Samuel Low (1765-?)

"Samuel Low is the author of a collection of poems, in two volumes, published in New York in 1800. In that collection are twenty-two sonnets, Shakespearean and irregular, of a sentimental or reflective nature. The two reprinted here are thoroughly representative of his work." (Sterner)


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To a Violet

Though not the gaudy Tulip's drap'ry fine,
Yet thou, fair plant, canst Tyre's rich purple boast;
The beauty of the amethyst is thine;
Thy neat and simple garb delights me most;
Unseen and shadowy forms of tiny size,
Delicious dew-drops from thy surface sip,
Feast on thy charms their microscopic eyes,
And breathe thy sweets, as o'er thy leaves they trip.
Emblem of innocence and modest worth,
Who lov'st the eye of rude remark to shun,
Whose lovely, lowly form still tends to earth.
Unlike the flower which courts the mid-day sun;
Thou seem'st sweet flow'ret, of his beam afraid;--
Thus merit ever loves and seeks the shade.

To the Genius of Poetry

Genius of tuneful verse! inspired by whom,
Divine Maeonides in numbers first
Dawn'd on a world o'ercast with mental gloom,
And strains sublime to barb'rous Greece rehearsed;
Spirit of song! from whose Castilian fount
The Mantuan poet sweet instruction drew;
With piercing ken to whose Aonian mount,
Once Albion's bards on eagle pinions flew;
Though far aloof thy vot'ry stretch his wing,
That o'er no classic land presumes to soar,
Him hast thou taught in plaintive strains to sing,
To feel thy solace, and thy power adore;
And, spite of envy's futile venom, thou
Hast placed a leaf of laurel on his brow.

(Texts from The Sonnet in American Literature. . . From "Poems," N.Y., 1800, vol. II, pp. 87 and 98)