The Dream of Gerontius

"Novissima hora est; and I fain would sleep, The pain has wearied me.... Into Thy hands, O Lord, into Thy hands...." Cardinal Newman's classic poetical account of the dying man's struggle, and his soul's subsequent descent into Purgatory, is here reissued by CBy in a comprehensive students' edition, featuring full annotations, metrical analysis and an introduction by Maurice Francis Egan, and a biographical note on the life of the author. Gerontius is primarily known today for the musical setting it inspired by Edward Elgar, but in this edition, stripped of the music, the beauty of Newman's verse is lain bare, with its universal messages of death, loss, and the eventual hope of redemption: "Farewell, but not for ever brother dear, Be brave and patient on thy bed of sorrow; Swiftly shall pass thy night of trial here, And I will come and wake thee on the morrow."