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Article LITERARY NOTICES. ← Page 3 of 6 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Literary Notices.
" She rose at length , but not to rave or stamp , Or rend distractedly her golden hair—Slowly she rose , and round her prison damp Looked long and pryingly , witli dreadful stare . Save a thick ropy slime from the green swamp , Roof , walls , and pavement , all were lothly bare—And one stern loophole , burred with jealous might , Poured in the poisonous air and pale drear light .
" Thither she dragged—and saw the fenny grass Sullenly wave o ' er all that sullen lea ; And heard the bittern boom in the morass ; And saw the wild swan hurrying to the sea -, And . dreary gleams , aud drearier shadows , pass O ' er lonely wilds that lonelier could not be : And then she turn'd , all helplessness , within , And felt that all was helplessly akin . "
In the gradual extinction of her life , the husband finds unceasing aliment for his revenge . " Daily , for months , her prison to and fro Implacable in silence did he come , Implacable in silence did he go : Oh 1 list , poor victim ! list the bittern ' s hum , List to the sullen winds without that blow , List to whate ' er drear voice comes o ' er the fen—Pietra ' s voice thou'It never list again !
" Daily her miserable food he set—AVith his own hand , and trusted none beside : — And daily thus , all wretchedness , they met , And daily thus they withered and they died ; For soon , on both , the pestilential air Of the Maremma worked like poison there . " But the nobility , the god-like self-denial of her womanly nature assert
themselves . The husband sickens , too , wasting with the same slow waste , the same unintermitting ebb of life and strength , by which his victim is consumed . " The canker spreading to his bud and leaf Poor lost Madonna saw with tenfold grief—Grief deeper far than for her own decline 1 And oncewhen on his hands the sunbeams stvouk
, , And she beheld how fast they ' gan to pine , And with a tremor ( not sweet Pity ' s I ) shook , Love concruer'd terror , with a strength divine , That cruelty itself could not rebuke—And she implored , with heart , and lip , and eye , ' Let not both perish !—leave me here to die !'"
Finally , the inevitable hour arrives , ancl the damp dews of death moisten the pale forehead of the guileless victim . " And he—the gaoler—hangman of that tower ! He to whose soul revenge was all in all , Came to behold her , in the final hour , Drink to its bitterest dregs her cup of gall ;
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Literary Notices.
" She rose at length , but not to rave or stamp , Or rend distractedly her golden hair—Slowly she rose , and round her prison damp Looked long and pryingly , witli dreadful stare . Save a thick ropy slime from the green swamp , Roof , walls , and pavement , all were lothly bare—And one stern loophole , burred with jealous might , Poured in the poisonous air and pale drear light .
" Thither she dragged—and saw the fenny grass Sullenly wave o ' er all that sullen lea ; And heard the bittern boom in the morass ; And saw the wild swan hurrying to the sea -, And . dreary gleams , aud drearier shadows , pass O ' er lonely wilds that lonelier could not be : And then she turn'd , all helplessness , within , And felt that all was helplessly akin . "
In the gradual extinction of her life , the husband finds unceasing aliment for his revenge . " Daily , for months , her prison to and fro Implacable in silence did he come , Implacable in silence did he go : Oh 1 list , poor victim ! list the bittern ' s hum , List to the sullen winds without that blow , List to whate ' er drear voice comes o ' er the fen—Pietra ' s voice thou'It never list again !
" Daily her miserable food he set—AVith his own hand , and trusted none beside : — And daily thus , all wretchedness , they met , And daily thus they withered and they died ; For soon , on both , the pestilential air Of the Maremma worked like poison there . " But the nobility , the god-like self-denial of her womanly nature assert
themselves . The husband sickens , too , wasting with the same slow waste , the same unintermitting ebb of life and strength , by which his victim is consumed . " The canker spreading to his bud and leaf Poor lost Madonna saw with tenfold grief—Grief deeper far than for her own decline 1 And oncewhen on his hands the sunbeams stvouk
, , And she beheld how fast they ' gan to pine , And with a tremor ( not sweet Pity ' s I ) shook , Love concruer'd terror , with a strength divine , That cruelty itself could not rebuke—And she implored , with heart , and lip , and eye , ' Let not both perish !—leave me here to die !'"
Finally , the inevitable hour arrives , ancl the damp dews of death moisten the pale forehead of the guileless victim . " And he—the gaoler—hangman of that tower ! He to whose soul revenge was all in all , Came to behold her , in the final hour , Drink to its bitterest dregs her cup of gall ;