A Reading of Life, Other Poems
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George Meredith
George Meredith (1828-1909) was an English author and poet active during the Victorian era. Holding radical liberal beliefs, Meredith first worked in the legal field, seeking justice and reading law. However, he soon abandoned the field when he discovered his true passion for journalism and poetry. After leaving this profession behind, Meredith partnered with a man named Edward Gryffdh Peacock, founding and publishing a private literary magazine. Meredith published poetry collections, novels, and essays, earning him the acclaim of a respected author. Praised for his integrity, intelligence, and literary skill, Meredith was nominated for seven Nobel Prizes and was appointed to the order of Merit by King Edward the Seventh in 1905.
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A Reading of Life, Other Poems - George Meredith
A Reading of Life, and Other Poems, by George Meredith
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**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
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*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
Title: A Reading of Life, and Other Poems
Author: George Meredith
Release Date: September, 1997 [EBook #1042]
[This file was first posted on September 25, 1997]
[Most recently updated: June 24, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
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A Reading Of Life
Contents:
A Reading of Life—The Vital Choice
A Reading of Life—With The Huntress
A Reading of Life—With The Persuader
A Reading of Life—The Test of Manhood
The Cageing of Ares
The Night-Walk
The Hueless Love
Song In The Songless
Union In Disseverance
The Burden of Strength
The Main Regret
Alternation
Hawarden
At the Close
Forest History
A Garden Idyl
Foresight And Patience
The Invective of Achilles
The Invective of Achilles—V. 225
Marshalling of the Achaians
Agamemnon in the Fight
Paris and Diomedes
Hypnos on Ida
Clash in Arms of the Achaians And Trojans
The Horses of Achilles
The Mares of the Camargue
Poem: A Reading of Life—The Vital Choice
I.
Or shall we run with Artemis
Or yield the breast to Aphrodite?
Both are mighty;
Both give bliss;
Each can torture if divided;
Each claims worship undivided,
In her wake would have us wallow.
II.
Youth must offer on bent knees
Homage unto one or other;
Earth, the mother,
This decrees;
And unto the pallid Scyther
Either points us shun we either
Shun or too devoutly follow.
Poem: A Reading of Life—With The Huntress
Through the water-eye of night,
Midway between eve and dawn,
See the chase, the rout, the flight
In deep forest; oread, faun,
Goat-foot, antlers laid on neck;
Ravenous all the line for speed.
See yon wavy sparkle beck
Sign of the Virgin Lady’s lead.
Down her course a serpent star
Coils and shatters at her heels;
Peals the horn exulting, peals
Plaintive, is it near or far.
Huntress, arrowy to pursue,
In and out of woody glen,
Under cliffs that tear the blue,
Over torrent, over fen,
She and forest, where she skims
Feathery, darken and relume:
Those are her white-lightning limbs
Cleaving loads of leafy gloom.
Mountains hear her and call back,
Shrewd with night: a frosty wail
Distant: her the emerald vale
Folds, and wonders in her track.
Now her retinue is lean,
Many rearward; streams the chase
Eager forth of covert; seen
One hot tide the rapturous race.
Quiver-charged and crescent-crowned,
Up on a flash the lighted mound
Leaps she, bow to shoulder, shaft
Strung to barb with archer’s craft,
Legs like plaited lyre-chords, feet
Songs to see, past pitch of sweet.
Fearful swiftness they outrun,
Shaggy wildness, grey or dun,
Challenge, charge of tusks elude:
Theirs the dance to tame the rude;
Beast, and beast in manhood tame,
Follow we their silver flame.
Pride of flesh from bondage free,
Reaping vigour of its waste,
Marks her servitors, and she
Sanctifies the unembraced.
Nought of perilous she reeks;
Valour clothes her open breast;
Sweet beyond the thrill of sex;
Hallowed by the sex confessed.
Huntress arrowy to pursue,
Colder she than sunless dew,
She, that breath of upper air;
Ay, but never lyrist sang,
Draught of Bacchus never sprang
Blood the bliss of Gods to share,
High o’er sweep of eagle wings,
Like the run with her, when rings
Clear her rally, and her dart,
In the forest’s cavern heart,
Tells of her victorious aim.
Then is pause and chatter, cheer,
Laughter at some satyr lame,
Looks upon the fallen deer,
Measuring his noble crest;
Here a favourite in her train,
Foremost mid her nymphs, caressed;
All applauded. Shall she reign
Worshipped? O to be with her there!
She,