Alfred Austin [May 30, 1835--June 2, 1913]
English poet, novelist, essayist, journalist, literary critic, and Poet Laureate;
worked as journalist for The Standard from 1866 to 1896, specializing in foreign
affairs; first published poetry was Randolph, a narrative poem published in 1854,
followed by 20 other volumes including Interludes (1872), Soliloquies in Song
(1882), Love's Widowhood (1889), Sacred and Profane Love (1908), and The Human
Tragedy published in separate "acts" between 1862 and 1876; also published several
dramatic works primarily intended to be read, not acted, including Prince Lucifer
(1887) and his laureate piece England's Darling (1896) about Alfred the Great;
published several novels including Five Years of It (1858); critical works included
New and Old Canons in Criticism (1881), A Vindication of Tennyson (1885), and
The Bridling of Pegasus (1910); also published The Garden That I Love in 1894
(second series, 1907), and Autobiography in 1911; named Poet Laureate January
1, 1896.
SOUL, heart, and body, we thus singly name,
Are not in love divisible and distinct,
But each with each inseparably link'd.
One is not honour, and the other shame,
But burn as closely fused as fuel, heat, and flame.
They do not love who give the body and keep
The heart ungiven; nor they who yield the soul,
And guard the body. Love doth give the whole;
Its range being high as heaven, as ocean deep,
Wide as the realms of air or planet's curving sweep.
