2-913-551 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Hood Memorial Relief - "The Dream of Eugene Aram", 1854. Detail on monument commemorating poet Thomas Hood in Kensal Green Cemetery, London. Medallion illustrating '...Hood's fine poem...there is a terrible moral conveyed: the observer is made to feel, by the whole character and bearing of the principal figure, that "Woe, woe, unutterable woe", is the sure fate of those who spill "life's sacred stream". The haggard countenance and the shuddering aspect of Eugene Aram powerfully portray the dread workings of a guilty conscience: "The crimson clouds before his eyes, The flames about his brain; For blood has left upon his soul, Its everlasting stain". In striking contrast to the mental agony depicted in this figure, are the studious boy lying near, and the happy children released from school playing in the distance'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.