Most Read... John McAuliffeBill Manhire in Conversation with John McAuliffe
(PN Review 259)
Patricia CraigVal Warner: A Reminiscence
(PN Review 259)
Eavan BolandA Lyric Voice at Bay
(PN Review 121)
Joshua WeinerAn Exchange with Daniel Tiffany/Fall 2020
(PN Review 259)
Vahni CapildeoOn Judging Prizes, & Reading More than Six Really Good Books
(PN Review 237)
Christopher MiddletonNotes on a Viking Prow
(PN Review 10)
Next Issue Kirsty Gunn re-arranges the world John McAuliffe reads Seamus Heaney's letters and translations Chris Price's 'Songs of Allegiance' David Herman on Aharon Appelfeld Victoria Moul on Christopher Childers compendious Greek and Latin Lyric Book Philip Terry again answers the question, 'What is Poetry'
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
Reader Survey
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 3, Volume 4 Number 3, April - June 1978.

In Malignant Times Clive Wilmer

'Within this hollow vault here rests the frame
Of that high soul which late informed the same,
Torn from the service of the state in prime
By a disease malignant as the time,
Whose life and death designed no other end
Than to serve God, his country and his friend,
Who when ambition, tyranny and pride
Conquered the age, conquered himself and died.'
Anon. Epitaph for James Rivers (died 1641) in the church of St Bartholomew, Smithfield.

1. In Time of Civil War

A Doctor: for the Time's disease
He knew no cure: though he could ease
This mind's unrest, that body's pain.
The makeshift home where he was sane
Housed tranquil dignity, that bore
Sober mistrust for Holy War.
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image