Lewis Carroll´s SOLITUDE . A romantic poem.

Improved HD version. 26/10/2011
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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Tags:

• Alice in Wonderland
• Charles Dodgson
• Logician
• Photographer
• Mathematician.
• Romantic Poetry

[dragonheart130]

Wonderfully read and thanks for suggesting a poem I had never heard of before :-)  If its O.K. by you though, it may be a good idea to move the microphone back a little and you'll lose the background noise and the ssssss'es that you get when you pronounce some of the words and that will make a really good video, great. (no offence meant :-) )

[Caspar33]

@dragonheart130 Thanks! Appreciate the thought. I use a small digital voice recorder and it is a struggle to cut sibilance & strong plosives like P and B. I´ll find a sponge mike-cover - ought to do the trick.

[TheCatalinalira]

Fantastic poem, your voice and video! Thank you Fred.

With warmest wishes, Catalina

[Caspar33]

@TheCatalinalira Very many thanks. Kindest regards.

[Poemsapennyeach]

Very nicely put together...

[Caspar33]

@Poemsapennyeach Belated thanks for watching!

[dragonheart130]

@Caspar33 Yes a sponge mike cover should sort it out :-))

[Caspar33]

@Frits1416 And thanks to you too Frits!

[Frits1416]

Impressing. Thanks

[Caspar33]

@Idlinfarm Thanks Ida. Interesting how the poems with substance open up the more time you spend with them