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

Amy Levy

• Publisher: Ragged Hand
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781528718516
• eBook ISBN:
  9781528791540
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: European Poetry
• Index: Literature

A rich and varied selection of poems, bringing together some of Amy Levy's most celebrated and distinctive verse. These poems capture moments of everyday life alongside meditations on time, memory, and emotional change.

The collection includes well-known pieces such as A London Plane-Tree, A Wall Flower, London in July, Ballade of an Omnibus, and The Village Garden, showcasing Levy's talent for blending urban imagery with lyrical insight. Her poetry moves effortlessly between social observation and quiet introspection, revealing a voice both modern and intimate.

A pioneering literary figure and the first Jewish woman to study at Cambridge University, Amy Levy remains one of the most compelling poets of the Victorian era. Published as part of the Ragged Hand poetry imprint, this new edition of Of Gentle Seasons Passing One by One includes an introductory biography of the author by Richard Garnett and is an essential addition to any collection of classic and feminist poetry.

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