Poems on Various Subjects (Coleridge)/Effusion 2, to Burke

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To Burke is a sonnet by Samuel Taylor Coleridge first published in the 9 December 1794 Morning Chronicle. Unlike most of the Sonnets on Eminent Characters, "To Burke" describes a person whom Coleridge disagreed with; he felt Edmund Burke abused the idea of freedom within various speeches and turned his back on liberty.

3268997Poems on Various Subjects (Coleridge) — Effusion 2, to BurkeSamuel Taylor Coleridge

EFFUSION II.

AS late I lay in slumber's shadowy vale,
With wetted cheek and in a mourner's guise
I saw the fainted form of Freedom rise:
She spake! not sadder moans the autumnal gale.
"Great Son of Genius! sweet to me thy name,
Ere in an evil hour with alter'd voice
Thou badst Oppression's hireling crew rejoice
Blasting with wizard spell my laurell'd fame.
Yet never, Burke! thou drank'st Corruption's bowl!
Thee stormy Pity and the cherish'd lure
Of Pomp, and proud Precipitance of soul
Wilder'd with meteor fires. Ah Spirit pure!
That error's mist had left thy purged eye:
So might I clasp thee with a Mother's joy!"

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