DOI Kapitel:
27. James Thomson
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.65784#0174
27. James Thomson
The Seasons (1726-1730)
[...] Nowfrom the town/Buried in smoak, and sleep, and noisom damps, / Ost let me
wander o ’er the dewy fields, / Wherefreshness breathes, and dash the lucid drops /
From the bent bush, as thro’ the fuming maze / Of sweet-briar hedges I pursue my
walk; / Or taste the smell ofdairy; or ascend/Some eminence, AUGUSTA, in thy
plains, /And see the country far-diffus’d around/[...]
Mean time refractedfrom yon Eastem Cloud, /Bestriding Earth, the grand cethereal
Bow/ Shoots up immense! and every Hue unfolds, / In fair Proportion runningfrom
the Red, / To where the Violet fades into the Sky. / Here, mighty NEWTON, the
dissolving Clouds /Are, as they scatter round, thy numerous Prism, / Untwisting to
thephilosophic Eye/The various Twine of Light, by theepursu’d/Thro’the white
mingling Maze. Not so the Swain, / He wondering views the bright Enchantment
bend, /Delightful, o’er the radiant Fields, and runs/To catch thefalling Glory; but
amaz’d/Beholds th’ amusive Arch before himfly,/[...]
’Tis dumbAmaze, and listening Terror all; /When to the quicker Eye the livid Glanee
/AppearsfarSouth, emissive thro’the Cloud;/And, by thepowerfulBreath ofGOD
inflate, / The Thunder raises his tremendous Voice; / At first low-muttering; but at
each Approach,/The Lightningsfiash a larger Curve, andmore/The Noise astounds:
till over-head a Sheet / Of various Flame discloses wide, then shuts / And opens
wider, shuts and opens still / Expansive, wrapping /Ether in a Blaze. / Follows the
loosen ’d, aggravated Roar, /Enlarging, deepening, mingling, Peal on Peal/Crush ’d
horrible, convulsing Heaven and Earth. / DOWN comes a Deluge ofsonorous Hail,
/[...]
[...] A little further, bums/The guiltless Cottage; and the haughty Dome / Stoops to
the Base. In one immediate Flash, / The Forest falls; or,flaming out, displays / The
savage Haunts, unpierc ’d by Day before. /Scar’d is the Mountain ’s Brow; andfrom
the Cliff/Tumbles the smitten Rock. The Desart shakes, /Andgleams, and grumbles,
thro’his deepestDens. /GUILTdubious hears, with deeply-troubled Thought;/And
yet not always on the guilty Head/Falls the devoted Flash. [...]
(B. H. Brockes aus dem Englischen übersetzte Jahreszeiten des Herrn Thomson mit einer
Einleitung von Ida Μ. Kimber [= Classics in German Literatures and Philosophy], Faksimile-
Reprint der Ausgabe 1745, New York/London 1972, S. 14, 28, 230, 232, 234, 236)
[...] Nun will ich aus der Stadt (wo man, / Im Schmauch und Schlaf und Dampf
begraben, erstickt, kaum Othem holen kann) / Oft in bethaute Felder wandern, wo
alle Vorwürf’ uns erfrischen , / Durch einen allgemeinen Hauch, in glänzenden
172
The Seasons (1726-1730)
[...] Nowfrom the town/Buried in smoak, and sleep, and noisom damps, / Ost let me
wander o ’er the dewy fields, / Wherefreshness breathes, and dash the lucid drops /
From the bent bush, as thro’ the fuming maze / Of sweet-briar hedges I pursue my
walk; / Or taste the smell ofdairy; or ascend/Some eminence, AUGUSTA, in thy
plains, /And see the country far-diffus’d around/[...]
Mean time refractedfrom yon Eastem Cloud, /Bestriding Earth, the grand cethereal
Bow/ Shoots up immense! and every Hue unfolds, / In fair Proportion runningfrom
the Red, / To where the Violet fades into the Sky. / Here, mighty NEWTON, the
dissolving Clouds /Are, as they scatter round, thy numerous Prism, / Untwisting to
thephilosophic Eye/The various Twine of Light, by theepursu’d/Thro’the white
mingling Maze. Not so the Swain, / He wondering views the bright Enchantment
bend, /Delightful, o’er the radiant Fields, and runs/To catch thefalling Glory; but
amaz’d/Beholds th’ amusive Arch before himfly,/[...]
’Tis dumbAmaze, and listening Terror all; /When to the quicker Eye the livid Glanee
/AppearsfarSouth, emissive thro’the Cloud;/And, by thepowerfulBreath ofGOD
inflate, / The Thunder raises his tremendous Voice; / At first low-muttering; but at
each Approach,/The Lightningsfiash a larger Curve, andmore/The Noise astounds:
till over-head a Sheet / Of various Flame discloses wide, then shuts / And opens
wider, shuts and opens still / Expansive, wrapping /Ether in a Blaze. / Follows the
loosen ’d, aggravated Roar, /Enlarging, deepening, mingling, Peal on Peal/Crush ’d
horrible, convulsing Heaven and Earth. / DOWN comes a Deluge ofsonorous Hail,
/[...]
[...] A little further, bums/The guiltless Cottage; and the haughty Dome / Stoops to
the Base. In one immediate Flash, / The Forest falls; or,flaming out, displays / The
savage Haunts, unpierc ’d by Day before. /Scar’d is the Mountain ’s Brow; andfrom
the Cliff/Tumbles the smitten Rock. The Desart shakes, /Andgleams, and grumbles,
thro’his deepestDens. /GUILTdubious hears, with deeply-troubled Thought;/And
yet not always on the guilty Head/Falls the devoted Flash. [...]
(B. H. Brockes aus dem Englischen übersetzte Jahreszeiten des Herrn Thomson mit einer
Einleitung von Ida Μ. Kimber [= Classics in German Literatures and Philosophy], Faksimile-
Reprint der Ausgabe 1745, New York/London 1972, S. 14, 28, 230, 232, 234, 236)
[...] Nun will ich aus der Stadt (wo man, / Im Schmauch und Schlaf und Dampf
begraben, erstickt, kaum Othem holen kann) / Oft in bethaute Felder wandern, wo
alle Vorwürf’ uns erfrischen , / Durch einen allgemeinen Hauch, in glänzenden
172