Runokokoelma

{
  "data": [
    {
      "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley",
      "line_count": "14",
      "lines": [
        "O thou bright Sun! beneath the dark blue line",
        "Of western distance that sublime descendest,",
        "And, gleaming lovelier as thy beams decline,",
        "Thy million hues to every vapour lendest,",
        "And, over cobweb lawn and grove and stream",
        "Sheddest the liquid magic of thy light,",
        "Till calm Earth, with the parting splendour bright,",
        "Shows like the vision of a beauteous dream;",
        "What gazer now with astronomic eye",
        "Could coldly count the spots within thy sphere?",
        "Such were thy lover, Harriet, could he fly",
        "The thoughts of all that makes his passion dear,",
        "And, turning senseless from thy warm caress,--",
        "Pick flaws in our close-woven happiness."
      ],
      "title": "To Harriet"
    },
    {
      "author": "William Topaz McGonagall",
      "line_count": "64",
      "lines": [
        "A pathetic tragedy I will relate,",
        "Concerning poor Fred. Marsden's fate,",
        "Who suffocated himself by the fumes of gas,",
        "On the 18th of May, and in the year of 1888, alas!",
        "",
        "Fred. Marsden was a playwright, the theatrical world knows,",
        "And was highly esteemed by the people, and had very few foes;",
        "And in New York, in his bedroom, he took his life away,",
        "And was found by his servant William in his bedroom where he lay.",
        "",
        "The manner in which he took his life : first he locked the door,",
        "Then closed down the window, and a sheet to shreds he tore",
        "And then stopped the keyholes and chinks through which air might come,",
        "Then turned on the single gas-burner, and soon the deed was done.",
        "",
        "About seven o'clock in the evening he bade his wife good-night,",
        "And she left him, smoking, in his room, thinking all was right,",
        "But when morning came his daughter said she smelled gas,",
        "Then William, his servant, called loudly on him, but no answer, alas!",
        "",
        "Then suspicion flashed across William's brain, and he broke open the door,",
        "Then soon the family were in a state of uproar,",
        "For the room was full of gas, and Mr Marsden quite dead,",
        "And a more kind-hearted father never ate of the world's bread.",
        "",
        "And by his kindness he spoiled his only child,",
        "His pretty daughter Blanche, which made him wild;",
        "For some time he thought her an angel, she was so very civil,",
        "But she dishonoured herself, and proved herself a devil.",
        "",
        "Her father idolised her, and on her spared no expense,",
        "And the kind-hearted father gave her too much indulgence,",
        "Because evening parties and receptions were got up for her sake,",
        "Besides, he bought her a steam yacht to sail on Schroon Lake.",
        "",
        "His means he lavished upon his home and his wife,",
        "And he loved his wife and daughter as dear as his life;",
        "But Miss Blanche turned to folly, and wrecked their home through strife,",
        "And through Miss Marsden's folly her father took his life.",
        "",
        "She wanted to ride, and her father bought her a horse,",
        "And by giving her such indulgences, in morals she grew worse;",
        "And by her immoral actions she broke her father's heart;",
        "And, in my opinion, she has acted a very ungrateful part.",
        "",
        "At last she fled from her father's house, which made him mourn,",
        "Then the crazy father went after her and begged her to return,",
        "But she tore her father's beard, and about the face beat him,",
        "Then fled to her companions in evil, and thought it no sin.",
        "",
        "Then her father sent her one hundred dollars, and found her again,",
        "And he requested her to come home, but it was all in vain;",
        "For his cruel daughter swore at him without any dread,",
        "And, alas! next morning, he was found dead in his bed.",
        "",
        "And soon theatrical circles were shocked to learn,",
        "Of the sudden death of genial Fred Marsden,",
        "Whose house had been famous for its hospitality,",
        "To artists, litterateurs, and critics of high and low degree.",
        "",
        "And now dear Mrs Marsden is left alone to mourn",
        "The loss of her loving husband, whom to her will ne'er return;",
        "But I hope God will be kind to her in her bereavement,",
        "And open her daughter's eyes, and make her repent",
        "",
        "For being the cause of her father's death, the generous Fred,",
        "Who oft poor artists and mendicants has fed;",
        "But, alas! his bounties they will never receive more,",
        "Therefore poor artists and mendicants will his loss deplore.",
        "",
        "Therefore, all ye kind parents of high and low degree,",
        "I pray ye all, be advised by me,",
        "And never pamper your children in any way,",
        "Nor idolise them, for they are apt to go astray,",
        "",
        "And treat ye, like pretty Blanche Marsden,",
        "Who by her folly has been the death of one of the finest men;",
        "So all kind parents, be warned by me,",
        "And remember always this sad Tragedy!"
      ],
      "title": "The Death of Fred Marsden, the American Playwright"
    },
    {
      "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron",
      "line_count": "40",
      "lines": [
        "Eliza! what fools are the Mussulman sect,",
        "  Who, to woman, deny the soul's future existence;",
        "Could they see thee, Eliza! they'd own their defect,",
        "  And this doctrine would meet with a general resistance.",
        "",
        "Had their Prophet possess'd half an atom of sense,",
        "  He ne'er would have _woman_ from Paradise driven;",
        "Instead of his _Houris_, a flimsy pretence,",
        "  With _woman alone_ he had peopled his Heaven.",
        "",
        "Yet, still, to increase your calamities more,",
        "  Not content with depriving your bodies of spirit,",
        "He allots one poor husband to share amongst four! -",
        "  With _souls_ you'd dispense; but, this last, who could bear it?",
        "",
        "His religion to please neither party is made;",
        "  On _husbands_ 'tis _hard_, to the wives most uncivil;",
        "Still I can't contradict, what so oft has been said,",
        "  \"Though women are angels, yet wedlock's the devil.\"",
        "",
        "This terrible truth, even Scripture has told,",
        "  Ye Benedicks! hear me, and listen with rapture;",
        "If a glimpse of redemption you wish to behold,",
        "  Of ST. MATT.--read the second and twentieth chapter.",
        "",
        "'Tis surely enough upon earth to be vex'd,",
        "  With wives who eternal confusion are spreading;",
        "\"But in Heaven\" (so runs the Evangelists' Text)",
        "  \"We neither have giving in marriage, or wedding.\"",
        "",
        "From this we suppose, (as indeed well we may,)",
        "  That should Saints after death, with their spouses put up more,",
        "And wives, as in life, aim at absolute sway,",
        "  All Heaven would ring with the conjugal uproar.",
        "",
        "Distraction and Discord would follow in course,",
        "  Nor MATTHEW, nor MARK, nor ST. PAUL, can deny it,",
        "The only expedient is general divorce,",
        "  To prevent universal disturbance and riot.",
        "",
        "But though husband and wife, shall at length be disjoin'd,",
        "  Yet woman and man ne'er were meant to dissever,",
        "Our chains once dissolv'd, and our hearts unconfin'd,",
        "  We'll love without bonds, but we'll love you for ever.",
        "",
        "Though souls are denied you by fools and by rakes,",
        "  Should you own it yourselves, I would even then doubt you,",
        "Your nature so much of _celestial_ partakes,",
        "  The Garden of Eden would wither without you."
      ],
      "title": "To Eliza"
    }
  ],
  "success": true
}