BIB_ID
238638
Accession number
MA 6145
Creator
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 1806-1861.
Display Date
1840 Dec. 9.
Credit line
Gift; Charles Ryskamp, in honor of Grace Lansing Lambert; 1993.
Description
1 item (2 p.) ; 11 x 9.1 cm.
Notes
The reference in the letter is to stanza VI of Barrett's poem "Cowper's Grave" (1838): "And wrought within his shattered brain / such quick poetic senses / As hills have language for, and stars, / harmonious influences. / The pulse of dew upon the grass, kept / his within its number, / And silent shadows from the trees, re- / freshed him like a slumber."
Summary
Concerning her contribution to a modernization of Chaucer's poetry, and referring to an "unlucky lucky stanza which has not made itself understood yet (against all poetical justice) has had the honor of being talked about by Mr. Leigh Hunt & Mr. Powell, --the measure intended was simply Cowper's sense of, & delight in, the companionship & sweet sympathies of nature. He _heard_ (by his inward poetic senses), the language of the hills, & _felt_ the influences of the stars. The droppings of the dew came like pulses beating sympathetically with his--pulse for pulse--and the shadow of the trees fell over him with the softness refreshment of sleep--."
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