Helen Maria Williams

Helen Maria Williams was an English poet, novelist, translator, and abolitionist known for her support of the French Revolution. She made significant contributions to literature through her poems and novels, highlighting issues of her time such as gender equality and political justice. Her works were praised for their emotional depth and social commentary. She was also an influential figure in the abolitionist movement, championing the cause of ending slavery.

June 17, 1761

December 15, 1827

English, French

Page 1 of 2

A Hymn.

While thee I seek, protecting Power!
    Be my vain wishes still'd;
And may this consecrated hour
    With better hopes be fill'd.

Thy love the powers of thought bestow'd,
    To thee my thoughts would soar;
Thy mercy o'er my life has flow'd -
    That mercy I adore.

In each event of life, how clear,
    Thy ruling hand I see;
Each blessing to my soul more dear,
    Because conferr'd by thee.

In every joy that crowns my days,
    In every pain I bear,
My heart shall find delight in praise,
    Or seek relief in prayer.

When gladness wings my favour'd hour,
    Thy love my thoughts shall fill:
Resign'd, when storms of sorrow lower,
    My soul shall meet thy will.

My lifted eye without a tear
    The lowrin...

Helen Maria Williams

A Song.

I.

No riches from his scanty store
    My lover could impart;
He gave a boon I valued more -
    He gave me all his heart!


II.

His soul sincere, his gen'rous worth,
    Might well this bosom move;
And when I ask'd for bliss on earth,
    I only meant his love.


III.

But now for me, in search of gain
    From shore to shore he flies:
Why wander riches to obtain,
    When love is all I prize?


IV.

The frugal meal, the lowly cot
    If blest my love with thee!
That simple fare, that humble lot,
    Were more than wealth to me.


V.

While he the dang'rous ocean braves,
    My tears but vainly flow:
Is pity in the faithless waves
    To which I pour my ...

Helen Maria Williams

An American Tale.

"Ah! pity all the pangs I feel,
    If pity e'er ye knew;--
An aged father's wounds to heal,
    Thro' scenes of death I flew.

Perhaps my hast'ning steps are vain,
    Perhaps the warrior dies!--
Yet let me sooth each parting pain--
    Yet lead me where he lies."

Thus to the list'ning band she calls,
    Nor fruitless her desire,
They lead her, panting, to the walls
    That hold her captive sire.

"And is a daughter come to bless
    These aged eyes once more?
Thy father's pains will now be less--
    His pains will now be o'er!"

"My father! by this waining lamp
    Thy form I faintly trace:--
Yet sure thy brow is cold, and damp,
    And pale thy honour'd face.

In vain thy wretched child is come,
    She ...

Helen Maria Williams

An Epistle To Dr. Moore.

    Whether dispensing hope, and ease
    To the pale victim of disease,
    Or in the social crowd you sit,
    And charm the group with sense and wit,
    Moore's partial ear will not disdain
    Attention to my artless strain.

Helen Maria Williams

An Ode On The Peace.

I.

    As wand'ring late on Albion's shore
        That chains the rude tempestuous deep,
    I heard the hollow surges roar
        And vainly beat her guardian steep;
I heard the rising sounds of woe
    Loud on the storm's wild pinion flow;
And still they vibrate on the mournful lyre,
That tunes to grief its sympathetic wire.


II.

    From shores the wide Atlantic laves,
        The spirit of the ocean bears
    In moans, along his western waves,
        Afflicted nature's hopeless cares:
    Enchanting scenes of young delight,
    How chang'd since first ye rose to sight;
Since first ye rose in infant glories drest
Fresh from the wave, and rear'd your ample breast.


III.

    Her crested serpents, disco...

Helen Maria Williams

Euphelia, An Elegy.

As roam'd a pilgrim o'er the mountain drear,
    On whose lone verge the foaming billows roar;
The wail of hopeless sorrow pierc'd his ear,
    And swell'd at distance on the sounding shore.

The mourner breath'd her deep complaint to night,
    Her moan she mingled with the rapid blast;
That bar'd her bosom in its wasting flight,
    And o'er the earth her scatter'd tresses cast!

"Ye winds, she cried, still heave the lab'ring deep,
    "The mountain shake, the howling forest rend;
"Still dash the shiv'ring fragment from the steep,
    "Nor for a wretch like me the storm suspend.

"Ah, wherefore wish the rising storm to spare?
    "Ah, why implore the raging winds to save?
"What refuge can the breast where lives despair
    "Desire but death? what s...

Helen Maria Williams

Paraphrases From Scripture. ISAIAH xlix. 15.

Heaven speaks! Oh Nature listen and rejoice!
Oh spread from pole to pole this gracious voice!
"Say every breast of human frame, that proves
"The boundless force with which a parent loves;
"Say, can a mother from her yearning heart
"Bid the soft image of her child depart?
"She! whom strong instinct arms with strength to bear
"All forms of ill, to shield that dearest care;
"She! who with anguish stung, with madness wild,
"Will rush on death to save her threaten'd child;
"All selfish feelings banish'd from her breast,
"Her life one aim to make another's blest.
"When her vex'd infant to her bosom clings,
"When round her neck his eager arms he flings;
"Breathes to her list'ning soul his melting sigh,
"And lifts suffus'd with tears his asking eye!
"Will she for all ...

Helen Maria Williams

Paraphrases From Scripture. MATT. vii. 12.

Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.



Precept divine! to earth in mercy given,
O sacred rule of action, worthy heaven!
Whose pitying love ordain'd the bless'd command
To bind our nature in a firmer band;
Enforce each human suff'rer's strong appeal,
And teach the selfish breast what others feel;
Wert thou the guide of life, mankind might know
A soft exemption from the worst of woe;
No more the powerful would the weak oppress,
But tyrants learn the luxury to bless;
No more would slav'ry bind a hopeless train,
Of human victims, in her galling chain;
Mercy the hard, the cruel heart would move
To soften mis'ry by the deeds of Jove;
And av'rice from his hoarded treasures give
Unask'd, the liberal boon, that wa...

Helen Maria Williams

Paraphrases From Scripture. PSALM lxxiv. 16, 17.

    The day is thine, the night also is thine; thou hast prepared the light and the sun.

    Thou hast set all the borders of the earth; thou hast made summer and winter.

PSALM lxxiv. 16, 17.

My God! all nature owns thy sway,
Thou giv'st the night, and thou the day!
When all thy lov'd creation wakes,
When morning, rich in lustre breaks,
And bathes in dew the op'ning flower,
To thee we owe her fragrant hour;
And when she pours her choral song,
Her melodies to thee belong!

Or when, in paler tints array'd,
The evening slowly spreads her shade;
That soothing shade, that grateful gloom,
Can more than day's enliv'ning bloom
Still every fond, and vain desire,
And calmer, purer, thoughts inspire;
From earth the pensive spirit...

Helen Maria Williams

Part Of An Irregular Fragment, Found In A Dark Passage Of The Tower.

ADVERTISEMENT.

The following Poem is formed on a very singular and sublime idea. A young gentleman, possessed of an uncommon genius for drawing, on visiting the Tower of London, passing one door of a singular construction, asked what apartment it led to, and expressed a desire to have it opened. The person who shewed the place shook his head, and answered, "Heaven knows what is within that door - it has been shut for ages." - This answer made small impression on the other hearers; but a very deep one on the imagination of this youth. Gracious Heaven! an apartment shut up for ages - and in the Tower!

    "Ye Towers of Julius! London's lasting shame,
    By many a foul and midnight murder fed."

Genius builds on a slight foundation, and rears beautiful structures on "the baseless fabric of a vision." The...

Helen Maria Williams

Peru. Canto The First.

ADVERTISEMENT.


That no readers of the following work may entertain expectations respecting it which it would ill satisfy, it is necessary to acquaint them, that the author has not had the presumption even to attempt a full, historical narration of the fall of the Peruvian empire. To describe that important event with accuracy, and to display with clearness and force the various causes which combined to produce it, would require all the energy of genius, and the most glowing colours of imagination. Conscious of her utter inability to execute such a design, she has only aimed at a simple detail of some few incidents that make a part of that romantic story; where the unparalleled sufferings of an innocent and amiable people, form the most affecting subjects of true pathos, while their climate, totally unlike our own, furnish...

Helen Maria Williams

Peru. Canto The Fourth.

THE ARGUMENT.

Almagro's expedition to Chili - his troops suffer great hardships from cold, in crossing the Andes - they reach Chili - the Chilese make a brave resistance - the revolt of the Peruvians in Cuzco - they are led on by Manco-Capac, the successor of Ataliba - his parting with Cora, his wife - the Peruvians regain half their city - Almagro leaves Chili - to avoid the Andes, he crosses a vast desert - his troops can find no water    - the rest divide in two bands - Alphonso leads the second band, which soon reaches a fertile valley - the Spaniards observe the natives are employed in searching the streams for gold - they resolve to attack them.


PERU.

CANTO THE FOURTH.

Now the stern partner of Pizarro's toils,
Almagro, lur'd by hope of g...

Helen Maria Williams

Peru. Canto The Second.

THE ARGUMENT.

Pizarro, a Spanish Captain, lands with his forces - his meeting with Ataliba - its unhappy consequences - Zorai dies - Ataliba imprisoned, and strangled - Alzira's despair, and madness.


PERU.

CANTO THE SECOND.

Flush'd with impatient hope, the martial band
By stern Pizarro led, approach the land:
No terrors arm the hostile brow, for guile
Charms to betray, in Candour's open smile.
Too artless for distrust, the monarch springs                                                
To meet his latent foe on friendship's wings:
On as he moves, with glitt'ring splendours crown'd,
His feather'd chiefs the golden throne surround;
The waving canopy its plume displays,
Whose varied hues reflect the morning rays; ...

Helen Maria Williams

Peru. Canto The Third.

THE ARGUMENT.

Pizarro takes possession of Cuzco - the fanaticism of Valverde, a Spanish priest - its dreadful effects - A Peruvian priest put to the torture - his daughter's distress - he is rescued by Las Casas, an amiable Spanish ecclesiastic, and led to a place of safety, where he dies - his daughter's narration of her sufferings - her death.


PERU.

CANTO THE THIRD.

Now stern Pizarro seeks the distant plains,
Where beauteous Cusco lifts her golden fanes:
The meek Peruvians gaz'd in pale dismay,
Nor barr'd the dark oppressor's sanguine way:
And soon on Cusco, where the dawning light                                                    
Of glory shone, foretelling day more bright,
Where the young arts had shed unfolding flowers,
A scene...

Helen Maria Williams

Queen Mary's Complaint.

I.

Pale moon! thy mild benignant light
May glad some other captive's sight;
Bright'ning the gloomy objects nigh,
Thy beams a lenient thought supply:
But, oh, pale moon! what ray of thine
Can sooth a misery like mine!
Chase the sad image of the past,
And woes for ever doom'd to last.


II.

Where are the years with pleasure gay?
How bright their course! how short their stay! -
Where are the crowns, that round my head
A double glory vainly spread?
Where are the beauties wont to move,
The grace, converting awe to love?
Alas, had fate design'd to bless,
Its equal hand had giv'n me less!


III.

Why did the regal garb array
A breast that tender passions sway?
A soul of unsuspicious frame,
Which leans...

Helen Maria Williams

Sonnet To Twilight.

Meek Twilight! soften the declining day,
    And bring the hour my pensive spirit loves;
When, o'er the mountain flow descends the ray
    That gives to silence the deserted groves.
Ah, let the happy court the morning still,
    When, in her blooming loveliness array'd,
She bids fresh beauty light the vale, or hill,
    And rapture warble in the vocal shade.
Sweet is the odour of the morning's flower,
    And rich in melody her accents rise;
Yet dearer to my soul the shadowy hour,
    At which her blossoms close, her music dies -
For then, while languid nature droops her head,
She wakes the tear 'tis luxury to shed.

Helen Maria Williams

Sonnet, To Expression.

Expression, child of soul! I fondly trace
    Thy strong enchantments, when the poet's lyre,
    The painter's pencil catch thy sacred fire,
And beauty wakes for thee her touching grace -
But from this frighted glance thy form avert
    When horrors check thy tear, thy struggling sigh,
    When frenzy rolls in thy impassion'd eye,
Or guilt sits heavy on thy lab'ring heart -
Nor ever let my shudd'ring fancy bear
    The wasting groan, or view the pallid look
    Of him[A] the Muses lov'd - when hope forsook
His spirit, vainly to the Muses dear!
For charm'd with heav'nly song, this bleeding breast,
Mourns the blest power of verse could give despair no rest. -

[A]    Chatterton.

Helen Maria Williams

Sonnet, To Mrs. Bates.

Oh, thou whose melody the heart obeys,
Thou who can'st all its subject passions move,
Whose notes to heav'n the list'ning soul can raise,
Can thrill with pity, or can melt with love!
Happy! whom nature lent this native charm;
Whose melting tones can shed with magic power,
A sweeter pleasure o'er the social hour,
The breast to softness sooth, to virtue warm - But
yet more happy! that thy life as clear
From discord, as thy perfect cadence flows;
That tun'd to sympathy, thy faithful tear,
In mild accordance falls for others woes;
That all the tender, pure affections bind
In chains of harmony, thy willing mind!

Helen Maria Williams

Page 1 of 2