The Poetry Of Francis Thompson - Volume 1: "An atheist is a man who believes himself an accident."
()
About this ebook
Francis Thompson was born in Preston on Lancashire in December 18th, 1859. Educated at Ushaw College, near Durham he studied medicine at Owens College in Manchester. However the medical profession held little interest to him but writing did. He moved to London in 1885 but found no success and was quickly reduced to selling matches and newspapers for a living. Ill health offered up opium as a solution and to this he quickly became addicted. Life became increasingly difficult and soon Francis was no more than a vagrant living on the streets, chiefly around Charing Cross and along the Thames. In 1888 he sent some poems to the publishers of the Merrie England magazine who were Wilfrid Meynell and his noted poet wife Alice. They quickly sought him out, arranged for his housing and other necessities as well as medical treatment and encouraged him to write more. This culminated in the publication of his book ‘Poems’ in 1893. The book, including the seminal ‘Hound Of Heaven’ was recognised as a great work by many critics at the time and encouraged further volumes; Sister Songs in 1895 and New Poems in 1897. Years of ill health, addiction and vagrancy had taken their toll upon Francis and he moved to Storrington in Wales where we continued to write though by now he was invalided. An attempt at suicide was aborted by a vision he had of Thomas Chatterton, the teenage poet, who had committed suicide a century earlier. However his remaining years were few in number and he succumbed to tuberculosis at the age of 48 on November 13th, 1907. He is buried in the Catholic section of Kensal Green Cemetery in London. G.K. Chersterton said "with Francis Thompson we lost the greatest poetic energy since Browning."
Read more from Francis Thompson
Selected Poems of Francis Thompson Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hound of Heaven and Other Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hound of Heaven Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hound of Heaven Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Essay On Percy Bysshe Shelley: “Know you what it is to be a child? It is to be something very different from the man of today." Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetry Of Francis Thompson - Volume 3: "The devil doesn't know how to sing, only how to howl." Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNew Poems: With a Chapter from Francis Thompson, Essays, 1917 by Benjamin Franklin Fisher Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNew Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSelected Poems of Francis Thompson: With a Chapter from Francis Thompson, Essays, 1917 by Benjamin Franklin Fisher Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetry Of Francis Thompson - Volume 2: "For we are born in other's pain, and perish in our own." Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVictorian Ode For Jubilee Day, 1897 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVictorian Ode - For Jubilee Day, 1897: With a Chapter from Francis Thompson, Essays, 1917 by Benjamin Franklin Fisher Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShelley: An Essay Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSister Songs: An Offering to Two Sisters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNew Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSelected Poems of Francis Thompson Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoems: With a Chapter from Francis Thompson, Essays, 1917 by Benjamin Franklin Fisher Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSister Songs - An Offering to Two Sisters: With a Chapter from Francis Thompson, Essays, 1917 by Benjamin Franklin Fisher Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShelley - An Essay: With a Chapter from Francis Thompson, Essays, 1917 by Benjamin Franklin Fisher Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Poetry Of Francis Thompson - Volume 1
Related ebooks
The Divine Comedy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoems Written by a Government Prisoner in Georgia, USA Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe love of eternal wisdom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Imitation of Christ Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Top 10 Short Stories - Anton Chekov Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFyodor Dostoyevsky: The Complete Novels + A Biography of the Author Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPope Francis' Little Book of Wisdom: The Essential Teachings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsParochial and Plain Sermons Volume One Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Unknown Eros Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Hell, Purgatory, Paradise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's "Divine Comedy": A Retelling in Prose Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Vicomte de Bragelone Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Imitation of Christ Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Writings of St. Francis of Assisi Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Story of Therese Neumann Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Go to Heaven for Teen Girls: How to Go to Heaven: A Must-Read Series for all Christians Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsZadig by Voltaire - Delphi Classics (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Passage to India Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPeter Maurin: Saintly Founder of the Catholic Worker Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsParochial and Plain Sermons Volume Two Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCoriolanus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe History of the Sacred Passion: new edition with enhanced text Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Prayer and The Contemplative Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sorrows of Satan: Gothic Horror Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Runaway Bunny Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLes Misérables Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Danger to the State: A Historical Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCleopatra Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sublime Classic Catholic Super Pack Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Poetry For You
Beyond Thoughts: An Exploration Of Who We Are Beyond Our Minds Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pillow Thoughts II: Healing the Heart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Way Forward Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Things We Don't Talk About Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love Her Wild: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bedtime Stories for Grown-ups Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Selected Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Better Be Lightning Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leaves of Grass: 1855 Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rumi: The Art of Loving Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dream Work Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Odyssey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Prophet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Iliad: The Fitzgerald Translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Waste Land and Other Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enough Rope: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Poems of John Keats (with an Introduction by Robert Bridges) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Edgar Allan Poe: The Complete Collection Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Twenty love poems and a song of despair Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dante's Inferno: The Divine Comedy, Book One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Poetry Of Francis Thompson - Volume 1
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Poetry Of Francis Thompson - Volume 1 - Francis Thompson
The Poetry Of Francis Thompson
Volume 1
Francis Thompson was born in Preston on Lancashire in December 18th, 1859.
Educated at Ushaw College, near Durham he studied medicine at Owens College in Manchester. However the medical profession held little interest to him but writing did. He moved to London in 1885 but found no success and was quickly reduced to selling matches and newspapers for a living.
Ill health offered up opium as a solution and to this he quickly became addicted. Life became increasingly difficult and soon Francis was no more than a vagrant living on the streets, chiefly around Charing Cross and along the Thames. In 1888 he sent some poems to the publishers of the Merrie England magazine who were Wilfrid Meynell and his noted poet wife Alice. They quickly sought him out, arranged for his housing and other necessities as well as medical treatment and encouraged him to write more. This culminated in the publication of his book ‘Poems’ in 1893.
The book, including the seminal ‘Hound Of Heaven’ was recognised as a great work by many critics at the time and encouraged further volumes; Sister Songs in 1895 and New Poems in 1897. Years of ill health, addiction and vagrancy had taken their toll upon Francis and he moved to Storrington in Wales where we continued to write though by now he was invalided. An attempt at suicide was aborted by a vision he had of Thomas Chatterton, the teenage poet, who had committed suicide a century earlier.
However his remaining years were few in number and he succumbed to tuberculosis at the age of 48 on November 13th, 1907. He is buried in the Catholic section of Kensal Green Cemetery in London.
G.K. Chersterton said with Francis Thompson we lost the greatest poetic energy since Browning.
Index Of Poems
The Hound Of Heaven
To A Poet Breaking Silence
By Reason Of Thy Law
House Of Bondage
Ode To The Setting Sun - Prelude
The Dread Of Height
To The Dead Cardinal Of Westminster
Dedication To Coventry Patmore.
Dedication To Wilfred And Alice Meynell
The Kingdom Of God
Sister Songs - An Offering To Two Sisters - The Proem
Sister Songs - An Offering To Two Sisters - Part The First
Sister Songs - An Offering To Two Sisters - Part The Second
Memorat Memoria
Epilogue - To The Poet's Sitter
Her Portrait
The Poppy
A Judgment In Heaven
Manus Animam Pinxit
Scala Jacobi Portaque Eburnea
Gilded Gold
Dream Tryst
The Hound Of Heaven
I fled Him down the nights and down the days
I fled Him down the arches of the years
I fled Him down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind, and in the midst of tears
I hid from him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped and shot precipitated
Adown titanic glooms of chasme d hears
From those strong feet that followed, followed after
But with unhurrying chase and unperturbe d pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat, and a Voice beat,
More instant than the feet:
All things betray thee who betrayest me.
I pleaded, outlaw wise by many a hearted casement,
curtained red, trellised with inter-twining charities,
For though I knew His love who followe d,
Yet was I sore adread, lest having Him,
I should have nought beside.
But if one little casement parted wide,
The gust of his approach would clash it to.
Fear wist not to evade as Love wist to pursue.
Across the margent of the world I fled,
And troubled the gold gateways of the stars,
Smiting for shelter on their clange d bars,
Fretted to dulcet jars and silvern chatter
The pale ports of the moon.
I said to Dawn - be sudden, to Eve - be soon,
With thy young skiey blossoms heap me over
From this tremendous Lover.
Float thy vague veil about me lest He see.
I tempted all His servitors but to find
My own betrayal in their constancy,
In faith to Him, their fickleness to me,
Their traitorous trueness and their loyal deceit.
To all swift things for swiftness did I sue,
Clung to the whistling mane of every wind,
But whether they swept, smoothly fleet,
The long savannahs of the blue,
Or whether, thunder-driven,
They clanged His chariot thwart a heaven,
Plashy with flying lightnings round the spurn of their feet,
Fear wist not to evade as Love wist to pursue.
Still with unhurrying chase and unperturbed pace
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
Came on the following feet, and a Voice above their beat:
Nought shelters thee who wilt not shelter Me.
I sought no more that after which I strayed
In face of Man or Maid.
But still within the little childrens' eyes
Seems something, something that replies,
They at least are for me, surely for me.
But just as their young eyes grew sudden fair,
With dawning answers there,
Their angel plucked them from me by the hair.
Come then, ye other children, Nature's
Share with