Come, gentle Sleep, Death's image tho' thou art,
Come share my couch, nor speedily depart;
How sweet thus living without life to lie,
Thus without death how sweet it is to die.
The Latin verse by Thomas Warton, of which these lines are a translation, is as follows:--
Somne veni! quamvis placidissima Mortis imago es,
Consortem cupio te tamen esse tori;
Hue ades, haud abiture citò! nam sic sine vita
Vivere quam suave est, sic sine morte mori!
Thomas Warton, Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, and Professor of Poetry in that University, is chiefly known by his History of English Poetry (1774-1781).--ED.
YOU ARE READING
THE POETICAL WORKS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, VOL. 8 (Completed)
PoetryThe Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Vol. 8. Edited by William Knight
