REELY'S POETRY BLOG

Here is a poem I came across by Eugenius Roche, adding to our poetry on Napoleon. (We noted last February that Lord Byron covered both Elba and St. Helena.) Eugenius Roche, although born in Dublin in 1786, was actually raised in France, and moved to London around 1804, where he worked as editor on a magazine that published some of Byron’s early poems. I’m just guessing, but since Mr. Roche was a young man actually living in Paris during the years leading up to Napoleon’s coronation, he probably felt a lot more connected to the events than the English poets. Roche’s father was a language professor who made sure his children spoke several languages, but Roche’s first language was considered to be French and he had composed and published several poems in French before going to England. The comments after the title belong to Mr. Roche.

THE EXILE.

The following sonnet is founded on the accounts of St. Helena, published when that island became the prison of the greatest conqueror of modern times. Thunder-storms were represented as altogether unknown. It appears, however, by the observations of his friends, that serenity is far from being the general character of the climate.

Oh, for a peal of thunder!—smile no more,
Eternal sunshine, thou fatiguest my soul!
In calm and majesty no longer roll
Vast ocean! but in all thy tempests roar,
And lash with mountain-waves my prison shore!
Send forth your voices, angels of the pole,
Hither wild whirlwinds be your constant goal,
And give my spirit wings of storm to soar:
I’ll rush into the past, and as around
The mingling thunders of your conflict peal,
Shall burst upon mine ear the battle sound,
Shall break upon mine eye the ranks of steel,
Till planting o’er the earth my flag unfurled,
I’ll stand, and seem once more the monarch of a world!

Byron wrote an Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte when the emperor was compelled to abdicate in 1814. It originally consisted of the first eleven stanzas, and later increased to nineteen stanzas. (Click on the poem name to read it).

After Napoleon escaped from the island of Elba on today’s date, February 26 in 1815 (which, by the way, was Victor Hugo’s 13th birthday), Byron wrote in a letter:

“… It is impossible not to be dazzled and overwhelmed by his character and career. Nothing ever so disappointed me as his abdication, and nothing could have reconciled me to him but some such revival as his recent exploit; though no one could anticipate such a complete and brilliant renovation. …” and he also wrote:

On Napoleon’s Escape from Elba

Once fairly set out on his party of pleasure,
Taking towns at his liking, and crowns at his
leisure,
From Elba to Lyons and Paris he goes,
Making balls for the ladies, and bows to his
foes.

Links:
Gaslight’s Napoleonic Poetry

We added two Lord Byron favorites, as promised:

She Walks in Beauty and When We Two Parted.

Other new additions this month:

The Eavesdropper by Carman Bliss. Spooky little poem.

T. S. Eliot – The Love Affair of J. Alfred Prufrock. How to categorize Eliot — is he an English poet or an American poet? Ah, well, never one to wrestle on the horns, I just put him in both and on the new life span index, I put him in both countries too.

And, speaking of The Life Span Index, that is a new page that shows almost all the poets on Reely’s Poetry Pages by decade. Eventually hope to have all of them on there, but filling in some gaps first.

Also, on each poem page, where space permitted, there are links to 3 or 4 contemporaries of the poet.

We’ve also got a new page entitled Perseverance Poems, which contains two remarkably similar poems, See It Through by Edgar Guest, and Keep A-Goin’! by Frank Lebby Stanton. I really don’t know which poem was published first, but if I was going to formulate a theory about it (and then try to prove or disprove it later, as we sometimes like to do), I’d guess that Keep A-Goin’! came first, basing that on the fact that Frank Lebby Stanton was roughly 25 years older than Edgar Guest. So I figure Guest likely read Stanton’s works in the Atlanta Constitution and was inspired to write a similar poem for his northern audience.

In any event, it is interesting that both men served as their state’s poet laureate.

Frank L. Stanton also wrote Mighty Lak A Rose also known as “Sweetest Little Feller.” My mother used to sing this song, only when she’d sing to the girls, she’d say “Sweetest little flower.”

Hope you like these new additions and improvements.

Reely

So we’ll go no more a-roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart still be as loving,
And the moon still be as bright.

For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul outwears the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.

Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we’ll go no more a-roving
By the light of the moon.

~ George Gordon, Lord Byron

Seems at least one woman came close to losing her marbles because Lord Byron didn’t want to go a-roving with her anymore.

Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know
Lady Caroline’s description of Lord Byron has often been turned upon her. Learn more about her life and career as a writer here.

More Links: Kris Delmhorst on YouTube