Ode to Melancholy.

Come, let us set our careful breasts,

Like Philomel, against the thorn,

To aggravate¹ the inward grief,

That makes her accents so forlorn;

The world has many cruel points,

Whereby our bosoms² have been torn,

And there are dainty themes of grief,

In sadness to outlast³ the morn —

True honor’s dearth⁴, affection’s death,

Neglectful pride, and cankering scorn,

With all the piteous tales that tears

Have water’d since the world was born.

The world! — it is a wilderness⁵,

Where tears are hung on every tree;

For thus my gloomy phantasy

Makes all things weep with me!

Come let us sit and watch the sky,

And fancy clouds, where no clouds be;

Grief is enough to blot⁶ the eye,

And make heaven black with misery⁷.

Why should birds sing such merry notes,

Unless they were more blest than we?

No sorrow ever chokes their throats,

Except sweet nightingale; for she

Was born to pain our hearts the more

With her sad melody.

Why shines the Sun, except that he

Makes gloomy nooks for Grief to hide,

And pensive⁸ shades for Melancholy⁹,

When all the earth is bright beside?

Let clay wear smiles, and green grass wave,

Mirth shall not win us back again,

Whilst man is made of his own grave,

And fairest clouds but gilded¹⁰ rain!

I saw my mother in her shroud¹¹,

Her cheek was cold and very pale;

And ever since I’ve look’d on all

As creatures doom¹²’d to fail!

Why do buds ope except to die?

Ay, let us watch the roses wither¹³,

And think of our loves’ cheeks;

And oh! how quickly time doth fly

To bring death’s winter hither!

Minutes, hours, days, and weeks,

Months, years, and ages, shrink to nought¹⁴;

An age past is but a thought!

Ay, let us think of Him awhile

That, with a coffin¹⁵ for a boat,

Rows daily o’er the Stygian moat,

And for our table choose a tomb:

There’s dark enough in any skull¹⁶

To charge with black a raven¹⁷ plume¹⁸;

And for the saddest funeral thoughts

A winding-sheet hath ample room,

Where Death, with his keen-pointed style,

Hath writ¹⁹ the common doom.

How wide the yew-tree spreads its gloom,

And o’er the dead lets fall its dew,

As if in tears it wept for them,

The many human families

That sleep around its stem!

How cold the dead have made these stones,

With natural drops kept ever wet!

Lo! here the best — the worst — the world

Doth now remember or forget,

Are in one common ruin hurl’d,

And love and hate are calmly met;

The loveliest eyes that ever shone,

The fairest hands, and locks of jet.

Is’t not enough to vex²⁰ our souls,

And fill our eyes, that we have set

Our love upon a rose’s leaf,

Our hearts upon a violet?

Blue eyes, red cheeks, are frailer²¹ yet;

And sometimes at their swift decay

Beforehand we must fret²².

The roses bud and bloom, again;

But Love may haunt the grave of Love,

And watch the mould in vain.

O clasp me, sweet, whilst thou art mine,

And do not take my tears amiss;

For tears must flow to wash away

A thought that shows so stern as this:

Forgive, if somewhile I forget,

In woe²³ to come, the present bliss²⁴;

As frighted Proserpine let fall

Her flowers at the sight of Dis,

Ev’n so the dark and bright will kiss.

The sunniest things throw sternest shade,

And there is ev’n a happiness

That makes the heart afraid!

Now let us with a spell invoke²⁵

The full-orb’d moon to grieve our eyes;

Not bright, not bright, but, with a cloud

Lapp’d all about her, let her rise

All pale and dim, as if from rest

The ghost of the late-buried sun

Had crept into the skies.

The Moon! she is the source of sighs,

The very face to make us sad;

If but to think in other times

The same calm quiet look she had,

As if the world held nothing base,

Of vile²⁶ and mean, of fierce and bad;

The same fair light that shone in streams,

The fairy lamp that charmed the lad;

For so it is, with spent delights

She taunts²⁷ men’s brains, and makes them mad.

All things are touch’d with Melancholy,

Born of the secret soul’s mistrust,

To feel her fair ethereal wings

Weigh’d down with vile degraded dust;

Even the bright extremes of joy

Bring on conclusions of disgust,

Like the sweet blossoms of the May,

Whose fragrance²⁸ ends in must.

O give her, then, her tribute just,

Her sighs and tears, and musings holy;

There is no music in the life

That sounds with idiot laughter solely²⁹;

There’s not a string attuned³⁰ to mirth,

But has its chord in Melancholy.

1 aggravate   

vt.加重(剧)，使恶化；激怒，使恼火

参考例句：

• Threats will only aggravate her.恐吓只能激怒她。
• He would only aggravate the injury by rubbing it.他揉擦伤口只会使伤势加重。

2 bosoms   

胸部( bosom的名词复数 )； 胸怀； 女衣胸部（或胸襟）； 和爱护自己的人在一起的情形

参考例句：

• How beautifully gold brooches glitter on the bosoms of our patriotic women! 金光闪闪的别针佩在我国爱国妇女的胸前，多美呀！
• Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there weep our sad bosoms empty. 我们寻个僻静的地方，去痛哭一场吧。

3 outlast   

v.较…耐久

参考例句：

• The great use of life is to spend it doing something that will outlast it.人生的充分利用就是为争取比人生更长久的东西而度过一生。
• These naturally dried flowers will outlast a bouquet of fresh blooms.这些自然风干的花会比一束鲜花更加持久。

4 dearth   

n.缺乏，粮食不足，饥谨

参考例句：

• There is a dearth of good children's plays.目前缺少优秀的儿童剧。
• Many people in that country died because of dearth of food.那个国家有许多人因为缺少粮食而死。

5 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

6 blot   

vt.弄脏（用吸墨纸）吸干；n.污点，污渍

参考例句：

• That new factory is a blot on the landscape.那新建的工厂破坏了此地的景色。
• The crime he committed is a blot on his record.他犯的罪是他的履历中的一个污点。

7 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

8 pensive   

a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的

参考例句：

• He looked suddenly sombre,pensive.他突然看起来很阴郁，一副忧虑的样子。
• He became so pensive that she didn't like to break into his thought.他陷入沉思之中,她不想打断他的思路。

9 melancholy   

n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• All at once he fell into a state of profound melancholy.他立即陷入无尽的忧思之中。
• He felt melancholy after he failed the exam.这次考试没通过，他感到很郁闷。

10 gilded   

a.镀金的，富有的

参考例句：

• The golden light gilded the sea. 金色的阳光使大海如金子般闪闪发光。
• "Friends, they are only gilded disks of lead!" "朋友们，这只不过是些镀金的铅饼！ 来自英汉文学 - 败坏赫德莱堡

11 shroud   

n.裹尸布，寿衣；罩，幕；vt.覆盖，隐藏

参考例句：

• His past was enveloped in a shroud of mystery.他的过去被裹上一层神秘色彩。
• How can I do under shroud of a dark sky?在黑暗的天空的笼罩下，我该怎么做呢？

12 doom   

n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定

参考例句：

• The report on our economic situation is full of doom and gloom.这份关于我们经济状况的报告充满了令人绝望和沮丧的调子。
• The dictator met his doom after ten years of rule.独裁者统治了十年终于完蛋了。

13 wither   

vt.使凋谢，使衰退，(用眼神气势等)使畏缩；vi.枯萎，衰退，消亡

参考例句：

• She grows as a flower does-she will wither without sun.她象鲜花一样成长--没有太阳就会凋谢。
• In autumn the leaves wither and fall off the trees.秋天，树叶枯萎并从树上落下来。

14 nought   

n.／adj.无，零

参考例句：

• We must bring their schemes to nought.我们必须使他们的阴谋彻底破产。
• One minus one leaves nought.一减一等于零。

15 coffin   

n.棺材，灵柩

参考例句：

• When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
• The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。

16 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

17 raven   

n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的

参考例句：

• We know the raven will never leave the man's room.我们知道了乌鸦再也不会离开那个男人的房间。
• Her charming face was framed with raven hair.她迷人的脸上垂落着乌亮的黑发。

18 plume   

n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰

参考例句：

• Her hat was adorned with a plume.她帽子上饰着羽毛。
• He does not plume himself on these achievements.他并不因这些成就而自夸。

19 writ   

n.命令状，书面命令

参考例句：

• This is a copy of a writ I received this morning.这是今早我收到的书面命令副本。
• You shouldn't treat the newspapers as if they were Holy Writ. 你不应该把报上说的话奉若神明。

20 vex   

vt.使烦恼，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Everything about her vexed him.有关她的一切都令他困惑。
• It vexed me to think of others gossiping behind my back.一想到别人在背后说我闲话，我就很恼火。

21 frailer   

脆弱的( frail的比较级 )； 易损的； 易碎的

参考例句：

• Somehow he looked older and frailer in his city clothes. 不知怎么回事，他穿着城市服装，显得衰老一点。

22 fret   

v.(使)烦恼；(使)焦急；(使)腐蚀，(使)磨损

参考例句：

• Don't fret.We'll get there on time.别着急，我们能准时到那里。
• She'll fret herself to death one of these days.她总有一天会愁死的.

23 woe   

n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌

参考例句：

• Our two peoples are brothers sharing weal and woe.我们两国人民是患难与共的兄弟。
• A man is well or woe as he thinks himself so.自认祸是祸，自认福是福。

24 bliss   

n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福

参考例句：

• It's sheer bliss to be able to spend the day in bed.整天都可以躺在床上真是幸福。
• He's in bliss that he's won the Nobel Prize.他非常高兴，因为获得了诺贝尔奖金。

25 invoke   

v.求助于(神、法律)；恳求，乞求

参考例句：

• Let us invoke the blessings of peace.让我们祈求和平之福。
• I hope I'll never have to invoke this clause and lodge a claim with you.我希望我永远不会使用这个条款向你们索赔。

26 vile   

adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的

参考例句：

• Who could have carried out such a vile attack?会是谁发起这么卑鄙的攻击呢？
• Her talk was full of vile curses.她的话里充满着恶毒的咒骂。

27 taunts   

嘲弄的言语，嘲笑，奚落( taunt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He had to endure the racist taunts of the crowd. 他不得不忍受那群人种族歧视的奚落。
• He had to endure the taunts of his successful rival. 他不得不忍受成功了的对手的讥笑。

28 fragrance   

n.芬芳，香味，香气

参考例句：

• The apple blossoms filled the air with their fragrance.苹果花使空气充满香味。
• The fragrance of lavender filled the room.房间里充满了薰衣草的香味。

29 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

30 attuned   

v.使协调( attune的过去式和过去分词 )；调音

参考例句：

• She wasn't yet attuned to her baby's needs. 她还没有熟悉她宝宝的需要。
• Women attuned to sensitive men found Vincent Lord attractive. 偏爱敏感男子的女人，觉得文森特·洛德具有魅力。 来自辞典例句