SUMMER

ESTATE

ARGUMENT

The subject proposed. Invocation. Address to Mr. Dodington. An introductory reflection on the motion of the heavenly bodies; whence the succession of the Seasons. As the face of Nature in this season is almost uniform, the progress of the poem is a description of a summer's day. The dawn. Sun-rising. Hymn to the sun. Forenoon. Summer insects described. Hay-making. Sheep-shearing. Noon-day. A woodland retreat. Group of herds and flocks. A solemn grove: how it affects a contemplative mind. A cataract, and rude scene. View of the Summer in the torrid zone. Storm of thunder and lightning. A tale. The storm over, a serene afternoon. Bathing. Hour of walking. Transition to the prospect of a rich, well-cultivated country; which introduces a panegyric on Great-Britain. Sun-set. Evening. Night. Sumwer meteors. A comet. The whole concluding with the praise of Philosophy.

From

rom brightening fields of ether fair disclos❜d, Child of the Sun, refulgent SUMMER comes, In pride of youth, and felt through Nature's depth: He comes, attended by the sultry hours,

And ever-fanning breezes, on his way;

While, from his ardent look, the turning SPRING Averts her blushful face; and earth, and skies,

ARGOMENTO

Dichiarazione del soggetto. Invocazione Dedica al Sig. Dodington. Riflessioni preliminari sul moto dei corpi celesti, d'onde procede l'alternativa delle Stagioni. Per essere in tale stagione l'aspetto della Natura quasi monotono, l'andamento del poema è la descrizione di un giorno d' Estate. L'alba. Il nascer del sole. Il mattino. Descrizione degl'insetti estivi. L'ammontare del fieno. Il tosar delle pecore. Il mezzogiorno. Il ritiro in luogo boschivo. Gruppi di armenti e di greggi. Una selva maestosa: come influisca in un auima dedita alla contemplaziona. Una cascata di acqua ed una scena campestre. Quadro di Estate nella zona torrida. Tempesta di tuoni e di lampi. Un racconto. Cessata la tempesta, il pomeridiano tempo sereno. Il baguarsi. L'ora del passeggio. Digressione alla prospettiva di una ricca e ben coltivata contrada; il che introduce ad un panegirico sulla Gran-Brettagua. Il tramontare del sole. La sera. La notte. Meteore dell' Estate. Una cometa. Conchiusione del tutto coll' encomio della Filosofia.

Dai luminosi campi del bell'aperto aere vien, fi

glia del sole, la rilucente ESTATE, in orgoglio di gioventù, e sensibile nel profondo sen del Creato. Ella si avanza scortata nel suo cammino dalle affannose ore e da sempre aleggianti aurette; mentre la Primavera, fuggendo, torce il suo roseo volto dal di lei sguardo infuocato; e lascia in balia al

All-smiling, to his hot dominion leaves,

Hence let me haste into the mid-wood shade, Where scarce a sun-beam wanders through the gloom ; And on the dark-green grass, beside the brink Of haunted stream, that by the roots of oak Rolls o'er the rocky channel, lie at large, And sing the glories of the circling year.

Come, Inspiration! from thy hermit-seat,
By mortal seldom found: inay Fancy dare,
From thy fix'd serious eye, and raptur'd glance
Shot on surrounding Heaven, to steal one look
Creative of the Poet, every power
Exalting to an ecstasy of soul.

And thou, my youthful Muse's early friend,
In whom the human graces all unite:
Pure light of mind, and tenderness of heart;
Genius and wisdom; the gay social sense,
By decency chastis'd; goodness and wit,
In seldom-meeting harmony combin❜d;
Unblemish'd honour, and an active zeal
For BRITAIN'S glory, Liberty and Man:
O, DODINGTON! attend my rural song,
Stoop to my theme, inspirit every line,
And teach me to deserve thy just applause.
With what an awful world-revolving pow'r
Were first the unwieldy planets launch'd along
Th' illimitable void! thus to remain,
Amid the flux of many thousand years,
That oft has swept the toiling race of men,
And all their labour'd monuments, away,
Firm, unremitting, matchless in their course;
To the kind-temper'd change of night and day,