THE ONE OF TIME, OF SPACE THE THREE:
The Collected Poems of Sir William Rowan Hamilton
Hamilton was one of the greatest mathematicians and physicists of all time; he was also a medium-quality
Romantic poet and a personal friend of William Wordsworth. Hamilton's poems are scattered
through the three volumes of
the 1882 biography by Rev. Robert Perceval Graves:
Volume 1
---
Volume 2
---
Volume 3.
[Dublin: Hodges and Figgis].
Reading Hamilton's poetry gives one a somewhat skewed impression: he tended to write
most prolifically when he was miserable. Despite his unhappy love life, his
struggle with alcoholism, and his constitutional inclination toward depression,
he was by no means so continually wretched as his gloomier verses suggest,
and indeed his prose writings and letters paint a quite different picture.
Graves's book remains the indispensible
resource for Hamilton's life; much further biographical detail may be
found in the more modern Sir William Rowan Hamilton
by Thomas L. Hankins [Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1980].
In judging Hamilton's poems, one can perhaps do no better than quote
Wordsworth's reaction to the earlier ones:
"You send me showers of verses, which I receive with much
pleasure, as do we all ; yet have we fears that this employment
may seduce you from the path of Science which you seem destined
to tread with so much honour to yourself and profit to others.
Again and again I must repeat, that the composition of verse is
infinitely more of an art than men are prepared to believe, and
absolute success in it depends upon innumerable minutiæ, which
it grieves me you should stoop to acquire a knowledge of. Milton
talks of pouring 'Easy his unpremeditated verse' --- it would be
harsh, untrue and odious to say there is anything like cant in this,
but it is not true to the letter, and tends to mislead. I could point
out to you five hundred passages in Milton upon which labour has
been bestowed, and twice five hundred more to which additional
labour would have been serviceable : not that I regret the absence of
such labour, because no poem contains more proofs of skill acquired
by practice. These observations are not called out by any defects or
imperfections in your last pieces especially ; they are equal to the
former ones in effect, have many beauties, and are not inferior in
execution ; --- but again I do venture to submit to your consideration,
whether the poetical parts of your nature would not find a field
more favourable to their exercise in the regions of prose : not
because those regions are humbler, but because they may be gracefully
and profitably trod, with footsteps less careful and in measures
less elaborate. And now I have done with the subject, and have
only to add [the request] that when you write verses, you would
not fail from time to time to let me have a sight of them."
I have organised the poems loosely by topic, although the divisions are clearly
somewhat arbitrary.
(NOTE ADDED 2016 November 7: Another
biography of Hamilton, Anne van Weerden's
A Victorian Marriage [Stedum, Netherlands: J. Fransje van
Weerden, 2015],
has appeared since this page was originally created in 2014. Van Weerden's
extremely close reading of the sources leads her to question some
of the accepted wisdom about Hamilton's private life: she argues
that his marriage was happier, and his drinking more moderate,
than Twentieth Century historians supposed.
This may well be true;
certainly van Weerden is correct in noting that Graves's
Life must be
read in context and with caution rather than treated as infallible
gospel. In reading the secondary literature about Hamilton, I have
myself noticed a tendency of historians to project onto the man
certain stereotypes --- the anguished Romantic genius, the drunken
stage-Irishman, or both at once. No doubt the defeat of Hamilton's side
in the bitter and counterproductive "vector war" also coloured
Twentieth Century impressions of his life. The reader of the notes
below should bear in mind that they largely reflect the
possibly misleading Twentieth Century scholarly tradition.)
- Nature-Poetry and the Romantic Movement:
Unappreciated by his fellow scientists, Hamilton was "pressed down
with sorrowing." Then he met Wordsworth!
The Rydal Hours
Rydal Mount was the home of Wordsworth.
Recollections
... of various meetings with Wordsworth.
To Poetry (1829)
Intended as a farewell to poetry after Wordsworth convinced him
it was not his chief talent.
To Poetry (1831)
"No, I won't give it up."
Farewell Verses To William Wordsworth
"At the close of a visit to Rydal Mount in 1830."
To Wordsworth
To The Evening Star
Written when Hamilton was 16.
Ode To The Moon Under Total Eclipse
On The Scenery And Associations Of Trim
... in Co. Meath, where Hamilton was raised.
To The Dargle River
Dargle Verses
To The Elysian Fields Of Lowther
Meaning the grounds of Lowther Castle, a country house in Westmorland. The beauty of Lowther
was also praised by Wordsworth.
The Vision Cottage
A typical Romantic poem about a lonely cottage in a quiet vale.
At Midnight
The majesty of the night sky soothes a depressed young man's troubled soul.
Not With Unchanged Existence I Emerge
"Composed during a very melancholy as well as solitary walk along the
banks of a gloomy lake."
On Seeing A Child Asleep On A Couch
"... in the Viceregal Rooms after dancing at a Twelfth-Night Ball."
On The Severing Of Friends
Who Says That Shakespeare Did Not Know His Lot?
Genius, a manifestation of Love, can always be recognised by the person who has it.
The Dignity Of Women (translated from the German of Schiller)
Like many of the Romantics, Hamilton was simultaneously a feminist and a
believer in the Nineteenth Century doctrine that women were fundamentally
different from men, more empathic and thus responsible for civilisation.
Science:
Philosophy:
-
The Dream
Suggests that the dreaming soul may remember its pre-existence in,
apparently, the Platonic realm of archetypes. A very early poem.
-
The Spirit Of A Dream Hath Often Given
Carpe diem.
-
Memory And Reserve
The full title is "Fragment on Memory, and Its Effects on
Persons of Reserved but Not Unfeeling Temper," that is,
presumably, on Hamilton himself.
Religion: Hamilton was a devout member of the Church of Ireland (part of the
Anglican communion) and a frequent participant in theological controversies. Only
a few of his poems, however, are explicitly religious.
Hamilton wrote "My state of mind in the dream was oddly compounded of being a spectator, a reader, and an involuntary utterer of the whole. Many of the lines I am sure I dreamt ; and the others seemed rather to be recollected than composed, when I set myself to recal them on awakening. At the same time I have a vivid picture before me, very much in the manner of Martin, of the assembly of the fallen angels, and the flashing of the sword through the gloom."
Providence And Faith
All things come from God.
And Now The Church Prepares Her Lord To Praise
Religious sonnet based on the Te Deum.
In Ely Cathedral
A prayer for the ecclesiastical unity of the British Isles, inspired by an occasion when Hamilton
(an Irishman), John Herschel (an Englishman), and James Forbes (a Scotsman) worshipped together in Ely.
The same incident inspired Herschel's poem,
On a Scene in Ely Cathedral.
To An Afflicted Friend Suffering Under Religious Depression
Hamilton remarked of this poem: "I am very unworthy to write on such a subject,
yet at least my feelings and convictions, as expressed in those verses, were and are
sincere." The friend was Catherine Disney Barlow, as discussed below.
General Autobiographical: In chronological order, except for poems which
form a sequence.
Enjoying himself at a lively Halloween party, young Hamilton is briefly troubled when he remembers that the Great Lisbon Earthquake of the previous century took place on November 1.
All-Hallow E'en 1831
Hamilton reflects on the changes in his life since he wrote the previous poem.
Letter To Cousin Arthur, In Imitation Of Horace
Narrating a trip by gig from Trim to Mullingar: "Councellors Wallace here and Cruise I met, //
With others of the Bar, a jovial set. // Our Pliny goes to play, but I and Cruise //
Talk of the Differential Calculus."
To Forgotten And Fading Flowers Found Near The Great Circle Of The Observatory
Hamilton had just graduated from the University and taken his first scientific job;
he describes this as the end "of the heart's young sweetness // On Science' altar laid."
I suspect there is also an allusion to his failed romance with Catherine Disney (see "Love"
section below).
Easter Morning
On the death of Miss Ellis of Abbotstown, a friend of Hamilton and
Wordsworth, on Easter Day 1830.
To The Infant Wyndham, Son Of The Earl Of Dunraven
My Birthday Eve
Turning 27, which he considers quite old, Hamilton reflects on his wasted life and the
unfulfilled dreams of youth. The birthday was in fact a significant turning
point for him; it was around this time that he fell in love with his
future wife, Helen Bayly.
I Wandered With A Brother Of My Soul
Meaning the poet Aubrey De Vere, who had come to visit the Observatory.
Hamilton had a complicated relationship with De Vere, one of his closest friends but
also the brother of Ellen De Vere, who had rejected Hamilton's romantic advances,
perhaps on Aubrey's advice. The tensions are apparent in this poem.
Parsonstown Sonnet No. 1
"Written in the upper gallery of the great telescope." Lord Rosse's telescope,
"the Leviathan of Parsonstown", was one of the great scientific instruments of the Nineteenth
Century.
Parsonstown Sonnet No. 2
Written after a church service.
Elegy On A Schoolfellow, T. B[yrne]
The Synod Is Dissolved
About a visit to Cambridge.
To Miss Kate Raithborne
The young daughter of Hamilton's sister-in-law, who had presented
Hamilton with a hand-woven silk purse.
Britain Had Met Again
About a meeting of the British Association, and how seeing the affection
of his hosts for their young son was even better than going to the meeting.
To Sir John Herschel On His Return From The Cape
Hail, the conquering hero cometh.
Lady Marian Compton
Essentially a thank-you note for hosting his visit to Castle Ashby in Northampton.
To My Dear Godson William Wordsworth
Not the famous poet, but his grandson. Hamilton passed up the opportunity to
have a much more celebrated godson when he declined Lady Wilde's request
that he be the godfather of her infant son, Oscar.
On An Expected View Of The Irish Coast
Eager to get home from a visit to England.
On The Death Of Sir Aubrey De Vere
Father of Hamilton's friend Aubrey De Vere the Younger and of his lost love Ellen De Vere.
On The Death Of Professor [James] MacCullagh
The Irish mathematical physicist who invented the "curl" operation in vector calculus. He committed
suicide, horrifying his colleagues. Hamilton, who battled suicidal impulses
himself, was particularly distressed.
Prayer For Calm
Written after a bout of depression in middle age.
To The Infant Son Of An Old Friend
That is, of Thomas Disney, the brother of Hamilton's first love Catherine Disney.
Lines Composed At Edinburgh
Reflecting on changes in his life since his previous visit to the city twenty-three years earlier.
To Lady Marian Alford: Three Sonnets
Her father (a close friend of Hamilton) and husband had died within a few weeks of each other.
To The Marquess Of Northampton
A sympathy note to the son of one of Hamilton's friends.
A Description
Of Dora Disney, sister-in-law of the woman whom Hamilton had loved decades before.
Sonnet To My Daughter
To Mary [Maria] Edgeworth
The celebrated intellectual was a friend of Hamilton and his sisters for many years. He wrote these lines
after a visit to her grave. It was one of his last poems.
Eliza Hamilton: Like many Nineteenth Century men, Hamilton was exceptionally
close to his sisters. They helped him in his scientific work, nursed him through his bouts
of depression, and ran his household when his emotionally troubled wife was unable to do so.
A previous blog-entry profiled Sydney, nicknamed
"Intellect", the most scientific of the sisters, but it was Eliza, nicknamed "Sensibility",
a published poet in her own right, whom Hamilton mentions by name in his poems.
To Eliza
According to Hamilton's biographer R. P. Graves, this poem, in which the author recognises the futility of his grand dreams and resolves to live quietly with his sister, is actually about Hamilon's realisation that
he would never be able to marry his first love, Catherine Disney.
To My Sister Eliza, Dictated During Illness
That is, during his first great bout of depression, after the marriage of Catherine Disney.
To My Sister Eliza
Love:
As a young man, Hamilton fell in love consecutively with three women, all of whom were considered
(even by their Nineteenth Century contemporaries!) to be excessively shy, nervous, emotionally
fragile, and prone to sadness. Given Hamilton's own strong tendency to depression, it
is perhaps unsurprising that none of these relationships went very well.
- Catherine Disney (later Mrs. William Barlow):
She probably returned Hamilton's affection, but yielded
to family pressure and married a wealthy middle-aged clergyman. They remained in occasional
correspondence over the
years, although the contacts seem to have been traumatic for both of them.
A farewell.
Peace Be Around Thee, Wherever Thou Goest
Another poem of farewell.
The Enthusiast
Despite the upbeat, or at least resigned, sentiments of the two previous
poems, Catherine's marriage plunged Hamilton into a
nearly suicidal depression, as depicted here.
It Haunts Me Yet
"It" being the memory of his unhappy first romance, haunting him despite his attempts to
immerse himself in science to forget. Hamilton showed this poem to Wordsworth, whose
critique of it follows in the text linked here.
We Two Have Met, And In Her Innocent Eyes
Meaning those of the former Catherine Disney, now the mother of several children.
Do I Lament That I in Youth Did Love?
Prayer For Calm
Written after a bout of depression in middle age. Hamilton's Twentieth Century biographer
Thomas Hankins has suggested that it was meant to be read by Catherine Disney Barlow,
then going through a depression of her own.
To An Afflicted Friend Suffering Under Religious Depression
Catherine's religious doubts were greatly exacerbated by her years of living in an arranged marriage
with a clergyman.
Ellen De Vere (later Mrs. Robert O'Brien): She decided that Hamilton could only be a friend to her -- or
at least so he interpreted her somewhat ambiguous language. Hamilton's suit was also opposed by her brother,
Hamilton's lifelong friend, the poet Aubrey De Vere, who had concluded from his reading of
Plato that spouses should be as different
as possible, so as to form a complementary whole; Ellen De Vere and Hamilton, as
fellow intellectuals, were too
similar!
The mother of Lord Adare, one of Hamilton's students. His abortive romance with
Ellen De Vere took place while both were guests at her house.
To E[llen] De V[ere]
Written when they were just getting to know each other.
On Hearing Of The Illness Of E[llen] De V[ere]
Hamilton worries that the woman with whom he is beginning to fall in love
is about to die. (In fact, she recovered.)
To E[llen] De V[ere]: A Sonnet
To E[llen] De V[ere]: Four Poems
Written when she rejected him. This event, like his earlier rejection by Catherine
Disney, was apparently among the darkest moments of Hamilton's life.
The Graven Tree
Written while Hamilton was suffering from depression after being rejected by his second love.
There Was A Frost About My Heart
About his doomed relationship with Ellen De Vere.
On A Wild Sea Of Passion And Of Grief
He hopes that he is starting to recover from being rejected by Ellen.
Was It a Dream?
Hamilton thinks about his friendship with Miss Ellis of Abbotstown, who died, and
his love for Miss De Vere, who declined to marry him.
Sometimes I Seem Of Her Society ...
He is still in love with Ellen De Vere.
Methinks I Am Grown Weaker Than of Old
He feels an upwelling of bitterness toward his ex-love.
Mary And Alice
Years later, he meets the young daughters of Ellen (De Vere) O'Brien.
Helen Bayly (later Lady Hamilton): She suffered from mental illness and constant depression, finally
becoming entirely disabled. Although Hamilton and his wife continued to express love for one another
throughout their lives, they had few common interests and the emotional instability of each tended to worsen
that of the other.
[All this according to Haskins; the 2015 biography by van Weerden
paints a far more attractive picture of the couple's relationship.]
Turning 27, which he considers quite old, Hamilton
reflects on his wasted life and the
unfulfilled dreams of youth. The birthday was in fact a significant turning
point for him; it was around this time that he fell in love with his
future wife.
The Rydal Hours
The "eclipse" mentioned in the poem is a bout of physical illness
Helen endured shortly before Hamilton fell in love with her.
It Is In Vain That I Would Flee Away
Hamilton is newly in love with Helen.
Four Poems
About Helen Bayly, Hamilton's third love and future wife. They are oddly addressed not to her
but to Aubrey De Vere, and seem meant forestall any accusation of inconstancy by his former love's brother.
Yet Hope Is Never Severed From Fear
Written while waiting to see if Helen would actually marry him.
Look, Love, How Beautiful That Evening Sky
For Helen Bayly, during their courtship.
The Lone Valley Is Mourning
Written when his fiancee had gone to visit her mother. Hamilton wrote several
exageratedly melancholy poems about this brief separation.
The Parting Kiss
Written when his fiancee was leaving to visit her mother.
Thou Goest, But No Anguish of Despair
Another of the
several poems written during a short early separation from his third love.
Forgive Me, Love
For being depressed even when you are around.
In The Many-Changing Flow
About Helen, whose tendency to severe
depression, similar to his own, he is beginning to recognise.
Garden Sonnets
Reflecting on his prospective marriage to Helen.
How Full Of Silence Is Deep Happiness
Written shortly before his wedding.
Sonnet On The First Anniversary of Our Wedding
Five Sonnets
About his friendship with his wife, and with Aubrey De Vere.
Anne van Weerden's comments on one of these poems, arguing that it is about
Lady Hamilton and not De Vere.
To My Wife
A love poem.
Draws To Its Close A Melancholy While
He is about to see his wife again after one of their times apart.
Translations: Importing German philosophy and literature was a major concern
of the English Romantics, most notably of Coleridge; German thought was seen as a kind of
"wisdom of the East", often lumped with Indian and Chinese mysticism! Like its Asian
counterparts, however, German writing often shocked English translators, who occasionally modified
it to local taste, or, when this was impossible, expressed disagreement in their comments.
Given what life is like, death doesn't sound so bad!
The Ideals
Mainly a translation of Schiller, but with a less cynical ending added.
The Pilgrim (translated from the German of Platen)
An emperor becomes a monk.
Warning (translated from the German of Platen)
"Resolve to shun the charmer ... Treasures hide // That in the fullness
of thy love abide."
The Dignity Of Women (translated from the German of Schiller)
See the note in "Nature-Poetry and the Romantic Movement" section above.
Yet If Thou Must Ask Something Of The Gods (from the Latin)
Translation of a passage in Juvenal's Tenth Satire.
Miscellaneous:
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