Felicia Hemans

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Felicia Hemans
Felicia Hemans

Felicia Dorothea Hemans (September 25, 1793May 16, 1835) was an English poet.

Quotes[edit]

  • In the busy haunts of men.
    • "Tale of the Secret Tribunal" (published 1822), part i, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
  • Signature of Felicia Hemans
    Calm on the bosom of thy God,
    Fair spirit, rest thee now!
    • The Siege of Valencia (1823), scene ix, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
  • I have looked on the hills of the stormy North,
    And the larch has hung his tassels forth.
    • The Voice of Spring (published 1835), reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
  • But fair the exil'd Palm-tree grew
    Midst foliage of no kindred hue;
    Through the laburnum’s dropping gold
    Rose the light shaft of Orient mould,
    And Europe’s violets, faintly sweet,
    Purpled the mossbeds at its feet.
  • They grew in beauty side by side,
    They filled one home with glee:
    Their graves are severed far and wide
    By mount and stream and sea.
  • Alas for love, if thou wert all,
    And naught beyond, O Earth!
    • The Graves of a Household, st. 8.
  • The boy stood on the burning deck,
    Whence all but him had fled;
    The flame that lit the battle's wreck
    Shone round him o'er the dead.
  • The flames roll'd on­-he would not go
    Without his father's word;
    That father, faint in death below,
    His voice no longer heard.
    • Casabianca, st. 3.
  • The stately Homes of England,
    How beautiful they stand!
    Amidst their tall ancestral trees,
    O'er all the pleasant land.
  • Oh, call my brother back to me!
    I cannot play alone:
    The summer comes with flower and bee,—
    Where is my brother gone?
    • The Child's First Grief (1828).
  • Leaves have their time to fall,
    And flowers to wither at the north-wind’s breath,
    And stars to set; but all,
    Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death!
    • The Hour of Death (1824).
  • Come to the sunset tree!
    The day is past and gone;
    The woodman’s axe lies free,
    And the reaper’s work is done.
    • Tyrolese Evening Song, st. 1.
  • I had a hat. It was not all a hat,—
    Part of the brim was gone:
    Yet still I wore it on.
    • Rhine Song of the German Soldiers after Victory.

The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers (1826)[edit]

  • The breaking waves dashed high
    On a stern and rock-bound coast,
    And the woods against a stormy sky
    Their giant branches tossed.
    • Stanza 1.
  • And the heavy night hung dark,
    The hills and waters o'er,
    When a band of exiles moored their bark
    On the wild New England shore.
    • Stanza 2.
  • What sought they thus afar?
    Bright jewels of the mine,
    The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?
    They sought a faith's pure shrine.
    • Stanza 9.
  • Ay, call it holy ground,
    The soil where first they trod;
    They have left unstained what there they found —
    Freedom to whorship God.
    • Stanza 10.

Quotes about Felicia Hemans[edit]

  • Thou hast been round us, like a viewless spirit,
    Known only by the music on the air;
    The leaf or flowers which thou hast named inherit
    A beauty known but from thy breathing there:
    For thou didst on them fling thy strong emotion,
    The likeness from itself the fond heart gave;
    As planets from afar look down on ocean,
    And give their own sweet image to the wave.

External links[edit]