Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79.
Tasso’s Dungeon
By Richard Chenevix Trench (1807–1886)H
With nothing upon which his eyes might fall,
Except this vacant court, that dreary wall,—
How might he live? I asked. Here doomed to dwell,
I marvel how at all he could repel
Thoughts which to madness and despair would call.
Enter this vault; the bare sight will appall
Thy spirit, even as mine within me fell,
Until I learned that wall not always there
Had stood,—’t was something that this iron grate
Had once looked out upon a garden fair.
There must have been then here, to calm his brain,
Green leaves, and flowers, and sunshine;—and a weight
Fell from me, and my heart revived again.