Penny Dreadfuls, 1812 · page 107 of 258
Psyche, and other poems — page 107: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page 39 of Victorian Penny Dreadful This is a page of running verse narrative prose from page 39 of a penny dreadful. The text presents a character (apparently named Psyche, likely referencing the classical myth) in an extended emotional soliloquy. She laments her abandonment by her lover, who has been commanded by Venus to leave her for a worthier mate. Psyche expresses despair, contemplates suicide or permanent isolation, then resolves at dawn to flee her dwelling and seek solitude where grief might end her suffering. The passage is written in formal poetic couplets typical of sensation fiction's theatrical melodrama.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ul 39 “Twas there vegret indulged the bitter tear ; She feels herself forsaken and alone : ) “Behold,” she cries, ‘fulfilled is every fear, “Oh! wretched Psvche, now indeed undone ! : ““Thy love’s protecting care no more is shown, ‘He bids his servant leave thee to thy fate, “Nor longer will the hopeless wanderer own : **Some fairer, nobler spouse, some worthier mate, ‘* Atlength by Venus given shall share his heavenly state. 6 “Oh! most adored! Oh! most regretted love ! “Oh ! joys that never must again be mine, ** And thou lost hope, farewell !—vainly I rove, “For never shall I reach that land divine, “Nor ever shall thy beams celestial shine * *‘ Again upon my sad unheeded way! **Oh! let me here with life my woes resign, **Or in this gloomy den for ever stay, And shun the scarnful world, nor see detested day.” «But no! those scenes are hateful to‘mine eyes, ** And all who spoke or witnessed my disgrace ; ** My soul with horror from this dwelling flies ** And seeks some tranquil, solitary place “Where grief may finish life’s unhappy race !” So past she the long night, and soon as morn Had first begun to show his cheerful face, Her couch, which care had strewn with every thorn, With heavy heart she left, disquieted, forlorn, Connie oookksS.COmn)