Penny Dreadfuls, 1812 · page 177 of 258
Psyche, and other poems — page 177: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Description This is page 159 from a Victorian publication, containing a single sonnet titled "SONNET." The poem is a meditation on aging and disillusionment, where the speaker laments that youthful fancy and hope are no longer suited to their advancing years. The verse expresses a desire to abandon "gay phantoms" and youthful illusions in favor of wisdom and calm repose. The poem consists of fourteen lines in traditional sonnet form, printed in plain typographic text on aged paper.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
159 SONNET. } For me would Fancy now her chaplet twine Of Hope’s bright blossoms, and Joy’s fairy flowers, » As she was wont to do in gayer hours ; Ill would it suit this brow, where many a line Declares the spring-time of my life gone by, And summer far advanced ; what now remain Of waning years, should own staid Wisdom’s reign. Shall my distempered heart still idly sigh For those gay phantoms, chased by sober truth? : Those forms tumultuous which sick visions bring, That lightly flitting on the transient wing Disturbed the fevered slumbers of my youth ? Ah, no! my suffering soul at length restored, Shall taste the calm repose so oft in vain implored. - Connicloooks.comnn