To a Missing Member of a Family Group of Terms in an Algebraical Formula

James Joseph Sylvester — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 12:07:00 +0000

Lone and discarded one! divorced by fate,
From thy wished-for fellows-whither art flown?
Where lingerest thou in thy bereaved estate,
Like some lost star, or buried meteor stone?
Thou mindst me much of that presumptuous one
Who loth, aught less than greatest, to be great,
From Heavens immensity fell headlong down
To live forlorn, self-centred, desolate:
Or who, new Heraklid, hard exile bore,
Now buoyed by hope, now stretched on rack of fear,
Till throned Astræa, wafting to his ear
Works of dim portent through the Atlantic roar,
Bade him “the sanctuary of the Muse revere
And strew with flame the dust of Isis shore.”

Read more: “Victorian scientists’ poetry: An anthology“

James Joseph Sylvester, Author at New Scientist

To a Missing Member of a Family Group of Terms in an Algebraical Formula