ODE
TO
TRAGEDY
.
I.
GODDESS
supreme
!
whose
power
divine
The
yielding
Passions
all
obey
,
On
me
,
O
!
with
thy
influence
shine
!
O
!
send
a
spark
to
fire
each
lay
!
A
soul
by
nature
form'd
to
feel
Grief
sharper
than
the
tyrants
steel
,
And
bosom
big
with
swelling
thought
,
From
ancient
lore's
remembrance
brought
,
Prompt
me
with
pinions
bold
my
way
to
wing
,
And
like
the
sky-lark
at
heaven's
gate
to
sing
.
II
.
Come
,
mistress
of
superior
grace
,
Daughter
in
hour
sublime
of
Jove
!
O'er
the
strong
features
of
whose
face
With
air
of
distant
awe
we
rove
:
While
mingling
softness
to
the
eye
Seems
o'er
each
lineament
to
fly
;
As
when
the
sun's
resplendent
rays
In
summer
glow
with
redd'ning
blaze
,
A
floating
blue-ting'd
cloud
does
interveen
,
And
thro'
a
veil
the
sire
of
light
is
seen
.
III
.
Come
,
Muse
!
while
Terror's
ghastly
form
,
And
Pity
,
gentle
maid
,
appear
,
Or
to
assault
the
soul
by
storm
,
Or
steal
the
generous
heart-sprung
tear
:
While
they
attendant
on
thy
state
,
Submissive
thy
behests
await
,
Dread
as
a
hideous
lion
chain'd
,
And
Pity's
looks
with
crying
stain'd
,
O
in
thy
dazzling
majesty
advance
,
Thou
who
thro'
nature
shoot'st
with
eagle
glance
.
IV
.
'Tis
thine
the
soul
to
humanize
By
fancied
wo
;
—
Goddess
!
'tis
thine
To
bid
compassion
melt
the
eyes
,
And
all
the
feelings
soft
refine
.
'Tis
thine
,
with
great
Apollo's
skill
,
The
inmost
springs
of
life
to
thrill
;
'Tis
thine
to
move
a
breast
of
stone
,
And
make
a
brazen
heart
to
own
,
That
solemn
tragic
numbers
are
of
force
,
To
stop
a
villain
in
his
bloody
course
.
V.
Behold
the
buskin'd
bard
of
Greece
!
Th'
inchantment
of
whose
tuneful
shell
Could
sooth
the
mind
to
gentle
peace
,
Or
rouse
to
fury
sprung
from
hell
!
See
in
his
kindling
look
,
the
fire
Bright
flaming
from
his
golden
lyre
!
Hark
how
he
sweeps
the
strings
!
—
such
tones
Nature
design'd
affliction's
groans
.
I
feel
,
when
now
he
wakes
another
strain
,
The
love
of
glory
panting
in
each
vein
!
VI
.
Unhappy
Oedipus
!
thy
fate
—
—
Gods
!
for
one
mortal
how
severe
!
—
While
Sophocles
deigns
to
relate
,
In
pomp
of
sadness
shall
appear
.
The
direful
oracle
we
dread
,
While
on
thy
bare
dejected
head
,
We
see
the
black
tempest'ous
shower
Of
Fortune's
wrath
incessant
pour
:
We
see
a
wretch
o'er
boiling
eddies
tost
,
Till
in
a
gulf
of
wo
the
victim's
lost
!
VII
.
O
say
,
thou
arbitress
of
mind
,
What
sympathy
unites
our
race
,
That
even
in
savages
we
find
This
wondrous
tender
,
human
grace
?
How
is
the
heart
of
man
so
soft
?
—
Which
I
,
alas
!
have
felt
too
oft
.
—
How
are
we
mov'd
with
others
wo
?
How
do
the
streams
of
pity
flow
?
How
does
the
breast
with
throbs
spontaneous
beat
?
How
is
compassion
found
so
strangely
sweet
?
VIII
.
Hail
!
father
of
the
British
stage
!
Shakespear
!
to
whom
shall
still
belong
Thro'
each
successive
wond'ring
age
,
The
glories
of
immortal
song
!
Melpomene
,
with
aspect
mild
,
With
joyful
hope
exulting
smil'd
,
What
time
on
Avon's
banks
she
saw
Thee
young
thy
first
rude
sketches
draw
Of
richest
poesy
,
whose
strains
sublime
Already
aim'd
th'
empyreum's
height
to
climb
.
IX
.
Genius
unbounded
as
the
sky
,
That
spreads
itself
from
pole
to
pole
,
Disdains
a
formal
course
to
fly
,
Or
sweep
the
ground
with
lazy
stole
.
The
Stagyrite
may
preach
in
vain
,
And
tasteless
critics
cold
complain
That
thou
all
rules
of
art
hast
broke
,
And
flung
away
the
stated
yoke
;
To
the
kind
heart
alone
thou
dost
appeal
,
And
bidst
th'
ingenuous
there
conviction
feel
.
X.
Say
thou
!
th'
illustrious
poet's
shade
!
Whether
old
Westminster's
fam'd
dome
Thou
haunt'st
,
or
where
his
childhood
stray'd
,
And
where
his
bones
have
fix'd
their
home
;
O
say
from
whence
such
powers
he
drew
,
By
which
the
universe
he
knew
:
Ye
ghosts
,
and
beings
of
the
brain
!
Witches
,
and
all
the
magic
train
!
You
he
could
lively
paint
with
pencil
nice
,
And
scourge
,
by
force
infernal
,
blasted
vice
!
XI
.
Greatest
of
bards
!
O
hear
my
prayer
!
Gleam
on
my
soul
with
chearing
view
:
Yet
think
not
that
I
rashly
dare
One
of
thy
footsteps
to
pursue
.
How
have
I
,
in
my
youthful
age
,
Ador'd
to
see
the
passions
rage
!
As
when
her
swain
with
Juliet
strove
,
Who
felt
the
anguish
most
of
love
;
Or
when
Old
England's
annals
were
display'd
,
And
Piercy
storm'd
in
martial
fire
array'd
.
XII
.
Forgive
,
tho'
I
forbear
to
tell
Of
you
,
ye
other
bards
who
shine
,
Forgive
tho'
I
forbear
to
swell
With
croud
of
names
the
sounding
line
.
When
Oroonoko's
godlike
soul
,
By
misery
distracted
,
roll
In
gloomy
blood-streak'd
eyes
we
see
,
Can
any
bosom
ruthless
be
?
Will
not
a
hapless
orphan
make
us
weep
?
Or
Randolph's
lady
plung'd
in
sorrows
deep
?
XIII
.
Augusta's
theatres
!
—
with
pride
How
often
have
I
witness'd
there
,
The
lucid
pearls
of
pity
glide
From
lovely
eyes
of
British
fair
!
How
often
have
I
raptur'd
seen
The
passion
of
the
present
queen
With
uncontroll'd
applauses
loud
Burn
in
each
feature
of
the
croud
!
Lo
!
boundless
liberty
submissive
deigns
—
Triumph
how
great
!
to
wear
the
actor's
chains
!
XIV
.
See
Garrick
in
poor
Lear
rave
,
Borne
down
the
tide
of
sore
distress
!
He
seems
'gainst
each
o'erwhelming
wave
With
hoary
majesty
to
press
!
See
Sheridan
in
Denmark's
heir
!
—
Wide
spreads
the
prospect
of
despair
!
With
dusky
clouds
the
sky
is
hung
!
Pale
horror
falters
on
his
tongue
!
Torn
is
his
wretched
mind
!
ev'n
now
I
view
Cold
,
pain-wrought
drops
his
mournful
face
bedew
!
XV.
O
why
by
Cam's
delightful
streams
,
Does
Mr
Mason
.
he
who
sung
Elfrida's
wo
,
Indulge
his
warm
,
poetic
dreams
,
But
to
the
private
eye
to
show
?
Why
does
the
moralizing
train
The
ancient
chorus
.
Him
from
the
world's
just
glass
detain
?
Beams
not
bright
beauty
brighter
still
,
From
the
high
summit
of
yon
hill
?
Drive
him
,
Ambition
,
from
th'
inglorious
seat
,
Tho'
Hurd
approve
his
indolent
retreat
.
XVI
.
Goddess
supreme
!
my
vows
attend
.
O
let
the
honour'd
task
be
mine
,
Thy
temple
trembling
to
ascend
;
Trembling
to
offer
at
thy
shrine
.
While
idle
Folly's
glitt'ring
train
Bask
in
the
sunshine
,
ever
vain
;
Like
Juno's
bird
so
pert
and
gay
,
Their
gaudy
plumage
still
display
;
O
!
let
me
visit
oft
thy
sacred
store
,
And
in
ecstatic
heat
intranc'd
adore
!
FINIS
.