| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | III. No Barrenness in Nature without Beauty | | By Anna Seward (1747–1809) |
| | | FROM these wild heights, where oft the mists descend | |
| In rains that shroud the sun and chill the gale, | |
| Each transient gleaming interval we hail, | |
| And rove the naked valleys, and extend | |
| Our gaze around where yon vast mountains blend | 5 |
| With billowy clouds that o’er their summits sail, | |
| Pondering how little Nature’s charms befriend | |
| The barren scene, monotonous and pale, | |
| Yet solemn when the darkening shadows fleet | |
| Successive o’er the wide and silent hills, | 10 |
| Gilded by wat’ry sunbeams: then we meet | |
| Peculiar pomp of vision. Fancy thrills; | |
| And owns there is no scene so rude and bare | |
| But Nature sheds or grace or grandeur there. | | | | |
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