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Sonnet VII. Whither is Gone the Wisdom and the Power

Coleridge, Hartley
1Whither is gone the wisdom and the power
2That ancient sages scatter'd with the notes
3Of thought-suggesting lyres? The music floats
4In the void air; e'en at this breathing hour,
5In every cell and every blooming bower
6The sweetness of old lays is hovering still:
7But the strong soul, the self-constraining will,
8The rugged root that bare the winsome flower
9Is weak and wither'd. Were we like the Fays
10That sweetly nestle in the fox-glove bells,
11Or lurk and murmur in the rose-lipp'd shells
12Which Neptune to the earth for quit-rent pays,
13Then might our pretty modern Philomels
14Sustain our spirits with their roundelays.

Notes

9] Hartley Coleridge notes that "Popular fancy has generally conceived a connection between the Fox-glove and the good people ..." (146). Back to Line
12] Neptune: god of the sea. Back to Line
13] Philomels: Philomela, the daughter of Pandion, king of Athens, was raped by her brother-in-law, Tereus, and then transformed into a nightingale after she and her sister Procne take revenge on him. Back to Line
14] roundelays: brief lyric with a refrain, the diminutive of "rondel." Back to Line