If this was the reason he must have been in an
unusually scrupulous mood. See his 'Life', i., 232.]
[Footnote 7: So Massinger, 'City Madam', iii., 3:--
I am sublim'd.
Gross earth
Supports me not.
'I walk on air'.]
[Footnote 8: Cf. Dante, 'Inferno', v., 81-83:--
Quali columbe dal desio chiamate,
Con 1' ali aperte e ferme, al dolce nido Volan.]
[Footnote 9: 1842-1850. Lisping.]
[Footnote 10: In privately printed volume 1842. His.]
DORA
First published in 1842.
This poem had been written as early as 1835, when it was read to
Fitzgerald and Spedding ('Life', i., 182). No alterations were made in
the text after 1853. The story in this poem was taken even to the
minutest details from a prosestory of Miss Mitford's, namely, 'The Tale
of Dora Creswell' ('Our Village', vol. in., 242-53), the only
alterations being in the names, Farmer Cresswell, Dora Creswell, Walter
Cresswell, and Mary Hay becoming respectively Allan, Dora, William, and
Mary Morrison. How carefully the poet has preserved the picturesque
touches of the original may be seen by comparing the following two
passages:--
And Dora took the child, and went her way
Across the wheat, and sat upon a mound
That was unsown, where many poppies grew.
...
She rose and took
The child once more, and sat upon the mound;
And made a little wreath of all the flowers
That grew about, and tied it round his hat.
"A beautiful child lay on the ground at some distance, whilst a
young girl, resting from the labour of reaping, was twisting a
rustic wreath of enamelled cornflowers, brilliant poppies .
Pages:
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233