|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 11
A rather attractive bit of verse, purporting to have been written by
Shakespeare and dedicated to the woman who became his wife in 1582,
when he was but eighteen years old (she was eight years his senior),
alludes in its third stanza to "the orient list" of gems, diamond,
topaz, amethyst, emerald, and ruby. This little poem, with its play
upon the lady-love's name, can find a place here, although many
readers are already familiar with it.
TO THE IDOL OF MINE EYES AND THE DELIGHT OF MINE
HEART,
ANNE HATHAWAY
Would ye be taught, ye feathered throng,
With love's sweet notes to grace your song,
To pierce the heart with thrilling lay,
Listen to mine Anne Hathaway!
She hath a way to sing so clear,
Phoebus might wond'ring stop to hear;
To melt the sad, make blithe the gay,
And nature charm, Anne hath a way:
She hath a way,
Anne Hathaway,
To breathe delight Anne hath a way.
When envy's breath and rancorous tooth
Do soil and bite fair worth and truth,
And merit to distress betray,
To soothe the heart Anne hath a way;
She hath a way to chase despair,
To heal all grief, to cure all care,
Turn foulest night to fairest day:
Thou know'st, fond heart, Anne hath a way,
She hath a way,
Anne Hathaway,
To make grief bliss Anne hath a way.
Talk not of gems, the orient list,
The diamond, topaz, amethyst,
The emerald mild, the ruby gay;
Talk of my gem, Anne Hathaway!
She hath a way, with her bright eye,
Their various lustre to defy,
The jewel she and the foil they,
So sweet to look Anne hath a way.
She hath a way,
Anne Hathaway,
To make grief bliss Anne hath a way.
But were it to my fancy given
To rate her charms, I'd call them Heaven;
For though a mortal made of clay,
Angels must love Anne Hathaway.
She hath a way so to control
To rupture the imprisoned soul,
And sweetest Heaven on earth display,
That to be Heaven Anne hath a way!
She hath a way,
Anne Hathaway,
To be Heaven's self Anne hath a way.
This little poem is by Charles Dibdin (1748-1814), the writer of about
1200 sea-songs, at one time great favorites with sailors. It appeared,
in 1792, in his long-forgotten novel, "Hannah Hewit, or the Female
Crusoe", and Sir Sidney Lee conjectures that it may have been composed
on the occasion of the Stratford jubilee of 1769, in the organization
of which Dibdin aided the great actor, David Garrick. In the "Poems
of Places", New York, 1877, edited by Henry W. Longfellow, this poem
is assigned to Shakespeare on the strength of a persistent popular
error.[14] In his "Life" Dibdin says: "My songs have been the solace
of sailors in their long voyages, in storms, in battle; and they have
been quoted in mutinies to the restoration of order and discipline".
It has been asserted that they brought more men into the navy than all
the press gangs could do.
[Footnote 14: Sir Sidney Lee, "A Life of Shakespeare", new edition,
London, 1915, p. 26, note.]
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|