the order followed here is simply the order in which they appear in the three volumes, 'Poems,' 'Sister Songs' and 'New Poems.' In the tables of contents the poems are grouped as follows:
- Poems:
- 'Love in Dian's Lap' (7 poems).
- Miscellaneous Poems (6).
- Poems on Children (5).
- Sister Songs:
- Proem.
- Part I.
- Part II.
- Inscription.
- New Poems:
- 'Sight and Insight' (12 poems).
- 'A Narrow Vessel' (8).
- 'Miscellaneous Odes' (4).
- 'Miscellaneous Poems' (21).
- 'Ultima' (8).
In 'Poems' the first group, called 'Love in Dian's Lap,' is a series of seven love poems. They represent some of the less interesting and perhaps some of the poorest of Thompson's work (though that means neither that they are uninteresting or poor). It is here that he is most the seventeenth century writer; the poems are full of quaint phrases, extravagant fancies, artful metaphors.[1] It is unlike Thompson to be imitative or to be obviously conscious of his art, and the poems of this first group lack his usual spontaneity, though they seem entirely sincere. They are very striking on a first reading, being wholly different from other love
- ↑ Much has been written of Thompson's likeness to Crashaw and the other seventeenth century poets. An increasing acquaintance with Thompson brings out so much individuality that the Crashaw resemblance seems less important. They were both 'religious' poets and mystics; both wrote of divine love with much the same ecstasy and fervor, of human love with the same spiritual rapture; both have richness of imagery. Thompson's mysticism seems more profound, perhaps more consciously understood by him; Crashaw is more pious, more priestly, though not more devout. Thompson seems to have a broader imagination and his feeling is more intense,—or perhaps more communicable.
