Robert Bridges

Name: Poetical Works of Robert Bridges, Volume 6
Author: Robert Bridges

Biographical details

Robert Bridges, an English poet and philologist, interlaced classical references with meditations on human endurance and moral intricacy. His major works—Poems, Bramble Brae, and On English Homophones—delve into themes of idealism, the conflict between personal ambition and societal norms, and the relationship between nature and civilization.

Through poetic storytelling and reflective verse, Bridges probed tenacity, the burden of inheritance, and the lasting influence of cultural legacy. His body of work, distinguished by scholarly precision and emotional richness, highlights a dedication to literary tradition as both a reflection and a compass for human experience.

Quotes by Robert Bridges

Robert Bridges, Poetical Works of Robert Bridges…

“ But hapless Psyche fell, for so it chanced,
To moody Synethea’s care, the one
Of Aphrodite’s train whom she advanced
To try the work abandon’d by her son.
Who by perpetual presence made ill end
Of good or bad; though she coud both amend,
And merit praise for work by her begun. 19
But she to better thought her heart had shut,
And proved she had a spite beyond compare:
Nor coud the keenest taunts her anger glut,
Which she when sour’d was never wont to spare:
And now she mock’d at Psyche’s shame and grief,
As only she might do, and to her chief
Along the courtyard dragg’d her by the hair. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Robert Bridges, Poems

“ Whose smile severe and chaste
June never hath stirred to vanity, nor age defaced.
In lofty thought strive, O spirit, for ever:
In courage and strength pursue thine own endeavour.
Ah! if it were only for thee, thou restless ocean
Of waves that follow and roar, the sweep of the tides;
Were’t only for thee, impetuous wind, whose motion
Precipitate all o’errides, and turns, nor abides:
For you sad birds and fair,
Or only for thee, bleak cliff, erect in the air;
Then well could I read wisdom in every feature,
O well should I understand the voice of Nature. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Robert Bridges, Poetical Works of Robert Bridges…

“ Enter AGRIPPINA and PALLAS.
AGRIPPINA.
Pallas, thy date is out: thou art dismissed; 790
Thou goest from the court: yet what thou takest
May soften thy regrets. Thy shiny days
Were not misspent, and thou may’st live like Cæsar.
Farewell, we still are friends: the debt I owe
I shall remember: ’twas thy power that first
Gave root to mine: for thee, I think my favours
Were once thy pleasure. If those days are gone,
We can look time in the face; we have not wasted
The days that flew: ’tis now with what remain
Still to be careful. Friends and firm allies. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Robert Bridges, Poetical Works of Robert Bridges…

“ Fer. ’Tis changed to learn thy grief, and why that brightness,
That shone to cheer my life, now clouds with rain.
Al. Each hath his private grief, prince: why should I
Be wondered at, or questioned of my tears?
Enough the world is sad, and I am sad.
Fer. A twofold error, lady: the world is gay,
And thou art half its splendour. When I first
Beheld thee in this earthly paradise,
What wondrous jewels, thought I, God hath strewn
About the world, which in our count of it
Stand out of reckoning, being unseen. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Robert Bridges, Bramble Brae

“ It’s my name that in joy rushes up to your lips!
Yes, I’m young, oh, so young, and so little I know!
A mere child that is learning to walk and to run;
While I grasp at the shadows that wave to and fro
I am dazzled a bit by the light of the Sun.{5}
I am learning the lesson, I try to grow wise,
But at night I am baffled and worn by the strife;
I am humbled, and then there’s an impulse to rise,
And a voice whispers, “Onward and win! This is Life!” ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Robert Bridges, Poetical Works of Robert Bridges…

“ As stirs the frail and careful being, who here, 20
The king of sorrows, melancholy man,
Bows at his labour, but in heart erect
A god stands, nor for any gift of god
Would barter his immortal-hearted prime.
Could I but win this world from Zeus for mine,
With not a god to vex my happy rule,
I would inhabit here and leave high heaven:
So much I love it and its race of men,
Even as he hates them, hates both them, and me
For loving what he hates, and would destroy me,
Outcast in the scorn of all his cringing crew,
For daring but to save what he would slay:
And me must first destroy. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Robert Bridges, Poetical Works of Robert Bridges…

“ JUBILEE-SONG, FOR MUSIC, 1897
Hark! The world is full of thy praise,
England’s Queen of many days;
Who, knowing how to rule the free,
Hast given a crown to monarchy.
Honour, Truth and growing Peace
Follow Britannia’s wide increase,
And Nature yield her strength unknown
To the wisdom born beneath thy throne!
In wisdom and love firm is thy fame:
Enemies bow to revere thy name:
The world shall never tire to tell
Praise of the queen that reignèd well. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Robert Bridges, On English Homophones

“ We have the best Bible in the world, and in Shakespeare the greatest poet; we have been suckled on those twin breasts, and our children must have degenerated if they need asses' milk. Nor is it only because the old is better than the new that we think thus. If we speak more proudly of Trafalgar than of Zeebrugge, it is not because Trafalgar is so far finer a sounding word than Zeebrugge, as indeed it is, nor because we believe that the men of Nelson's time were better than our men of to-day, we know they were not, but because the spirit that lives on ideals will honour its parents ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Robert Bridges, Poetical Works of Robert Bridges…

“ Enter PALICIO and MARGARET.
MARGARET.
How fresh the morning air is. See how the mist
Melts in the sun, and while we look is gone,
Leisurely gathered on his sloping beams.
And guarded by her angel towers the city
Sleeps like an island in the solemn gray:
’Tis beauteous.— 100
PALICIO.
I love the city: it holds the stir.
To-night I shall be there, and to do something
Worthy of thee.
Mar.Whate’er thou dost, Giovanni,
I could not love thee more.
1750
Pal.Beneath yon roofs
There’s many a heart that quicker beats and leaps
To hear my name.
Mar.Thinkest thou still of them?
They love thee not. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Robert Bridges, Poetical Works of Robert Bridges…

“ To loving me? ’Tis happy for me, Frederick,
Thou hast not seen her worth.
1790
F.And I half question
Whether ’tis not my duty as friend of both
To close with her and save you.
R.Thou dost not know her,
Because, I thank thee for it, thou dost not love her.
And, friend, thy speech is gross; why the truth is
There’s not a man or woman on God’s earth,
However humble, mean, or ill-appearing,
That hath not in his sight some grace and favour,
Which angels see: but mortals overlook it,
Being spiritually blind: for which affliction
They have suffered half their shames, and slain the just. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Robert Bridges, Poetical Works of Robert Bridges…

“ Go, Pamphilus, go at once!
Pam.Clinia is there; I will.
Sost. And can I then tell Chremes?
Ph.Madam, consider this:
He won’t believe you, and after will only be angry with you
For knowing it first, and being in the right when he was wrong.
Sost. ’Tis all so strange, that really and truly I don’t suppose
That any one would believe it. It may be best to wait.
But you should waste no time, Pamphilus; go at once. ”

Robert Bridges

Biographical details

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