William Cowper- Collected Poetical Works

by William Cowper

  Unfurl’d and spread their canvas to the gale.

  Their bold attendants, then, brought them their arms,

  And soon as in deep water they had moor’d 950

  The ship, themselves embarking, supp’d on board,

  And watch’d impatient for the dusk of eve.

  But when Penelope, the palace stairs

  Remounting, had her upper chamber reach’d,

  There, unrefresh’d with either food or wine,

  She lay’d her down, her noble son the theme

  Of all her thoughts, whether he should escape

  His haughty foes, or perish by their hands.

  Num’rous as are the lion’s thoughts, who sees,

  Not without fear, a multitude with toils 960

  Encircling him around, such num’rous thoughts

  Her bosom occupied, till sleep at length

  Invading her, she sank in soft repose.

  Then Pallas, teeming with a new design,

  Set forth an airy phantom in the form

  Of fair Iphthima, daughter of the brave

  Icarius, and Eumelus’ wedded wife

  In Pheræ. Shaped like her the dream she sent

  Into the mansion of the godlike Chief

  Ulysses, with kind purpose to abate 970

  The sighs and tears of sad Penelope.

  Ent’ring the chamber-portal, where the bolt

  Secured it, at her head the image stood,

  And thus, in terms compassionate, began.

  Sleep’st thou, distress’d Penelope? The Gods,

  Happy in everlasting rest themselves,

  Forbid thy sorrows. Thou shalt yet behold

  Thy son again, who hath by no offence

  Incurr’d at any time the wrath of heav’n.

  To whom, sweet-slumb’ring in the shadowy gate 980

  By which dreams pass, Penelope replied.

  What cause, my sister, brings thee, who art seen

  Unfrequent here, for that thou dwell’st remote?

  And thou enjoin’st me a cessation too

  From sorrows num’rous, and which, fretting, wear

  My heart continual; first, my spouse I lost

  With courage lion-like endow’d, a prince

  All-excellent, whose never-dying praise

  Through Hellas and all Argos flew diffused;

  And now my only son, new to the toils 990

  And hazards of the sea, nor less untaught

  The arts of traffic, in a ship is gone

  Far hence, for whose dear cause I sorrow more

  Than for his Sire himself, and even shake

  With terror, lest he perish by their hands

  To whom he goes, or in the stormy Deep;

  For num’rous are his foes, and all intent

  To slay him, ere he reach his home again.

  Then answer thus the shadowy form return’d.

  Take courage; suffer not excessive dread 1000

  To overwhelm thee, such a guide he hath

  And guardian, one whom many wish their friend,

  And ever at their side, knowing her pow’r,

  Minerva; she compassionates thy griefs,

  And I am here her harbinger, who speak

  As thou hast heard by her own kind command.

  Then thus Penelope the wise replied.

  Oh! if thou art a goddess, and hast heard

  A Goddess’ voice, rehearse to me the lot

  Of that unhappy one, if yet he live 1010

  Spectator of the cheerful beams of day,

  Or if, already dead, he dwell below.

  Whom answer’d thus the fleeting shadow vain.

  I will not now inform thee if thy Lord

  Live, or live not. Vain words are best unspoken.

  So saying, her egress swift beside the bolt

  She made, and melted into air. Upsprang

  From sleep Icarius’ daughter, and her heart

  Felt heal’d within her, by that dream distinct

  Visited in the noiseless night serene. 1020

  Meantime the suitors urged their wat’ry way,

  To instant death devoting in their hearts

  Telemachus. There is a rocky isle

  In the mid sea, Samos the rude between

  And Ithaca, not large, named Asteris.

  It hath commodious havens, into which

  A passage clear opens on either side,

  And there the ambush’d Greeks his coming watch’d.

  BOOK V

  ARGUMENT

  Mercury bears to Calypso a command from Jupiter that she dismiss Ulysses.

  She, after some remonstrances, promises obedience, and furnishes him with

  instruments and materials, with which he constructs a raft. He quits

  Calypso’s island; is persecuted by Neptune with dreadful tempests, but by

  the assistance of a sea nymph, after having lost his raft, is enabled to

  swim to Phæacia.

  Aurora from beside her glorious mate

  Tithonus now arose, light to dispense

  Through earth and heav’n, when the assembled Gods

  In council sat, o’er whom high-thund’ring Jove

  Presided, mightiest of the Pow’rs above.

  Amid them, Pallas on the num’rous woes

  Descanted of Ulysses, whom she saw

  With grief, still prison’d in Calypso’s isle.

  Jove, Father, hear me, and ye other Pow’rs

  Who live for ever, hear! Be never King 10

  Henceforth to gracious acts inclined, humane,

  Or righteous, but let ev’ry sceptred hand

  Rule merciless, and deal in wrong alone,

  Since none of all his people whom he sway’d

  With such paternal gentleness and love

  Remembers, now, divine Ulysses more.

  He, in yon distant isle a suff’rer lies

  Of hopeless sorrow, through constraint the guest

  Still of the nymph Calypso, without means

  Or pow’r to reach his native shores again, 20

  Alike of gallant barks and friends depriv’d,

  Who might conduct him o’er the spacious Deep.

  Nor is this all, but enemies combine

  To slay his son ere yet he can return

  From Pylus, whither he hath gone to learn

  There, or in Sparta, tidings of his Sire.

  To whom the cloud-assembler God replied.

  What word hath pass’d thy lips, daughter belov’d?

  Hast thou not purpos’d that arriving soon

  At home, Ulysses shall destroy his foes? 30

  Guide thou, Telemachus, (for well thou canst)

  That he may reach secure his native coast,

  And that the suitors baffled may return.

  He ceas’d, and thus to Hermes spake, his son.

  Hermes! (for thou art herald of our will

  At all times) to yon bright-hair’d nymph convey

  Our fix’d resolve, that brave Ulysses thence

  Depart, uncompanied by God or man.

  Borne on a corded raft, and suff’ring woe

  Extreme, he on the twentieth day shall reach, 40

  Not sooner, Scherie the deep-soil’d, possess’d

  By the Phæacians, kinsmen of the Gods.

  They, as a God shall reverence the Chief,

  And in a bark of theirs shall send him thence

  To his own home, much treasure, brass and gold

  And raiment giving him, to an amount

  Surpassing all that, had he safe return’d,

  He should by lot have shared of Ilium’s spoil.

  Thus Fate appoints Ulysses to regain

  His country, his own palace, and his friends. 50

  He ended, nor the Argicide refused,

  Messenger of the skies; his sandals fair,

  Ambrosial, golden, to his feet he bound,

  Which o’er the moist wave, rapid as the wind,

  Bear
him, and o’er th’ illimitable earth,

  Then took his rod with which, at will, all eyes

  He closes soft, or opes them wide again.

  So arm’d, forth flew the valiant Argicide.

  Alighting on Pieria, down he stoop’d

  To Ocean, and the billows lightly skimm’d 60

  In form a sew-mew, such as in the bays

  Tremendous of the barren Deep her food

  Seeking, dips oft in brine her ample wing.

  In such disguise o’er many a wave he rode,

  But reaching, now, that isle remote, forsook

  The azure Deep, and at the spacious grot,

  Where dwelt the amber-tressed nymph arrived,

  Found her within. A fire on all the hearth

  Blazed sprightly, and, afar-diffused, the scent

  Of smooth-split cedar and of cypress-wood 70

  Odorous, burning, cheer’d the happy isle.

  She, busied at the loom, and plying fast

  Her golden shuttle, with melodious voice

  Sat chaunting there; a grove on either side,

  Alder and poplar, and the redolent branch

  Wide-spread of Cypress, skirted dark the cave.

  There many a bird of broadest pinion built

  Secure her nest, the owl, the kite, and daw

  Long-tongued, frequenter of the sandy shores.

  A garden-vine luxuriant on all sides 80

  Mantled the spacious cavern, cluster-hung

  Profuse; four fountains of serenest lymph

  Their sinuous course pursuing side by side,

  Stray’d all around, and ev’ry where appear’d

  Meadows of softest verdure, purpled o’er

  With violets; it was a scene to fill

  A God from heav’n with wonder and delight.

  Hermes, Heav’n’s messenger, admiring stood

  That sight, and having all survey’d, at length

  Enter’d the grotto; nor the lovely nymph 90

  Him knew not soon as seen, for not unknown

  Each to the other the Immortals are,

  How far soever sep’rate their abodes.

  Yet found he not within the mighty Chief

  Ulysses; he sat weeping on the shore,

  Forlorn, for there his custom was with groans

  Of sad regret t’ afflict his breaking heart.

  Looking continual o’er the barren Deep.

  Then thus Calypso, nymph divine, the God

  Question’d, from her resplendent throne august. 100

  Hermes! possessor of the potent rod!

  Who, though by me much reverenc’d and belov’d,

  So seldom com’st, say, wherefore comest now?

  Speak thy desire; I grant it, if thou ask

  Things possible, and possible to me.

  Stay not, but ent’ring farther, at my board

  Due rites of hospitality receive.

  So saying, the Goddess with ambrosial food

  Her table cover’d, and with rosy juice

  Nectareous charged the cup. Then ate and drank 110

  The argicide and herald of the skies,

  And in his soul with that repast divine

  Refresh’d, his message to the nymph declared.

  Questionest thou, O Goddess, me a God?

  I tell thee truth, since such is thy demand.

  Not willing, but by Jove constrain’d, I come.

  For who would, voluntary, such a breadth

  Enormous measure of the salt expanse,

  Where city none is seen in which the Gods

  Are served with chosen hecatombs and pray’r? 120

  But no divinity may the designs

  Elude, or controvert, of Jove supreme.

  He saith, that here thou hold’st the most distrest

  Of all those warriors who nine years assail’d

  The city of Priam, and, (that city sack’d)

  Departed in the tenth; but, going thence,

  Offended Pallas, who with adverse winds

  Opposed their voyage, and with boist’rous waves.

  Then perish’d all his gallant friends, but him

  Billows and storms drove hither; Jove commands 130

  That thou dismiss him hence without delay,

  For fate ordains him not to perish here

  From all his friends remote, but he is doom’d

  To see them yet again, and to arrive

  At his own palace in his native land.

  He said; divine Calypso at the sound

  Shudder’d, and in wing’d accents thus replied.

  Ye are unjust, ye Gods, and envious past

  All others, grudging if a Goddess take

  A mortal man openly to her arms! 140

  So, when the rosy-finger’d Morning chose

  Orion, though ye live yourselves at ease,

  Yet ye all envied her, until the chaste

  Diana from her golden throne dispatch’d

  A silent shaft, which slew him in Ortygia.

  So, when the golden-tressed Ceres, urged

  By passion, took Iäsion to her arms

  In a thrice-labour’d fallow, not untaught

  Was Jove that secret long, and, hearing it,

  Indignant, slew him with his candent bolt. 150

  So also, O ye Gods, ye envy me

  The mortal man, my comfort. Him I saved

  Myself, while solitary on his keel

  He rode, for with his sulph’rous arrow Jove

  Had cleft his bark amid the sable Deep.

  Then perish’d all his gallant friends, but him

  Billows and storms drove hither, whom I lov’d

  Sincere, and fondly destin’d to a life

  Immortal, unobnoxious to decay.

  But since no Deity may the designs 160

  Elude or controvert of Jove supreme,

  Hence with him o’er the barren Deep, if such

  The Sov’reign’s will, and such his stern command.

  But undismiss’d he goes by me, who ships

  Myself well-oar’d and mariners have none

  To send with him athwart the spacious flood;

  Yet freely, readily, my best advice

  I will afford him, that, escaping all

  Danger, he may regain his native shore.

  Then Hermes thus, the messenger of heav’n. 170

  Act as thou say’st, fearing the frown of Jove,

  Lest, if provoked, he spare not even thee.

  So saying, the dauntless Argicide withdrew,

  And she (Jove’s mandate heard) all-graceful went,

  Seeking the brave Ulysses; on the shore

  She found him seated; tears succeeding tears

  Delug’d his eyes, while, hopeless of return,

  Life’s precious hours to eating cares he gave

  Continual, with the nymph now charm’d no more.

  Yet, cold as she was am’rous, still he pass’d 180

  His nights beside her in the hollow grot,

  Constrain’d, and day by day the rocks among

  Which lined the shore heart-broken sat, and oft

  While wistfully he eyed the barren Deep,

  Wept, groaned, desponded, sigh’d, and wept again.

  Then, drawing near, thus spake the nymph divine.

  Unhappy! weep not here, nor life consume

  In anguish; go; thou hast my glad consent.

  Arise to labour; hewing down the trunks

  Of lofty trees, fashion them with the ax 190

  To a broad raft, which closely floor’d above,

  Shall hence convey thee o’er the gloomy Deep.

  Bread, water, and the red grape’s cheering juice

  Myself will put on board, which shall preserve

  Thy life from famine; I will also give

  New raiment for thy limbs, and will dispatch

  Winds after thee to waft thee home unharm’d,

  If such the pleasure of the Gods who dwell

 
; In yonder boundless heav’n, superior far

  To me, in knowledge and in skill to judge. 200

  She ceas’d; but horror at that sound the heart

  Chill’d of Ulysses, and in accents wing’d

  With wonder, thus the noble Chief replied.

  Ah! other thoughts than of my safe return

  Employ thee, Goddess, now, who bid’st me pass

  The perilous gulph of Ocean on a raft,

  That wild expanse terrible, which even ships

  Pass not, though form’d to cleave their way with ease,

  And joyful in propitious winds from Jove.

  No — let me never, in despight of thee, 210

  Embark on board a raft, nor till thou swear,

  O Goddess! the inviolable oath,

  That future mischief thou intend’st me none.

  He said; Calypso, beauteous Goddess, smiled,

  And, while she spake, stroaking his cheek, replied.

  Thou dost asperse me rudely, and excuse

  Of ignorance hast none, far better taught;

  What words were these? How could’st thou thus reply?

  Now hear me Earth, and the wide Heav’n above!

  Hear, too, ye waters of the Stygian stream 220

  Under the earth (by which the blessed Gods

  Swear trembling, and revere the awful oath!)

  That future mischief I intend thee none.

  No, my designs concerning thee are such

  As, in an exigence resembling thine,

  Myself, most sure, should for myself conceive.

  I have a mind more equal, not of steel

  My heart is form’d, but much to pity inclined.

  So saying, the lovely Goddess with swift pace

  Led on, whose footsteps he as swift pursued. 230

  Within the vaulted cavern they arrived,

  The Goddess and the man; on the same throne

  Ulysses sat, whence Hermes had aris’n,

  And viands of all kinds, such as sustain

  The life of mortal man, Calypso placed

  Before him, both for bev’rage and for food.

  She opposite to the illustrious Chief

  Reposed, by her attendant maidens served

  With nectar and ambrosia. They their hands

  Stretch’d forth together to the ready feast, 240

  And when nor hunger more nor thirst remain’d

  Unsated, thus the beauteous nymph began.

  Laertes’ noble son, for wisdom famed

  And artifice! oh canst thou thus resolve

  To seek, incontinent, thy native shores?

  I pardon thee. Farewell! but could’st thou guess

  The woes which fate ordains thee to endure

  Ere yet thou reach thy country, well-content

  Here to inhabit, thou would’st keep my grot

  And be immortal, howsoe’er thy wife 250