Eidolon, or The Course of a Soul And Other Poems   By: Walter Richard Cassels (1826-1907)

BY WALTER R. CASSELS

LONDON WILLIAM PICKERING 1850

TO CHARLES PEEL,

THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED BY HIS FRIEND,

W. R. CASSELS.

CONTENTS.

Page Eidolon 1 Alcesté 93 Pygmalion 136

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. Ode to Fancy 159 What is a sigh? 165 Ione 167 Reality 169 Retrospection 172 The Stormy Petrel 181 To 183 The Mermaid 185 The Spirit of the Air 190 Why do I love thee? 195 Lady Annabel 196 To Jenny Lind 201 The Gold Seekers 204 To Woman 209 The Poet 212 Evening 224 Life 226 Sorrow 229

SONNETS. I. Written at Ulleswater 233 II. "There is a spell by which the panting soul" 234 III. "We wander on through life as pilgrims do" 235 IV. "Sweet spirits of the Beautiful! where'er ye dwell," 236 V. "We are ambitious overmuch in life," 237 VI. "Mountains! and huge hills! wrap your mighty forms" 238 VII. To Ella 239 VIII. "I traverse oft in thought the battle plain" 240

INTRODUCTION TO EIDOLON.

Hazlitt says, one cannot "make an allegory go on all fours," it must to a certain degree be obscure and shadowy, like the images which the traveller in the desert sees mirrored on the heavens, wherein he can trace but a dreamy resemblance to the reality beneath. It therefore seems to me advisable to give a solution of the "Eidolon," the symbol, which follows, that the purpose of the poem may at once be evident.

In "Eidolon" I have attempted to symbol the course of a Poet's mind from a state wherein thought is disordered, barren and uncultivated, to that which is ordered and swayed by the true Spirit of Poetry, and holds its perfect creed.