Pages

Monday, October 12, 2009

No worst, there is none



Sir David Young Cameron 1865 - 1945
The Hill of the Winds
about 1913
Oil on canvas
116.80 x 132.70 cm
The National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh




Sir David Young Cameron 1865 - 1945
Ben Ledi
1911
Etching and drypoint on paper
37.70 x 30.20 cm
The National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh




James Craig Annan (1864 - 1946)
The Dark Mountains
1890
Photogravure on paper
15.00 x 21.00 cm
The National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh




Ian Cheyne (1895 - 1955)
Hell's Glen
1928
Colour woodcut on paper (16/20)
25.20 x 29.80 cm (paper 28.00 x 32.10 cm)
The National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh




`No worst, there is none. Pitched past pitch of grief’


NO worst, there is none. Pitched past pitch of grief,
More pangs will, schooled at forepangs, wilder wring.
Comforter, where, where is your comforting?
Mary, mother of us, where is your relief?
My cries heave, herds-long; huddle in a main, a chief
Woe, world-sorrow; on an age-old anvil wince and sing—
Then lull, then leave off. Fury had shrieked ‘No ling-
ering! Let me be fell: force I must be brief’.

O the mind, mind has mountains; cliffs of fall
Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed. Hold them cheap
May who ne’er hung there. Nor does long our small
Durance deal with that steep or deep. Here! creep,
Wretch, under a comfort serves in a whirlwind: all
Life death does end and each day dies with sleep.

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89).

No comments:

Post a Comment