James Thomson （b. 1700,d.1748） was born at Ednam,in the shire of Roxburgh,Scotland. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh,and afterwards studied for the ministry,but in a short time changed his plans and devoted himself tliterature. His early poems are quite insignificant,but "The Seasons," from which the following selection is taken;and the "Castle of Indolence," are masterpieces of English poetry.
1.Through the hushed air the whitening shower descends,At first thin wavering;till at last the flakesFall broad and wide and fast,dimming the day,With a continual flow. The cherished fieldsPut on their winter robe of purest white.
'T is brightness all: save where the new snow melts Along the mazy1 current.
2.Low the woods
Bow their hoar2 head;and ere the languid sun Faint from the west emits3 its evening ray,Earth's universal face,deep-hid and chill,Is one wild dazzling waste,that buries wide The works of man.
3.Drooping,the laborer ox
1Mazy,winding.
2Hoar,white or grayish white.3Emits,sends forth,throws out,Stands covered o'er with snow,and then demands The fruit of all his toil. The fowls of heaven,Tamed by the cruel season,crowd aroundThe winnowing1 store,and claim the little boon2Which Providence assigns them.
4.One alone,The Redbreast,sacred tthe household gods,Wisely regardful of the embroiling3 sky,In joyless fields and thorny thickets leaves His shivering mates,and pays ttrusted man His annual visit.
5.Half-afraid,he first Against the window beats;then,brisk,alightsOn the warm hearth;then,hopping o'er the floor,Eyes all the smiling family askance4,And pecks,and starts,and wonders where he is;Till,more familiar grown,the table crumbs Attract his slender feet.
6.The foodless wilds5
Pour forth their brown inhabitants. The hare,Though timorous of heart,and hard beset6By death in various forms,dark snares and dogs,And more unpitying men,the garden seeks,1Winnowing,separating chaff from grain by means of wind. 2Boon,a gift.3 Embroiling,throwing intdisorder or contention. 4Askance,sideways.5Wilds,woods,forests.
6Beset,hemmed in on all sides sthat escape is difficult.
Urged on by fearless want. The bleating kind.
Eye the bleak heaven,and next the glistening earth,With looks of dumb despair;then,sad dispersed,Dig for the withered herb through heaps of snow7.Now,shepherds,tyour helpless charge be kind,Baffle the raging year,and fill their pensWith food at will;lodge them below the storm,And watch them strict;for from the bellowing east,In this dire1 season,oft the whirlwind's wingSweeps up the burden of whole wintry plainsIn one wide waft2,and o'er the hapless flocks,Hid in the hollow of twneighboring hills,The billowy tempest 'whelms3;till,upward urged,The valley ta shining mountain swells,Tipped with a wreath high-curling in the sky1Dire,dreadful,terrible. 2Waft,a current of wind.
3 Whelms,covers completely.