CASSELL’S NATIONAL LIBRARY
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THE ANGEL IN THE HOUSE.
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BY COVENTRY PATMORE.
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“Par la grace infinie, Dieu les mist au monde ensemble.”
Rousier des Dames.
[Picture: Decorative graphic]
CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED: LONDON, PARIS & MELBOURNE. 1891.
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THIS POEM IS INSCRIBED TO THE MEMORY OF HER BY WHOM AND FOR WHOM I BECAME A POET.
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INTRODUCTION.
THERE could be but one answer to the suggestion of Mr. Coventry Patmore that his “Angel in the House” might usefully have a place in this “National Library.” The suggestion was made with the belief that wide and cheap diffusion would not take from the value of a copyright library edition, while the best use of writing is fulfilled by the spreading of verse dedicated to the sacred love of home. The two parts of the Poem appeared in 1854 and 1856, were afterwards elaborately revised, and have since obtained a permanent place among the Home Books of the English People. Our readers will join, surely, in thanks to the author for the present he has made us.
H. M.
CONTENTS
BOOK I. PAGE THE PROLOGUE. 13 CANTO I. THE CATHEDRAL CLOSE 17 Preludes: 1. The Impossibility 17 2. Love’s Really 17 3. The Poet’s Confidence 18 The Cathedral Close 19 II. MARY AND MILDRED 24 Preludes: 1. The Paragon 24 2. Love at Large 26 3. Love and Duty 27 4. A Distinction 28 Mary and Mildred 28 III. HONORIA 32 Preludes: 1. The Lover 32 2. Love a Virtue 34 3. The Attainment 34 Honoria 35 IV. THE MORNING CALL 39 Preludes: 1. The Rose of the World 39 2. The Tribute 41 3. Compensation 42 The Morning Call 42 V. THE VIOLETS 46 Preludes: 1. The Comparison 46 2. Love in Tears 48 3. Prospective Faith 48 4. Venus Victrix 49 The Violets 49 VI. THE DEAN 53 Preludes: 1. Perfect Love rare 53 2. Love Justified 54 3. Love Serviceable 55 4. A Riddle Solved 56 The Dean 56 VII. ÆTNA AND THE MOON 60 Preludes: 1. Love’s Immortality 60 2. Heaven and Earth 61 Ætna and the Moon 62 VIII. SARUM PLAIN 66 Preludes: 1. Life of Life 66 2. The Revelation 67 3. The Spirit’s Epochs 67 4. The Prototype 68 5. The Praise of Love 68 Sarum Plain 69 IX. SAHARA 74 Preludes: 1. The Wife’s Tragedy 74 2. Common Graces 75 3. The Zest of Life 76 4. Fool and Wise 76 Sahara 77 X. CHURCH TO CHURCH 81 Preludes: 1. The Joyful Wisdom 81 2. The Devices 84 Going to Church 84 XI. THE DANCE 89 Preludes: 1. The Daughter of Eve 89 2. Aurea Dicta 91 The Dance 93 XII. THE ABDICATION 97 Preludes: 1. The Chace 97 2. Denied 100 3. The Churl 101 The Abdication 102 BOOK II. THE PROLOGUE 105 I. ACCEPTED 109 Preludes: 1. The Song of Songs 109 2. The Kites 110 3. Orpheus 111 4. Nearest the Dearest 111 5. Perspective 112 Accepted 112 II. THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE 116 Preludes: 1. The Changed Allegiance 116 2. Beauty 120 3. Lais and Lucretia 120 The Course of True Love 121 III. THE COUNTRY BALL 126 Preludes: 1. Love Ceremonious 126 2. The Rainbow 127 3. A Paradox 127 The County Ball 128 IV. LOVE IN IDLENESS 132 Preludes: 1. Honour and Desert 132 2. Love and Honour 133 3. Valour Misdirected 134 Love in Idleness 134 V. THE QUEEN’S ROOM 139 Preludes: 1. Rejected 139 2. Rachel 140 3. The Heart’s Prophecies 141 The Queen’s Room 141 VI. THE LOVE-LETTERS 145 Preludes: 1. Love’s Perversity 145 2. The Power of Love 147 The Love-Letters 148 VII. THE REVULSION 152 Preludes: 1. Joy and Use 152 2. ‘She was Mine’ 153 The Revulsion 153 VIII. THE KOH-I-NOOR 158 Preludes: 1. In Love 158 2. Love Thinking 160 3. The Kiss 161 The Koh-i-noor 161 IX. THE FRIENDS 165 Preludes: 1. The Nursling of Civility 165 2. The Foreign Land 166 3. Disappointment 166 The Friends 167 X. THE EPITAPH 170 Preludes: 1. Frost in Harvest 170 2. Felicity 171 3. Marriage Indissoluble 172 The Epitaph 172 XI. THE WEDDING 176 Preludes: 1. Platonic Love 176 2. A Demonstration 177 3. The Symbol 178 4. Constancy Rewarded 178 The Wedding 179 XII. HUSBAND AND WIFE 183 Preludes: 1. The Married Lover 183 2. The Amaranth 184 Husband and Wife 185 The Epilogue 189