xt737p8tb944 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dipstest/xt737p8tb944/data/mets.xml Murphy, Ethel Allen. 1909.  books b92-223-31182535 English R.G. Badger, : Boston : This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed.  Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically.  Physical rights are retained by the owning repository.  Copyright is retained in accordance with U. S. copyright laws.  For information about permissions to reproduce or publish, contact the Special Collections Research Center. Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint Art. Angels in art. Angel of thought, and other poems  : impressions from old masters / Ethel Allen Murphy. text Angel of thought, and other poems  : impressions from old masters / Ethel Allen Murphy. 1909 1909. 2002 true xt737p8tb944 section xt737p8tb944 


















THE ANGEL OF THOUGHT

 This page in the original text is blank.

 


            THE

ANGEL OF THOUGHT
       and Other Poems


     Impresions from Old Masters


     ETHEL ALLEN MURPHY



      BOSTON
RICHARD G. BADGER
    The Gorham Press
       1909

 







Copyright 1908, by Ethel Allen Murphy

        AU Riohis Reserved



The Gorham Press, Boston, U.S.A.

 



















TO MY FRIEND AND TEACHER
    ANNA J. HAMILTON

 

























  THE WRITER WISHES TO EXPRESS HER

GRATITUDE TO THE ART DEPARTMENT OF

THE INDIANA UNIVERSITY, WHOSE KIND-

NESS IN LENDING THE PICTURES WHICH SUG-

GESTED THE VERSES, AND WHOSE MISSION IN

OPENING SOME OF THEIR MEANINGS TO HER

SPIRIT, HAVE HELPED TO MAKE POSSIBLE

THIS LITTLE BOOK.

 



CONTENTS



The Angel of Thought              .      .    13
    (Suggested by a Fra Angelico Angel.)

Annunciation -   Sonnet I   .   .    .    .   15
Annunciation -   Sonnet II    .    .      .   17
    (From the picture by Botticelli.)

The Visitation       .     .    .    .   .   19
    (From the picture in Duirer's series on "The Life
      of the Virgin.")

A  Botticelli Madonna.
    I.  The Wondering Angels        .    .   21
    (From the Madonna of the Magnificat.)
    II.  The Mournful Mother .       .    .   23
    (From the Madonna of the Pomegranate.)
  III.  The Loving Christ       .    .   .   25
    (From the Madonna of the Rose Garden.)

The Angel qf the Jasmine Wreath      .   .   27
    (From Botticelli's painting, in the Borghese
      Gallery, of the Madonna and Child with
      Angels.)

A- Prayerfor the Followers of Ideal Beauty . 29
    (With a pencil sketch of an angel, by Botticelli.)

 This page in the original text is blank.

 



ILLUS TRA TIONS



1. Angel    " Te Deum   Laudamus," by
        Fra Angelico.                    it
2. " The Annunciation "- by Botticelli.  14
3. " The Visitation (From the picture in
        the series on "1 The Life of the
        Virgin,") by Duirer.             18
4. " The Madonna of the Magnificat"-
        by Botticelli.                   20
5. "The Madonna of the Pomegranate"
        - by Botticelli                  22
6. " The Madonna of the Rose Garden"
        - by Botticelli.                 24
7. The Angel Crowned with a Jasmine
      Wreath - by Botticelli.            26
8. Pencil Sketch of an Angel-by Botticelli.  28

 


































Te Deum Laudarmus
by Fra Angelico

 




THE ANGEL OF THOUGHT



     (Suggested by a Fra Angelico Angel)


 A NGEL of Thought, meseems God winged
 jx       thee so,
     And crowned thine head with passion fine
          as flame,
And made thy lifted face too pure for shame,
With eyes and brow a mirror to His glow;-
And gave thy lips a golden trump, that, though
Long years have passed since other angels came
To work the mighty wonders of His name,-
In God's own name and man's, thyself shalt go
Forever on strong pinions to and fro,
And round the earth reverberating blow
The mute, world-shaking music of the mind;
That thou might'st make as naught all space
          and time,
And thrill in mystic oneness through mankind,
Yet dwell in each, inviolate, sublime.

 





























The Annunciation
by Botticelli

 



ANNUNCIATION



       (From the picture by Botticelli)


                     I

Kf NEELING in prayer, her spirit rapt
IVK    above,
      She meets with God, Who bendeth, brood-
          ing lonw
In vast compassion humanward, and so,
There comes upon her life the power of Love:
Rising - behold! w-ith pinions like a dove,
An angel with a rod where row on row
Of chaliced lilies spill supernal glow,-
Which all her thought to wonder mute doth move.
Then falls upon the rapture of her soul,
Dimly some vision of Gethsemane,
Athwart the Resurrection's shining goal,
And with uplifted hand she pleads as One
Shall pray in night of darkest agony,
"This cup remove,- yet, Lord, Thy Will be
          done."

 This page in the original text is blank.

 


ANNUNCIATION



        (From a picture by Botticelli)


                    II

I MMORTAL eloquence of mystic Art!
    How strangely o'er oblivion and gray tinme,
    That hand doth speak, as in the painter's
          prime
It uttered thus his own and Mary's heart.
At sight of it, what rich conjectures start,
Adown the years, what wistful Aves chime,
That wake the soul to rapture how sublime,
Wherewith we, too, must bear in Him our part!
For unto each to bring redemption's share,
Whereby adown the ages Christ is borne,
There comes the angel of the lilied rod;
And though our souls with anguish sore are torn,
We pray once more the world-o'ercoming prayer,
And then is born in us the Word of God.

 






























The Visitation
by Durer

 

            THE VISITATION

(From the picture in DUrer's series on " The
            Life of the Virgin ")

THE mountains wonder from their cloudy
1       height,
      The skies look on and grow more deep
          with awe;
      From these two women, earthly loves
          withdraw,
And leave them shrined in some ensphering
          light,-
More fine than that which greets the earthly
          sight,
More glorious than that Creation saw,
When, from abeyance to primeval law,
There burst the dawn from out the womb of
          night;
Yet are all things unchanged around them,-
          these,
The ancient hills, the town, the quiet trees,
The household presences through which they
          grope
Blind to all else but to each other's eyes,
Wherein, transforming heaven and earth, there
          lies
Sublime effulgence of immortal Hope.

 

































The Madonna of the
Magnificat, by Botticelli

 



A BOTTICELLI MADONNA



                     I

          THE WONDERING ANGELS

   DEHOLD! the Tabernacle of God's Will
B    This woman's form   enshrineth. What
       is this,
More glorious than all our age-long bliss,
Which shines within the shadow of her sill
How shall we lift this strangeness which doth fill
Her human heart to breaking,- we who miss
In our immortal joy, the enlight'ning kiss
Of sorrow's bitter lips whence comforts thrill 
How shall we sing to her of joys to come,
To her who bears upon her breast the sum
Of death's dread gloom and heaven's undying
          light 
Lean close, ah, close, about her from above,-
Behold upon the mildness of her love
Enthroned the terrors of His Holy Might!

 





























The Madonna of the Pomegranate
by Botticelli

 




A BOTTICELLI 'MADONNA



                    II

          THE MOURNFUL MOTHER

O    CHILD of mine, my little Son, alas!
       Beneath the sunlight of Thy gentle eyes,
     Too soon, too soon, what fateful shadows
          rise,
Like night foretold in some sweet woodland
         glass 
On tender feet that scarcely bow the grass,
What stains are those of ripe pomegranate
          dyes -
When on my breast Thy head in slumber lies,
What thorns are those that through my heart
          do pass
And round about these crowds of haunting forms
That burn their splendor through my dimmest
         dreams!
O little Child, Thou Wonder too divine,
Thy precious body all my bosom warms
With mine own blood, but oftentimes it seems,
Too dearly loved,-that yet Thou art not mine.

 





























The Madonna of the Rose
Garden, by Botticelli

 


A BOTTICELLI MADONNA



                   III

            THE LOVING CHRIST

T IlE little hands returning wistfully
T      From birdlike wand'rings, ever come to
        rest,
On fostering hand on tender cheek or breast;
The upturned eyes, with loving certainty
Seek ever the grave face where broodingly,
The mother-soul by yearning love opprest,
With wings down-drooped, seems folded o'er
          the nest
Where lies the Hope of all humanity.
And she His World, and He her Calvary,-
He wraps her round with all the mystery
Of love predestined for earth's needy ones;
" Be comforted," it seems He fain would say,
"0 mother mine, there dawns an Easter day,
And thou in me hast mothered many sons."

 






























Angel Crowned with Jasmine
Wreath. by Botticelli

 

THE ANGEL OF THE JASMINE WREATH



(From a picture by Botticelli, of the Madonna
and Child with A gels,- in the Borghese Gallery)


I NEFFABLE angel, with the jasmine
      wreathed,
    Wherefrom the sweetness over brow and lips,
And luminous white eyelids tremulously slips,
A visible essence from thy beauty breathed,-
The pure and pensive marvel of thy face is
          sheathed
In tresses softer than the bloom of night,
Wherefrom the dampness on thy forehead drips
With dews from out God's meadows infinite,-
Thy face, itself, a lily filled with light:-
Thyself the youngest of God's angels and most
          fair,
Bearing His latest breath and blessing on thine
          hair,
Thou comest fresh from looking on thy Lord;
And all is well, and all is filled for thee
With eloquent, mute wonder of His Word.
Oh, lean a little forth thy lips to me,
For I am fain of peace amid this earthly strife,
And I would drink, a spent soul, thirstily,
From out thy never-failing cup of life.

 

































Angel, from a pencil sketch, by Botticelli

 



A PRAYER FOR THE FOLLOWERS OF
             IDEAL BEAUTY

(With a pencil sketch qf an Angel by Botticelli

THOU in whose All no work imperfect
X     stands,
      Thou who dost gaze on Beauty's unveiled
          face,
Grant to Thy children Thy sustaining grace,
When low at length have run the daylight sands,-
When, though their day was set to Thy com-
          mands,
They bow contritely in prayer's holy place,
Because through strivings beauty-wards they-
          trace
The sad misshapings of their earthly hands:
Grant them at eve a soul devoutly still,
Grant them in dreams a vision of Thy light,
Grant them at morn a sorrow purged away
Into the peace of all-absolving night,
Star in the dawnlight of a fairer day,
Nearer the blossom of Thy perfect Will.