English Men of Letters: Crabbe by Alfred Ainger
page 173 of 214 (80%)
page 173 of 214 (80%)
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The faithful bosom's softest sigh;
The life between is nothing worth, O! cast it from thy thought away; Think of the day that gave it birth, And this its sweet returning day. "Buried be all that has been done, Or say that nought is done amiss; For who the dangerous path can shun In such bewildering world as this? But love can every fault forgive, Or with a tender look reprove; And now let nought in memory live, But that we meet, and that we love." The lines are pretty enough, and may be described as a blend of Tom Moore and Rogers. A similar lyric, in the story called _The Sisters_, might have come straight from the pen which has given us "Mine be a cot beside a hill," and is not so wholly irrelevant to its context as the one just cited. Since Crabbe's death in 1832, though he has never been without a small and loyal band of admirers, no single influence has probably had so much effect in reviving interest in his poetry as that of Edward FitzGerald, the translator of Omar Khayyam. FitzGerald was born and lived the greater part of his life in Suffolk, and Crabbe was a native of Aldeburgh, and lived in the neighbourhood till he was grown to manhood. This circumstance alone might not have specially interested FitzGerald in the poet, but for the fact that the temperament of the two men was somewhat the same, and that both dwelt naturally on the depressing sides |
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