Thank you for visiting SNEWPapers!
Sign up free
Poem
August 1, 1789
Gazette Of The United States
New York, New York County, New York
What is this article about?
A poetic invocation to personified Humanity as the parent of virtue, urging sustained compassion and sensibility against sorrow's numbing effects, illustrated by scenes of a widow's grief, tragic lovers, and poverty's burdens.
Clipping
OCR Quality
98%
Excellent
Full Text
ADDRESS TO HUMANITY.
PARENT of virtue, if thine ear,
Attend not now to sorrow's cry,
If now the pity streaming tear,
Should haply on thy cheek be dry.
Indulge my votive strain, O! sweet HUMANITY!
Come ever welcome to my breast,
A tender, but a cheerful guest.—
Not always in the gloomy cell,
Of life consuming sorrow dwell;
For sorrow long indulg'd and slow,
Is to HUMANITY a foe;
And grief that makes the heart its prey,
Wears sensibility away.
Then comes, sweet Nymph, instead of thee
The gloomy fiend stupidity.
Oh may that fiend be banish'd far,
Tho' passions hold eternal war!
Nor ever let me cease to know,
The pulse that throbs at joy or woe.
Nor let my vacant cheek be dry,
When sorrow fills a brother's eye :
Nor may the tear that frequent flows,
From private or from social woes,
E'er make this pleasing sense depart,
Ye cares, O! harden not my heart!
Howe'er exalted or depress'd,
Be ever mine the feeling breast.
From me remove the stagnant mind,
Of languid indolence, reclin'd;
Alike the fool ish and the vain,
Are stagnant to the sense HUMANE.
It comes : it fills my labouring breast;
I feel my beating heart opprest.
Oh! hear that lonely widow's wail!
See her dim eye! her aspect pale!
To Heaven she turns in deep despair,
Her infants wonder at her pray'r,
And mingling tears they know not why,
Lift up their little hands and cry;
Oh God! their moving sorrows see!
Support them sweet HUMANITY!
Life, fill'd with grief's distressful train,
Forever asks the TEAR Humane.
Behold in yon unconscious grove,
The victim of ill-fated love!
Heard you that agonizing throe ?
Sure this is not romantic woe!
The golden day of joy is o'er,
And now they part to meet no more.
Assist them hearts ! from anguish free!
Support them sweet HUMANITY!
If Heav'n in every purpose wise,
The envied lot of wealth denies,
If doom'd to drag life's painful load,
Thro'poverty's uneven road;
To thee HUMANITY, still true,
I'll wish the good I cannot do,
And give the wretch that wanders by,
A soothing word—a tear—a sigh.
Parent of virtue, if thine ear,
Attend not now to sorrow's cry;
If now the pity streaming tear,
Should haply on thy cheek be dry,
Indulge my votive strain, O SWEET HUMANITY.
PARENT of virtue, if thine ear,
Attend not now to sorrow's cry,
If now the pity streaming tear,
Should haply on thy cheek be dry.
Indulge my votive strain, O! sweet HUMANITY!
Come ever welcome to my breast,
A tender, but a cheerful guest.—
Not always in the gloomy cell,
Of life consuming sorrow dwell;
For sorrow long indulg'd and slow,
Is to HUMANITY a foe;
And grief that makes the heart its prey,
Wears sensibility away.
Then comes, sweet Nymph, instead of thee
The gloomy fiend stupidity.
Oh may that fiend be banish'd far,
Tho' passions hold eternal war!
Nor ever let me cease to know,
The pulse that throbs at joy or woe.
Nor let my vacant cheek be dry,
When sorrow fills a brother's eye :
Nor may the tear that frequent flows,
From private or from social woes,
E'er make this pleasing sense depart,
Ye cares, O! harden not my heart!
Howe'er exalted or depress'd,
Be ever mine the feeling breast.
From me remove the stagnant mind,
Of languid indolence, reclin'd;
Alike the fool ish and the vain,
Are stagnant to the sense HUMANE.
It comes : it fills my labouring breast;
I feel my beating heart opprest.
Oh! hear that lonely widow's wail!
See her dim eye! her aspect pale!
To Heaven she turns in deep despair,
Her infants wonder at her pray'r,
And mingling tears they know not why,
Lift up their little hands and cry;
Oh God! their moving sorrows see!
Support them sweet HUMANITY!
Life, fill'd with grief's distressful train,
Forever asks the TEAR Humane.
Behold in yon unconscious grove,
The victim of ill-fated love!
Heard you that agonizing throe ?
Sure this is not romantic woe!
The golden day of joy is o'er,
And now they part to meet no more.
Assist them hearts ! from anguish free!
Support them sweet HUMANITY!
If Heav'n in every purpose wise,
The envied lot of wealth denies,
If doom'd to drag life's painful load,
Thro'poverty's uneven road;
To thee HUMANITY, still true,
I'll wish the good I cannot do,
And give the wretch that wanders by,
A soothing word—a tear—a sigh.
Parent of virtue, if thine ear,
Attend not now to sorrow's cry;
If now the pity streaming tear,
Should haply on thy cheek be dry,
Indulge my votive strain, O SWEET HUMANITY.
What sub-type of article is it?
Ode
What themes does it cover?
Moral Virtue
What keywords are associated?
Humanity
Compassion
Sorrow
Virtue
Widow
Love
Poverty
Poem Details
Title
Address To Humanity.
Form / Style
Rhymed Stanzas
Key Lines
Indulge My Votive Strain, O! Sweet Humanity!
The Pulse That Throbs At Joy Or Woe.
Oh! Hear That Lonely Widow's Wail!
Support Them Sweet Humanity!
Life, Fill'd With Grief's Distressful Train,
Forever Asks The Tear Humane.