Penny Dreadfuls, 1812 · page 146 of 258
Psyche, and other poems — page 146: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page 128 of a Victorian Penny Dreadful This is a page of running poetry text (no illustration or title page). The verse addresses themes of love's suffering and loss, personifying forces like "Indifference" and an unnamed "foe" (possibly Death or Despair) that destroy romantic happiness. The speaker laments how Love cannot escape destruction, how the "gentle heart" watches its joy fade, and counsels a "faithful heart" to endure lost love in silent patience. The ornate, melodramatic language and focus on emotional anguish are typical of penny dreadful sensational literature, though the form here is lyric verse rather than narrative prose.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
indifference, dreaded power! what art shall save ‘he good so cherished from thy grasping hand? How shall young Love escape the untimely grave Thy treacherous arts prepare? or how withstand The insidious foe, who with her leaden band Enchains the thoughtless, slumbering deity ? Ah, never more to wake! or e’er expand His golden pinions to the breezy sky, » : Or open to the sun his dim and languid eye. ~ e Who can describe the hopeless, silent pang With which the gentle heart first marks her sway ? Eyes the sure progress of her icy fang Resistless, slowly fastening on her prey ; Sees rapture’s brilliant colours fade away, And all the glow of beaming sympathy ; Anxious to watch the cold averted ray That speaks no more to the fond meeting eye Enchanting tales of love, and tenderness, and joy. Too faithful heart ! thou never canst retrieve ‘Thy withered hopes: conceal the cruel pain ! O’er thy lost treasure still in silence grieve ; — But never to the unfeeling ear complain: From fruitless struggles dearly bought r fi ain Submit at once—the bitter task resign, =~» Nor watch and fan the expiring flame in vain ; ; Patience, consoling maid, may yet be thine, Go seek her quiet cell, and hear her voice divine ! COnMIE DOO KSaeOmn)