Penny Dreadfuls, 1812 · page 218 of 258
Psyche, and other poems — page 218: what you’re looking at
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# Page 200: Verse/Poetry This is a text page of Victorian verse, numbered 200, containing a poem addressed to "Dear Nina." The poem uses floral imagery (crocuses, flowers) and classical allusion (Narcissus) to praise someone's ability to bring comfort and joy, particularly to the speaker who appears to be imprisoned or confined ("my prison couch"). The verse celebrates how affection and friendship have sustained the speaker through hardship, describing how Nina's kindness has revived hope "in spite of years, and grief, and pain." The language is sentimental and melodramatic, typical of Victorian popular literature.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
200 The gold and purple crocus vie ‘To mock the pomp of majesty. See how her soul-bewitching smile Can even selfish love beguile! While fair Narcissus bends no more His snowy beauties to adore, But lifts for once his cups of gold A fairer image to behold. Dear Nina! teach a grateful heart Thine own persuasive, winning art; | So might I best my thanks commend, So please each kind, each cherished friend! For, as thy hand with smiling flowers Hath crowned the lingering, wintry hours, Even thus for me affection’s care Hath sheltered from the nipping air The tender buds of half-chilled hope That seemed in withering gloom to droop, And bid them bloom, revived again, In spite of years, and grief, and pain, P O’er me Affection loves to shed Her comforts full, unmeasured ; To bless my smiling hearth she sends - The dearer smile of dearest friends, Aud bids my prison couch assume | No form of pain, no air of gloom; But sweet content and cheerful ease, All that in solitude can please, And all that soothing, social love Can bid its quiet favourites prove, / COnnIE DOO KS. Coma)