Past
(Golder Project subject term)
Represented in
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Signs of the Times in 1853 in The New Zealand Survey
- Thus soaping well the list’ning crowd; / He in their ears can bawl aloud, / “Oh! how I love the working man!”*— / Aye! love him?—Surely!—that’s the plan / To gain his flatter’d favours:—though / ’Tis on the hustings, a mere show, / Their special ends to gain!—and then
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Canto First in The New Zealand Survey
- “A picture is a poem without words,” / I’ve heard it said, or somewhere have it read; / But here, I see it,—aye, and something more! / I see in this, th’ imaginary past / Of strange romantic story, as a dream / Brought to reality,
- And Superstition fain would hide the head / Convinced of folly in its rigid rites / Of formal services, and outward show, / Where mammon more is served than Him who claims / The humble heart’s devotion as his due. / Come from a sterile soil, where stunted views / Of holy life but grovel upon earth, / And never can expand to heav’nly heights, / Nor peace nor charity extend to all / Who differ may in conscience from his rule; / He finds some strange misgivings in his heart, / As there, some voice for first to him reveal’d, / A deep impression makes, as ’twould declare / That with his former ideas of truth / Were mingled much of error!—such bestirs / Reflections on the history of the past / With sighings for the future, while he strives / To raze what habit long has rooted deep!
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Canto Third in The New Zealand Survey
- As mighty revolutions have occurred, / In ages long anterior to man, / And are transpiring even in his day, / So who can mark that finger which directs / In their occurrence, guiding to their end? / Or hear the fiat which commands them forth? / Him, whom all nature owns as sovereign Lord, / Whose word brought forth creation from the abyss / Of nothingness, reared high the ancient hills / Ere man was called to being; Him whose power / As efficacious now, as then, remains; / Yes, Him all nature readily obeys, / His plans beneficient will execute / For future good, by quick or slow degrees / As the appointments given!
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Lines — On hearing of the Demise of Dr. F. Logan, R.N., May 24, 1862, Aged 84 in The New Zealand Survey
- From youth I’ve loved society of the aged / Whose lives unite the history of my day / With the far past; whose tales have oft engaged
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Canto Fifth in The New Zealand Survey
- so that virtue well might reign / The source of all prosperity and peace! / The ultimate design of providence / In peopling earth, subduing desert wilds, / Is now in progress; where a clearing’s formed, / A good beginning’s seen, prelusively / Of happier events to be brought forth, / Though still in future hid; as harvests good, / Of plenteous return, are the results / Of industry in spring; so future things / Indicative of great events to come / In the still further future, are results / Of small beginnings buried in the past! / Thus ev’ry humble effort that’s put forth / In such a wilderness, to make a home, / That effort bears its own proportion to
- For bygone ages had their times of change, / Preparatory to some future plan / To be accomplished in its season due; / And, as the earth has first to be subdued / Ere man, its lord, can bring it to his use; / So now a mighty change is passing o’er / Those scenes; however slow may be its course, / Its progress, like the stealthy steps of time, / Is certain, with improvements in its train, / To tame this once unbroken wilderness / Of savage grandeur!
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In Memorium in The New Zealand Survey
- So cease invective! pour not out your rage / Of venom’d malice on his memory now: / Because in less enlighten’d times his lot / Had been forsooth, while many virtues lived / Within his heart, which had been better known / Had he enjoyed th’ improvements of this age!
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Stanzas — On hearing of the Sudden Demise of Mr. G. Copeland, on May 22, 1866, Aged 65 Years in The New Zealand Survey
- Colonial prestine wildness, truly / Can from the past his praise declare; / As he in his allotment, duly / Has done his part with special care! / That part which makes the desert drear, / To bud and blossom as the rose;
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Preface in The New Zealand Survey
- New Zealand is the land for scenery; such that contains a vast amount of grandeur and picturesque beauty; not only so, but it also contains much that prompts enquiring wonder, when first is seen its lofty ridges covered with evergreen forests, and its deep ravines from which issue its many purling brooks, all beckoning and inviting the reflective mind to go far into the past of time, there to witness scenic phenomina which language almost fails to describe.
- The hardy settler, under whose guidance such civilizing influences are introduced, displays a courage and energy more worthy the world’s esteem than all the exploits of Knights errant in the semi-barbaric ages of yore.
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Canto First in The New Zealand Survey
- Then oh! what words can lab’ring thoughts employ / T’express the feelings felt, or ev’n pourtray / Those scenes majestic passing in review / Before th’ imagination, as we aim / To trace their causes, from th’ effects produced?— / All stereotyped, and stamped indelibly / On Nature’s ample page! From such we dare / Bring forth to light, what long has lain concealed / In darkness—deeds now buried in the past, / As deep as those in far futurity, / The subject only of prophetic lore!— / But of the past, the Muse may dare unfold, / Such deeds, traced in the foot-prints of events, / Which have transpired, and long since passed away!
- Who may look back on unrecorded time, / And feel unawed at the momentous view; / When nothing but what is sublimely great / Unfolds itself in every phase and form?—
- Such thing excite to speculations deep, / As drawing back the curtains of the past, / Declaring what was secret to all ken!
- Thus where the waters have scooped furrows deep / In cultivated soil, as well as where / The river’s banks are broke, like some wild freak / Of Nature’s fancy, will some mystery strange / Itself discover, in some buried tree,
- like a courier, on the wings of time, / Th’ imagination’s borne, and carried far / Into the past in vision, there to see / As by the starlight, things in darkness hid:
- Nature’s interpreters, if Poets be, / While on their souls, as clearly photographed / Her features are,—a real image fair / Reflected, as if in a mirror’s sheen / Men see their likeness chastely shewn, and true,—
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Canto Second in The New Zealand Survey
- how much the works of industry / Must have increased, and those, how much improved, / As one age on another has advanced; / So the barbarian here is skill displays / According as necessities would urge, / Though somewhat rude compared to what is shewn / By the sage artizan, yet much is seen / That might surpass th’ adept would means allow, / As proof that he’s a unit of our race!—
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Canto Second in The New Zealand Survey
- Now looking round contemplating the scene / As it before me lies—combined with what / Is farther known, more than is here discerned:— / All speak of revolutions in the past!
- So here, though clothed in Nature’s vernal robes / This scene delightful, calling forth our praise, / And admiration, still, all speak of change / And revolutions buried in the past; / But which oblivion fails such things to veil, / Though such might ’scape the less enquiring eye / That doats on beauty, willing to admire!
- At such a time, this island’s loftiest peaks / From now-styled Egmont, to Kaikoura’s range / Or other alpine ranges, where they rear / Their summits to the clouds, all nameless then; / With ev’ry other hill like those around, / Were—what?—but mere embryos, all unseen / As closed within a womb!—were all immersed
- Allowing all free scope for rolling seas, / Along that space yet destined to become / A scene of strange convulsions, when in birth / Old ocean must bring forth another isle; / One, yet to rise to eminent renown!
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Canto Fourth in The New Zealand Survey
- As science, now, strange secrets would reveal / In other ancient countries, which bespeak / Creative wisdom, and omniscient care, / With forethought unmistaken in its aim; / In other instances than only one, / Are manifest as shewn in changes wrought / Upon creations structure, in the lapse / Of untold ages, not to be o’erlooked, / Recorded all in Nature’s archives, which / Depositories prove of what has been; / For plants now found extinct are buried deep / In earth’s dark bosom, petrified, and changed / To other solid substances, the work / Of wond’rous revolutions long ere man / Was known to have existence; while their place, / And high above the stratum, they enjoyed, / Another race of vegetation fills!—
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To a Mountain Daisy in The New Zealand Survey
- ’Tis well to look upon the past, / Recounting trials triumphed over; / Dispelling glooms that would o’ercast / The mind, and thus its peace recover!
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The Two Guides in The New Zealand Survey
- But ah! to be recall’d the past / Can never, to reverse old choosings! / There’s where the misery lies, to last / Eternally, with painful musings!— / (Unless we can obtain in time, / That aid which cancels all past errors, / And to the soul gives peace sublime, / With heav’n-like joys displacing terrors)—
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Canto Fifth in The Philosophy of Love. [A Plea in Defence of Virtue and Truth!] A Poem in Six Cantos, with Other Poems
- Thus, forward to life’s close, on earth, they look,
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Canto Fourth in The Philosophy of Love. [A Plea in Defence of Virtue and Truth!] A Poem in Six Cantos, with Other Poems
- —Thus did she find employment, both at home, / And round the neighbourhood; such aptly fit / To smooth th’ asperities of her own lot;
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New Year Salutations, for 1863 in The Philosophy of Love. [A Plea in Defence of Virtue and Truth!] A Poem in Six Cantos, with Other Poems
- ’Tis well to glance back on the paths we have travell’d, / To see where we’ve err’d, or have faild to take heed; / That future enigmas may soon get unrevall’d, / Which puzzling may seem; and so aid to succeed!
- Good things of the past, bespeak much for the future, / Though nought of self merit in them may claim: / For, ’tis all of grace; in the act, and its nature, / We’re only mere agents unworthy of fame! / What gift is conferr’d on us, may we improve it; / ’Twas not to lie idle, or put to abuse!— / Where energy’s roused, Heaven’s aid will approve it, / And joy shall result to our souls’ special use!
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Inspiration in The Philosophy of Love. [A Plea in Defence of Virtue and Truth!] A Poem in Six Cantos, with Other Poems
- His eye turn’d on the bubbling brook, which dimpling flow’d along / Between two flow’ry banks, he felt enamour’d with its song; / He heard its language, once unknown, in all its strains sublime; / And saw, in ceaseless rapid flow, the mighty course of Time! / Above the bridge, he saw pourtray’d time future coming on; / And there, beneath, at once discern’d time present,— past, anon. / Nay, whence the stream, and where it goes, as hid from straining eyes, / He there descried emphaticly, two vast Eternities.— / No better theme could him engage than the instructive brook; / Employment gladly got his pen, and soon he fill’d his book!
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A Lay on Wanganui in The Philosophy of Love. [A Plea in Defence of Virtue and Truth!] A Poem in Six Cantos, with Other Poems
- Aye then what grand improvements due, / Will on thine aspect be impress’d: / Thy present worthiness, most true, / Shall thus in future be confess’d!
- But from such footprints would we trace / The his’try of the past profound; / So, let the Muse, with humble grace, / The record, thus descried, expound:
- Reverting yet to ages past, / When upland plains around were clad / With prestine forests, dense and vast; / All not in man’s remembrance had. / Of which, appearances around / Are silent; as the tales of yore / Held secret,—mystery profound,— / As none were privileged such t’ explore! / But plougmen now, those lands who, till, / Find oft their plough-shares stick upon / Some vestage tree-roots left, whieh still / Would testify of forests gone!
- In times of yore ore man was cast / A wreck upon this southern isle, / Would forests grace these prairies vast; / And in their ever verdure smile:
Searching
For several reasons, including lack of resource and inherent ambiguity, not all names in the NZETC are marked-up. This means that finding all references to a topic often involves searching. Search for Past as: "Past". Additional references are often found by searching for just the main name of the topic (the surname in the case of people).
Other Collections
The following collections may have holdings relevant to "Past":
- Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, which has entries for many prominent New Zealanders.
- Archives New Zealand, which has collections of maps, plans and posters; immigration passenger lists; and probate records.
- National Library of New Zealand, which has extensive collections of published material.
- Auckland War Memorial Museum, which has extensive holdings on the Auckland region and New Zealand military history.
- Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, which has strong holdings in Tāonga Māori, biological holotypes and New Zealand art.
- nzhistory.net.nz, from the History Group of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.