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    The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 12 Verses from the Oldest Portfolio
    The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 12 Verses from the Oldest Portfolio
    The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 12 Verses from the Oldest Portfolio
    Ebook83 pages37 minutes

    The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 12 Verses from the Oldest Portfolio

    By Oliver Wendell Holmes

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 27, 2013
    The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 12 Verses from the Oldest Portfolio
    Author

    Oliver Wendell Holmes

    Oliver Wendell Holmes was an American physician, poet, and polymath based in Boston. A member of the Fireside Poets, he was acclaimed by his peers as one of the best writers of the day. His most famous prose works are the “Breakfast Table” series, which began with The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table.

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      Book preview

      The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 12 Verses from the Oldest Portfolio - Oliver Wendell Holmes

      The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Vol. 12, by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

      Title: The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Vol. 12 Verses From The Oldest Portfolio

      Author: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

      Release Date: September 30, 2004 [EBook #7399]

      Language: English

      *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POETRY OF HOLMES, VOL. 12 ***

      Produced by David Widger

      THE POETICAL WORKS

      OF

      OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

      [Volume 3 of the 1893 three volume set]

      VERSES FROM THE OLDEST PORTFOLIO

      FROM THE COLLEGIAN, 1830, ILLUSTRATED ANNUALS, ETC.

      FIRST VERSES: TRANSLATION FROM THE THE MEETING OF THE DRYADS THE MYSTERIOUS VISITOR THE TOADSTOOL THE SPECTRE PIG TO A CAGED LION THE STAR AND THE WATER-LILY ILLUSTRATION OF A PICTURE: A SPANISH GIRL REVERIE A ROMAN AQUEDUCT FROM A BACHELOR'S PRIVATE JOURNAL LA GRISETTE OUR YANKEE GIRLS L'INCONNUE STANZAS LINES BY A CLERK THE PHILOSOPHER TO HIS LOVE THE POET'S LOT TO A BLANK SHEET OF PAPER TO THE PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN IN THE ATHENAEUM GALLERY THE BALLAD OF THE OYSTERMAN A NOONTIDE LYRIC THE HOT SEASON A PORTRAIT AN EVENING THOUGHT. WRITTEN AT SEA THE WASP AND THE HORNET QUI VIVE?

      VERSES FROM THE OLDEST PORTFOLIO

           Nescit vox missa reverti.—Horat. Ars Poetica.

           Ab lis qua non adjuvant quam mollissime oportet pedem referre.—

           Quintillian, L. VI. C. 4.

      These verses have always been printed in my collected poems, and as the best of them may bear a single reading, I allow them to appear, but in a less conspicuous position than the other productions. A chick, before his shell is off his back, is hardly a fair subject for severe criticism. If one has written anything worth preserving, his first efforts may be objects of interest and curiosity. Other young authors may take encouragement from seeing how tame, how feeble, how commonplace were the rudimentary attempts of the half-fledged poet. If the boy or youth had anything in him, there will probably be some sign of it in the midst of his imitative mediocrities and ambitious failures. These first verses of mine, written before I was sixteen, have little beyond a common academy boy's ordinary performance. Yet a kindly critic said there was one line which showed a poetical quality:—

      The boiling ocean trembled into calm.

      One of these poems—the reader may guess which—won fair words from Thackeray. The Spectre Pig was a wicked suggestion which came into my head after reading Dana's Buccaneer. Nobody seemed to find it out, and I never mentioned it to the venerable poet, who might not have been pleased with the parody. This is enough to say of these unvalued copies of verses.

      FIRST VERSES

      PHILLIPS ACADEMY, ANDOVER, MASS., 1824 OR 1825

      TRANSLATION FROM THE ENEID, BOOK I.

      THE god looked out upon the troubled deep

      Waked into tumult from its placid sleep;

      The flame of anger

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