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Ode on Adversity

by | Mar 17, 2026 | Adversity Poems, Poems, Poetry

Ode on Adversity

By Mary Darby Robinson

WHERE o'er my head, the deaf'ning Tempest blew, 
And Night's cold lamp cast forth a feeble ray; 
Where o'er the woodlands, vivid light'nings flew, 
Cleft the strong oak, and scorch'd the blossom'd spray; 
At morn's approach, I mark the sun's warm glow 
O'er the grey hill a crimson radiance throw; 
I mark the silv'ry fragrant dew, 
Give lustre to the vi'let's hue; 
The shallow rivers o'er their pebbly way, 
In slow meanders murmuring play; 
Day spreads her beams, the lofty forest tree, 
Shakes from its moisten'd head the pearly show'r, 
All nature, feels the renovating hour, 
All, but the sorrowing child of cold ADVERSITY; 
For her, the linnet's downy throat 
Breathes harmony in vain; 
Unmov'd, she hears the warbling note 
In all the melody of song complain; 
By her unmark'd the flowret's bloom, 
In vain the landscape sheds perfume; 
Her languid form, on earth's damp bed, 
In coarse and tatter'd garb reclines; 
In silent agony she pines; 
Or, if she hears some stranger's tread, 
To a dark nook, ashamed she flies, 
And with her scanty robe, o'er-shades her weeping eyes. 

Her hair, dishevel'd, wildly plays 
With every freezing gale; 
While down her cold cheek, deadly pale, 
The tear of pensive sorrow strays; 
She shuns, the PITY of the proud, 
Her mind, still triumphs, unsubdu'd 
Nor stoops, its misery to obtrude, 
Upon the vulgar croud. 

Unheeded, and unknown, 
To some bleak wilderness she flies; 
And seated on a moss-clad stone, 
Unwholesome vapours round her rise, 
And hang their mischiefs on her brow; 
The ruffian winds, her limbs expose; 
Still, still, her heart disdains to bow, 
She cherishes her woes. 

NOW FAMINE spreads her sable wings; 
INGRATITUDE insults her pangs; 
While from a thousand eager fangs, 
Madd'ning she flies;­The recreant crew 
With taunting smiles her steps pursue; 
While on her burning, bleeding heart, 
Fresh wounded by Affliction's dart, 
NEGLECT, her icy poison flings; 
From HOPE's celestial bosom hurl'd, 
She seeks oblivion's gloom, 
Now, now, she mocks the barb'rous world, 
AND TRIUMPHS IN THE TOMB.

Hymn To Adversity

by | Mar 17, 2026 | Adversity Poems, Poems, Poetry

Hymn To Adversity

By Thomas Gray

Daughter of Jove, relentless Power,
Thou tamer of the human breast,
Whose iron scourge and tort'ring hour
The Bad affright, afflict the Best!
Bound in thy adamantine chain
The Proud are taught to taste of pain,
And purple Tyrants vainly groan
With pangs unfelt before, unpitied and alone.

When first thy Sire to send on earth
Virtue, his darling child, designed,
To thee he gave the heav'nly Birth,
And bade to form her infant mind.
Stern rugged Nurse! thy rigid lore
With patience many a year she bore:
What sorrow was, thou bad'st her know,
And from her own she learned to melt at others' woe.

Scared at thy frown terrific, fly
Self-pleasing Folly's idle brood,
Wild Laughter, Noise, and thoughtless Joy,
And leave us leisure to be good.
Light they disperse, and with them go
The summer Friend, the flatt'ring Foe;
By vain Prosperity received,
To her they vow their truth, and are again believed.

Wisdom in sable garb arrayed
Immersed in rapt'rous thought profound,
And Melancholy, silent maid
With leaden eye, that loves the ground,
Still on thy solemn steps attend:
Warm Charity, the gen'ral Friend,
With Justice, to herself severe,
And Pity dropping soft the sadly-pleasing tear.

Oh, gently on thy Suppliant's head,
Dread Goddess, lay thy chast'ning hand!
Not in thy Gorgon terrors clad,
Not circled with the vengeful Band
(As by the Impious thou art seen),
With thund'ring voice, and threat'ning mien,
With screaming Horror's funeral cry,
Despair, and fell Disease, and ghastly Poverty.

Thy form benign, O Goddess, wear,
Thy milder influence impart,
Thy philosophic Train be there
To soften, not to wound my heart.
The gen'rous spark extinct revive,
Teach me to love and to forgive,
Exact my own defects to scan,
What others are, to feel, and know myself a Man

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