Author: Thomas Campbell

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    Excerpt from "Gertrude Of Wyoming"


    Apart there was a deep untrodden grot,
    Where oft the reading hours sweet Gertrude wore;
    Tradition had not named its lonely spot;
    But here (methinks) might India's sons explore
    Their father's dust, or lift, perchance of yore,
    Their voice to the great Spirit: rocks sublime
    To human art a sportive semblance bore,
    And yellow lichens coloured all the clime,
    Like moonlight battlements, and towers decayed by time.

    But high in amphitheatre above,
    Gay tinted woods their massy foliage threw:
    Breathed but an air of heaven, and all the grove
    As if instinct with living spirit grew,
    Rolling its verdant gulfs of every hue;
    And now suspended was the pleasing din,
    Now from a murmur faint it swelled anew,
    Like the first note of organ heard within
    Cathedral aisles, ere yet its symphony begin.

    It was in this lone valley she would charm
    the lingering noon, where flowers a couch had strown;
    Her cheek reclining, and her snowy arm
    On hillock by the pine-tree half o'ergrown:
    And aye that volume on her lap is thrown,
    Which every heart of human mould endears;
    With Shakspear's self she speaks and smiles alone,
    And no intruding visitation fears,
    To shame the unconscious laugh, or stop her sweetest tears.

    And nought within the grove was seen or heard.
    But stock-doves plaining through its gloom profound,
    Or winglet of the fairy humming bird,
    Like atoms of the rainbow fluttering round;
    When, lo! there entered to its inmost ground
    A youth, the stranger of a distant land;
    He was, to weet, for eastern mountains bound;
    But late th' equator suns his cheeks had tanned,
    And California's gales his roving bosom fanned.

    A steed, whose rein hung loosely o'er his arm,
    He led dismounted; ere his leisure pace,
    Amid the brown leaves, could her ear alarm,
    Close he had come, and worshipped for a space
    Those downcast features: she her lovely face
    Uplift on one, whose lineaments and frame
    Wore youth and manhood's intermingled grace:
    Iberian seemed his boot, his robe the same,
    And well the Spanish plume his lofty looks became

    For Albert's home he sought, her finger fair
    Has pointed where the father's mansion stood.
    Returning from the copse he soon was there;
    And soon has Getrude hied from dark green wood;
    Nor joyess, by the converse, understood
    Between the man of age and pilgrim young,
    That gay congeniality of mood,
    And early liking from acquaintance sprung;
    Full fluently coversed their guest in England's tongue.

    And well could he his pilgrimage of taste
    Unfold, and much they loved his fervid strain,
    While he each fair variety retraced
    Of climes, and manners, o'er the eastern main.
    Now happy Switzer's hills, romantic Spain,
    Gay lilied fields of France, or, more refined,
    The soft Ausonia's monumental reign;
    Nor less each rural image he designed,
    Than all the city's pomp and home of human kind.

    Anon some wilder portraiture he draws;
    Of Nature's savage glories he would speak,
    The loneliness of earth that overawes,
    Where, resting by some tomb of old Cacique,
    The lama-driver on Peruvia's peak,
    Nor living voice nor motion marks around;
    But storks that to the boundless forest shriek,
    Or wild-cane arch high flung o'er gulf profound,
    That fluctuates when the storms of El Dorado sound.

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Type of Poem: Narrative Poem

Date Written:

Date Published:

Language: English

Keywords: Public Domain

Source: Public Domain Collection

Publisher:

Rights/Permissions: Public Domain

Comments/Notes: The poem presents a richly detailed and immersive portrait of a natural landscape, serving as both a physical setting and a metaphorical space. The landscape is personified and comes alive: it "grew," it has "living spirit," and it reverberates with sounds that range from a "murmur faint" to a "pleasing din." The protagonist, Gertrude, is portrayed as a solitary figure who spends her time reading and communing with nature, embodying the Romantic ideal of the individual in harmony with the natural world. Her solitude is only interrupted by the arrival of a stranger, a traveler from distant lands, introducing a new dynamic into the narrative.

The poem also delves into themes of exploration, both physical and emotional. The stranger's journey to "eastern mountains" and his tales about different countries, landscapes, and cultures serve as a counterpoint to Gertrude's static existence. The intermingling of these themes creates an intriguing contrast and tension in the poem. The language is lush and evocative, filled with vivid imagery and sensory detail that create an immersive reading experience. The poem is structured in rhymed stanzas, creating a rhythmic flow that mirrors the natural ebb and flow of the landscape it describes. The use of archaic language and references to classical literature, such as Shakespeare, add a timeless quality to the work, suggesting a connection between the human experience and the enduring power of art and nature.