William Watson Biography
Sir William Watson (1858 – 1935), was an English poet, popular in his time for the political content of his verse. He was born in Burley, in West Yorkshire.
He was very much on the traditionalist wing of English poetry. He was a prolific poet of the 1890s, and a contributor to The Yellow Book, without 'decadent' associations. He was also a defender of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, as he dropped out of fashion. On Tennyson's death, Watson was a strong candidate for Poet Laureate but his earlier opposition to the Boer War had made him politically unsuitable and he was passed over for Alfred Austin.
April, April,
Laugh thy girlish laughter;
Then, the moment after,
Weep thy girlish tears!
...
APRIL, April,
Laugh thy girlish laughter;
Then, the moment after,
Weep thy girlish tears!
...
SHE stands, a thousand-wintered tree,
By countless morns impearled;
Her broad roots coil beneath the sea,
Her branches sweep the world;
...
Thou burden of all songs the earth hath sung,
Thou retrospect in Time's reverted eyes,
Thou metaphor of everything that dies,
...
Last night the seawind was to me
A metaphor of liberty,
And every wave along the beach
A starlit music seemed to be.
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