Of Gentle Seasons Passing One by One - Poems of a Miscellaneous Nature

Amy Levy

• Publisher: Ragged Hand
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781528791540
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: European Poetry
• Index: Literature

Amy Judith Levy (1861–1889) was a British poet, novelist, and essayist. She was notably the first Jewish woman to study at Cambridge university, and she became well-known for her feminist positions as well as her romantic relationships with both male and female political and literature figures. This book contains a collection of some of Levy's best and most famous poems. Levy suffered with major depression, growing worse as she got closer to her 30s and becoming aware of her growing deafness. Although showing such talents at a young age, Levy took her own life 2 months before her 28th birthday. This collection looks into the mind of this struggling poet and perhaps her final poetic thoughts and struggles with depression. Contents includes: "A Wall Flower", "The First Extra", "At a Dinner Party", "Philosophy", "A Game of Lawn Tennis", "To E", "A London Plane-Tree", "London in July.", "A March Day in London", "Ballade of an Omnibus", "Ballade of a Special Edition", "Straw in the Street", "Between the Showers", "Out of Town", "The Piano-Organ", "London Poets", and "The Village Garden". A fantastic collection of classic poetry that deserves a place in every bookshelf. Other works by this author include: "Xantippe and Other Verse" (1881), "The Romance of a Shop" (1888), and "Miss Meredith" (1889). As part of our poetry imprint "Ragged Hand" Read & Co. is proudly publishing this brand new collection of classic poetry complete with an introductory biography of the author by Richard Garnett.

TO E

THE mountains in fantastic lines

Sweep, blue-white, to the sky, which shines

Blue as blue gems; athwart the pines

The lake gleams blue.

We three were here, three years gone by;

Our Poet, with fine-frenzied eye,

You, steeped in learned lore, and I,

A poet too.

Our Poet brought us books and flowers,

He read us Faust; he talked for hours

Philosophy (sad Schopenhauer’s),

Beneath the trees:

And do you mind that sunny day,

When he, as on the sward he lay,

Told of Lassalle who bore away

The false Louise?

Thrice-favoured bard! to him alone

That green and snug retreat was shown,

Where to the vulgar herd unknown,

Our pens we plied.

(For, in those distant days, it seems,

We cherished sundry idle dreams,

And with our flowing foolscap reams

The Fates defied.)

And after, when the day was gone,

And the hushed, silver night came on,

He showed us where the glow-worm shone;—

We stooped to see.

There, too, by yonder moon we swore

Platonic friendship o’er and o’er;

No folk, we deemed, had been before

So wise and free.

* * * * * * *

And do I sigh or smile to-day?

Dead love or dead ambition, say,

Which mourn we most? Not much we weigh

Platonic friends.

...

Table of contents

• AMY LEVY
• A WALL FLOWER
• THE FIRST EXTRA
• AT A DINNER PARTY
• PHILOSOPHY
• A GAME OF LAWN TENNIS
• TO E
• A LONDON PLANE-TREE
• LONDON IN JULY
• A MARCH DAY IN LONDON
• BALLADE OF AN OMNIBUS
• BALLADE OF A SPECIAL EDITION
• STRAW IN THE STREET
• BETWEEN THE SHOWERS
• OUT OF TOWN
• THE PIANO-ORGAN
• LONDON POETS
• THE VILLAGE GARDEN