The ARGUMENT. The subject propos'd. Invocation. Address to Mr. Dod. DINGTON. 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. Groupe of herds and flocks. A solemn grove. How it affects a contemplative mind. A cataract, and rude scene. View of 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. Summer meteors. A comet. The whole concluding with the praise of phi losophy. SUMMER. FROM brightening fields of aether fair disclos'd, Child of the sun, refulgent SUMMER comes, In pride of youth, and felt thro' Nature's depth: He comes attended by the sultry hours, SPRING 5 Averts her blushful face; and earth, and skies, All-smiling, to his hot dominion leaves. HENCE, let me haste into the mid-wood shade, 1 Where scarce a sun-beam wanders thro' the 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, 15 By mortal seldom found: may 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 20 AND thou, my youthful muse's early In whom the human graces all unite: 30 WITH what an awful world-revolving power, Were first th' unwieldy planets launch'd along 35 Th' illimitable void! Thus to remain, unremitting, matchless, in their course; To the kind-temper'd change of night and day, 40 And of the seasons ever stealing round, Minutely faithful: Such TH' ALL-PERFECT HAND; That pois'd, impels, and rules the steady whole. WHEN now no more th' alternate Twins are fir'd, And Cancer reddens with the solar blaze, step, 49 Brown Night retires: Young Day pours in apace, And opens all the lawny prospect wide. |