Penny Dreadfuls, 1812 · page 231 of 258
Psyche, and other poems — page 231: what you’re looking at
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# Page 213: Running Poetry Text This is a page of running verse from a Victorian penny dreadful, numbered 213. The poetic narrative describes a scene of violence and tragedy: a speaker recalls witnessing horrific bloodshed ("blood-hounds of revenge"), fleeing with a child past destruction ("smoking ruin round"), and returning home to find their cottage in the Glen. The passage culminates in the deaths of characters named Bryan and Ellen, with a surviving infant found clinging to a corpse. The tone is melodramatic horror, emphasizing anguish, death, and domestic tragedy—typical sensational content of penny dreadful serials.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
213 *‘ So had these eyes been spared a sight That wrings my soul with anguish still, Nor known how much of life, ere night, The blood-hounds of revenge could spill. ‘ Sinking at once with fear and age, Her father’s steps my child upheld ; The mangled victims of their rage Each moment shuddering we.beheld. ** Down yon steep side of Carrickmure, Our rugged path we homeward waund ; And saw, at least, that home secure, *Mid many a smoking ruin round.. ** Low in the Glen our cottage lies Behind yon dusky copse of oak : On its white walls we fixed our eyes, But not one word poor Ellen spoke ! “ Wecame .. . . the clamour scarce was o’er, The fiends scarce left their work of death :— But never spoke our Bryan more, Nor Ellen caught his latest breath. “* Still to the corse by horror joined, The shrinking infant closely clung, And fast his little arms intwined, As round the bleeding neck he hung. Conicloooks.comnn