PygmalionMacmillan, 1881 - 208 pages |
Autres éditions - Tout afficher
Expressions et termes fréquents
Aglaia Aphrodite Aphrodite's arms asked Athena Bacis beat beauty Behold blade blood bound breast breath bright brow calm charge chariots Chief cloud cried Crito Cyprus dare dark death delight Dionysus dread dream eyes eyes of dawn fast fate fell fire fleet flowers gaze give Goddess Gods Gods beloved grace hands hate head heart heaven Hebe Hebe's Hephaestus Heracles hold huge assault Ianthe Ianthe's immortal King kissed knew labour leave length light limbs look Lord Pygmalion loveliness Lycurgus Maidens maids Matron Metharme mortal Mother noble Nymph Olympian Olympian Gods Orsines pace Pallas Athena Poseidon Prometheus ramping waves round scarcely shield ships shore Silenus slain slaves smile soul spear spoke statue strength stroke strong sweet sword Temple tender thought thro thunder Titans touch voice wall watched waves wild wine wings wise wonder worship youth Zeus
Fréquemment cités
Page 16 - Homaging to her beauty, laughed : She laughed The soft delicious laughter that makes mad ; Low warblings in the throat that clench man's life Tighter than prison bars. Then swayed a breath Of odorous rose and scented myrtle mixed, That toyed the golden radiance round her brows To wavy flames. When lo! sweet murmurings Spread sudden silence on that gathered host! And, as sped arrows to their mark ; as bees Drop promptly on the honey'd flower, as one Shone the three daughters of Eurynome ; Aglaia,...
Page 15 - ... bewildered sounds; And the innumerable splashing feet Of monsters gambolling around their God, Forth shining on a seahorse, fierce, and finned. Some bestrode fishes glinting dusky gold, Or angry crimson, or chill silver bright ; Others jerked fast on their own. scaly tails ; And seabirds, screaming upwards either side, Wove a vast arch above the Queen of Love, Who, gazing on this multitudinous Homaging to her beauty, laughed : She laughed The soft delicious laughter that makes mad ; Low warblings...
Page 41 - And others, cleared of their embarrassment. His Mother with lanthe came one day / In azure June to watch her son at work ; For she had fears unceasing toil might fret, If left unminded, her Pygmalion's strength. She would press on him nourishment, and plead He took more rest and sportful exercise.
Page 41 - ... Graciously owned the care and gentleness She day by day bestowed. Then would she pour For him the wine : offer the bread and fruit : And maybe tarry to behold his skill Translating into substance visible Love's tenderness, or passion's smouldering depths. How shaped Aglaia's cheek against the charm Of Aphrodite's breast. How the sharp lines Of agony Prometheus must endure, Tortured less cruelly his spacious brow : Or gloomed the shades of power more deeply calm And terrible within the eyes of...
Page 71 - ... daily life of his mother and her maidens, is written in flowing and unaffected verse. The sculptor is at work on a .statue of Hebe, for which lanthe, one of his mother's maidens, has stood as model. Aphrodite, whose aid he has invoked, promises him, — "Your Hebe shall have life And immortality. For times to come Shall sing your story. Not the sweetest dream, As stretched you lay on shadowed forest bank, Has ever promised such a paradise As mine awaiting you.
Page 47 - The sweetness of a wrestle with the charms Of one so well endowed. Your garments he Plucked at so wildly I began to dread We might become like old Tiresias When great Athena bathed ! Metharme, hush : Pray hush ! The Matron urged ; seeing how prompt Her Maidens' titter at the quaint conceit, lanthe robbed and vanquished to her own White beauty bare, in native comeliness.
Page 44 - That should Silenus shame commanded by One so imperiously meek ! But now You looked as a great Hebe meet to fill His goblet for high Zeus sitting enthroned Moved in the pure white blossom of her cheeks A tinge of rose : taking the cup she placed It down ; then brought him bread and fruit. He cried, O mother, give me your assent and I Will carve lanthe as she stood erewhile Pouring the wine, a Hebe, child of Zeus And Hera, pouring nectar for the God 1 In her deep eyes there shone an upward awe As...
Page 69 - ... like the sun thro' wavering mists of morn, Her beauty pierced. In rapturous suspense Awaiting lips divine to speak his doom, Conscious became he of ethereal sound That filled the universe with song. Each star Joining the chorus in celestial praise To her the Queen of life and loveliness ; Whose voice came to him like a violet gust From breezy earth in spring. Know you that I Breathe in the lilies' perfume : daffodils Awake surprise, taking their light from me.
Page 206 - We could quote passage after passage of this poem, but our space forbids. We must content ourselves with these few lines, to give our readers a specimen of the blank verse — ' Trouble and sorrow greet me every turn : No words can tell how my bewildered mind Ran darkling while I strove to put the soul In Hebe's statue. Being done, arose A swarm of loathly scandals till I slew Their origin...
Page 67 - In ancient stories borne from man to man That all the Gods love Hebe. Zeus lets play On Her His gentlest smile ; and pauses ere He takes the nectar from Her offering hand. When She is present Hera looks so sweet Zeus scarce would honour fair mortality With grace so freely did She thus remain.