His _Ode on the Passions_ is
universally esteemed for its sudden and effective changes from the
bewilderment of Fear, the violence of Anger, and the wildness of Despair
to the rapt visions of Hope, the gentle dejection of Pity, and the
sprightliness of Mirth and Cheerfulness. His _Ode on the Death of Thomson_
is an exquisite bit of pathos, as is also the _Dirge on Cymbeline_.
Everybody knows and admires the short ode beginning
How sleep the brave who sink to rest
By all their country's wishes blest!
His _Oriental Eclogues_ please by the simplicity of the colloquies, the
choice figures of speech, and the fine descriptions of nature. But of all
his poems, the most finished and charming is the _Ode to Evening_. It
contains thirteen four-lined stanzas of varied metre, and in blank verse
so full of harmony that rhyme would spoil it. It presents a series of
soft, dissolving views, and stands alone in English poetry, with claims
sufficient to immortalize the poet, had he written nothing else. The
latter part of his life was clouded by mental disorders, not unsuggested
to the reader by the pathos of many of his poems.
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