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<title type="main">The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part 1: 1791-1797 </title>
<title type="subordinate">A Romantic Circles Electronic Edition</title>
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<name>Southey, Robert, 1774-1843</name>
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<date>2009-03-15</date>
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<idno type="edition">letterEEd.26.18</idno>
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<sourceDesc>
<p>Morgan Library, MA 4500.  Not previously published.</p>
<p>These letters were edited with the assistance of Carol Bolton, Tim Fulford and Ian Packer</p>
<p>For permission to publish the text of MSS in their possession, the editor wishes to thank the Beinecke Rare
											Books and Manuscript Library, Yale University; Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New
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<div n="18" type="letter">
<head>18. Robert Southey to <ref target="people.html#LambThomasPhillipps">Thomas Phillipps Lamb</ref>, <date when="1792-07-18">[c. 18 July 1792]</date>
<note place="foot" resp="editors" type="headnote">Address: Thomas Lamb Esq<hi rend="sup">r</hi>/ Rye/ Sussex./ Single Sheet<lb/>Stamped: BATH<lb/>Postmark: DJY/ 18/ 92<lb/>MS: Morgan Library, MA 4500<lb/>Unpublished.</note>
</head>
<p rend="indent4">The Death of Odin.<note n="1" place="foot" resp="editors">A revised version was published in Southey and Lovell’s <title level="m">Poems</title> (1795). Odin was chief of the Norse gods. The idea that he might have been an actual historical figure was explored in Thomas Percy’s (1729–1811; <title level="m">DNB</title>) translation of Paul-Henri Mallet (1730–1807), <title level="m">Northern Antiquities: or, A Description of the Manners, Customs, Religion and Laws of the Ancient Danes, and Other Northern Nations</title>, 2 vols (London, 1770), I, pp. 58–73. Southey’s poem was also influenced by Frank Sayers (1763–1817; <title level="m">DNB</title>), <title level="m">Dramatic Sketches of the Ancient Northern Mythology</title> (1790).</note>
</p>
<p rend="indent5">	—————	</p>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">Soul of my much love’d Freya<note n="2" place="foot" resp="editors">In Norse mythology, wife of Odin and mother of Balder, associated with love and fertility.</note> yes I come.</l>
<l rend="indent3">	No pale Diseases haggard power</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Has hasten’d on thy husbands hour</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Nor pourd by victor’s thirsty hand</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Has Odin’s life bedewd the land —</l>
<l rend="indent2">I rush to meet thee by a self will’d doom.</l>
<l rend="indent3">	No more my clatt’ring iron car</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Shall rush amid the throng of war</l>
<l rend="indent2">No more obedient to my heavenly cause</l>
<l rend="indent2">Shall crimson Conquest stamp her Odin’s laws.</l>
<l rend="indent4">		I go I go.</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Yet shall the Nations own my sway</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Far as yon orb shall dart his all enlivening ray</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Big is the death fraught cloud of woe</l>
<l rend="indent2">That hangs o Rome impending oer thy wall</l>
<l rend="indent2">For Odin shall avenge his Asgards<note n="3" place="foot" resp="editors">In Norse mythology, Asgard was the realm of the gods.</note> fall.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">Thus burst from Odins lips the fated sound</l>
<l rend="indent3">	As high in air he reard the gleaming blade.</l>
<l rend="indent2">In silent wonder all around</l>
<l rend="indent3">	His faithful friends beheld the scene affray’d</l>
<l rend="indent3">	He unappalld towards the skies</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Uplifts his death denouncing eyes</l>
<l rend="indent3">	“Ope wide Valahallas<note n="4" place="foot" resp="editors">Valhalla, the place in Norse mythology to which heroes who died in battle were taken.</note> shield roofd hall</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Virgins of bliss obey your masters call</l>
<l rend="indent3">	From these injurious realms below</l>
<l rend="indent3">	The sire of nations hastes to go.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">Say falters now your chieftains breath</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Or chills pale Terror now his deathlike face?</l>
<l rend="indent2">Then weep not Thor<note n="5" place="foot" resp="editors">In Norse mythology, the god of thunder.</note> thy friends approaching death.</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Let no unmanly tears disgrace</l>
<l rend="indent3">	The first of mortals valiant race.</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Dauntless Heimdal<note n="6" place="foot" resp="editors">In Norse mythology, the guardian of the gods.</note> mourn not now.</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Balder<note n="7" place="foot" resp="editors">In Norse mythology, Odin’s son and god of beauty, joy, purity and peace.</note> clear thy cloudy brow</l>
<l rend="indent3">	I go to happier realms above</l>
<l rend="indent3">	To realms of friendship &amp; of love.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">This unmanly grief dispelling</l>
<l rend="indent3">	List to glorys rapturous call</l>
<l rend="indent2">So with Odin ever dwelling</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Meet him in the shield roofd hall.</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Still shall Odins fateful lance</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Before his faithful friends advance.</l>
<l rend="indent3">	When the bloody fight beginning</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Helms &amp; shields &amp; hauberks ringing</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Streaming life each fatal wound</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Pours its current on the ground —</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Still in clouds portentous riding</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Oer his comrade host presiding</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Odin from the stormy air</l>
<l rend="indent2">Oer your disheartend foes shall scatter wild despair.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3">	Mid the mighty din of battle</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Whilst conflicting chariots rattle</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Floods of purple slaughter streaming</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Fate fraught faulchions felly gleaming</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Happy he amid the strife</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Who pours the current of his life</l>
<l rend="indent3">	When Hela<note n="8" place="foot" resp="editors">In Norse mythology, the goddess of Hell.</note> marks her destind prey</l>
<l rend="indent3">	And Slaughter stamps his favouring day.</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Every toil &amp; trouble ending</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Odin from his hall descending</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Shall bear him to his blest retreat<note n="9" place="foot" resp="editors">Valhalla. In Norse mythology, the place where heroes slain in battle were taken.</note>
</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Shall place him in the warriors seat.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3">	Not such the dastards destind state</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Not such the joys his sprite aggrate —</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Wild shrieks shall yell on every breath</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Pale agonies await his death.</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Adown his wan distorted face</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Big drops their painful way shall trace</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Each limb in that tremendous hour</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Shall quiver in Diseases power —</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Grim Hela oer his couch shall hang</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Scoff at his groans &amp; point each pang</l>
<l rend="indent3">	No Virgin goddess him shall call</l>
<l rend="indent3">	To join you in the shield roofd hall</l>
<l rend="indent3">	No Valkery<note n="10" place="foot" resp="editors">In Norse mythology, maidens who selected the most heroic of those who had died in battle and carried them to Valhalla.</note> for him prepare</l>
<l rend="indent3">	The smiling mead with lovely care</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Sad &amp; unpitied shall he lie</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Despairing shriek despairing die.</l>
<l rend="indent3">	No Scald<note n="11" place="foot" resp="editors">The old Norse word for a poet.</note> in never ending lays</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Shall rear the temple of his praise</l>
<l rend="indent3">	No Virgin in her vernal bloom</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Bedew with tears his high reard tomb</l>
<l rend="indent3">	No Soldier sound his honor’d name</l>
<l rend="indent3">	No song shall hand him down to fame.</l>
<l rend="indent3">	But rank weeds oer the unglorious mound</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Thick shall in proud contempt abound</l>
<l rend="indent3">	And swept by Time’s strong stream away</l>
<l rend="indent3">	He soon shall sink Oblivions prey.</l>
<l rend="indent3">	And deep in Niflehim<note n="12" place="foot" resp="editors">In Norse mythology, the ‘abode of mist’, a hell-like world where those who did not enter Valhalla were taken.</note> — dreary cell</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Aye shall his sprite tormented dwell</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Where grim Remorse for ever wakes</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Where Anguish feeds her torturing snakes</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Where Disappointment &amp; Delay</l>
<l rend="indent3">	For ever guard the doleful way.</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Amid the joyless land of woe</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Bitter bleak the chill blasts blow —</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Drives the tempest — pours the rain</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Showers the hail with force amain —</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Yell the night birds as they fly</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Flitting in the misty sky</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Glows the adder swells the toad</l>
<l rend="indent3">	For sad is Hela’s cold abode.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3">	Spread then the Gothic banners to the sky</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Lift your towering ensigns high</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Yoke your coursers to the car</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Strike the sounding shield of war.</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Go my lovd companions go —</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Haste subdue your every foe</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Like the torrents raging force</l>
<l rend="indent2">That rushing from the hills speds on its foaming course.</l>
<l rend="indent3">	The Druid throng shall fall away</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Beneath your ever victor sway —</l>
<l rend="indent3">	No more shall Nations bow the knee</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Vanquishd Taranis<note n="13" place="foot" resp="editors">Celtic god of thunder.</note> to thee</l>
<l rend="indent3">	No more upon the sacred stone</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Teutates<note n="14" place="foot" resp="editors">Celtic god to whom victims were sacrificed by being plunged into a vat of liquid.</note> shall thy victims groan</l>
<l rend="indent2">The vanquishd Odin Rome shall cause thy fall</l>
<l rend="indent2">And my destruction shake thy turret crowned wall.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3">	Yet oh my faithful friends beware</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Luxury’s enerving snare</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Twas this that shook our Asgards dome</l>
<l rend="indent3">	That drove us from our native home</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Twas this that smoothd the way for victor Rome.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3">	Gauls fruitful plains shall court your sway</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Conquest point the destind way</l>
<l rend="indent3">	Conquest shall attend your call</l>
<l rend="indent2">And your success shall gild still more Valhalla’s hall.</l>
<l rend="indent2">So spake the dauntless chief &amp; piercd his breast</l>
<l rend="indent2">Then rushd to seize the seat of endless rest.</l>
</lg>
<p rend="indent5">	——————	</p>
<p rend="indent1">	The ode I have sent has at least the merit of being long enough — &amp; the subject is such as is not very common. I sent some verses to <ref target="places.html#MountsfieldRye">Mountsfield</ref> by the Bolt in Tun coach but know not whether they are arrived. why you say that your rhyming genius is worn out I know not — for the song was so amended that I must not own it now. <ref target="people.html#LambThomasDavis">Tom</ref> mentioned in his last that he sets out on his travels with M<hi rend="sup">r</hi> Lettice<note n="15" place="foot" resp="editors">Probably John Lettice (1737–1832), clergyman and author. Previously tutor to the Beckford family, in 1792 he was employed as travelling companion and tutor to Thomas Davis Lamb.</note> next spring — he certainly has done right in preferring it to the University &amp; altho’ I shall feel the loss very sensibly I must commend his resolution. universities are very well for the study of books, to run mad in finding out the paulo post futurum<note n="16" place="foot" resp="editors">The Latin translates as ‘some time in the distant future’.</note> of a Greek verb or to solve a problem of Euclid,<note n="17" place="foot" resp="editors">Euclid of Alexandria (dates uncertain, between 325 and 250 BC), mathematician. His work includes the <title level="m">Elements</title>.</note> but they will never teach the most important study — the study of men.</p>
<p rend="indent1">	you have heard I suppose of the bloody proceeding at Westminster.<note n="18" place="foot" resp="editors">Possibly a reference to a disturbance at Westminster School, see Letter 15.</note>
<ref target="people.html#LambThomasDavis">Tom</ref> wrote me a full account of it — some hints I have seen in the papers but very obscure ones. M<hi rend="sup">r</hi> Purcel<note n="19" place="foot" resp="editors">Unidentified, possibly an Usher at Westminster School.</note> appears to me to stand a good chance of the gallows. </p>
<closer>
<salute rend="indent1">my best respects at <ref target="places.html#MountsfieldRye">Mountsfield</ref> — &amp; believe me</salute>
</closer>
<closer>
<salute rend="indent2">your much obliged humble Servant</salute>
</closer>
<closer>
<signed rend="indent5">Robert Southey.</signed>
</closer>
<postscript>
<p>
<address>
<placeName>Bath.</placeName>
</address>
<date> July.</date>
</p>
</postscript>
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