SOLITUDE by Lewis Carroll (older version)

Note:There's an enhanced HD version of this elsewhere on the site.
The first time Charles Lutwidge Dodgson used his famous ´nom-de-plume´ LEWIS CARROLL was as the author of this unexpectedly intense and moving, typically Victorian, romantic poem.

It was composed in 1853 and published in a periodical, `The Train´ two years later. He was then 29. By all accounts he suffered greatly as a stammerer and also from what might well have been a bi-polar condition. He was deaf in one ear and an exceptionally tall and thin lad. Charles also had a weak chest in later life but of course, his extraordinary works featuring a certain `Alice´ (based on stories he improvised in the act of live story- telling), made him wealthy, well-loved and justifiably famous.

SOLITUDE
I LOVE the stillness of the wood:
I love the music of the rill:
I love to couch in pensive mood
Upon some silent hill.
Scarce heard, beneath yon arching trees,
The silver-crested ripples pass;
And, like a mimic brook, the breeze
Whispers among the grass.
Here from the world I win release,
Nor scorn of men, nor footstep rude,
Break in to mar the holy peace
Of this great solitude.

Here may the silent tears I weep
Lull the vexed spirit into rest,
As infants sob themselves to sleep
Upon a mother's breast.
But when the bitter hour is gone,
And the keen throbbing pangs are still,
Oh, sweetest then to couch alone
Upon some silent hill!
To live in joys that once have been,
To put the cold world out of sight,
And deck life's drear and barren scene
With hues of rainbow-light.

For what to man the gift of breath,
If sorrow be his lot below;
If all the day that ends in death
Be dark with clouds of woe?
Shall the poor transport of an hour
Repay long years of sore distress
The fragrance of a lonely flower
Make glad the wilderness?
Ye golden hours of Life's young spring,
Of innocence, of love and truth!
Bright, beyond all imagining,
Thou fairy-dream of youth!
I'd give all wealth that years have piled,
The slow result of Life's decay,
To be once more a little child
For one bright summer-day.

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People & Blogs

Tags:

• Alice Adventures in Wonderland
• Charles Dodgson
• Logician
• Photographer
• Mathematician.
• Lewis Carroll

[TheCatalinalira]

Fantastic!!! Thank you Fred. With warmest wishes, Catalina

[Caspar33]

@TheCatalinalira Thanks to you! And warm wishes on their way!.

[HerAeolianHarp]

I'm very glad to discover this engaging and lyrical video. A wonderful poem and the bridging of b/w images to color and recital is so smooth. You have a fascinating channel.

[Caspar33]

@HerAeolianHarp Well thanks - and welcome to the site! There´s quite a variety of stuff here. I had hoped that the eucalyptus shots in this would have been in high definition but I´m abroad at present and the system I´m using doesn´t seem willing to accomodate that. Never mind. Thanks for the kind words.

[Caspar33]

@Caspar33 That last remark of course should have applied to Calypso! Another cup of coffee required!

[Caspar33]

@andrewnorris2 Cheers. Thanks for that. A little bit of Chopin is mighty useful. I don´t suppose Jan Brueghel, or any of the family for that matter had ever seen anyone with even coffee-coloured skin!

[andrewnorris2]

Good choice of music. Works well with the rise and fall of the emotions expressed in your reading. The scene of the waving tree alone works best for me. Lovely reading.

[Caspar33]

@PassionateMistress Thanks for that. Best wishes to you.

[PassionateMistress]

Wow, Carroll's first published poem- very lovely.

[Caspar33]

Ha Ha! Quite right too. Yup, a eucalyptus for sure, Ida. (Or should it be AN eucalyptus?) Thanks!