Anthology

18th century poems:

Soneto
Amor constante*

Antes al cielo faltarán estrellas,
al mar peligros, pájaros al viento,
al sol su resplandor y movimiento,
y al fuego abrasador vivas centellas;

antes al campo producciones bellas,
al monte horror, al llano esparcimiento,
torpes envidias al merecimiento,
y al no admitido amor tristes querellas;

antes sus flores a la primavera,
ardores inclementes al estío,
al otoño abundancia lisonjera,

y al aterido invierno hielo y frío,
que ceda un punto de su fe primera,
cuanto menos que falte el amor mío.

Vicente García de la Huerta

*También intitulado Explicación de la firmeza del verdadero amor.

I’ve chosen this poem simply because it expresses in quite a few words how great and infinite love can be.



A Dream –Songs of Innocence-

Once a dream did weave a shade
O'er my Angel-guarded bed,
That an Emmet lost its way
Where on grass methought I lay.

Troubled, 'wilder'd, and forlorn,
Dark, benighted, travel-worn,
Over many a tangled spray,
All heart-broken I heard her say:

"O, my children! do they cry?
Do they hear their father sigh?
Now they look abroad to see:
Now return and weep for me.''

Pitying, I drop'd a tear;
But I saw a glow-worm near,
Who replied: "What wailing wight
Calls the watchman of the night?

"I am set to light the ground,
While the beetle goes his round:
Follow now the beetle's hum;
Little wanderer, hie thee home.''

- William Blake



Laughing Song

When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,
And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;
When the air does laugh with our merry wit,
And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;

When the meadows laugh with lively green,
And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene,
When Mary and Susan and Emily
With their sweet round mouths sing "Ha, Ha, He!''

When the painted birds laugh in the shade,
Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread,
Come live & be merry, and join with me,
To sing the sweet chorus of "Ha, Ha, He!''

- William Blake

In the case of these two William Blake’s poems, the main reason why I chose them is the clear image you can easily picture in your mind as you read them.