In this installment, Jennifer Kwon Dobbs reads “Sonnet LXXVII” from Elegiac Sonnets by Charlotte Turner Smith. Dobbs was born in Wonju-Si, South Korea. Her debut collection, Paper Pavilion, received the White Pine Press Poetry Prize and was published in 2007. Currently, she is assistant professor of creative writing at St. Olaf College and lives in Minneapolis.
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Charlotte Turner Smith, “Sonnet LXXVII” [From Elegiac Sonnets]
To the Insect of the Gossamer
SMALL, viewless aeronaut, that by the line
Of Gossamer suspended, in mid air
Float’st on a sun beam–Living atom, where
Ends thy breeze-guided voyage;–with what design,
In ether dost thou launch thy form minute,
Mocking the eye?–Alas! before the veil
Of denser clouds shall hide thee, the pursuit
Of the keen Swift may end thy fairy sail!–
Thus on the golden thread that Fancy weaves
Buoyant, as Hope’s illusive flattery breathes,
The young and visionary poet leaves
Life’s dull realities, while sevenfold wreaths
Of rainbow-light around his head revolve.
Ah! soon at Sorrow’s touch the radiant dreams dissolve!
admin Uncategorized charlotte turner smith, elegiac sonnets, jennifer kwon dobbs, sonnet lxxvii
In this installment, Jennifer Kwon Dobbs reads “Sonnet LXX” from Elegiac Sonnets by Charlotte Turner Smith. Dobbs was born in Wonju-Si, South Korea. Her debut collection, Paper Pavilion, received the White Pine Press Poetry Prize and was published in 2007. Currently, she is assistant professor of creative writing at St. Olaf College and lives in Minneapolis.
download MP3
Charlotte Turner Smith, “Sonnet LXX” [From Elegiac Sonnets]
On being cautioned against walking over a headland
overlooking the sea, because it was frequented by a
Lunatic.
IS there a solitary wretch who hies
To the tall cliff, with starting pace or slow,
And, measuring, views with wild and hollow eyes
Its distance from the waves that chide below;
Who, as the sea-born gale with frequent sighs
Chills his cold bed upon the mountain turf,
With hoarse, half utter’d lamentation, lies
Murmuring responses to the dashing surf?
In moody sadness, on the giddy brink,
I see him more with envy than with fear;
He has no nice felicities that shrink
From giant horrors; wildly wandering here,
He seems (uncursed with reason) not to know
The depth or the duration of his woe.
admin Uncategorized charlotte turner smith, elegiac sonnets, jennifer kwon dobbs, sonnet lxx
