Ann Radcliffe
A Moonlit Muse: Ann Radcliffe and Her Gothic Legacy: Author, Poet
Ann Radcliffe’s Moonlit Verses
Ann Radcliffe, the enchantress of Gothic novels like The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) and The Italian (1797), also wove poetry with her haunted quill, often tucked within her novels or unveiled posthumously in Gaston de Blondeville (1826). Her verses, steeped in nature’s sublime beauty and Gothic melancholy, mirror her prose’s eerie depth. “To the Visions of Fancy” from Udolpho, a compact 24-line ode, captures her romanticism, perfect for my Scribes musings on storytelling and atmosphere.
Dear fleeting visions, that with airy wing
Sweep o’er the soul, and bid her fancies spring!
Ye, who in forms of beauty, truth, or love,
In airy halls and shadowy bowers rove,
Oh! grant me power to call your spirits home,
To bid them dwell where’er my thoughts may roam.
Ye come in twilight’s melancholy hour,
When soft the breeze, and faint the evening’s power;
When through the grove, or o’er the silent plain,
The moon’s pale beams a trembling light sustain,
And faintly gild the shades that round me creep,
While Fancy wakes, and Reason seems to sleep.
Oh, lead my spirit to your fairy land!
Where forms of beauty, in bright mazes stand,
Where love and hope, in tenderest hues array’d,
Sport through the scene, and charm the magic shade.
Dear fleeting visions, still my soul inspire,
And fill my bosom with celestial fire!
Yet when ye fade, and leave my heart alone,
Oh, leave some trace of bliss, some tender tone,
That I may feel your influence, though ye fly,
And know ye were not born in vain to die.
Dear fleeting visions, ever thus descend,
And with your joys my fleeting hours befriend!
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