Curraghmore. A Seat of the Marquis of Waterford.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 (Chelsea) – 1838 (Cape Coast)



(The name signifies " the great plain," and the
surrounding country is of singular beauty and fertility.)

Summer, shining summer,
Art thou bringing now
Colours to the red rose,
Green leaves to the bough,
Music to the singing birds,
And honey to the bee ;
Summer, shining summer,
Oh, welcome unto thee.

Now linger in our valley,
Oh, why should thou go forth,
To thaw the snow and icicles
Of the eternal North ?
Where wilt thou find a valley
More lovely for your home ?
Ah ! even now the shadows
Are lengthening as they come.

Well, Autumn, thou art welcome,
With sheaves of ripened corn,
The hunter's moon is shining,
The hills ring with his horn.
The grapes are dyed with purple,
The leaves are tinged with red,
And the green and golden plumage
Of the pheasant's wing is spread.

What ? snow upon the mountains !
Heap pine boughs on the hearth ;
Broach ye the crimson Malvoisie,
Let the old hall ring with mirth.
Fill the lattices with holly,
Let the lamps and torches blaze,
And let the ancient harper
Sing songs of other days.

Alas, thou gladsome Winter,
Thy festival is done,
Thy frost-work world of gossamer
Is melting in the sun.
Forth come the early violets,
Such pale blue in their eyes,
As if they caught their colour
From gazing on the skies.

And a green and tender verdure
Is on the hawthorn tree,
And a break of crimson promise
Shews what the rose will be.
The primrose clothes the meadow,
The birds are on the wing,
And a thousand flowers are waking
Beneath the feet of Spring.

Let the year pursue its changes,
Let the seasons fade and fall,
That valley has a welcome
And a beauty for them all.
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Submitted by Madeleine Quinn on July 02, 2016

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:27 min read
105

Quick analysis:

Scheme xa BcdcxaBa aexeaxdf fghgxixi xxdxajbj bkbkxlbl baxaxhhh xmfm
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,551
Words 292
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 2, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Letitia Elizabeth Landon was an English poet. Born 14th August 1802 at 25 Hans Place, Chelsea, she lived through the most productive period of her life nearby, at No.22. A precocious child with a natural gift for poetry, she was driven by the financial needs of her family to become a professional writer and thus a target for malicious gossip (although her three children by William Jerdan were successfully hidden from the public). In 1838, she married George Maclean, governor of Cape Coast Castle on the Gold Coast, whence she travelled, only to die a few months later (15th October) of a fatal heart condition. Behind her post-Romantic style of sentimentality lie preoccupations with art, decay and loss that give her poetry its characteristic intensity and in this vein she attempted to reinterpret some of the great male texts from a woman’s perspective. Her originality rapidly led to her being one of the most read authors of her day and her influence, commencing with Tennyson in England and Poe in America, was long-lasting. However, Victorian attitudes led to her poetry being misrepresented and she became excluded from the canon of English literature, where she belongs. more…

All Letitia Elizabeth Landon poems | Letitia Elizabeth Landon Books

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