Written on the Banks of the Arun
Charlotte Turner Smith
When latest autumn spreads her evening veil,
And the gray mists from these dim waves arise,
I love to listen to the hollow sighs
Through the half leafless wood that breathes the gale.
For at such hours the shadowy phantom pale.
Oft seems to fleet before the poet's eyes ;
Strange sounds are heard, and mournful melodies
I As of night-wanderers who their woes bewail.
Here by his native stream, at such an hour,
Pity's own Otway I methinks could meet
And hear his deep sighs swell the saddened wind!
O Melancholy, such thy magic power
That to the soul these dreams are often sweet
And soothe the pensive visionaiy mind.
With sonnets such as this, Charlotte Smith is credited with reviving the art of the sonnet which became such a staple of the repertoire of the great Romantic poets. Her work influenced William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, amongst others.
Charlotte Smith was partly brought up in West Sussex. She styled herself Charlotte Smith of Bignor Park, and she spent many years of her later life in Brighton and around Chichester, in the neighbourhood of the River Arun.
Main Location:
River Arun, West Sussex, England
The River Arun in West Sussex
The poet and iambic cartographer of the River Arun, Charlotte Turner Smith