{"id":25,"date":"2013-05-25T18:15:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-25T17:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/2013\/05\/25\/sunnyside-gill-a-blank-verse-poem-to-mr-henry-wade\/"},"modified":"2013-05-25T18:15:00","modified_gmt":"2013-05-25T17:15:00","slug":"sunnyside-gill-a-blank-verse-poem-to-mr-henry-wade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/2013\/05\/25\/sunnyside-gill-a-blank-verse-poem-to-mr-henry-wade\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunnyside Gill A Blank Verse Poem (to Mr Henry Wade)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunnyside Gill<\/b>
\nA Blank Verse Poem<\/b>
\nAddressed to Mr Henry Wade, Master of the Grammar School of<\/i>
\nWolsingham; author of \u201cHalcyon, or Rod Fishing in Clear Waters,\u201d<\/i>
\n\u201cCountry Lyrics, and other poems,\u201d &c.<\/i>
\n
<\/i><\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n

Thanks, angler-poet-artist, thanks to thee
\n
<\/a>For the neat sketch which thou to me hast sent
\nOf one of Nature\u2019s lovely hidden nooks.
\nOh, it is well for those who have such scenes
\nWithin the usual limits of their walks, 5
\nAnd eyes to gaze on them with fervent love:
\nFor he who loveth Nature in his soul,
\nWill ne\u2019er repent it through the longest life,
\nOr when kind Death strikes off his mortal gyves.
\nThose ancient rocks, (o\u2019er which the Lichen stole, 10
\nWith silent footsteps and in beauty robed,
\nMyriads of ages ere a loving eye,
\nLike thine or mine, beheld them,) have not they
\nA history to unfold, compared to which
\nThose sad sensations of mad novelists 15
\nAre tame and unromantic? Yon waterfall,
\nGushing in liquid melodies sublime<\/p>\n

In its unceasing hymnings, is to me
\nA celestial organ, ever tuned
\nTo angels\u2019 songs; and I can hear it swell 20
\nWith harmony unutterably sweet,
\nThough all the darkest chambers of my soul:
\nFor dear to me is ev\u2019ry watery sound;
\nFrom gently trickling of the newborn streams
\nThrough mountain mosses; or the gleesome march 25<\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n

Of gathering rivulets through primrosed meads;
\nTo rushing roar of mighty cataracts;
\nOr billows dashing madly \u2018gainst the cliffs
\nOf my dear Cleveland coast;\u2014all these to me
\nAre full of music and of beauty too. 30
\nThe stunted Oak, that strives to grow above
\nThy rocky waterfall, oh Sunnyside!
\nBut\u2019s dwarf\u2019d for want of genial soil in which
\nTo spread its roots, reminds me of my race\u2014
\nThose more than \u201chearts of oak\u201d\u2014who might have been 35
\nExpanded like the goodliest forest tree
\nIn beauty and in joy; yea, might have been
\nThe strength and power for good in this our realm,
\nHad education of the truest kind
\nTaught them to use their faculties aright: 40
\nHad fostered care developed the rich minds
\nOr more than gold or diamonds which lie hid
\nIn human souls: but who are stunted now\u2014
\nDwarf\u2019d to deformity\u2014for lack of soil
\nIn which the roots of true nobility 45
\nIn man or woman may find nutriment.
\n\u2019T is to cultivate each yard of soil
\nFor corn, and fruits, and flowers: it is well
\nTo probe the earth for minerals that may
\nBe fused to human use; but it is vain 50
\nTo prate of \u201cwealth of nations\u201d in our pride\u2014
\nYea, bloated ignorance\u2014if we despise,
\nNeglect, or scorn, the meanest child that\u2019s born
\nOf meanest parents; for there is a wealth
\nTo be developed by all nations yet 55
\nIn those bright rays all other wealth will pale.
\nAs the sun\u2019s beams upon the Alders shine
\nThat this Gill adorn, causing healthy sap,
\nThe life\u2019s-blood of the trees, to circulate
\nThrough all their woody veins; their leaves to breathe 60
\nThe breath of heaven, unpolluted here:<\/p>\n

Until they sport that livery of green
\nThe poet loves to look on:\u2014so in time
\nThe sun of knowledge (hidden by the clouds)
\nOf densest ignorance from the mighty mass 65
\nOf moiling millions, who know not yet
\nThe godlike power within them) will forth
\nBrighter than in the days of ancient Greece,
\nEven to here favour\u2019d few.
\nYe Alders,
\nGrowing by this peaceful stream, which, as yet, 70
\nIs unpolluted by the poison drain\u2019d
\nFrom neighb\u2019ring leadmines, may your ashes* ne\u2019er
\nAid in the murd\u2019rous warfare which vile nab
\nWages with brother man. Accursed War!
\nBack to the native hell! Each scene like this
\nProtest against thee. He Who form\u2019d such nooks 75
\nOf peaceful loveliness, ne\u2019er meant that we
\nShould e\u2019er indulge in fratricidal strife.
\nYe, Alders, flourish by the purest streams,
\nBut perish in the stagnant pool: so we
\nShould learn from you only to imbibe 80
\nThe unpolluted waters which the soul
\nCan drink and be refresh\u2019d with; leaving all
\nThe stagnant sinks that wither up the roots
\nOf all true greatest in the mind of man.
\nSo God has writ, for all who choose to learn, 85
\nLessons of wisdom in each thing we see;
\nAlas! we heed them not, but buzz along,
\nLike simple insects, down the maze of life,
\nScarcely wiser at its close than we began.
\nHail, stately Foxgloves! in your purple pride, 90
\nHow you all pamper\u2019d princes far outshine!
\nThey may don \u201cimperial purple\u201d; they may
\nHave flunkey fools to feed them, and to wait
\nObsequious at their call: while slaves around
\nTo do their bidding, though that bidding\u2019s vile,\u2014 95
\nAs princes\u2019 biddings have been through all time,
\nWith some so few exceptions that we stare
\nWith wonder when an Albert Good appears.
\nThey may deck their impious foreheads with fine
\nGolden crowns; priests, false to Christ, persuade them 100
\nThat they are fashion\u2019d by superior clay<\/p>\n

* With the exception of charcoal made from burning the wood of the
\nBlack Dogwood (Rhamus frangula), that of the common Alder (Alnus
\nglutinosa) is the most esteemed for the manufacture of gunpowder.<\/p>\n

To those who batten on; and strive also
\nTo gain them worship which belongs alone
\nTo Him Who form\u2019d us for much nobler ends
\nThan to bow down to either priest or king; 105
\nThough all the dev\u2019lish instruments of War
\nSurround their blood-built thrones; ye, Foxgloves tall!
\nWill wear the purple with imperial pride,
\nIn strict succession, on your peaceful thrones,
\nWhen theirs have passed away.
\nYe Daisies dear! 110
\nHow shall I do you justice? Chaucer\u2019s self
\nCould but admire you and express his love;
\nAnd I love him more for loving you.
\nOh, may my life, in action, word, and thought,
\nBe pure as your fair petals!\u2014ev\u2019ry one 115
\nA perfect flower. Gallant knights of old,
\nAs emblems of fidelity, have worn
\nDaisies with their love-tokens, in the tilts
\nAnd tournaments of those days when Chivalry
\nWas soft\u2019ning down the barb\u2019rism of the times; 120
\nAnd their fair ladies worn them in their hair.
\nWhat other flowers have such fidelity?
\nIn winter we have seen the Daisy bloom,
\nWhen other flowers had left the mountain side
\nAnd the green lanes and pastures desolate, 125
\nEre Wordworth\u2019s flower, \u201cthe little Celandine,\u201d
\nHas shown its golden petals; and when those
\nOf the bright Buttercup have paled in death,
\n\u201cThy snawie bosom sunward spread\u201d is seen
\nUnflinching in fidelity: and Burns, 130
\nThe truest bard of Scotland\u2019s tuneful band,
\nLoved the \u201cwee, modest, crimson-tipped flower,\u201d
\nWith holy fervour; and in Montgomery\u2019s verse
\n\u201cThe Daisy never dies.\u201d And if a poet
\nWith less gift of song; if a bard who soars
\nMuch nearer earth, but still looks up in heaven; 135
\nMay, at an humble distance, follow them,\u2014
\nI love the Daisy with that fervent love
\nI kiss\u2019d it when a child; and on my grave,
\nThough other flowers be none, I\u2019d have it there,
\nAnd the sweet lark to carol overhead. 140
\nFlow on, sweet streamlet, through this pleasant Gill,
\nOf Sunnyside well known. Methinks I see
\nThe beauteous spotted trout rise in yon pool
\nAt HALCYON\u2019s well-thrown fly. In such a spot,
\nWith hum of insects and with songs of birds.<\/p>\n

Mingling with music of the purling brook,
\nWho would not be an angler? Byron\u2019s self
\nHere would grasp Izaak Walton by the hand,
\nAnd bid him angle on and contemplate.
\nOn, little stream, to join the wooded Wear, 150
\nGurgling along its pebbled bed in pride,
\nPast many pleasant and historic sites,
\nGathering rill by rill, and brook by brook,
\nUntil its lordly bosom well can bear
\nThe largest argosies, to help to bind 155
\nAll nations in the peaceful bonds of trade
\nAnd commerce; and the ocean shall become
\nThe common highway of all nations,\u2014not
\nTheir naval battle-scene: for man with man
\nMust learn to war no more, and humankind 160
\nProve by their acts the brotherhood of man.
\nSuch are the vagrant thoughts, my HALCYON dear,
\nThy bonny sketch calls up within my brain.
\nI\u2019ll look upon this picture when I am
\nDebarr\u2019d from rambling in such rustic spots, 165
\nAnd fancy I am there. Some day I hope
\nTo seat me for a daydream on yon stone,
\nWhilst thou shalt angle near; and we will talk
\nOf Nature and of Po\u00ebsy divine,
\nAnd fancy Walton and his Cotton there. 170
\nMeanwhile accept my thanks for having sent
\nThy watercolour drawing, which has made
\nMe know another lovely nook o\u2019 the North
\nUnknown to me before. Let those who will
\nWander around the world in search of that 175
\nThey have so near, if they would look for it;
\nBe it mine to explore, and patriotic love,
\nThe many glorious scenes we have at home.<\/p>\n

Stokesley George Markham Tweddell<\/b>
\nLines 47 to 56 above are also quoted in Cursory Remarks on
\nEducation and School Board Elections, North of England
\nTractates, No. 30 (1887)<\/p>\n

Halcyon: Or, Rod-fishing with Fly, Minnow, and Worm
By Henry Wade<\/b>
http:\/\/books.google.co.uk\/books?id=mXkoAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunnyside Gill A Blank Verse Poem Addressed to Mr Henry Wade, Master of the Grammar School of Wolsingham; author of \u201cHalcyon, or Rod Fishing in Clear Waters,\u201d \u201cCountry Lyrics, and other poems,\u201d &c. Thanks, angler-poet-artist, thanks to thee For the neat sketch which thou to me hast sent Of one of Nature\u2019s lovely hidden nooks. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}