be ... - John KeatsOn The Sea - John KeatsTo J. H. Reynolds - John KeatsRead me a lesson, Muse, and speak it loud - John KeatsOn The Grasshopper And Cricket - John KeatsPain In Pleasure - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningNight - Anne WhitneyKeats's Last Sonnet - John KeatsI dreamed an angel, Angel twice, through death... - Anne WhitneyExaggeration - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo Haydon - John KeatsTo Sleep - John KeatsGrief - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningSubstitution - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo George Sand: A Recognition - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningHappy is England! I could be content ... - John KeatsSo reed-like fragile, in the world's whirl nought... - Anne WhitneyThree Flowers - Thomas Bailey AldrichOn Fame (Fame, like a wayward girl, will still be coy ...). - John KeatsPatience Taught By Nature - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningAdequacy - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningWritten In The Cottage Where Burns Was Born - John KeatsConsolation - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo Homer - John KeatsO solitude! if I must with thee dwell, - John KeatsThe world is with me, and its many cares... - Thomas HoodWork And Contemplation - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningLear - Thomas HoodDarkness surrounds me with its phantom hosts... - Anne WhitneyTo The Ocean - Thomas HoodOn Seeing The Elgin Marbles - John KeatsYet are there sunbeams, though the kingly sun... - Anne WhitneyNo slight caprice rules thee. -- Who sounds one note... - Anne WhitneyPerplexed Music - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningComfort (Speak low to me, my Saviour, low and sweet ...) - Elizabeth Barrett Browning