Category: Poetry

Thalaba the Destroyer

This edition first published 1991 by Woodstock Books Spelsbury House, Spelsbury, Oxford OX7 3JR and Woodstock Books Wordsworth Trust America Department of English, City College Convent Ave and 138th St, New York, N.Y. 10031

Chapters

16. Part 16

[81] On the road we passed the skeleton of a camel, which now and then happens in the desert. These are poor creatures that have perished with fatigue: for those which are kille...

21. Part 21

The balsam tree is nearly of the same size as a sprig of myrtle, and its leaves are like those of the herb sweet-marjoram. Vipers take up their residence about these plants, and...

12. Part 12

[9] Mecca was thus called. Mohammed destroyed the other superstitions of the Arabs, but he was obliged to adopt their old and rooted veneration for the Well and the Black Stone,...

20. Part 20

On the tenth day they said one mass in the chapel where the body was laid, in order to drive out the Demon which they imagined was got into it. After mass they took up the body,...

15. Part 15

It has been remarked, in speaking of the climate of Morocco, that the young locusts are those which are the most mischievous; and that it seems almost impossible to rid the land...

19. Part 19

[136] In the N. E. parts of Persia there was an old man named Aloadin, a Mahumetan, which had inclosed a goodly vally, situate between two hilles, and furnished it with all vari...

14. Part 14

[51] I was much amused by observing the dexterity of the Arab women in baking their bread. They have a small place built with clay, between two and three feet high, having a hol...

22. Part 22

The nature of this tree is not to elevate its trunk, or the part between the root and the first branches; for the largest Cedars which we saw did not in the height of their trun...

17. Part 17

[91] On the other side of the river towards Arabia, over against the city, there is a faire place or towne, and in it a faire Bazario for marchants, with very many lodgings wher...

13. Part 13

[30] The Tamarind is equally useful and agreable, it has a pulp of a vineous taste, of which a wholesome refreshing liquor is prepared, its shade shelters houses from the torrid...

11. Part 11

He tarried not,... he past The threshold, over which was no return. All earthly thoughts, all human hopes And passions now put off, He cast no backward glance Towards the gleam...

18. Part 18

[109] In travelling by night thro' the vallies of Mount Ephraim, we were attended, for above the space of an hour, with an Ignis Fatuus, that displayed itself in a variety of ex...

9. Part 9

Then Maimuna grew pale, as thro the bars She saw the Martyr pendant by the feet, His gold locks hanging downwards, and she cried, "This is my Sister's deed! "O Thalaba, for us,...

3. Part 3

Such cursed men there are upon the earth, In league and treaty with the Evil powers, The covenanted enemies of God And of all good, dear purchase have they made Of rule, and ric...

7. Part 7

Joy at the welcome tale Shone in the Sultan's cheek "Array the Arab in the robe "Of honour," he exclaimed, "And place a chain of gold around his neck, "And bind around his brow...

4. Part 4

'Tis a history Handed from ages down; the nurses make it A tale to please their children, And as their garrulous ignorance relates We learn it and believe ... but all things fee...

8. Part 8

With spreading arms she whirls around Rapidly, rapidly Ever around and around; And loudly she calls the while "Eblis! Eblis!" Loudly, incessantly, Still she calls "Eblis! Eblis!...

2. Part 2

"Then stood the Prophet up and cried aloud, "Woe, woe, to Irem! woe to Ad! "DEATH is gone up into her palaces! "Woe! woe! a day of guilt and punishment, "A day of desolation!" "...

6. Part 6

This was a wild and wonderous scene, Strange and beautiful, as where By Oton-tala, like a sea[111] of stars, The hundred sources of Hoangho burst. High mountains closed the vale...

10. Part 10

The Arabian youth knelt down, And bowed his forehead to the ground And made his evening prayer. When he arose the stars were bright in heaven, The sky was blue, and the cold Moo...

1. Part 1

This edition first published 1991 by Woodstock Books Spelsbury House, Spelsbury, Oxford OX7 3JR and Woodstock Books Wordsworth Trust America Department of English, City College...

5. Part 5

Then Pomp and Pleasure dwelt within her walls The Merchants of the East and of the West Met in her arched[90] Bazars; All day the active poor Showered a cool comfort o'er her th...

23. Part 23

2. The cross of St. Thomas in Urbe Malipuritana (Masulipatan) in the E. Indies. A Bramin, as the Saint was extended upon his cross in prayer, slew him. On the anniversary of his...