Nightingale valley : a collection of choice lyrics and short poems from the time of Shakespeare to the present day

William Allingham

Sujets

• English poetry
• American poetry

Informations

• Publié par: les_archives_du_savoir
• Nombre de lectures: 7
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 11 Mo

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ffii;NIGHTINGALE VALLEY:
NIGHTINGALE VALLEY;
OF CHOICE LYRICSA COLLECTION
AND SHORT POEMS.
FROM THE TIME OF SHAKESPEARE TO
THE PRESENT DAY,
^
?
EDITED BY
WILLIAM ALLINGHAM.
LONDON
BELL AND DALDY, 186, FLEET STREET.
1862.PEEFACE.
simply is tointention of this bookTHE
Specimensdelight the lover of poetry.
critical and chronological have their o^Yn worth
;
aptly arranged ofwe desire to present a jewel,
allmany stones, various in colour and value, but
precious. Nothing personal or circumstantial,
loyalty to thenothing below a pure and loving
Muse, has been wittingly suffered to interfere
betwixt the idea its realization. Much, itand
but should theis true, is perforce omitted ;
brotherly reader and the judicious critic haply
find the little ^er se, a good thing, theyvolume,
but its part.will scarcely complain that it does
Do we curse the cup of refreshing handed us
—from the well because it is not twice as large
when the well itself, too, remains ? Those who
best know of such things will the most readily
see that collection in any sense complete ora
exhaustive here, buthas not been thought of
an arrangement of a limited number of short
poems, with some eye to grouping and general
effect, and to the end (as said) of delight.
But of delight—noble and fruitful. The
"grand word Poetry" has its mean associations,
"— solemn cathedral,as organ" may suggest a
or a Savoyard and monkey. True Poetry, how-VI PREFACE.
ever, is not, as some suppose, a kind of verbal
confectionery, with cramp fantastic thatlaws
impose great labour to little purpose.
If one has anything to express in words,
why go thus roundabout ? asks our sternly
prosaic friend. The relations of the human
,withmind the world are not so simple as he
takes for granted. Men are not only intellec-
tual and moral, but emotional and imaginative.
Sorrow and joy are very real, yet often very
illogical ; and so also, and oftener, are those
faint rapid shadows and gleams that pass con-
tinually over the mind, composing the multiplex
of life. The moods of the theyhue sagest, are
never submissive to the wind in a keyhole, the
crackling of the flame, a vernal odour, or the
brightness gloom landscapecasual or upon a ?
At the least touch of any sense gates to Infinity
to flyare ready open.
Such is man's nature ; and since he further
finds himself urged to regulate what belongs to
without within,him, and and mutually to con-
trol the one by the other, so, as he gains indus-
trial, scientific, religious development, he also
becomes an Artist—in picture, in sculpture,
in architecture, in music, in verse.
inLanguage has music it ; from this Poetry
(Verse-Poetry is always meant) derives its form
and quality. It is the most melodious arrange-
ment of language. The proportiomditi/ neces-
sary for this end excites mystically a desire for
proportionality in all other reachingrespects,
inward to the very spirit of the thoughtwhich is