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diff --git a/old/13535.txt b/old/13535.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ff36c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13535.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4057 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Selections from Five English Poets, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Selections from Five English Poets + +Author: Various + +Release Date: September 27, 2004 [EBook #13535] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SELECTIONS FROM FIVE ENGLISH POETS *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + +SELECTIONS FROM + +FIVE ENGLISH POETS + + +EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES + + + +BY + +MARY E. LITCHFIELD + + + + + +1902 + + + + +CONTENTS + +INTRODUCTION + + I. DRYDEN + A SONG FOR ST. CECILIA'S DAY + + II. GRAY + ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD + + III. GOLDSMITH + THE TRAVELLER + THE DESERTED VILLAGE + + IV. BURNS + THE COTTER'S SATURDAY NIGHT + + V. COLERIDGE + THE ANCIENT MARINER + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +When a poem is read aloud it is easy to realize that poetry is closely +related to music. Like music it awakens vague, mysterious feelings +which cannot be expressed in ordinary speech; and the person who fails +to catch the subtle melody of a poem gets but little from it even +though he understands perfectly the meaning of the words. To illustrate +this, put into commonplace prose a passage of beautiful verse,--for +instance, lines 358-372 of _The Ancient Mariner_, beginning, "Sometimes +a-dropping from the sky,"--and then compare the prose version with the +original. The two will be found as unlike as the flower after it has +been dissected by the botanist, and the same flower still on the stalk, +opening its petals to the morning sun. + +The Greeks divided all poetry into three kinds,--lyric, epic, and +dramatic poetry, and there is no better general division. The lyric, +which is properly a song, expresses the transient feeling or mood of +the writer, and therefore is never very long. One must be sensitive to +the music of verse to care for a poem of this kind, because it tells no +story. Dryden's _Song for St. Cecilia's Day_ and Gray's _Elegy_, both +included in the present volume, are lyrics. Among the most beautiful +of English lyrics are Milton's _Lycidas_, Wordsworth's _Ode on +Intimations of Immortality_, and Shelley's _To a Skylark_ and +_Adonais_; while of American poems of the same kind none is nobler than +Lowell's _Commemoration Ode_. Short lyrics, among which are songs and +sonnets, can be found in the works of almost every poet of note, +whether English or American. Under the head of epic or narrative +poetry are included long productions like the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_ +of Homer and the _Paradise Lost_ of Milton, and shorter poems, such as +Coleridge's _Ancient Mariner_ and _Longfellow's _Evangeline_. Indeed, +every piece of verse that tells a story, however short it may be, +belongs with the epics or narratives. Dramatic poetry includes +well-known plays like Shakespeare's _Merchant of Venice_ and _Julius +Caesar_, and also certain poems not written for the stage, such as +Browning's _Pippa Passes_ and Shelley's _Prometheus Unbound_. In a +dramatic production the poet goes out of himself for the time being, +and expresses the thoughts and feelings of other characters. + +It may have been noticed that in this description of the principal +kinds of poetry, only three of the poems included in this book have +been mentioned. This is because the other three--_The Traveller_, _The +Deserted Village_, and _The Cotter's Saturday Night_--do not fit +exactly into any of the divisions. One would class them with the epics +rather than with the lyrics or the dramas, but they are not properly +narratives, because they tell no story; they are really descriptive and +reflective poems. One often comes upon a difficulty of this kind when +attempting to classify a poem, and the truth is that several smaller +divisions are necessary if every production is to be placed where it +belongs. But while it is desirable to know whether one is reading a +lyric, an epic, or a drama, it is far more important to enjoy a +beautiful poem than to be able properly to classify it. + +The following list may prove useful to those who wish to know more of +the poets represented in this volume than can be learned from the short +sketches of their lives which it includes: + +J. R. Green: _Short History of the English People_; Stopford Brooke: +_English Literature_; Frederick Ryland: _Chronological Outlines of +English Literature_; Edmund Gosse: _A History of Eighteenth-Century +Literature_; _Dictionary of National Biography_ (British); G. +Saintsbury: _Dryden_ (English Men of Letters Series); James Russell +Lowell: essay on Dryden in _Among my Books_, vol. i; W. L. Phelps: +_Gray_ (Athenaeum Press Series); Matthew Arnold: essay on Gray in +_Essays in Criticism_, second series; James Russell Lowell: essay on +Gray in _Latest Literary Essays_; Austin Dobson: _Life of Goldsmith_ +(Great Writers Series), William Black: _Goldsmith_ (E. M. L. Series); +J. C. Shairp: _Burns_ (E. M. L. Series); Thomas Carlyle: essay on +Burns in _Critical and Miscellaneous Essays_, and [Burns] "The Hero as +Man of Letters" in _Heroes and Hero Worship_; H. D. Traill: +_Coleridge_ (E. M. L. Series); T. Hall Caine: _Life of Coleridge_ +(Great Writers Series); J. C. Shairp: "Coleridge as Poet and +Philosopher" in _Studies in Poetry and Philosophy_; James Russell +Lowell: "Address in Westminster Abbey, 7th May, 1885" [Coleridge], in +_Democracy and Other Essays_; A. C. Swinburne; _Essays and Studies_; +Walter Pater: "Coleridge," in _Appreciations_. + + + + +FIVE ENGLISH POETS + + +JOHN DRYDEN + +1631-1700 + +Although Dryden is but little read in these days, he fills an important +place in the history of English literature. As the foremost writer of +the last third of the seventeenth century, he is the connecting link +between Milton, "the last of the Elizabethans," and Pope, the chief +poet of the age of Queen Anne. He was born in Northamptonshire, and +had the good fortune to live in the country until his thirteenth year, +when he was sent to the famous Westminster School, in what is now the +heart of London. A few years after finishing his course at Cambridge +University he went back to London, and lived there chiefly during the +rest of his long and busy life. At the age of thirty-nine he was made +poet-laureate and historiographer-royal, although his best work was not +done until after he was fifty years old. From Milton's death, 1674, +until his own in 1700, "Glorious John," as he was called, reigned +without a rival in English letters; and one can picture him as a short, +stout, somewhat ruddy-faced gentleman, sitting in Will's Coffee House +surrounded by younger authors who vie with one another for the honor of +a pinch out of his snuffbox. He died at the age of sixty-nine, and was +buried in the Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, near Chaucer and +Cowley. + +Dryden is often called "the first of the moderns." This is because he +was one of the earliest to write clear, strong English prose, and +because as a poet he was thoughtful and brilliant rather than highly +imaginative. Lowell says of him: "He had, beyond most, the gift of the +right word. . . . In ripeness of mind and bluff heartiness of +expression he takes rank with the best." Beside prose works and dramas +he wrote poems of many kinds, including translations and paraphrases. +His satires are unrivaled. The finest is, perhaps, the first part of +_Absalom and Achitophel_. He is now best known by two lyric poems, +_Alexander's Feast_ and the _Song for St. Cecilia's Day_; while his +_Palamon and Arcite_, a paraphrase of Chaucer's _Knightes Tale_, still +delights the reader who cares for a good story in verse. + + + +A SONG FOR ST. CECILIA'S DAY + + 1 + + From harmony,[1] from heavenly harmony + This universal frame[2] began. + When Nature underneath a heap + Of jarring atoms lay, + And could not heave her head, 5 + The tuneful voice was heard from high: + "Arise, ye more than dead!" + Then cold and hot and moist and dry + In order to their stations leap, + And Music's power obey. 10 + From harmony, from heavenly harmony + This universal frame began; + From harmony to harmony + Through all the compass of the notes it ran, + The diapason closing full in Man.[3] 15 + + + 2 + + What passion cannot Music raise and quell? + When Jubal[4] struck the corded shell,[5] + His list'ning brethren stood around, + And, wond'ring, on their faces fell + To worship that celestial sound, 20 + Less than a god they thought there could not dwell + Within the hollow of that shell + That spoke so sweetly and so well. + What passion cannot Music raise and quell? + + + 3 + + The trumpet's loud clangor 25 + Excites us to arms, + With shrill notes of anger + And mortal alarms.[6] + The double double double beat + Of the thundering drum 30 + Cries, "Hark, the foes come! + Charge, charge, 't is too late to retreat!" + + + 4 + + The soft complaining flute + In dying notes discovers[7] + The woes of hopeless lovers, 35 + Whose dirge is whispered by the warbling lute. + + + 5 + + Sharp violins proclaim + Their jealous pangs and desperation, + Fury, frantic indignation, + Depth of pains and height of passion, 40 + For the fair disdainful dame. + + + 6 + + But oh! what art can teach, + What human voice can reach + The sacred organ's praise? + Notes inspiring holy love, 45 + Notes that wing their heavenly ways + To mend[8] the choirs above. + + + 7 + + Orpheus[9] could lead the savage race, + And trees unrooted left their place, + Sequacious of the lyre; 50 + But bright Cecilia raised the wonder higher: + When to her organ vocal breath was given, + An angel heard, and straight[10] appeared-- + Mistaking earth for heaven. + + + GRAND CHORUS + + As from the power of sacred lays 55 + The spheres began to move, + And sung the great Creator's praise + To all the blest above: + So, when the last and dreadful hour[11] + This crumbling pageant shall devour, 60 + The trumpet shall be heard on high, + The dead shall live, the living die, + And Music shall untune the sky. + + +NOTE.--Dryden wrote this song in 1687 for the festival of St. Cecilia, +the patron saint of music. To be appreciated it must be read aloud, +for it is full of musical effects, especially stanzas 3-6. St. Cecilia +has been represented by Raphael and other artists as playing upon some +instrument, surrounded by listening angels. + + +[1.] From harmony, etc. Some of the ancients believed that music +helped in the creation of the heavenly bodies, and that their motions +were accompanied by a harmony known as "the music of the spheres." + +[2.] This universal frame, the visible universe. + +[3.] The diapason, etc. _The diapason_ means here _the entire compass +of tones_. The idea is that in man, the highest of God's creatures, +are included all the virtues and powers of the lower creation. + +[4.] Jubal. It is said of Jubal: "He was the father of all such as +handle the harp and organ."--Genesis iv, 21. + +[5.] The corded shell, _i.e._ the lyre. The first lyre was supposed to +have been formed by drawing strings over a tortoise shell. + +[6.] Mortal alarms, _i.e._ notes that rouse men to deadly conflict. + +[7.] Discovers, reveals. + +[8.] Mend, amend, improve. + +[9.] Orpheus is said to have been a Thracian poet who moved rocks and +trees and tamed wild beasts by playing upon his lyre. + +[10.] Straight, straightway, immediately. + +[11.] The last and dreadful hour, the Day of Judgment. + + + + +THOMAS GRAY + +1716-1771 + +In speaking of Gray, some one has said that no other writer has come +down to posterity with such a small book under his arm; and to this may +be added the statement that every piece in his book shows careful +finish. His fame rests mainly on three poems: the _Elegy_, _The +Progress of Poesy_, and _The Bard_. Of these the _Elegy_ is by far the +most popular, because it expresses in simple and beautiful language +sentiments which appeal to all, whatever their condition. + +In character Gray was high-minded, and in temperament reserved and shy. +It is said that after he was acknowledged to be the greatest poet +living in England, people used to watch eagerly for a glimpse of him; +but he usually managed to elude them and to slip away unnoticed. His +sensitiveness may have been due in part to the fact that his health was +delicate and that he was much alone when a child--for all his brothers +and sisters died in infancy. Although unfortunate in his father, he +was blessed with a devoted mother, who by her exertions enabled him to +go to Cambridge University. It is pleasant to know that he warmly +returned her love and that he now rests by her side in the churchyard +at Stoke Poges, which is always associated with the _Elegy_. On her +tomb he placed the inscription "--mother of many children, one of whom +alone had the misfortune to survive her." Gray's friends were warmly +attached to him. With one of them, Horace Walpole, the well-known +author and collector, he traveled on the continent soon after leaving +the university; and although they quarreled and separated the +friendship was renewed later. Gray never married. In 1742 he returned +to Cambridge and lived there during the rest of his life, with the +exception of two years spent in London. After he became famous the +laureateship was offered to him, but his dislike of publicity caused +him to refuse it. In 1768 he was made Professor of Modern History and +Languages at Cambridge. All his life he was a student; indeed he was +the most learned of the English poets, except possibly Milton. In some +respects he was in advance of his age. He appreciated certain kinds of +poetry that no one else liked in his time, and he cared greatly for +wild nature. In these days, when almost every one loves rugged +mountains and remote regions by the sea, it is hard to realize that +there ever was a time when most persons preferred to look upon trim or +even stiff gardens or the cultivated grounds of a country seat; but +such was the case. Gray's admiration for wild nature comes out in his +prose, especially in his letters, and in his _Journal in the Lakes_ +written in 1769; but later writers, Wordsworth above all, have +expressed the same feeling in delightful verse. + +As a poet Gray stands for beauty of form rather than for depth of +thought or breadth of sympathy. He is first of all an artist, and his +poems are among the most perfect in the English language. + + + + ELEGY + + WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD + + The curfew[1] tolls the knell of parting day, + The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea, + The plowman homeward plods his weary way, + And leaves the world to darkness and to me. + + Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, 5 + And all the air a solemn stillness holds, + Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, + And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds; + + Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tow'r + The moping owl does to the moon complain 10 + Of such, as wand'ring near her secret bow'r, + Molest her ancient solitary reign. + + Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, + Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap, + Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, 15 + The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. + + The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn,[2] + The swallow twitt'ring from the straw-built shed, + The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn, + No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed. 20 + + For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, + Or busy housewife ply her evening care; + No children run to lisp their sire's return, + Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share. + + Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, 25 + Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe[3] has broke; + How jocund did they drive their team afield! + How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke! + + Let not Ambition mock their useful toil, + Their homely joys, and destiny obscure; 30 + Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile + The short and simple annals of the poor. + + The boast of heraldry,[4] the pomp of pow'r, + And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, + Awaits alike th' inevitable hour. 35 + The paths of glory lead but to the grave. + + Nor you, ye Proud, impute to these the fault, + If Mem'ry o'er their tomb no trophies raise, + Where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault[5] + The pealing anthem swells the note of praise. 40 + + Can storied urn[6] or animated[7] bust + Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? + Can Honour's voice provoke[8] the silent dust, + Or Flatt'ry sooth the dull cold ear of Death? + + Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid 45 + Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; + Hands that the rod of empire might have swayed, + Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre. + + But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page + Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll; 50 + Chill Penury repressed their noble rage, + And froze the genial current of the soul. + + Full many a gem of purest ray serene[9] + The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear: + Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 55 + And waste its sweetness on the desert air. + + Some village-Hampden,[10] that with dauntless breast, + The little Tyrant of his fields withstood, + Some mute inglorious Milton[11] here may rest, + Some Cromwell[12] guiltless of his country's blood. 60 + + Th' applause of list'ning senates to command, + The threats of pain and ruin to despise, + To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land, + And read their hist'ry in a nation's eyes, + + Their lot forbade: nor circumscribed alone 65 + Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined; + Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne, + And shut the gates of mercy on mankind, + + The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide, + To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame, 70 + Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride + With incense kindled at the Muse's flame. + + Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, + Their sober wishes never learned to stray; + Along the cool sequestered vale of life 75 + They kept the noiseless tenor of their way. + + Yet ev'n these bones from insult to protect, + Some frail memorial still[13] erected nigh, + With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture decked, + Implores the passing tribute of a sigh. 80 + + Their name, their years, spelt by th' unlettered Muse,[14] + The place of fame and elegy supply: + And many a holy text around she strews, + That teach the rustic moralist to die. + + For who, to dumb Forgetfulness a prey, 85 + This pleasing anxious being e'er resigned, + Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, + Nor cast one longing, ling'ring look behind? + + On some fond breast the parting soul relies, + Some pious drops the closing eye requires; 90 + Ev'n from the tomb the voice of Nature cries, + Ev'n in our ashes live their wonted fires. + + For thee, who mindful of th' unhonored Dead[15] + Dost in these lines their artless tale relate; + If chance,[16] by lonely Contemplation led, 95 + Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate, + + Haply some hoary-headed swain[17] may say, + "Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn + Brushing with hasty steps the dews away, + To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.[18] 100 + + "There at the foot of yonder nodding beech, + That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high, + His listless length at noontide would he stretch, + And pore upon the brook that babbles by. + + "Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn, 105 + Mutt'ring his wayward fancies he would rove; + Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn, + Or crazed with care, or crossed in hopeless love. + + "One morn I missed him on the customed hill, + Along the heath and near his fav'rite tree; 110 + Another came; nor yet beside the rill, + Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he; + + "The next, with dirges due in sad array + Slow thro' the church-way path we saw him borne. + Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay 115 + Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn." + + + THE EPITAPH + + Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth, + A youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown. + Fair Science[19] frowned not on his humble birth, + And Melancholy marked him for her own. 120 + + Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere, + Heav'n did a recompense as largely send: + He gave to Mis'ry all he had, a tear, + He gained from Heaven ('t was all he wished) a friend. + + No farther seek his merits to disclose, 125 + Or draw his frailties from their dread abode, + (There they alike in trembling hope repose,) + The bosom of his Father and his God. + + + +NOTE.--The _Elegy_ was finished at Stoke Poges in 1750, when the poet +was thirty-four years old. It was so popular that one edition followed +quickly upon another, and it was even translated into foreign languages. + +Notice that throughout the poem the lines are of equal length, each +consisting of five feet or measures, and that in a stanza the alternate +lines rhyme. + + +[1.] The curfew was an evening bell which originally warned people to +cover their fires, put out their lights, and go to bed. It was +instituted in England after the Norman Conquest. The word comes from +the French _couvrir_ (cover) and _feu_ (fire). + +[2.] Incense-breathing Morn. The poet regards the morning as a person; +that is, he personifies morning. Personification is seldom used now, +but the eighteenth-century poets delighted in it. It is frequently +employed in this poem. + +[3.] Glebe, soil, ground. + +[4.] The boast of heraldry, _i.e._ whatever has to do with high rank or +pride of birth. + +[5.] Where through the long-drawn aisle, etc. It was the custom to +bury the poorer people of a village in the churchyard, and the rich or +high-born in the church. + +[6.] Storied urn. Funeral urns such as were used by the ancients were +frequently decorated with scenes from the life of the deceased. + +[7.] Animated, _i.e._ life-like. + +[8.] Provoke, call forth, call back to life. + +[9.] Full many a gem, etc. One of the best-known stanzas in English +poetry. + +[10.] Village-Hampden. John Hampden was an English patriot who refused +to pay taxes levied by the king without the consent of Parliament, and +who died in 1643 from a wound received while fighting for the liberties +of England. + +[11.] Milton. John Milton (1608-1674), the author of _Paradise Lost_, +is generally ranked as the greatest English poet after Shakespeare. + +[12.] Cromwell. Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), the famous Protector, is +now regarded by historians in general as one of the foremost champions +of English liberty. + +[13.] Still, always. + +[14.] Th' unlettered Muse. In Greek mythology the Muses were nine +goddesses who presided over the arts and sciences, song, and the +different kinds of poetry. The true poet was supposed to be inspired +by them. Gray imagines a new kind of Muse who inspires the writers of +crude epitaphs. + +[15.] For thee, who mindful, etc. Gray refers to himself as the writer +of this poem. + +[16.] Chance, perchance. + +[17.] Swain, countryman. By _swain_ the poets usually mean a country +gallant or lover. + +[18.] Lawn, a cleared place in a wood, not cultivated. Now, of course, +the word always means grassland near a house which is kept closely cut. + +[19.] Science, knowledge in general, not natural science only. + + + + +OLIVER GOLDSMITH + +1728-1774 + +Goldsmith was born in Pallas, an out-of-the-way hamlet in Longford +County, Ireland, where his father, the curate, was looked upon as +"passing rich, with forty pounds a year." Not long after, the family +removed to Lissoy, in the County of Westmeath, where they lived in much +comfort. Here Oliver passed his childhood and youth, and it is +doubtless to Lissoy that his thoughts returned when he wrote of "Sweet +Auburn, loveliest village of the plain." As a boy he had his share of +troubles. In school he was pronounced "a stupid, heavy blockhead," and +he was often made sport of by his companions on account of his awkward +figure and his homely face, pitted with the smallpox. In his +eighteenth year he entered Trinity College, Dublin, as a sizar, that +is, a poor student who pays in part for his tuition by doing certain +kinds of work. After four years devoted to study--spiced with a good +deal of fun--he graduated at the foot of his class. + +At twenty-one he showed no special bent. For a while he lived with his +mother, now a widow, and idled his time away with gay companions. +After being refused a position in the church, he resolved to try +teaching; but this occupation proved so little to his taste that he +decided to give it up and study medicine. With the help of a generous +uncle he entered the medical school at Edinburgh, leaving Ireland never +to return. At the end of a year and a half he concluded that foreign +travel would do more for him than a longer stay in Scotland. His uncle +sent him twenty pounds, and with this he reached Leyden, where, if he +possibly attended a few lectures, he certainly associated with wild +companions who helped him to get rid of his money. Having succeeded in +borrowing a small sum, he was about to leave Leyden, when in a +florist's garden he saw a rare, high-priced flower which he felt sure +would delight his kind uncle, who was an enthusiast in flower culture. +Without a thought of his own needs he ran in, bought a parcel of the +roots, and sent them off to Ireland; then, with a guinea in his pocket, +he started on his travels. Although his uncle may have sent him small +sums occasionally, it is not easy to see how he managed to wander as he +did from country to country. It is said that he paid his way among the +peasants by flute playing, and that he returned the hospitality of +convents by disputing on learned subjects; but these stories are +doubtless fictitious. One thing is certain, he arrived in London in +February, 1756, having reached the age of twenty-eight, with a medical +degree, but with no money in his pocket. + +For two years he lived in the great city poor and unknown. He was in +turn apothecary's assistant, poor physician, proof-reader, usher in a +"classical school," and hack writer. At last, almost discouraged, he +decided to obtain if possible the position of factory surgeon on the +Coromandel coast, in India. He failed to get the place, and was also +unsuccessful in his efforts to pass the examination at Surgeon's Hall +for the humble post of hospital mate. + +At this point there was a turn in the tide of his fortunes. While +seeking employment as a physician, he had been engaged upon a work +called _Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe_, +and with its publication in 1759 his career as an author began. His +essays, which appeared in numerous magazines, brought him into further +notice, especially a series collected later under the title, _The +Citizen of the World_. In 1764 he became a member of Dr. Johnson's +famous "Literary Club" that met at the "Turk's Head." It was to +Johnson that he once said, alluding to his heavy style,--"If you were +to make little fishes talk, they would talk like whales." But there +was no malice in this remark, for the doctor was one of his stanch +friends. Among the other nine original members of the club were Sir +Joshua Reynolds, the artist, and Edmund Burke, the noted statesman. +Before long _The Traveller_ and _The Deserted Village_ gave Goldsmith a +foremost place among the poets of the time, and _The Vicar of +Wakefield_, published in 1776, brought him fame as a novelist. This +book remains to-day, after the lapse of nearly a century and a half, +one of the most widely read of English novels. Two comedies, _The +Good-natured Man_ and _She Stoops to Conquer_, complete the list of his +well-known works, while he wrote many others that were enjoyed by his +contemporaries. He died of a fever at the age of forty-six, and was +buried in the burial ground of the Temple Church. Two years later a +monument was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey. + +This short sketch of Goldsmith's life makes it clear that he lacked +strength of character and was wanting also in practical wisdom. Even +after he became a successful author his extravagance kept him poor, and +he died largely in debt. Many stories are told illustrating his +innocent vanity and the love of gay clothing which made him conspicuous +even in an age of ruffled shirts and silver knee-buckles. One of his +biographers describes him as arriving at a friend's house where he was +to dine, "with his new wig, with his coat of Tyrian bloom and blue silk +breeches, with a smart sword at his side, his gold-headed cane in his +hand, and his hat under his elbow." But while he had more than his +share of weaknesses, it must be granted that "e'en his failings leaned +to Virtue's side." He was sensitive, open-hearted, generous, and +kindly--always ready to help those less fortunate than himself. If in +Parson Primrose and in the "village preacher" of _The Deserted Village_ +he has painted portraits of his father, the country curate, there is +something of himself as well in these lovable characters. Both in +poetry and in prose his style is easy and delightful; his humor has no +sting. Everything that comes from his pen has the flavor of his quaint +personality. In spite of his failings--or possibly in part because of +them--this son of Ireland is one of the most popular of English writers. + + + THE TRAVELLER; + + OR, A PROSPECT OF SOCIETY + + Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow, + Or by the lazy Scheld[1] or wandering Po; + Or onward, where the rude Carinthian boor[2] + Against the houseless stranger shuts the door; + Or where Campania's plain[3] forsaken lies, 5 + A weary waste expanding to the skies; + Where'er I roam, whatever realms to see, + My heart untravelled fondly turns to thee; + Still to my brother[4] turns, with ceaseless pain, + And drags at each remove a lengthening chain. 10 + + Eternal blessings crown my earliest friend, + And round his dwelling guardian saints attend: + Blest be that spot where cheerful guests retire + To pause from toil, and trim their ev'ning fire: + Blest that abode where want and pain repair, 15 + And every stranger finds a ready chair: + Blest be those feasts, with simple plenty crowned, + Where all the ruddy family around + Laugh at the jests or pranks that never fail, + Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale; 20 + Or press the bashful stranger to his food, + And learn the luxury of doing good. + + But me, not destined such delights to share, + My prime of life in wand'ring spent and care; + Impelled, with steps unceasing, to pursue 25 + Some fleeting good that mocks me with the view; + That, like the circle bounding earth and skies, + Allures from far, yet, as I follow, flies; + My fortune leads to traverse realms alone, + And find no spot of all the world my own. 30 + + Even now, where Alpine solitudes ascend, + I sit me down a pensive hour to spend; + And placed on high above the storm's career, + Look downward where an hundred realms appear; + Lakes, forests, cities, plains extending wide, 35 + The pomp of kings, the shepherd's humbler pride. + + When thus Creation's charms around combine, + Amidst the store should thankless pride repine? + Say, should the philosophic mind disdain + That good which makes each humbler bosom vain? 40 + Let school-taught pride dissemble all it can,[5] + These little things are great to little man; + And wiser he, whose sympathetic mind + Exults in all the good of all mankind. + Ye glitt'ring towns, with wealth and splendor crowned; 45 + Ye fields, where summer spreads profusion round; + Ye lakes, whose vessels catch the busy gale; + Ye bending swains,[6] that dress the flow'ry vale; + For me your tributary stores combine: + Creation's heir, the world, the world is mine. 50 + + As some lone miser, visiting his store, + Bends at his treasure, counts, recounts it o'er; + Hoards after hoards his rising raptures fill, + Yet still he sighs, for hoards are wanting still: + Thus to my breast alternate passions rise, 55 + Pleased with each good that Heaven to man supplies: + Yet oft a sigh prevails, and sorrows fall, + To see the hoard of human bliss so small; + And oft I wish amidst the scene to find + Some spot to real happiness consigned, 60 + Where my worn soul, each wand'ring hope at rest, + May gather bliss to see my fellows blest. + + But where to find that happiest spot below + Who can direct, when all pretend to know? + The shudd'ring tenant of the frigid zone 65 + Boldly proclaims that happiest spot his own; + Extols the treasures of his stormy seas, + And his long nights of revelry and ease: + The naked negro, panting at the line,[7] + Boasts of his golden sands and palmy wine, 70 + Basks in the glare, or stems the tepid wave, + And thanks his gods for all the good they gave. + Such is the patriot's boast where'er we roam; + His first, best country ever is at home. + And yet, perhaps, if countries we compare, 75 + And estimate the blessings which they share, + Though patriots flatter, still shall wisdom find + An equal portion dealt to all mankind; + As different good, by Art or Nature given, + To different nations makes their blessings even. 80 + + Nature, a mother kind alike to all, + Still grants her bliss at Labor's earnest call: + With food as well the peasant is supplied + On Idra's cliffs[8] as Arno's shelvy side;[9] + And though the rocky crested summits frown, 85 + These rocks by custom turn to beds of down. + From Art more various are the blessings sent; + Wealth, commerce, honor, liberty, content. + Yet these each other's power so strong contest, + That either seems destructive of the rest.[10] 90 + Where wealth and freedom reign, contentment fails + And honor sinks where commerce long prevails.[11] + Hence every state, to one loved blessing prone, + Conforms and models life to that alone. + Each to the favorite happiness attends, 95 + And spurns the plan that aims at other ends: + Till carried to excess in each domain, + This fav'rite good begets peculiar pain. + + But let us try these truths with closer eyes, + And trace them through the prospect as it lies: 100 + Here for a while my proper cares[12] resigned, + Here let me sit in sorrow for mankind; + Like yon neglected shrub at random cast, + That shades the steep, and sighs at every blast. + + Far to the right, where Apennine ascends, 105 + Bright as the summer, Italy extends: + Its uplands sloping deck the mountain's side, + Woods over woods in gay theatric pride; + While oft some temple's mould'ring tops between + With venerable grandeur mark the scene, 110 + + Could Nature's bounty satisfy the breast, + The sons of Italy were surely blest. + Whatever fruits in different climes were found, + That proudly rise, or humbly court the ground; + Whatever blooms in torrid tracts appear, 115 + Whose bright succession decks the varied year; + Whatever sweets salute the northern sky + With vernal lives, that blossom but to die; + These, here disporting, own the kindred soil, + Nor ask luxuriance from the planter's toil; 120 + While sea-born gales their gelid[13] wings expand + To winnow[14] fragrance round the smiling land. + + But small the bliss that sense alone bestows, + And sensual bliss is all the nation knows.[15] + In florid beauty groves and fields appear; 125 + Man seems the only growth that dwindles here. + Contrasted faults through all his manners reign: + Though poor, luxurious; though submissive, vain; + Though grave, yet trifling; zealous, yet untrue; + And ev'n in penance planning sins anew. 130 + All evils here contaminate the mind + That opulence departed leaves behind; + For wealth was theirs,[16] not far removed the date + When commerce proudly nourished through the state, + At her command the palace learnt to rise,[17] 135 + Again the long-fallen column sought the skies,[18] + The canvas glowed, beyond e'en nature warm,[19] + The pregnant quarry teemed with human form; + Till, more unsteady than the southern gale, + Commerce on other shores displayed her sail;[20] 140 + While nought remained of all that riches gave, + But towns unmanned, and lords without a slave: + And late the nation found with fruitless skill + Its former strength was but plethoric ill.[21] + + Yet still the loss of wealth is here supplied 145 + By arts, the splendid wrecks of former pride; + From these the feeble heart and long-fall'n mind + An easy compensation seem to find. + Here may be seen, in bloodless pomp arrayed, + The paste-board triumph and the cavalcade, 150 + Processions formed for piety and love, + A mistress or a saint in every grove. + By sports like these are all their cares beguiled; + The sports of children satisfy the child. + Each nobler aim, repressed by long control, 155 + Now sinks at last, or feebly mans the soul; + While low delights, succeeding fast behind, + In happier meanness occupy the mind: + As in those domes where Caesars[22] once bore sway, + Defaced by time and tottering in decay, 160 + There in the ruin, heedless of the dead, + The shelter-seeking peasant builds his shed; + And, wond'ring man could want the larger pile, + Exults, and owns his cottage with a smile. + My soul, turn from them, turn we to survey, 165 + Where rougher climes a nobler race display; + Where the bleak Swiss their stormy mansions tread, + And force a churlish soil[23] for scanty bread. + No product here the barren hills afford, + But man and steel, the soldier and his sword:[24] 170 + No vernal blooms their torpid rocks array, + But winter ling'ring chills the lap of May: + No Zephyr fondly sues the mountain's breast, + But meteors glare, and stormy glooms invest. + + Yet, still, even here content can spread a charm, 175 + Redress the clime, and all its rage disarm. + Though poor the peasant's hut, his feasts tho' small, + He sees his little lot the lot of all; + Sees no contiguous palace[25] rear its head + To shame the meanness of his humble shed; 180 + No costly lord the sumptuous banquet deal + To make him loath his vegetable meal; + But calm, and bred in ignorance and toil,[26] + Each wish contracting fits him to the soil. + Cheerful at morn he wakes from short repose, 185 + Breathes the keen air, and carols as he goes; + With patient angle trolls the finny deep; + Or drives his venturous plowshare to the steep; + Or seeks the den where snow-tracks mark the way, + And drags the struggling savage[27] into day. 190 + At night returning, every labor sped, + He sits him down the monarch of a shed; + Smiles by his cheerful fire, and round surveys + His children's looks, that brighten at the blaze; + While his loved partner, boastful of her hoard, 195 + Displays her cleanly platter on the board: + And haply too some pilgrim, thither led, + With many a tale repays the nightly bed.[28] + + Thus every good his native wilds impart + Imprints the patriot passion on his heart; 200 + And ev'n those ills that round his mansion rise + Enhance the bliss his scanty fund supplies. + Dear is that shed to which his soul conforms, + And dear that hill which lifts him to the storms; + And as a child, when scaring sounds molest, 205 + Clings close and closer to the mother's breast, + So the loud torrent and the whirlwind's roar + But bind him to his native mountains more. + + Such are the charms to barren states assigned;[29] + Their wants but few, their wishes all confined. 210 + Yet let them only share the praises due: + If few their wants, their pleasures are but few; + For every want that stimulates the breast + Becomes a source of pleasure when redressed; + Whence from such lands each pleasing science flies 215 + That first excites desire, and then supplies; + Unknown to them, when sensual pleasures cloy, + To fill the languid pause with finer joy; + Unknown those powers that raise the soul to flame, + Catch every nerve, and vibrate 'through the frame. 220 + Their level life is but a smould'ring fire, + Unquenched by want, unfanned by strong desire; + Unfit for raptures, or, if raptures cheer + On some high festival of once a year, + In wild excess the vulgar breast takes fire, 225 + Till, buried in debauch, the bliss expire. + + But not their joys alone thus coarsely flow: + Their morals, like their pleasures, are but low; + For, as refinement stops, from sire to son + Unaltered, unimproved, the manners run, 230 + And love's and friendship's finely-pointed dart + Fall blunted from each indurated heart. + Some sterner virtues o'er the mountain's breast + May sit, like falcons, cow'ring on the nest; + But all the gentler morals, such as play 235 + Thro' life's more cultured walks, and charm the way, + These, far dispersed, on timorous pinions fly, + To sport and flutter in a kinder sky. + + To kinder skies, where gentler manners reign, + I turn; and France displays her bright domain. 240 + Gay, sprightly land of mirth and social ease, + Pleased with thyself, whom all the world can please, + How often have I led thy sportive choir, + With tuneless pipe, beside the murmuring Loire? + Where shading elms along the margin grew, 245 + And freshened from the wave the Zephyr flew; + And haply, though my harsh touch, faltering still, + But mocked all tune, and marred the dancer's skill, + Yet would the village praise my wonderous power, + And dance, forgetful of the noontide hour. 250 + Alike all ages. Dames of ancient days + Have led their children through the mirthful maze, + And the gay grandsire, skilled in gestic lore,[30] + Has frisked beneath the burthen of threescore. + + So blest a life these thoughtless realms display; 255 + Thus idly busy rolls their world away;[31] + Theirs are those arts that mind to mind endear, + For honor forms the social temper here. + Honor, that praise which real merit gains, + Or even imaginary worth obtains, 260 + Here passes current: paid from hand to hand, + It shifts in splendid traffic round the land; + From courts to camps, to cottages, it strays, + And all are taught an avarice of praise. + They please, are pleased; they give to get esteem; 265 + Till, seeming blest, they grow to what they seem. + + But while this softer art their bliss supplies, + It gives their follies also room to rise; + For praise too dearly loved, or warmly sought, + Enfeebles all internal strength of thought, 270 + And the weak soul, within itself unblest, + Leans for all pleasure on another's breast. + Hence ostentation here, with tawdry art, + Pants for the vulgar praise which fools impart; + Here vanity assumes her pert grimace, 275 + And trims her robes of frieze[32] with copper lace; + Here beggar pride defrauds her daily cheer, + To boast one splendid banquet once a year; + The mind still turns where shifting fashion draws, + Nor weighs the solid worth of self-applause. 280 + + To men of other minds my fancy flies, + Embosomed in the deep where Holland[33] lies. + Methinks her patient sons before me stand, + Where the broad ocean leans against the land, + And, sedulous to stop the coming tide, 285 + Lift the tall rampire's[34] artificial pride. + Onward methinks, and diligently slow, + The firm connected bulwark seems to grow; + Spreads its long arms amidst the wat'ry roar, + Scoops out an empire, and usurps the shore. 290 + While the pent ocean, rising o'er the pile, + Sees an amphibious world beneath him smile: + The slow canal, the yellow blossomed vale, + The willow tufted bank, the gliding sail, + The crowded mart, the cultivated plain,-- 295 + A new creation rescued from his reign. + + Thus while around the wave-subjected soil + Impels the native to repeated toil, + Industrious habits in each bosom reign, + And industry begets a love of gain. 300 + Hence all the good from opulence that springs,[35] + With all those ills superfluous treasure brings, + Are here displayed. Their much-loved wealth imparts + Convenience, plenty, elegance, and arts: + But view them closer, craft and fraud appear; 305 + E'en liberty itself is bartered here. + At gold's superior charms all freedom flies; + The needy sell it, and the rich man buys; + A land of tyrants and a den of slaves, + Here wretches seek dishonorable graves, 310 + And calmly bent, to servitude conform, + Dull as their lakes that slumber in the storm.[36] + Heavens! how unlike their Belgic sires[37] of old, + Rough, poor, content, ungovernably bold; + War in each breast, and freedom on each brow; 315 + How much unlike the sons of Britain now! + + Fired at the sound, my genius spreads her wing, + And flies where Britain courts the western spring; + Where lawns[38] extend that scorn Arcadian pride,[39] + And brighter streams than famed Hydaspis[40] glide. 320 + There all around the gentlest breezes stray; + There gentle music melts on every spray; + Creation's mildest charms are there combined, + Extremes are only in the master's mind! + Stern o'er each bosom Reason holds her state, 325 + With daring aims irregularly great; + Pride in their port, defiance in their eye, + I see the lords of human kind pass by; + Intent on high designs, a thoughtful band, + By forms unfashioned, fresh from Nature's hand, 330 + Fierce in their native hardiness of soul, + True to imagined right, above control, + While even the peasant boasts these rights to scan, + And learns to venerate himself as man. + + Thine, Freedom, thine the blessings pictured here; 335 + Thine are those charms that dazzle and endear: + Too blest indeed, were such without alloy: + But fostered even by Freedom ills annoy: + That independence Britons prize too high + Keeps man from man, and breaks the social tie; 340 + The self-dependent lordlings[41] stand alone, + All claims that bind and sweeten life unknown. + Here, by the bonds of nature feebly held, + Minds combat minds, repelling and repelled;[42] + Ferments arise, imprisoned factions roar, 345 + Repressed ambition struggles round her shore, + Till, over-wrought, the general system feels + Its motions stop, or frenzy fire the wheels. + + Nor this the worst. As nature's ties decay, + As duty, love, and honor fail to sway, 350 + Fictitious bonds, the bonds of wealth and law, + Still gather strength, and force unwilling awe. + Hence all obedience bows to these alone, + And talent sinks, and merit weeps unknown: + Till time may come, when, stripped of all her charms, 355 + The land of scholars and the nurse of arms, + Where noble stems transmit the patriot flame, + Where kings have toiled and poets wrote for fame, + One sink of level avarice[43] shall lie, + And scholars, soldiers, kings, unhonored die. 360 + + Yet think not, thus when Freedom's ills I state, + I mean to flatter kings, or court the great: + Ye powers of truth that bid my soul aspire, + Far from my bosom drive the low desire. + And thou, fair Freedom, taught alike to feel 365 + The rabble's rage and tyrant's angry steel; + Thou transitory flower, alike undone + By proud contempt or favor's fostering sun, + Still may thy blooms the changeful clime endure! + I only would repress them to secure: 370 + For just experience tells, in every soil, + That those who think must govern those that toil;[44] + And all that Freedom's highest aims can reach + Is but to lay proportioned loads on each. + Hence, should one order disproportioned grow, 375 + Its double weight must ruin all below. + + O then how blind to all that truth requires, + Who think it freedom when a part aspires! + Calm is my soul, nor apt to rise in arms, + Except when fast approaching danger warms; 380 + But when contending chiefs blockade the throne, + Contracting regal power to stretch their own, + When I behold a factious band agree + To call it freedom when themselves are free, + Each wanton judge new penal statutes draw, 385 + Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law,[45] + The wealth of climes where savage nations roam[46] + Pillaged from slaves to purchase slaves at home, + Fear, pity, justice, indignation start, + Tear off reserve, and bare my swelling heart; 390 + Till half a patriot, half a coward grown, + I fly from petty tyrants to the throne. + + Yes, brother, curse with me that baleful hour + When first ambition struck at regal power; + And thus polluting honor in its source, 395 + Gave wealth to sway the mind with double force. + Have we not seen, round Britain's peopled shore, + Her useful sons exchanged for useless ore,[47] + Seen all her triumphs but destruction haste, + Like flaring tapers brightening as they waste? 400 + Seen opulence, her grandeur to maintain, + Lead stern depopulation in her train, + And over fields where scattered hamlets rose + In barren solitary pomp repose? + Have we not seen at pleasure's lordly call 405 + The smiling long-frequented village fall? + Beheld the duteous son, the sire decayed,[48] + The modest matron, and the blushing maid, + Forced from their homes, a melancholy train,[49] + To traverse climes beyond the western main; 410 + Where wild Oswego[50] spreads her swamps around, + And Niagara[50] stuns with thund'ring sound? + + Even now, perhaps, as there some pilgrim strays + Through tangled forests and through dangerous ways, + Where beasts with man divided empire claim, 415 + And the brown Indian marks with murderous aim; + There, while above the giddy tempest flies, + And all around distressful yells arise, + The pensive exile, bending with his woe, + To stop too fearful, and too faint to go, 420 + Casts a long look where England's glories shine, + And bids his bosom sympathize with mine. + + Vain, very vain, my weary search to find + That bliss which only centers in the mind: + Why have I strayed from pleasure and repose, 425 + To seek a good each government bestows?[51] + In every government, though terrors reign, + Though tyrant kings or tyrant laws restrain, + How small, of all that human hearts endure, + That part which laws or kings can cause or cure; 430 + Still to ourselves in every place consigned, + Our own felicity we make or find: + With secret course, which no loud storms annoy, + Glides the smooth current of domestic joy. + The lifted ax, the agonizing wheel, 435 + Luke's iron crown,[52] and Damiens' bed of steel,[53] + To men remote from power but rarely known, + Leave reason, faith, and conscience all our own. + + + +NOTE.--Although many of the poet's statements are greatly exaggerated, +_The Traveller_ is interesting because it contains beautiful +descriptions and apt expressions of thought. The verse employed is the +heroic couplet, the favorite verse of the eighteenth-century poets. +The lines rhyme in pairs, and often a couplet expresses a complete +thought. Each line contains five feet, or measures. + +[1.] Scheld. The Schelde, or Scheldt, empties into the North Sea near +Antwerp. + +[2.] Carinthian boor. Carinthia is a province of Austria. + +[3.] Campania's plain. Campania includes, among other districts, the +province of Naples. + +[4.] My brother. Probably the poet alludes to his elder brother, +Henry, who lived in Ireland. To him he is said to have sent the first +part of his poem, from Switzerland. + +[5.] Let school-taught pride, etc. _i.e._ let the philosopher pretend, +if he will, that material things are of small importance. + +[6.] Swains, a name used by poets for young men living in the country, +especially lovers. + +[7.] The line, the equinoctial line, the equator. + +[8.] Idra's cliffs. Idria is a town among the mountains in Camiola, +Austria. Near it are mines of quicksilver. + +[9.] Arno's shelvy side. _Shelvy_, or _shelving_, means _sloping +gradually_. Florence is on the Arno. + +[10.] Either seems, etc. _Either_ properly signifies _one of two_; it +has occasionally been used for _one of several_, as Goldsmith uses it +here. + +[11.] And honor sinks, etc., a sentiment common in the poet's day, but +entertained by few persons in these times. Formerly, in many European +countries, trade, even on a large scale, was considered belittling. A +gentleman's son might enter the Church, the army, or the navy, but he +must not become a merchant. + +[12.] My proper cares, my own, my personal cares. + +[13.] Gelid, cold. + +[14.] To winnow, to fan. + +[15.] Sensual bliss is all the nation knows. This has never been true +of the Italians. At the end of the fifteenth century Italy was the +center of European civilization; at the close of the sixteenth she was +exhausted and helpless; in 1748, by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, she +was divided among various European powers; after a long struggle the +greater part of the country was united under Victor Emmanuel, who was +proclaimed king in 1861. Italy has now, besides elementary and higher +schools, twenty-one universities. + +[16.] For wealth was theirs. Venice, Genoa, and Florence were cities +of great wealth during the latter part of the Middle Ages. + +[17.] The palace learnt to rise. Beside palaces, there are in Italy +many noted buildings which the poet must have seen. Among these are +St. Peter's in Rome, the cathedral in Milan, and St. Mark's in Venice. + +[18.] Again the long-fallen column, etc. When architecture began to +flourish anew in Italy, early in the Middle Ages, many of the columns +used were taken from the ruins of buildings erected during the days of +the Roman Empire. + +[19.] The canvas glowed. Giotto, born about 1266, was one of the first +of the Italian painters who gained distinction. Later came Leonardo da +Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Titian, and many others. Michelangelo +(1475-1564) was sculptor, architect, and writer, as well as painter. +Benvenuto Cellini, born in 1500, was noted as goldsmith, sculptor, and +writer. + +[20.] More unsteady than the southern gale, etc. The discovery of +America and the opening of a route to India by the way of the Cape of +Good Hope, seriously affected the commerce of the Italian seaports. + +[21.] Plethoric ill, ill caused by excess. + +[22.] Caesars. The name _Caesar_ was assumed by all the Roman +emperors. _Kaiser_ and _tsar_, or _csar_, come from the word. + +[23.] A churlish soil. Nearly three-quarters of the soil of +Switzerland is productive. [Transcriber's note: the word "productive" +may be incorrect, given Switzerland's mountainous terrain, but it is +what was printed in the original book.] + +[24.] The soldier and his sword. In former times the Swiss frequently +served as soldiers in different European countries as a means of +earning a living. Many monarchs had Swiss guards for their personal +safety. + +[25.] Sees no contiguous palace. The peasant now sees hotels, if not +palaces. The Swiss hotels, like the Swiss roads, are among the best in +the world. + +[26.] Bred in ignorance and toil. Switzerland has at present, beside +lower schools, seven institutions of higher learning, five of which are +universities. + +[27.] Savage, savage beast. Few of these can be found in Switzerland +now. + +[28.] With many a tale, etc. Possibly the poet alludes to his own +experiences. + +[29.] Such are the charms, etc. In this and the following lines the +poet paints a picture that has not for centuries been true of the Swiss +a people. Their principal cities have long been centers of refinement +and of intellectual activity. + +[30.] Gestic lore, the art of dancing. + +[31.] Thus idly busy, etc. The French peasant has always been noted +for his industry and economy. This picture was drawn before the French +revolution, when the lower classes were miserably poor and the nobles +reckless in their extravagance. France has now a remarkable system of +public instruction and many large institutions of higher learning. In +matters where taste is concerned she still leads the world. + +[32.] Frieze, coarse woolen cloth. + +[33.] Holland is now known as The Netherlands. The sovereign is the +young queen Wilhelmina, who began to reign in 1898. + +[34.] Rampire, a dam or dike. + +[35.] From opulence that springs. Holland was a great commercial power +during the seventh [Transcriber's note: should probably be +"seventeenth"] century; then her commerce dwindled, and after 1713 she +was of small political importance. Of course the poet's description is +greatly exaggerated. + +[36.] Dull as their lakes. The Netherlands can at present boast of +four public universities. + +[37.] Belgic sires. _Belgae_ was the name given to the early +inhabitants of Holland and certain regions near that country. + +[38.] Lawns, cleared places in a wood; not cultivated grassland near a +house, as now. + +[39.] Arcadian pride. Arcadia is an inland country in Greece, often +mentioned by poets as a place of ideal beauty. + +[40.] Famed Hydaspis. The river Jhelum, or Jhelam, in India, about +which many fabulous stories used to be told. One was, that its sands +were of gold. + +[41.] The self-dependent lordlings. Probably in no country in the +world have the nobility been so popular as in England. It has been +said that an Englishman "dearly loves a lord." + +[42.] Repelling and repelled. Goldsmith, who grew up among the +warm-hearted people of Lissoy, was doubtless often hurt by the apparent +coldness of his English friends. + +[43.] One sink of level avarice. At the time _The Traveller_ was +written many noted English statesmen had low moral standards and were +willing to use corrupt means to gain their ends. Still, the great body +of the people were but slightly affected by this state of things, and +England was soon to enter upon a new and better era. + +[44.] Those who think, etc. Americans believe that the thinkers should +toil and the toilers think. When Goldsmith's line was written great +ignorance prevailed among the working classes in all European countries. + +[45.] Rich men rule the law. Bribery was common in England at the +time. Although conditions gradually improved, many abuses remained +until they were swept away by the famous Reform Bill of 1832. + +[46.] The wealth of climes, etc. It will be remembered that England +was having serious trouble at the time this poem was written, both with +the people of India and with the American colonists. + +[47.] Her useful sons, etc. The slave trade was not abolished in the +British Empire until 1807. + +[48.] Decayed, fallen as to social condition. + +[49.] Forced from their homes. Many Englishmen came to America +willingly. The poet fails to understand the adventurous spirit of the +emigrant. + +[50.] Oswego; Niagara. At this time the regions named were in the +wilderness. Note the poet's pronunciation of _Niagara_. + +[51.] A good each government bestows. It would not be easy to mention +the special good bestowed by certain governments; by that of Turkey, +for instance. + +[52.] Luke's iron crown. George Dosia, with his brother Luke, headed +an unsuccessful revolt in Hungary in the sixteenth century. +George--not Luke--was put to death by means of a red-hot iron crown. +In the Middle Ages this punishment was sometimes employed in the case +of persons who had attempted to seize the royal power. + +[53.] Damiens' bed of steel. Robert Francois Damiens attempted to +assassinate Louis XV in 1757. Before being put to death he was cruelly +tortured, but the "bed of steel" was not used. + + + + + THE DESERTED VILLAGE + + Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain; + Where health and plenty cheered the laboring swain, + Where smiling spring its earliest visit paid, + And parting summer's lingering blooms delayed: + Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease, 5 + Seats of my youth, when every sport could please, + How often have I loitered o'er thy green, + Where humble happiness endeared each scene! + How often have I paused on every charm, + The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm, 10 + The never-failing brook, the busy mill, + The decent[1] church that topped the neighboring hill, + The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade, + For talking age and whispering lovers made! + How often have I blessed the coming day, 15 + When toil remitting lent its turn to play, + And all the village train, from labor free, + Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree, + While many a pastime circled in the shade, + The young contending as the old surveyed; 20 + And many a gambol frolicked o'er the ground, + And sleights of art and feats of strength went round. + And still, as each repeated pleasure tired, + Succeeding sports the mirthful band inspired, + The dancing pair that simply sought renown 25 + By holding out to tire each other down; + The swain mistrustless of his smutted face, + While secret laughter tittered round the place; + The bashful virgin's sidelong looks of love, + The matron's glance that would those looks reprove, 30 + These were thy charms, sweet village! sports like these, + With sweet succession, taught even toil to please: + These round thy bowers their cheerful influence shed: + These were thy charms--but all these charms are fled. + + Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn,[2] 35 + Thy sports are fled, and all thy charms withdrawn; + Amidst thy bowers the tyrant's hand is seen, + And desolation saddens all thy green: + One only master[3] grasps the whole domain, + And half a tillage stints thy smiling plain. 40 + No more thy glassy brook reflects the day, + But, choked with sedges, works its weedy way; + Along thy glades, a solitary guest, + The hollow sounding bittern guards its nest; + Amidst thy desert walks the lapwing flies, 45 + And tires their echoes with unvaried cries; + Sunk are thy bowers in shapeless ruin all, + And the long grass o'ertops the mouldering wall; + And trembling, shrinking from the spoiler's hand, + Far, far away thy children leave the land. 50 + + Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, + Where wealth accumulates, and men decay:[4] + Princes and lords may nourish, or may fade; + A breath can make them, as a breath has made:[5] + But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, 55 + When once destroyed, can never be supplied. + + A time there was, ere England's griefs began,[6] + When every rood of ground maintained its man; + For him light labor spread her wholesome store, + Just gave what life required, but gave no more: 60 + His best companions, innocence and health; + And his best riches, ignorance of wealth. + + But times are altered; trade's unfeeling train + Usurp the land and dispossess the swain; + Along the lawn, where scattered hamlets rose, 65 + Unwieldy wealth and cumbrous pomp repose, + And every want to opulence allied, + And every pang that folly pays to pride. + These gentle hours that plenty bade to bloom, + Those calm desires that asked but little room, 70 + Those healthful sports that graced the peaceful scene, + Lived in each look, and brightened all the green; + These, far departing, seek a kinder shore, + And rural mirth and manners are no more. + + Sweet Auburn! parent of the blissful hour, 75 + Thy glades forlorn confess the tyrant's power. + Here, as I take my solitary rounds + Amidst thy tangling walks and ruined grounds, + And, many a year elapsed, return to view + Where once the cottage stood, the hawthorn grew, 80 + Remembrance wakes with all her busy train, + Swells at my breast, and turns the past to pain, + In all my wanderings round this world of care, + In all my griefs--and GOD has given my share-- + I still had hopes, my latest hours to crown, 85 + Amidst these humble bowers to lay me down; + To husband out[7] life's taper at the close, + And keep the flame from wasting by repose: + I still had hopes, for pride attends us still, + Amidst the swains to show my book-learned skill, 90 + Around my fire an evening group to draw, + And tell of all I felt, and all I saw; + And, as an hare[8] whom hounds and horns pursue + Pants to[9] the place from whence at first she flew, + I still had hopes, my long vexations past, 95 + Here to return--and die at home at last. + + O blest retirement, friend to life's decline, + Retreats from care, that never must be mine, + How happy he who crowns in shades like these + A youth of labor with an age of ease; 100 + Who quits a world where strong temptations try, + And, since 't is hard to combat, learns to fly! + For him no wretches, born to work and weep, + Explore the mine, or tempt the dangerous deep; + No surly porter stands in guilty state,[3] 105 + To spurn imploring famine from the gate; + But on he moves to meet his latter end, + Angels around befriending Virtue's friend; + Bends to the grave with unperceived decay, + While resignation gently slopes the way; 110 + And, all his prospects brightening to the last, + His heaven commences ere the world be past! + + Sweet was the sound, when oft at evening's close + Up, yonder hill the village murmur rose. + There, as I passed with careless steps and slow, 115 + The mingling notes came softened from below; + The swain responsive as the milk-maid sung, + The sober herd that lowed to meet their young, + The noisy geese that gabbled o'er the pool, + The playful children just let loose from school, 120 + The watch-dog's voice that bayed the whispering wind, + And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind;-- + These all in sweet confusion sought the shade, + And filled each pause the nightingale had made. + But now the sounds of population fail, 125 + No cheerful murmurs fluctuate in the gale, + No busy steps the grass-grown foot-way tread, + For all the bloomy flush of life is fled. + All but yon widowed, solitary thing, + That feebly bends beside the plashy spring: 130 + She, wretched matron, forced in age, for bread, + To strip the brook with mantling cresses spread, + To pick her wintry faggot from the thorn, + To seek her nightly shed, and weep till morn; + She only left of all the harmless train, 135 + The sad historian of the pensive plain. + + Near yonder copse, where once the garden smiled, + And still where many a garden flower grows wild; + There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose, + The village preacher's modest mansion rose.[11] 140 + A man he was to all the country dear, + And passing[12] rich with forty pounds a year; + Remote from towns he ran his godly race, + Nor e'er had changed, nor wished to change his place; + Unpracticed he to fawn, or seek for power, 145 + By doctrines fashioned to the varying hour;[13] + Far other aims his heart had learned to prize, + More skilled to raise the wretched than to rise. + His house was known to all the vagrant train; + He chid their wanderings but relieved their pain: 150 + The long-remembered beggar was his guest, + Whose beard descending swept his aged breast; + The ruined spendthrift, now no longer proud, + Claimed kindred there, and had his claims allowed; + The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay, 155 + Sat by his fire, and talked the night away, + Wept o'er his wounds or tales of sorrow done, + Shouldered his crutch and shewed how fields were won, + Pleased with his guests, the good man learned to glow, + And quite forgot their vices in their woe; 160 + Careless their merits or their faults to scan, + His pity gave ere charity began.[14] + + Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride, + And e'en his failings leaned to Virtue's side; + But in his duty prompt at every call, 165 + He watched and wept, he prayed and felt for all; + And, as a bird each fond endearment tries + To tempt its new-fledged offspring to the skies, + He tried each art, reproved each dull delay, + Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way. 170 + + Beside the bed where parting life was laid, + And sorrow, guilt, and pain by turns dismayed, + The reverend champion stood. At his control + Despair and anguish fled the struggling soul;[15] + Comfort came down the trembling wretch to raise, 175 + And his last faltering accents whispered praise. + + At church, with meek and unaffected grace, + His looks adorned the venerable place; + Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, + And fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray. 180 + The service past, around the pious man, + With steady zeal, each honest rustic ran, + Even children followed with endearing wile, + And plucked his gown to share the good man's smile. + His ready smile a parent's warmth expressed; 185 + Their welfare pleased him, and their cares distressed: + To them his heart, his love, his griefs were given, + But all his serious thoughts had rest in heaven. + As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form,[16] + Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, 190 + Tho' round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, + Eternal sunshine settles on its head. + + Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way, + With blossomed furze unprofitably gay, + There, in his noisy mansion, skilled to rule, 195 + The village master taught his little school. + A man severe he was, and stern to view; + I knew him well, and every truant knew: + Well had the boding tremblers learned to trace + The day's disasters in his morning face; 200 + Full well they laughed with counterfeited glee + At all his jokes, for many a joke had he; + Full well the busy whisper circling round + Conveyed the dismal tidings when he frowned. + Yet he was kind, or, if severe in aught, 205 + The love he bore to learning was in fault; + The village all declared how much he knew: + 'Twas certain he could write, and cypher[17] too; + Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage,[18] + And even the story ran that he could gauge:[19] 210 + In arguing, too, the parson owned his skill, + For, even though vanquished, he could argue still; + While words of learned length and thundering sound + Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around; + And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew, 215 + That one small head could carry all he knew. + + But past is all his fame. The very spot + Where many a time he triumphed is forgot. + Near yonder thorn, that lifts its head on high, + Where once the sign-post caught the passing eye, 220 + Low lies that house where nut-brown draughts inspired, + Where grey-beard mirth and smiling toil retired, + Where village statesmen talked with looks profound, + And news much older than their ale went round. + Imagination fondly stoops to trace 225 + The parlor splendors of that festive place: + The white-washed wall, the nicely sanded floor, + The varnished clock that clicked behind the door; + The chest contrived a double debt to pay, + A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day; 230 + The pictures placed for ornament and use, + The twelve good rules,[20] the royal game of goose; + The hearth, except when winter chilled the day, + With aspen boughs and flowers and fennel gay; + While broken tea-cups, wisely kept for shew, 235 + Ranged o'er the chimney, glistened in a row. + + Vain transitory splendors! could not all + Reprieve the tottering mansion from its fall? + Obscure it sinks, nor shall it more impart + An hour's importance to the poor man's heart. 240 + Thither no more the peasant shall repair + To sweet oblivion of his daily care; + No more the farmer's news, the barber's tale, + No more the woodman's ballad shall prevail; + No more the smith his dusky brow shall clear, 245 + Relax his ponderous strength, and lean to hear; + The host himself no longer shall be found + Careful to see the mantling bliss go round; + Nor the coy maid, half willing to be pressed, + Shall kiss the cup to pass it to the rest. 250 + + Yes! let the rich deride, the proud disdain, + These simple blessings of the lowly train; + To me more dear, congenial to my heart, + One native charm, than all the gloss of art; + Spontaneous joys, where Nature has its play, 255 + The soul adopts, and owns their firstborn sway; + Lightly they frolic o'er the vacant mind, + Unenvied, unmolested, unconfined. + But the long pomp, the midnight masquerade, + With all the freaks of wanton wealth arrayed-- 260 + In these, ere triflers half their wish obtain, + The toiling pleasure sickens into pain; + And, e'en while fashion's brightest arts decoy, + The heart distrusting asks if this be joy. + + Ye friends to truth, ye statesman who survey 265 + The rich man's joys increase, the poor's decay, + 'T is yours to judge how wide the limits stand + Between a splendid and an happy land. + Proud swells the tide with loads of freighted ore, + And shouting Folly hails them from her shore; 270 + Hoards e'en beyond the miser's wish abound,[21] + And rich men flock from all the world around. + Yet count our gains. This wealth is but a name + That leaves our useful products still the same. + Not so the loss. The man of wealth and pride 275 + Takes up a space that many poor supplied; + Space for his lake, his park's extended bounds, + Space for his horses, equipage, and hounds: + The robe that wraps his limbs in silken sloth + Has robbed the neighboring fields of half + their growth;[22] 280 + His seat, where solitary sports are seen, + Indignant spurns the cottage from the green: + Around the world each needful product flies, + For all the luxuries the world supplies; + While thus the land adorned for pleasure all 285 + In barren splendor feebly waits the fall. + + As some fair female unadorned and plain, + Secure to please while youth confirms her reign, + Slights every borrowed charm that dress supplies, + Nor shares with art the triumph of her eyes; 290 + But when those charms are past, for charms are frail, + When time advances, and when lovers fail, + She then shines forth, solicitous to bless, + In all the glaring impotence of dress. + Thus fares the land by luxury betrayed: 295 + In nature's simplest charms at first arrayed, + But verging to decline, its splendors rise; + Its vistas strike, its palaces surprise: + While, scourged by famine from the smiling land, + The mournful peasant leads his humble band, 300 + And while he sinks, without one arm to save, + The country blooms--a garden and a grave. + + Where then, ah! where, shall poverty reside, + To scape the pressure of contiguous pride? + If to some common's fenceless limits strayed 305 + He drives his flock to pick the scanty blade, + Those fenceless fields the sons of wealth divide, + And even the bare-worn common is denied. + + If to the city sped--what waits him there? + To see profusion that he must not share, 310 + To see ten thousand baneful arts combined + To pamper luxury, and thin mankind;[23] + To see those joys the sons of pleasure know + Extorted from his fellow-creature's woe. + Here while the courtier glitters in brocade, 315 + There the pale artist plies the sickly trade; + Here while the proud their long-drawn pomps display, + There the black gibbet glooms beside the way, + The dome where pleasure holds her midnight reign + Here, richly decked, admits the gorgeous train: 320 + Tumultuous grandeur crowds the blazing square, + The rattling chariots clash, the torches glare. + Sure scenes like these no troubles e'er annoy! + Sure these denote one universal joy! + Are these thy serious thoughts?--Ah, turn thine eyes 325 + Where the poor houseless shivering female lies. + She once, perhaps, in village plenty blessed, + Has wept at tales of innocence distressed; + Her modest looks the cottage might adorn, + Sweet as the primrose peeps beneath the thorn: 330 + Now lost to all; her friends, her virtue fled, + Near her betrayer's door she lays her head, + And, pinched with cold, and shrinking from the shower, + With heavy heart deplores that luckless hour, + When idly first, ambitious of the town, 335 + She left her wheel and robes of country brown. + + Do thine, sweet Auburn,--thine, the loveliest train,-- + Do thy fair tribes participate[24] her pain? + Even now, perhaps, by cold and hunger led, + At proud men's doors they ask a little bread! 340 + + Ah, no! To distant climes, a dreary scene, + Where half the convex world intrudes between, + Through torrid tracts with fainting steps they go, + Where wild Altama[25] murmurs to their woe. + Far different there from all that charmed before 345 + The various terrors of that horrid shore; + Those blazing suns that dart a downward ray, + And fiercely shed intolerable day; + Those matted woods, where birds forget to sing, + But silent bats in drowsy clusters cling; 350 + Those poisonous fields with rank luxuriance crowned, + Where the dark scorpion gathers death around; + Where at each step the stranger fears to wake + The rattling terrors of the vengeful snake; + Where crouching tigers[26] wait their hapless prey, 355 + And savage men more murderous still than they; + While oft in whirls the mad tornado flies, + Mingling the ravaged landscape with the skies. + Far different these from every former scene, + The cooling brook, the grassy vested green, 360 + The breezy covert of the warbling grove, + That only sheltered thefts of harmless love. + + Good Heaven! what sorrows gloomed that parting day, + That called them from their native walks away; + When the poor exiles, every pleasure past, 365 + Hung round the bowers, and fondly looked their last, + And took a long farewell, and wished in vain + For seats like these beyond the western main, + And shuddering still to face the distant deep, + Returned and wept, and still returned to weep. 370 + The good old sire the first prepared to go + To new found worlds, and wept for others' woe; + But for himself, in conscious virtue brave, + He only wished for worlds beyond the grave. + His lovely daughter, lovelier in her tears, 375 + The fond companion of his helpless years, + Silent went next, neglectful of her charms, + And left a lover's for a father's arms. + With louder plaints the mother spoke her woes, + And blessed the cot where every pleasure rose, 380 + And kissed her thoughtless babes with many a tear, + And clasped them close, in sorrow doubly dear, + Whilst her fond husband strove to lend relief + In all the silent manliness of grief. + + O luxury! thou cursed by Heaven's decree, 385 + How ill exchanged are things like these for thee! + How do thy potions, with insidious joy, + Diffuse their pleasure only to destroy! + Kingdoms by thee, to sickly greatness grown, + Boast of a florid vigor not their own. 390 + At every draught more large and large they grow, + A bloated mass of rank unwieldy woe; + Till sapped their strength, and every part unsound, + Down, down they sink, and spread a ruin round. + + Even now the devastation is begun, 395 + And half the business of destruction done; + Even now, methinks, as pondering here I stand, + I see the rural virtues leave the land. + Down where yon anchoring vessel spreads the sail, + That idly waiting flaps with every gale, 400 + Downward they move, a melancholy band, + Pass from the shore, and darken all the strand. + Contented toil, and hospitable care, + And kind connubial tenderness, are there; + And piety with wishes placed above, 405 + And steady loyalty, and faithful love. + And thou, sweet Poetry, thou loveliest maid, + Still first to fly where sensual joys invade; + Unfit in these degenerate times of shame + To catch the heart, or strike for honest fame; 410 + Dear charming nymph, neglected and decried, + My shame in crowds, my solitary pride; + Thou source of all my bliss, and all my woe, + That found'st me poor at first, and keep'st me so; + Thou guide by which the nobler arts excel, 415 + Thou nurse of every virtue, fare thee well! + Farewell, and O! where'er thy voice be tried, + On Torno's cliffs,[27] or Pambamarca's side,[28] + Whether where equinoctial fervors glow, + Or winter wraps the polar world in snow, 420 + Still let thy voice, prevailing over time, + Redress the rigors of the inclement clime; + Aid slighted truth with thy persuasive strain; + Teach erring man to spurn the rage of gain; + Teach him, that states of native strength possessed, 425 + Though very poor, may still be very blest; + That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay, + As ocean sweeps the labored mole[29] away; + While self-dependent power can time defy, + As rocks resist the billows and the sky. 430 + + + +NOTE.--_The Deserted Village_, published in 1770, was immediately +popular, and to-day few English poems are so widely read or so often +quoted. If the poet had in mind any special place when writing of +"Sweet Auburn," it was probably Lissoy, in Ireland, where he grew up; +but the village of his imagination is lovelier than any actual spot, +and there is no use in hunting for it on the map. See the first note +on _The Traveller_ for remarks on metre, etc. + +[1.] Decent, appropriate, fitting. Consult the dictionary for the +present meanings of the word. + +[2.] Lawn, a cleared space in a wood. + +[3.] One only master, etc. Sometimes, in England or in Ireland a +wealthy man would buy a large tract of land, pull down the house and +turn the entire region into parks or hunting grounds. Such a man was +not necessarily a tyrant. In many cases the villages demolished were +deserted because the inhabitants had left them to seek more comfortable +homes across the ocean. + +[4.] Decay, _i.e._ deteriorate, lose their high moral character. +Although this is not the inevitable consequence of great wealth, it is +certainly one of its dangers. + +[5.] A breath can make them. Breath was used by older writers in the +sense of words. The poet's meaning is, that kings can easily make new +lords by conferring titles upon their favorites. This was a common +practice in former times. Now, in England, titles are usually given as +a reward for distinguished merit, as in the case of Alfred Lord +Tennyson, the famous poet. + +[6.] Ere England's griefs began. The student of history finds that +there never was such a time. Although there are serious evils in all +civilized countries to-day, especially in the condition of the poorest +people in large cities, the workingman is, on the whole, far better off +than he was hundreds of years ago, or even at the beginning of the +nineteenth century. + +[7.] To husband out, to use or manage with economy. The _out_ is +superfluous in prose. + +[8.] An hare. _An_ was formerly used before words beginning with _h_, +even when that letter was sounded, and also before words beginning with +a vowel. + +[9.] Pants to, eagerly longs for. + +[10.] No surly porter, etc. While the poet was exaggerating when he +said this, nevertheless it is true that the feeling of responsibility +for poor and the unfortunate was less widespread among the well-to-do +in his day than it is now. + +[11.] The village preacher's, etc. There is no doubt that the poet was +thinking of his own father when he drew the sketch that follows--one of +the most charming character sketches in English literature. To find +its like in poetry one must go back to Chaucer's picture of the "poor +parson" in the _Prologue to the Canterbury Tales_. Goldsmith's +"village preacher" first appeared in the _Vicar of Wakefield_, in that +delightful character, Parson Primrose. + +[12.] Passing, surpassingly. + +[13.] Unpracticed he, etc. Clergymen have in some instances changed +their creeds to gain favor with those in authority. + +[14.] His pity gave, etc., _i.e._ he gave from warm human sympathy +rather than from a religious, and perhaps a colder, sentiment. + +[15.] Fled the struggling soul. _Fled_ is sometimes used transitively +by older writers. + +[16.] Awful form. Notice how effective _awful_ is when properly used. + +[17.] Cypher, do sums in arithmetic; not often used now. + +[18.] Terms and tides presage, _i.e._ the schoolmaster could tell when +courts were to be held and when certain tides (times), such as +Whitsuntide or Easter, would come. + +[19.] Gauge, measure. The word is applied especially to determining +the capacity of casks and other vessels containing alcoholic liquors. +These had to be carefully measured, so that the government should +receive the specified tax. + +[20.] The twelve good rules. Among these are: "Reveal no secrets," +"Keep no bad company." They can be found in Hales' _Longer English +Poems_, p. 353. + +[24.] Participate, share. + +[25.] Altama, the Altamaha, a river in Georgia. + +[26.] Crouching tigers. It is evident that the poet is indulging his +imagination. The people of Georgia doubtless find this description of +their country amusing if not accurate. + +[27.] Torno's cliffs. Perhaps the poet refers to some region near the +river Torneo, or Tornea, which flows into the Gulf of Bothnia. + +[28.] Pambamarca's side. Pambamarca is a mountain in Ecuador. + +[29.] Labored mole, carefully constructed breakwater. + + +ROBERT BURNS + +1759-1796 + +Probably the poetry of "Robbie Burns, the Ayrshire Ploughman," is known +to more English-speaking people than that of any other writer--not +excepting even Shakespeare, for many a person who never reads a book is +familiar with _John Anderson_, _My Jo_, _Auld Lang Syne_, and _Bonie +Doon_, though he may not know or care who wrote these famous songs. + +The Scotch poet was born at Alloway in Ayrshire, where his father +cultivated a small farm. He was the eldest of seven children. Before +he was eight years old the family removed to Mt. Oliphant, and later to +Lochlea. Here, in 1784, the father died, worn out with incessant toil, +which ended only in disappointment. The family were so poor that +Robert was obliged to work hard even when very young, and at fifteen he +was his father's chief helper. In later years he described his life at +Mt. Oliphant as combining "the cheerless gloom of a hermit with the +unceasing moil of a galley slave." But poets are given to +exaggeration, and doubtless the attractive picture of home life which +he afterwards painted in the _Cotter's Saturday Night_ is true in the +main of the life in his father's cottage. + +In his father, Burns was most fortunate, for he was a man of strict +integrity, and strong religious faith. The education of his children +was, in his judgment, so important that when they were unable to attend +school he taught them himself, notwithstanding his exhausting labors on +the farm. The family as a whole were fond of reading. Among their +books the poet mentions certain plays of Shakespeare, Pope's +works,--including his translation of Homer,--the _Spectator_, Allan +Ramsay's writings, and several volumes on religious and philosophical +subjects. Probably in this list the Bible should stand first. He +himself studied the art of verse-making in a collection of songs. He +says: "I pored over them, driving my cart or walking to labor, song by +song, carefully noting the true tender or sublime from affectation or +fustian. I am convinced that I owe to this practice much of my +critic-craft, such as it is!" His first song, composed when he was +fifteen, was inspired by a young girl who worked at his side in the +harvest field. + +Robert and his brother Gilbert had taken a farm at Mossgiel, not far +away, while their father was still living, and after his death they +removed there, taking with them the rest of the family. Unfortunately +the farm did not prosper. On reaching the age of twenty-seven the poet +determined to go to Jamaica where he had been promised a position as +overseer of an estate. In order to raise money to pay his passage he +published a volume of poems. The returns were small, but the fame of +the writer spread so rapidly that he was persuaded to remain in his own +country and publish a second edition of his poems in Edinburgh. + +The two winters which he spent in the Scotch capital at this time form +an interesting episode in his life. He was the lion of the day in +literary circles. Many persons who met him have told how he impressed +them; but the most interesting account is that of Walter Scott, then a +youth of sixteen. He says of Burns: "His person was strong and robust; +his manner rustic, not clownish; a sort of dignified plainness and +simplicity. His countenance was more massive than it looks in any of +the portraits. . . There was a strong expression of sense and +shrewdness in all his lineaments; the eye alone, I think, indicated the +poetical character and temperament. It was large, and of a dark cast, +which glowed (I say literally glowed), when he spoke, with feeling or +interest. I never saw such another eye in a human head, though I have +seen the most distinguished men of my time." + +In 1788 the poet married Jane Armour, and the following year settled +with her on a farm at Ellisland, near Dumfries. Finding it impossible +to make a living for his increasing family as a farmer, he obtained +through friends the place of exciseman for the surrounding region. +This position obliged him to ride more than two hundred miles a week, +collecting government taxes. In 1791 he moved to the town of Dumfries. +The following year he came near losing his place through an act of +indiscretion which proved him to be more poet than exciseman. He +bought four guns which had come into the possession of the government +through the seizure of a smuggling vessel, and sent them with +expressions of admiration and sympathy to the French Legislative +Assembly. These were the early days of the Revolution when young men +in many parts of the world were enthusiastic in their support of the +movement. Fortunately the guns failed to reach their destination, and +the poet having made his peace with the authorities kept his position +until failing health obliged him to give it up. During his later years +he wrote little but songs, and for these he would take no money, +although he was, as ever, a poor man. He died in 1796, at the age of +thirty-seven. In 1815 his remains were transferred to a mausoleum +built as a tribute to his genius. + +As a man, Burns was far from perfect. His passions were strong and he +never learned to control them, and in consequence he had reason to +repent bitterly many a rash act. Yet he was brave and honest; he had a +righteous hatred of hypocrisy; as the champion of the humble, he +claimed for the poorest the full privileges of sturdy manhood; he cared +heartily for his fellowmen and had a place in his affections even for +the field-mouse and the daisy. Because his verse beats with the +passions of his fiery and sympathetic nature, the world loves him as it +loves few other poets. Among the best known of his productions are +_The Cotter's Saturday Night_, _Tam o' Shanter_, _Address to the Unco +Guid_, _To a Mouse_, and _To a Mountain Daisy_. In speaking of his +songs, one might mention first, _Scots Wha Hae_,--composed in the midst +of tempests, while the poet was riding over a wild Galloway moor,--and +next, _Highland Mary_ and _A Man's a Man for a' That_; but there is no +need of enumerating the songs of Burns. As Emerson has said, "The wind +whispers them, the birds whistle them, the corn, barley, and bulrushes +hoarsely rustle them. . . . They are the property and the solace of +mankind." + + + THE COTTER'S SATURDAY NIGHT[*] + + My loved, my honored, much respected friend![1] + No mercenary bard his homage pays; + With honest pride I scorn each selfish end, + My dearest meed, a friend's esteem and praise: + To you I sing, in simple Scottish lays, 5 + The lowly train in life's sequestered scene; + The native feelings strong, the guileless ways; + What Aikin in a cottage would have been; + Ah! tho' his worth unknown, far happier there, I ween![2] + + November chill blaws loud wi' angry sugh;[3] 10 + The short'ning winter-day is near a close; + The miry beasts retreating frae[4] the pleugh;[5] + The black'ning trains o' craws[6] to their repose: + The toil-worn Cotter frae his labor goes, + This night his weekly moil[7] is at an end, 15 + Collects his spades, his mattocks,[8] and his hoes, + Hoping the morn[9] in ease and rest to spend, + And weary, o'er the moor, his course does homeward[10] bend. + + At length his lonely cot appears in view, + Beneath the shelter of an aged tree; 20 + Th' expectant wee-things, toddlin, stacher[11] through + To meet their dad, wi' flichterin'[12] noise and glee. + His wee bit ingle,[13] blinkin bonilie,[14] + His clean hearth-stane,[15] his thrifty wine's smile, + The lisping infant prattling on his knee, 25 + Does a' his weary kiaugh and care beguile,[16] + And makes him quite forget his labor and his toil, + + Belyve the elder bairns come drapping in,[17] + At service out, amang the farmers roun'; + Some ca'[18] the pleugh, some herd, some tentie rin 30 + A cannie errand to a neebor town:[19] + Their eldest hope, their Jenny, woman grown, + In youthfu' bloom, love sparkling in her e'e,[20] + Comes hame, perhaps, to shew a braw[21] new gown, + Or deposite her sair-won penny-fee,[22] 35 + To help her parents dear, if they in hardship be. + + With joy unfeigned brothers and sisters meet, + And each for other's weelfare kindly spiers:[23] + The social hours, swift-winged, unnoticed fleet; + Each tells the uncos[24] that he sees or hears. 40 + The parents, partial, eye their hopeful years; + Anticipation forward points the view; + The mother wi' her needle and her sheers[25] + Gars auld claes look amaist as weel 's the new;[26] + The father mixes a' wi' admonition due. 45 + + Their master's and their mistress's command + The younkers[27] a' are warned to obey; + And mind their labors wi' an eydent[28] hand, + And ne'er, though out o' sight, to jauk[29] or play: + "And O! be sure to fear the Lord alway, 50 + And mind your duty, duly, morn and night; + Lest in temptation's path ye gang[30] astray, + Implore His counsel and assisting might: + They never sought in vain that sought the Lord aright!" + + But hark! a rap comes gently to the door; 55 + Jenny, wha kens[31] the meaning o' the same, + Tells how a neebor[32] lad came o'er the moor + To do some errands, and convoy her hame. + The wily mother sees the conscious flame + Sparkle in Jenny's e'e, and flush her cheek; 60 + With heart-struck, anxious care, inquires his name, + While Jenny hafflins[33] is afraid to speak; + Weel pleased the mother hears, it's nae[34] + wild, worthless rake. + + With kindly welcome Jenny brings him ben;[35] + A strappin' youth, he takes the mother's eye; 65 + Blithe Jenny sees the visit's no ill taen;[36] + The father cracks[37] of horses, pleughs, and kye.[38] + The youngster's artless heart o'erflows wi' joy, + But blate and laithfu',[39] scarce can weel behave; + The mother, wi' a woman's wiles,[40] can spy 70 + What makes the youth sae[41] bashfu' and sae grave; + Weel-pleased to think her bairn's respected like the lave.[42] + + O happy love! where love like this is found: + O heart-felt raptures! bliss beyond compare! + I've paced much this weary, mortal round, 75 + And sage experience bids me this declare,-- + "If Heaven a draught of heav'nly pleasure spare, + One cordial, in this melancholy vale, + 'T is when a youthful, loving, modest pair + In other's arms breathe out the tender tale 80 + Beneath the milk-white thorn that scents the ev'ning gale." + + Is there, in human form, that bears a heart, + A wretch! a villain! lost to love and truth! + That can with studied, sly, ensnaring art + Betray sweet Jenny's unsuspecting youth? 85 + Curse on his perjured arts! dissembling, smooth! + Are honor, virtue, conscience, all exiled? + Is there no pity, no relenting ruth,[43] + Points to the parents fondling' o'er their child? + Then paints the ruined maid, and their distraction wild! 90 + + But now the supper crowns their simple board, + The healsome parritch, chief o' Scotia's food;[44] + The soupe[45] their only hawkie[46] does afford, + That 'yont the hallan snugly chows her cood;[47] + The dame brings forth in complimental mood, 95 + To grace the lad, her weel-hained kebbuck, fell;[48] + And aft he's pressed, and aft he ca's it guid;[49] + The frugal wine, garrulous, will tell, + How 't was a towmond auld, sin' lint was i' the bell.[50] + + The cheerfu' supper done, wi' serious face 100 + They round the ingle form a circle wide; + The sire turns o'er wi' patriarchal grace + The big ha'-Bible,[51] ance[52] his father's pride. + His bonnet[53] rev'rently is laid aside, + His lyart haffets[54] wearing thin and bare; 105 + Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide,[55] + He wales[56] a portion with judicious care; + And, "Let us worship God!" he says, with solemn air. + + They chant their artless notes in simple guise; + They tune their hearts, by far the noblest aim: 110 + Perhaps _Dundee's_[57] wild warbling measures rise, + Or plaintive _Martyrs_,[57] worthy of the name; + Or noble _Elgin_[57] beets[58] the heavenward flame, + The sweetest far of Scotia's holy lays. + Compared with these, Italian trills are tame; 115 + The tickled ears no heart-felt raptures raise, + Nae unison hae they with our Creator's praise.[59] + + The priest-like father reads the sacred page, + How Abram was the friend of God on high;[60] + Or, Moses bade eternal warfare wage 120 + With Amalek's ungracious progeny;[61] + Or, how the royal Bard[62] did groaning lie + Beneath the stroke of Heaven's avenging ire; + Or Job's pathetic plaint,[63] and wailing cry; + Or rapt Isaiah's wild, seraphic fire; 125 + Or other holy Seers that tune the sacred lyre. + + Perhaps the Christian volume[64] is the theme: + How guiltless blood for guilty man was shed; + How He, who bore in heaven the second name, + Had not on earth whereon to lay His head; 130 + How His first followers and servants sped;[65] + The precepts sage they wrote to many a land:[66] + How he, who lone in Patmos banished, + Saw in the sun a mighty angel stand, + And heard great Bab'lon's doom pronounced + by Heaven's command.[67] 135 + + Then kneeling down to Heaven's Eternal King, + The saint, the father, and the husband prays: + Hope "springs exulting on triumphant wing,"[68] + That thus they all shall meet in future days, + There ever bask in uncreated rays, 140 + No more to sigh, or shed the bitter tear, + Together hymning their Creator's praise, + In such society, yet still more dear; + While circling Time moves round in an eternal sphere. + + Compared with this, how poor Religion's pride, 145 + In all the pomp of method, and of art; + When men display to congregations wide + Devotion's ev'ry grace, except the heart, + The Power,[69] incensed, the pageant will desert, + The pompous strain, the sacerdotal stole; 150 + But haply,[70] in some cottage far apart, + May hear, well pleased, the language of the soul, + And in His Book of Life the inmates poor enroll. + + Then homeward all take off their sev'ral way; + The youngling cottagers retire to rest: 155 + The parent-pair their secret homage pay, + And proffer up to Heaven the warm request, + That He who stills the raven's clam'rous nest, + And decks the lily fair in flow'ry pride, + Would, in the way His wisdom sees the best, 160 + For them and for their little ones provide; + But, chiefly, in their hearts with Grace Divine preside. + + From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs, + That makes her loved at home, revered abroad; + Princes and lords are but the breath of kings,[71] 165 + "An honest man's the noblest work of God:"[72] + And certes,[73] in fair Virtue's heavenly road, + The cottage leaves the palace far behind; + What is a lordling's pomp? a cumbrous load, + Disguising oft the wretch of human kind, 170 + Studied in arts of hell, in wickedness refined! + + O Scotia[1] my dear, my native soil! + For whom my warmest wish to Heaven is sent! + Long may thy hardy sons of rustic toil + Be blest with health, and peace, and sweet content! 175 + And, O! may Heaven their simple lives prevent + From luxury's contagion, weak and vile! + Then, howe'er crowns and coronets be rent, + A virtuous populace may rise the while, + And stand a wall of fire around their much-loved Isle. 180 + + O Thou! who poured the patriotic tide + That streamed thro' Wallace's undaunted heart,[74] + Who dared to nobly stem tyrannic pride, + Or nobly die, the second glorious part, + (The patriot's God peculiarly Thou art, 185 + His friend, inspirer, guardian, and reward!) + O never, never, Scotia's realm desert, + But still the patriot and the patriot-bard + In bright succession raise, her ornament and guard! + + + +[*]In printing this poem, it has seemed best to follow the text as +given in the scholarly _Centenary Burns_ (1896), edited by Messrs. +Henley and Henderson. + +NOTE.--_The Cotter's Saturday Night_ was written in 1785 or the +beginning of 1786. In all English poetry there are few pictures of +home life so charming as that portrayed in this poem. The stanza +employed is the Spenserian stanza, named for Edmund Spenser, who first +used it. The first eight lines have five feet each, while the last has +six feet. + +Cotter, as used by Burns, means _peasant farmer_. + +[1.] Much respected friend, Robert Aiken, an early friend of the +poet's, to whom the poem was inscribed. + +[2.] Ween, think, fancy. + +[3.] Sugh (pronounced much like sook, with the _k_ softened; _i.e._ +like _such_ in German), wail, sough. + +[4.] Frae, from. + +[5.] Pleugh (the _gh_ has a guttural sound), plough. + +[6.] Trains o' craws, trains of crows. + +[7.] Moil, toil. + +[8.] Mattocks, implements for digging. + +[9.] The morn, to-morrow. + +[10.] Hameward, homeward. + +[11.] Stacher, totter. + +[12.] Flichterin', fluttering. + +[13.] Ingle, fireplace. + +[14.] Bonilie, cheerfully, attractively. + +[15.] Hearth-stane, hearth-stone. + +[16.] Does a' his weary kiaugh and care beguile, Does all his weary +cark (fret) and care beguile. _A'_ has the sound of _a_ in _all_; +pronounce _kiaugh_ something like _kee-owch'_, giving the _ch_ a harsh, +guttural sound. (In later editions, _carking cares_ was substituted +for _kiaugh_ and _care_.) + +[17.] Belyve the elder bairns come drapping in, Presently the older +children come dropping in. (The vowel sound in _bairns_ is like that +in _care_.) + +[18.] Ca', follow. + +[19.] Some tentie rin a cannie errand to a neebor town, some, heedful, +run on a quiet errand to a neighboring town. + +[20.] E'e, eye. + +[21.] Braw, fine. + +[22.] Sair-won penny-fee, hard-earned wages. + +[23.] Spiers, asks. + +[24.] Uncos, wonders, news. + +[25.] Sheers, scissors. + +[26.] Gars auld claes look amaist as weel's the new, makes old cloth +look almost as well as the new. + +[27.] Younkers, young people. + +[28.] Eydent, diligent. + +[29.] Jauk, trifle. + +[30.] Gang, go. + +[31.] Wha kens, who knows. + +[32.] Neebor, neighbor. + +[33.] Hafflins, half. + +[34.] Nae, no. + +[36.] Ben, inside. + +[36.] No ill taen, not ill taken; _i.e._ Jenny's parents are pleased to +have the young man come in. + +[37.] Cracks, chats. + +[38.] Kye, cattle. + +[39.] Blate and laithfu', shy and sheepish. + +[40.] Wi' a woman's wiles, with a woman's penetration. + +[41.] Sae, so. + +[42.] The lave, the rest. + +[43.] Ruth, pity, tenderness. + +[44.] Healsome parritch, chief o' Scotia's food, wholesome porridge, +chief of Scotland's food. + +[45.] Soupe, milk. + +[46.] Hawkie, cow. + +[47.] That 'yont the hallan snugly chows her cood, that beyond the wall +snugly chews her cud. In a cottage of this kind the cow lives under +the same roof with the family. + +[48.] Her weel-hained kebbuck, fell, her well-saved cheese, pungent; +_i.e._ her carefully saved, or kept, strong cheese. + +[49.] And aft he's pressed, and aft he ca's (pronounced like _cause_) +it guid, And oft he's urged, and oft he calls it good. + +[50.] 'T was a towmond auld, sin' lint was i' the bell, it was a +twelve-month old since flax was in flower; _i.e._ when the flax was +last in bloom it was a year old. + +[51.] The big ha'-Bible (pronounced _haw_), the big hall-Bible. The +name originated in the fact that large Bibles were first used in the +hall, or principal room, of the noble's castle, where all the household +assembled for worship. + +[52.] Ance, once. + +[53.] Bonnet, a soft cap made of seamless woolen stuff. + +[54.] Lyart haffets, gray side-locks. + +[55.] Those strains that once, etc., _i.e._ the _Psalms_, which were +sung in Jerusalem. _Zion_ is really the hill on which the old city of +Jerusalem was built. + +[56.] Wales, selects. + +[57.] Dundee, Martyrs, Elgin, well-known psalm tunes. + +[58.] Beets, fans or feeds. + +[59.] Nae unison hae they, no unison have they; _i.e._ they are not in +harmony with. + +[60.] Abram, or Abraham. See _Genesis_. + +[61.] Moses bade, etc. See _Exodus_ xvii. + +[62.] The royal Bard, King David. Probably Burns refers to certain of +the Psalms which express suffering and repentance. + +[63.] Job's pathetic plaint. The "plaint" begins with _Job_ iii. + +[64.] The Christian volume, i.e. the New Testament. + +[65.] How His first followers, etc. See _Acts of the Apostles_. + +[66.] The precepts sage. See the _Epistles_. + +[67.] He, who lone in Patmos, etc. St. John the Evangelist is said to +have been exiled to the island of Patmos, or Patmo, west of Asia Minor, +and there to have written the _Apocalypse_, or _Book of Revelation_. +The doom of Babylon is pronounced in Chapter xviii of that book. + +[68.] Hope springs exulting, etc. See Pope's _Essay on Man_, Epistle +I, l. 95, and his _Windsor Forest_, l. 112. + +[69.] The Power, the Almighty. + +[70.] Haply, perhaps, perchance. + +[71.] Princes and lords, etc. See _The Deserted Village_, lines 53 and +54. + +[72.] An honest man's, etc. Pope's _Essay on Man_, Epistle IV, l. 247. + +[73.] Certes, truly. + +[74.] Wallace's undaunted heart. Sir William Wallace, born about 1274, +is one of the most famous of Scotch heroes. For a time he was a +successful opponent of Edward I of England, but he finally suffered +defeat, and in 1305 was captured and taken to London, where he was +tried, condemned, and beheaded. One of Burns's most celebrated songs +begins: "Scots, wha hae (who have) wi' Wallace bled." Scott tells of +Wallace in his _Tales of a Grandfather_. + + + + +SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE + +1772-1834 + +Coleridge was born in Ottery St. Mary, in Devonshire England, and spent +his early years in the midst of a large family. His father, who was +vicar of the town and master of the grammar school, died when the son +was only nine years old. His character must, however, have impressed +Coleridge deeply, for he said, in after years: "The memory of my +father--my reverend, kind, learned, simple-hearted father--is a +religion to me." Soon after his father's death he left his happy home +in the country to enter a school it=n London, known as Christ's +Hospital. Charles Lamb, who was a schoolmate of his, has sketched the +life there in two well-known essays. In one of them, _Christ's +Hospital Fifty Years Ago_, he describes the summer holidays, so +delightful for himself with his family near, and so dreary for the +country boy with no friends in the city; and he pictures Coleridge as +forlorn and half-starved, declaring that in those days the food of the +"Blue-coat boys" was cruelly insufficient. From early childhood the +future poet had been passionately fond of reading, and an occurrence +which took place during his early years in London enabled him for a +time to gratify his taste. One day while walking down the Strand, he +put out his arms as if in the act of swimming, and in so doing touched +a passer-by. The man, taking him for a thief, seized him, crying, +"What, so young and so wicked!" "I am not a pickpocket," replied the +boy; "I only thought I was Leander swimming the Hellespont!" After +making some inquiries, his chance acquaintance subscribed to a library +for him, and the story runs that in a short time the young bookworm had +read "right through the catalogue." + +In 1791 Coleridge entered Cambridge University. While there he was +deeply stirred by events in France--for the Revolution was in +progress--and ran some risk of being expelled by the open expression of +his radical views on politics. His fine ode, _France_, written several +years later, was the expression of this intense interest. During his +second year of study, while suffering from a fit of despondency, he +suddenly left the university--just why, no one knows--and went to +London. There he enlisted in the 15th dragoons under the name of Silas +Tompkyn Comberback. While he was in the service his awkwardness in +doing manual labor, especially in grooming his horse, led to his +exchanging tasks with his comrades: they performed his mechanical +duties, while he wrote letters for them to their wives or sweethearts. +A Latin inscription which he placed above his saddle in the stable led +to the discovery of his true condition, and about the same time his +friends learned of his whereabouts. At the end of four months in the +dragoons he was bought out and enabled to return to his studies. He +remained in Cambridge but a short time, however, leaving in 1794 +without taking a degree. + +The following year he married Miss Sara Fricker. This important step +was taken on the strength of a small sum promised by a bookseller for a +volume of poems which he was then writing. A month later his friend +Robert Southey--afterwards well known as an author--married his wife's +sister. Some time before this, the two young men had conceived the +idea of crossing the sea with a few congenial acquaintances and forming +an ideal community on the bank of the Susquehanna. Fortunately the +scheme was abandoned and the two dreamers turned their attention to +literary projects. + +Coleridge's best work as a poet was done in 1797 and 1798, and probably +the inspiration came largely from his friendship with William +Wordsworth. During these two years the poets lived near each other in +the beautiful Cumberland country, and while taking long rambles over +the Quantock Hills they talked, planned, and wrote. The first result +of this intercourse was a joint volume of poems called _Lyrical +Ballads_, published in 1798. This included Coleridge's _Ancient +Mariner_ and Wordsworth's _We are Seven_. About the same time +Coleridge wrote the first part of _Christabel_, the ode _France_, +_Kubla Khan_, and a few other well-known poems. The impression which +he made at this period of his life upon Dorothy Wordsworth, the poet's +sister, was recorded by her in a letter. She says of him: "He is a +wonderful man. His conversation teems with soul and mind. . . . His +eye is large and full, and not very dark but gray, such an eye as would +receive from a heavy soul the dullest expression; but it speaks every +emotion of his animated mind; it has more of the poet's eye in a fine +frenzy rolling than I ever witnessed. He has fine dark eyebrows and an +overhanging forehead." + +Of Coleridge as poet there is unfortunately little more to relate, for +during the remainder of his life he devoted himself mainly to +philosophy and literary criticism, with occasional work in journalism. +After a stay in Germany he brought back to England a knowledge of +German metaphysics and an enthusiasm for German literature which +enabled him to do much towards awakening in his own countrymen an +interest in these subjects. He had never been strong, and from the age +of thirty-four he suffered seriously from ill-health and from his +practice of using opium--a habit begun by his taking the dangerous drug +to relieve acute pain. No doubt his powers were impaired by these +causes. In 1804, hoping to benefit by change of climate, he went to +Malta, and before his return spent some months in Italy. With the +exception of a short tour on the Rhine with the Wordsworths, the last +sixteen years of his life were passed quietly at Highgate, a village +near London, where through the kind care of friends he was enabled to +control the opium habit and do a fair amount of intellectual work. His +mind dwelt much on religious subjects, and the faith which had earlier +found expression in his noble _Hymn in the Vale of Chamouni_ brought +light and consolation as the end drew near. Many young men came to see +him during these last years, drawn by his fame as a poet and still more +by his remarkable powers as a talker. One of them has said of him in +this connection: "Throughout a long summer's day would this man talk to +you in low, equable, but clear and musical tones, concerning things +human and divine." And the same person has described a day spent with +him as "a Sabbath past expression, deep, tranquil, and serene." The +poet died at Highgate in 1834, at the age of sixty-two. + +Coleridge was a many-sided genius, and perhaps the world has benefited +as largely by his powers as a thinker as by his gift for poetry. He +did much both by talking and writing to broaden English thought, and +his keen and suggestive criticism of other authors, of Shakespeare +especially, has been of high value to lovers of literature. As a poet +he is distinguished for the rare quality of his imagination and the +wonderful music of his verse. + + +ARGUMENT OF THE ANCIENT MARINER + +The argument, or plot, of the poem is as follows:[*] + +Three guests were on their way to a wedding, when one of them--the +bridegroom's nearest relative--was stopped by a Mariner with long gray +beard and glittering eye, who constrained him to listen to his story. +The Mariner once set sail in a ship bound southward. After crossing +the equator the vessel was driven by strong winds toward the south +pole, and was finally hemmed in by icebergs. An albatross which +appeared at this time brought good luck: the ice split and the ship +sailed northward. The Mariner, for no apparent reason, shot the bird +of good omen. At first his comrades declared that he had done a +hellish deed, but when the fog cleared away they justified him, +believing that the fog had been brought by the bird. In this way they +became accomplices in his crime. By killing the albatross the Mariner +had offended the Spirit of the South Pole, who now followed the ship +"nine fathom deep" to make sure that vengeance was meted out to the +guilty man. As a sign of the Mariner's guilt the sailors fastened +about his neck the dead bird. The vessel was now in the Pacific Ocean. +On nearing the equator she was becalmed, and before long all the +sailors were dying of thirst. Suddenly a skeleton ship appeared in +sight, having on board Death and Life-in-Death. The two spectres were +throwing dice to see which should possess the doomed Mariner. +Life-in-Death won, and the Mariner was hers. If Death had won, his +life would soon have ended; as it was, existence for him was to +mean--for a time at least--life in the midst of the dead. No sooner +had the spectre bark shot by than his comrades, four times fifty living +men, dropped lifeless one by one. For seven days and seven nights he +suffered agonies from the curse in their stony eyes; but he could not +die, and he could not pray. + +One day, while watching some water snakes at play, he was charmed with +their beauty and blessed them unawares--a sure sign that love for God's +lower creatures was springing up in his heart. The next instant the +spell began to break: the albatross fell from his neck into the sea and +he could move his lips in prayer. He slept, and the Holy Mother sent +rain; and when he awoke the wind was blowing. A troop of angelic +spirits now entered the bodies of the dead sailors and worked the +ropes, and, obedient to the angels, the Spirit of the South Pole helped +the ship onward. As she sped on, the Mariner, who lay in a swoon, +learned from the talk of two spirits that his penance was not yet +accomplished. Soon after waking he beheld the shores of his native +country. As the vessel neared the land the angels left the bodies of +the sailors, and at the same time a small boat approached bringing a +pilot and his boy, and a pious hermit--all known to the Mariner. +Suddenly there was a dreadful sound, and the ship sank. On coming to +his senses the Mariner found himself in the pilot's boat. When the +hermit asked him, "What manner of man art thou?" his agony was fearful +until he had found relief in telling his experience. As a punishment +for his crime in shooting the albatross the agony was to return at +intervals and compel him to travel from land to land relating his +strange tale. After admonishing the wedding guest to love well both +man and beast, the ancient Mariner departed. The poet says of his +listener, + + "A sadder and a wiser man + He rose the morrow morn." + + + +[*]When The Ancient Mariner was reprinted in 1800, the poet added +explanatory notes in the margin. These have been found useful in +writing this argument. The poet's notes are given in his _Poetical +Works_, edited by James Dykes Campbell (1893). + + + + THE ANCIENT MARINER + + PART I + + It is an ancient Mariner, + And he stoppeth one of three, + "By thy long grey beard and glittering eye, + Now wherefore stopp'st thou me? + + "The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide, 5 + And I am next of kin;[1] + The guests are met, the feast is set: + Mayst hear the merry din." + + He holds him with his skinny hand, + "There was a ship," quoth[2] he. 10 + "Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!"[3] + Eftsoons[4] his hand dropped he. + + He holds him with his glittering eye-- + The Wedding-Guest stood still, + And listens like a three years' child:[5] 15 + The Mariner hath his will. + + The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone: + He cannot choose but hear; + And thus spake on that ancient man, + The bright-eyed Mariner. 20 + + "The ship was cheered, the harbor cleared, + Merrily did we drop + Below the kirk,[6] below the hill, + Below the lighthouse top. + + "The Sun came up upon the left,[7] + Out of the sea came he! 25 + And he shone bright, and on the right + Went down into the sea. + + "Higher and higher every day, + Till over the mast at noon------" 30 + The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast, + For he heard the loud bassoon. + + The bride hath paced into the hall, + Red as a rose is she; + Nodding their heads before her goes 35 + The merry minstrelsy. + + The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast, + Yet he cannot choose but hear; + And thus spake on that ancient man, + The bright-eyed Mariner. 40 + + "And now the Storm-blast came, and he + Was tyrannous and strong: + He struck with his o'ertaking wings, + And chased us south along. + + "With sloping masts and dipping prow, 45 + As who pursued with yell and blow + Still treads the shadow of his foe, + And forward bends his head, + The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast, + And southward aye we fled. 50 + + "And now there came both mist and snow,[8] + And it grew wondrous cold: + And ice, mast-high, came floating by, + As green as emerald. + + "And through the drifts the snowy clifts[9] 55 + Did send a dismal sheen: + Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken[10]-- + The ice was all between. + + "The ice was here, the ice was there, + The ice was all around: 60 + It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, + Like noises in a swound![11] + + "At length did cross an Albatross,[12] + Thorough[12] the fog it came; + As if it had been a Christian soul, 65 + We hailed it in God's name. + + "It ate the food it ne'er had eat, + And round and round it flew. + The ice did split with a thunder-fit; + The helmsman steered us through. 70 + + "And a good south wind sprung up behind; + The Albatross did follow, + And every day, for food or play, + Came to the mariner's hollo! + + "In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,[14] 75 + It perched for vespers nine;[15] + Whiles[16] all the night, through fog-smoke white, + Glimmered the white moon-shine." + + "God save thee, ancient Mariner! + From the fiends that plague thee thus!-- 80 + Why look'st thou so?"--"With my cross-bow + I shot the Albatross." + + + PART II + + "The Sun now rose upon the right:[17] + Out of the sea came he, + Still hid in mist, and on the left 85 + Went down into the sea. + + "And the good south wind still blew behind, + But no sweet bird did follow, + Nor any day for food or play + Come to the mariners' hollo! 90 + + "And I had done a hellish thing, + And it would work 'em woe; + For all averred, I had killed the bird + That made the breeze to blow. + 'Ah wretch!' said they, 'the bird to slay, 95 + That made the breeze to blow!' + + "Nor dim nor red, like God's own head + The glorious sun uprist:[18] + Then all averred, I had killed the bird + That brought the fog and mist. 100 + ''Twas right,' said they, 'such birds to slay, + That bring the fog and mist.' + + "The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, + The furrow followed free;[19] + We were the first that ever burst + Into that silent sea.[20] 105 + + "Down dropped the breeze, the sails dropped down, + 'T was sad as sad could be; + And we did speak only to break + The silence of the sea! 110 + + "All in a hot and copper sky, + The bloody Sun, at noon, + Right up above the mast did stand, + No bigger than the Moon. + + "Day after day, day after day, 115 + We stuck, nor breath nor motion; + As idle as a painted ship + Upon a painted ocean. + + "Water, water, everywhere, + And all the boards did shrink; 120 + Water, water, everywhere, + Nor any drop to drink. + + "The very deep did rot: O Christ! + That ever this should be! + Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs 125 + Upon the slimy sea. + + "About, about, in reel and rout + The death-fires[21] danced at night; + The water, like a witch's oils, + Burnt green, and blue, and white, 130 + + "And some in dreams assured were + Of the spirit that plagued us so;[22] + Nine fathom deep he had followed us + From the land of mist and snow. + + "And every tongue, through utter drought, 135 + Was withered at the root; + We could not speak, no more than if + We had been choked with soot. + + "Ah! well-a-day! what evil looks + Had I from old and young! 140 + Instead of the cross, the Albatross + About my neck was hung." + + PART III + + "There passed a weary time. Each throat + Was parched, and glazed each eye. + A weary time! a weary time! 145 + How glazed each weary eye, + When, looking westward, I beheld + A something in the sky. + + "At first it seemed a little speck, + And then it seemed a mist; 150 + It moved and moved, and took at last + A certain shape, I wist.[23] + + "A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist! + And still it neared and neared; + As if it dodged a water-sprite, 155 + It plunged and tacked and veered, + + "With throats unslaked, with black lips baked, + We could nor laugh nor wail; + Through utter drought all dumb we stood! + I bit my arm, I sucked the blood, 160 + And cried, 'A sail! a sail!' + + "With throats unslaked, with black lips baked, + Agape[24] they heard me call: + Gramercy![25] they for joy did grin, + And all at once their breath drew in, 165 + As they were drinking all. + + "See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more! + Hither to work us weal,[26] + Without a breeze, without a tide, + She steadies with upright keel! 170 + + "The western wave was all a-flame, + The day was well-nigh done! + Almost upon the western wave + Rested the broad bright Sun; + When that strange shape drove suddenly 175 + Betwixt us and the Sun. + + "And straight[27] the Sun was flecked with bars,[28] + (Heaven's Mother[29] send us grace!) + As if through a dungeon grate he peered + With broad and burning face. 180 + + "Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud) + How fast she nears and nears! + Are those her sails that glance in the Sun, + Like restless gossameres?[30] + + "Are those her ribs through which the Sun 185 + Did peer, as through a grate? + And is that Woman all her crew? + Is that a Death? and are there two? + Is Death that woman's mate? + + "Her lips were red, her looks were free, 190 + Her locks were yellow as gold: + Her skin was as white as leprosy, + The Nightmare Life-in-Death[31] was she + Who thicks man's blood with cold. + + "The naked hulk alongside came, 195 + And the twain were casting dice; + 'The game is done! I've won, I've won!' + Quoth she, and whistles thrice. + + "The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out; + At one stride comes the dark;[32] 200 + With far-heard whisper o'er the sea + Off shot the spectre-bark. + + "We listened and looked sideways up! + Fear at my heart, as at a cup, + My life-blood seemed to sip! 205 + The stars were dim, and thick the night, + The steersman's face by his lamp gleamed white; + From the sails the dew did drip-- + Till clomb[33] above the eastern bar + The horned Moon, with one bright star 210 + Within the nether tip.[34] + + "One after one, by the star-dogged Moon, + Too quick for groan or sigh, + Each turned his face with a ghastly pang, + And cursed me with his eye. 215 + + "Four times fifty living men, + (And I heard nor sigh nor groan) + With heavy thump, a lifeless lump, + They dropped down one by one. + + "The souls did from their bodies fly,-- 220 + They fled to bliss or woe! + And every soul, it passed me by, + Like the whizz of my cross-bow!" + + + + PART IV + + "I fear thee,[35] ancient Mariner! + I fear thy skinny hand! 225 + And thou art long, and lank, and brown,[36] + As is the ribbed sea-sand, + + "I fear thee and thy glittering eye, + And thy skinny hand, so brown."-- + "Fear not, fear not, thou Wedding-Guest! 230 + This body dropped not down. + + "Alone, alone, all, all alone, + Alone on a wide, wide sea! + And never a saint took pity on + My soul in agony. 235 + + "The many men, so beautiful! + And they all dead did lie: + And a thousand thousand slimy things + Lived on; and so did I. + + "I looked upon the rotting sea, 240 + And drew my eyes away; + I looked upon the rotting deck, + And there the dead men lay. + + "I looked to heaven and tried to pray; + But or ever a prayer had gusht, 245 + A wicked whisper came, and made + My heart as dry as dust. + + "I closed my lids, and kept them close, + And the balls like pulses beat; + For the sky and the sea, and the sea + and the sky,[37] 250 + Lay like a load on my weary eye, + And the dead were at my feet. + + "The cold sweat melted from their limbs, + Nor rot nor reek did they: + The look with which they looked on me 255 + Had never passed away. + + "An orphan's curse would drag to hell + A spirit from on high; + But oh! more horrible than that + Is a curse in a dead man's eye! 260 + Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse, + And yet I could not die. + + "The moving Moon went up the sky, + And nowhere did abide: + Softly she was going up, 265 + And a star or two beside-- + + "Her beams bemocked the sultry main,[38] + Like April hoar-frost spread; + But where the ship's huge shadow lay, + The charmed water burnt alway 270 + A still and awful red. + + "Beyond the shadow of the ship, + I watched the water-snakes: + They moved in tracks of shining white, + And when they reared, the elfish light 275 + Fell off in hoary flakes.[39] + + "Within the shadow of the ship + I watched their rich attire: + Blue, glossy green, and velvet black, + They coiled and swam; and every track 280 + Was a flash of golden fire. + + "O happy living things! no tongue + Their beauty might declare: + A spring of love gushed from my heart, + And I blessed them unaware: 285 + Sure my kind saint took pity on me, + And I blessed them unaware. + + "The selfsame moment I could pray; + And from my neck so free + The Albatross fell off, and sank 290 + Like lead into the sea." + + + + PART V + + "O sleep! it is a gentle thing, + Beloved from pole to pole! + To Mary Queen the praise be given! + She sent the gentle sleep from heaven, 295 + That slid into my soul. + + "The silly[40] buckets on the deck, + That had so long remained, + I dreamt that they were filled with dew; + And when I awoke, it rained. 300 + + "My lips were wet, my throat was cold, + My garments all were dank;[41] + Sure I had drunken in my dreams, + And still my body drank. + + "I moved, and could not feel my limbs: 305 + I was so light--almost + I thought that I had died in sleep, + And was a blessed ghost. + + "And soon I heard a roaring wind: + It did not come anear; 310 + But with its sound it shook the sails, + That were so thin and sere. + + "The upper air burst into life! + And a hundred fire-flags sheen,[42] + To and fro they were hurried about! 315 + And to and fro, and in and out, + The wan[43] stars danced between. + + "And the coming wind did roar more loud, + And the sails did sigh like sedge; + And the rain poured down from one black cloud, 320 + The Moon was at its edge. + + "The thick black cloud was cleft, and still + The Moon was at its side: + Like waters shot from some high crag, + The lightning fell with never a jag, 325 + A river steep and wide. + + "The loud wind never reached the ship, + Yet now the ship moved on! + Beneath the lightning and the Moon + The dead men gave a groan. 330 + + "They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose, + Nor spake, nor moved their eyes; + It had been strange, even in a dream, + To have seen those dead men rise. + + "The helmsman steered, the ship moved on; 335 + Yet never a breeze up blew; + The mariners all gan work[44] the ropes, + Where they were wont to do; + They raised their limbs like lifeless tools-- + We were a ghastly crew. 340 + + "The body of my brother's son + Stood by me, knee to knee: + The body and I pulled at one rope, + But he said nought to me." + + "I fear thee, ancient Mariner!" 345 + "Be calm, thou Wedding-Guest! + 'Twas not those souls that fled in pain, + Which to their corses came again, + But a troop of spirits blest: + + "For when it dawned--they dropped their arms, 350 + And clustered round the mast; + Sweet sounds rose slowly through their mouths, + And from their bodies passed. + + "Around, around, flew each sweet sound, + Then darted to the Sun; 355 + Slowly the sounds came back again, + Now mixed, now one by one. + + "Sometimes a-dropping from the sky[45] + I heard the sky-lark sing; + Sometimes all little birds that are, 360 + How they seemed to fill the sea and air + With their sweet jargoning![46] + + "And now 'twas like all instruments, + Now like a lonely flute; + And now it is an angel's song, 365 + That makes the heavens be mute. + + "It ceased; yet still the sails made on + A pleasant noise till noon, + A noise like of a hidden brook + In the leafy month of June, 370 + That to the sleeping woods all night + Singeth a quiet tune. + + "Till noon we quietly sailed on, + Yet never a breeze did breathe: + Slowly and smoothly went the ship, 375 + Moved onward from beneath. + + "Under the keel nine fathom deep, + From the land of mist and snow, + The spirit slid: and it was he + That made the ship to go. 380 + The sails at noon left off their tune, + And the ship stood still also. + + "The Sun, right up above the mast, + Had fixed her to the ocean: + But in a minute she gan stir, 385 + With a short uneasy motion-- + Backwards and forwards half her length, + With a short uneasy motion. + + "Then, like a pawing horse let go, + She made a sudden bound: 390 + It flung the blood into my head, + And I fell down in a swound.[47] + + "How long in that same fit I lay, + I have not to declare; + But ere my living life returned, 395 + I heard, and in my soul discerned + Two voices in the air.[48] + + "'Is it he?' quoth one, 'Is this the man? + By Him who died on cross, + With his cruel bow he laid full low 400 + The harmless Albatross. + + "'The spirit who bideth by himself + In the land of mist and snow, + He loved the bird that loved the man + Who shot him with his bow.' 405 + + "The other was a softer voice, + As soft as honey-dew;[49] + Quoth he, 'The man hath penance done, + And penance more will do.'" + + + + PART VI + + _First Voice_ + + "'But tell me, tell me! speak again, 410 + Thy soft response renewing-- + What makes that ship drive on so fast? + What is the ocean doing?'" + + + _Second Voice_ + + "'Still as a slave before his lord, + The ocean hath no blast; 415 + His great bright eye most silently + Up to the Moon is cast-- + + "'If he may know[50] which way to go; + For she guides him smooth or grim.[51] + See, brother, see! how graciously 420 + She looketh down on him.'" + + + _First Voice_ + + "'But why drives on that ship so fast, + Without or wave or wind?'" + + + _Second Voice_ + + "'The air is cut away before, + And closes from behind. 425 + + "'Fly, brother, fly! more high, more high! + Or we shall be belated: + For slow and slow that ship will go, + When the Mariner's trance is abated.' + + "I woke, and we were sailing on 430 + As in a gentle weather: + 'T was night, calm night, the moon was high; + The dead men stood together. + + "All stood together on the deck, + For a charnel-dungeon[52] fitter: 435 + All fixed on me their stony eyes, + That in the Moon did glitter. + + "The pang, the curse, with which they died, + Had never passed away; + I could not draw my eyes from theirs, 440 + Nor turn them up to pray. + + "And now this spell was snapped: once more + I viewed the ocean green, + And looked far forth, yet little saw + Of what had else been seen-- 445 + + "Like one that on a lonesome road + Doth walk in fear and dread, + And having once turned round walks on, + And turns no more his head; + Because he knows, a frightful fiend 450 + Doth close behind him tread. + + "But soon there breathed a wind on me, + Nor sound nor motion made; + Its path was not upon the sea, + In ripple or in shade. 455 + + "It raised my hair, it fanned my cheek, + Like a meadow-gale of spring-- + It mingled strangely with my fears, + Yet it felt like a welcoming. + + "Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship, 460 + Yet she sailed softly too: + Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze-- + On me alone it blew. + + "Oh! dream of joy! is this indeed + The light-house top I see? 465 + Is this the hill? is this the kirk? + Is this mine own countree?[53] + + "We drifted o'er the harbor bar,[54] + And I with sobs did pray-- + O let me be awake, my God! 470 + Or let me sleep alway. + + "The harbor bay was clear as glass,[55] + So smoothly it was strewn! + And on the bay the moonlight lay, + And the shadow of the Moon. 475 + + "The rock shone bright, the kirk no less, + That stands above the rock: + The moonlight steeped in silentness + The steady weathercock. + + "And the bay was white with silent light, 480 + Till, rising from the same, + Full many shapes, that shadows were, + In crimson colors came. + + "A little distance from the prow + Those crimson shadows were: 485 + I turned my eyes upon the deck-- + Oh, Christ! what saw I there! + + "Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat, + And by the holy rood![56] + A man all light, a seraph-man, 490 + On every corse there stood. + + "This seraph-band, each waved his hand: + It was a heavenly sight! + They stood as signals to the land, + Each one a lovely light; 495 + + "This seraph-band, each waved his hand, + No voice did they impart[57]-- + No voice; but oh! the silence sank + Like music on my heart. + + "But soon I heard the dash of oars, 500 + I heard the Pilot's cheer; + My head was turned perforce, away, + And I saw a boat appear. + + "The Pilot and the Pilot's boy, + I heard them coming fast: 505 + Dear Lord in heaven! it was a joy + The dead men could not blast. + + "I saw a third--I heard his voice: + It is the Hermit good! + He singeth loud his godly hymns 510 + That he makes in the wood. + He'll shrieve[58] my soul, he'll wash away + The Albatross's blood." + + + + PART VII + + "This Hermit good lives in that wood + Which slopes down to the sea. 515 + How loudly his sweet voice he rears! + He loves to talk with marineres + That come from a far countree. + + "He kneels at morn, and noon, and eve-- + He hath a cushion plump: 520 + It is the moss that wholly hides + The rotted old oak-stump. + + "The skiff-boat neared: I heard them talk, + 'Why, this is strange, I trow![59] + Where are those lights so many and fair, 525 + That signal made but now?' + + "'Strange, by my faith!' the Hermit said-- + 'And they answered not our cheer. + The planks look warped! and see those sails, + How thin they are and sere! 530 + I never saw aught like to them, + Unless perchance it were + + "'Brown skeletons of leaves that lag + My forest-brook along; + When the ivy-tod[60] is heavy with snow, 535 + And the owlet whoops to the wolf below, + That eats the she-wolf's young.' + + "'Dear Lord! it hath a fiendish look-- + (The Pilot made reply) + I am afeared,'[61]--'Push on, push on!' 540 + Said the Hermit cheerily. + + "The boat came closer to the ship, + But I nor spake nor stirred; + The boat came close beneath the ship, + And straight a sound was heard. 545 + + "Under the water it rumbled on, + Still louder and more dread: + It reached the ship, it split the bay: + The ship went down like lead. + + "Stunned by that loud and dreadful sound, 550 + Which sky and ocean smote; + Like one that hath been seven days drowned + My body lay afloat; + But, swift as dreams, myself I found + Within the Pilot's boat. 555 + + "Upon the whirl, where sank the ship, + The boat spun round and round; + And all was still, save that the hill + Was telling of the sound. + + "I moved my lips --the Pilot shrieked 560 + And fell down in a fit; + The holy Hermit raised his eyes, + And prayed where he did sit. + + "I took the oars: the Pilot's boy, + Who now doth crazy go, 565 + Laughed loud and long, and all the while + His eyes went to and fro. + 'Ha! Ha!' quoth he, 'full plain I see, + The Devil knows how to row.' + + "And now, all in my own countree, 570 + I stood on the firm land! + The Hermit stepped forth from the boat, + And scarcely he could stand. + + "'O shrieve me, shrieve me, holy man!' + The Hermit crossed his brow.[62] 575 + 'Say quick,' quoth he, 'I bid thee say-- + What manner of man art thou?' + + "Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched + With a woeful agony, + Which forced me to begin my tale; 580 + And then it left me free. + + "Since then, at an uncertain hour, + That agony returns: + And till my ghastly tale is told, + This heart within me burns. 585 + + "I pass, like night, from land to land; + I have strange power of speech; + That moment that his face I see, + I know the man that must hear me: + To him my tale I teach. 590 + + "What loud uproar bursts from that door! + The wedding-guests are there: + But in the garden-bower the bride + And bride-maids singing are: + And hark the little vesper bell,[63] 595 + Which biddeth me to prayer. + + "O Wedding-Guest! this soul hath been + Alone on a wide wide sea: + So lonely 't was, that God himself + Scarce seemed there to be. 600 + + "O sweeter than the marriage feast, + 'T is sweeter far to me, + To walk together to the kirk + With a goodly company!-- + + "To walk together to the kirk, 605 + And all together pray, + While each to his great Father bends, + Old men, and babes, and loving friends, + And youths and maidens gay! + + "Farewell, farewell! but this I tell 610 + To thee, thou Wedding-Guest!-- + He prayeth well, who loveth well + Both man and bird and beast. + + "He prayeth best, who loveth best + All things both great and small; 615 + For the dear God who loveth us, + He made and loveth all." + + The Mariner, whose eye is bright, + Whose beard with age is hoar, + Is gone: and now the Wedding-Guest 620 + Turned from the Bridegroom's door. + + He went like one that hath been stunned, + And is of sense forlorn:[64] + A sadder and a wiser man + He rose the morrow morn. 625 + + + +NOTE.--The Ancient Mariner was written in 1797. The plot was suggested +by a dream related to Coleridge by one of his friends. While the story +is his own invention, he took several points from Shelvocke's Voyages +and accepted a few hints from Wordsworth, who furnished also two or +three lines of verse. In the beginning the two poets intended to work +together, but this plan was found impracticable, and Coleridge +proceeded by himself. It is easy to believe that the plot originated +in a dream, for the completed poem is one of the strangest, most +fantastic dreams that ever formed themselves in a poet's brain. So far +as its moral import is concerned, the production will hardly bear close +scrutiny, although it teaches the duty of loving all God's creatures, +both great and small. The prolonged suffering of the Mariner is a +punishment far too severe for his thoughtless act, while his four times +fifty comrades, who endure horrible tortures before dying, have been +guilty of no crime whatsoever. Still it is not necessary that every +piece of literature should teach a consistent moral lesson, and _The +Ancient Mariner_ can be enjoyed for its marvelous pictures and its +weird melody. + +The form chosen by Coleridge for his production, that of the mediaeval +ballad, is peculiarly adapted to story-telling on account of the +freedom which it allows, and it has never been more artistically used +than in this instance. In harmony with the ballad form the poet uses +certain old words, such as "trow," "wist," and "countree." It will be +seen that the stanzas vary in length, and that there are occasional +irregularities in metre. In general the first and third lines of a +stanza have four feet each, while the second and fourth lines have +three feet. Only the second and fourth lines rhyme, unless the stanza +consists of more than four lines. + + +[1.] Next of kin, nearest relative. + +[2.] Quoth, said. + +[3.] Loon, worthless fellow. + +[4.] Eftsoons, at once, immediately; a favorite word with the poet +Spenser. + +[5.] And listens, etc. Wordsworth wrote this line and the line +following. + +[6.] Kirk, church. + +[7.] The Sun came up upon the left. This would be the case if a vessel +were going from England, for instance, toward the equator; and each day +the sun would be more nearly overhead. + +[8.] And now there came both mist and snow. They were nearing the +south pole. + +[9.] Clifts, clefts, cracks. + +[10.] Ken, discern. + +[11.] Swound, swoon, fainting fit. + +[12.] Albatross. The albatross, the largest of sea birds, is found +chiefly in the southern hemisphere, and because of its strength in +flight is often seen far from land. + +[13.] Thorough, through. + +[14.] Shroud. The shrouds are sets of ropes which serve as stays for +the masts of a vessel. + +[15.] Vespers nine, _i.e._ nine evenings. _Vesper_ and _Hesperus_ are +names given to the evening star, especially to the planet Venus when it +appears in the west soon after sunset. Consult the dictionary for +other meanings of the word _vesper_. + +[16.] Whiles, meanwhile. + +[17.] The Sun now rose upon the right. This indicates that the vessel +had turned about and was going northward. The poet says in his notes +that she soon entered the Pacific Ocean. + +[18.] Nor dim nor red, etc. The sun now rose clear and bright, and not +dim or red, as when seen through mist or fog; and the sailors justified +the Mariner, thinking that by his act the fog had been dispersed. +Uprist means _uprose_. + +[19.] The furrow followed free, i.e. the track, or wake, left by the +ship appeared to be gladly following her. + +[20.] That silent sea. The vessel had reached the equator. + +[21.] Death-fires. There is a superstition that death is sometimes +foreshadowed by death-fires or fetch-lights. In this instance the +fires presaged the death of the sailors. + +[22.] The spirit that plagued us so. This was "the lonesome spirit +from the south pole," who was seeking revenge for the death of the +albatross. + +[23.] I wist, I knew. + +[24.] Agape, with mouths open as though surprised. + +[25.] Gramercy (from the French _grand-merci_), an exclamation formerly +used to denote thankfulness with surprise. + +[26.] To work us weal, to do us good. + +[27.] Straight, straightway, immediately. + +[28.] The Sun was flecked with bars. The frame of the skeleton ship +showed clearly against the setting sun as she passed before it. + +[29.] Heaven's Mother, the Virgin Mary. + +[30.] Gossameres, gossamers, cobwebs. + +[31.] The Nightmare Life-in-Death. In this strange being the poet +personifies the state of a person who lives, as it were, in the shadow +of death. The condition called "nightmare" was formerly believed to be +caused by the witch Nightmare, who oppressed people during sleep. + +[32.] At one stride comes the dark. This is a wonderful picture of the +sudden fall of night near the equator, where there is no twilight. + +[33.] Clomb, climbed; an old form. + +[34.] The horned moon, etc. Coleridge says in a note: "It is a common +superstition among sailors that something evil is about to happen +whenever a star dogs the moon." + +[35.] I fear thee. The wedding guest imagined that the Mariner died +with the rest of the sailors and that he was talking with a ghost. + +[36.] And thou art long, etc. This line and the line following were +written by Wordsworth. + +[37.] For the sky, etc. This line, with its repetitions, and the extra +length of the stanza, tend to make one feel the load that was pressing +upon the Mariner. + +[38.] Bemocked the sultry main, mocked the sultry ocean. + +[39.] They moved, etc. This description is true of fish of all kinds +on a dark night when there is a great deal of phosphorus in the water. + +[40.] Silly, frail. + +[41.] Dank, damp, wet; seldom used in prose. + +[42.] Sheen, bright, glittering. + +[43.] Wan, pale. + +[44.] Gan work, did work, or began to work. + +[45.] Sometimes a-dropping, etc. Notice what a pleasant interlude is +made by this stanza and the three which follow. + +[46.] Jargoning, confused sounds. + +[47.] I fell down in a swound. The poet explains that the vessel, +driven by angelic power, sped on with extreme rapidity, and that the +Mariner was put into a trance because he could not have endured the +motion. + +[48.] Two voices in the air. These were the voices of spirits who felt +the wrong that had been done to the Spirit of the South Pole by the +killing of the albatross. + +[49.] Honey-dew, a sweet substance found in small drops on the leaves +of trees and plants. + +[50.] If he may know, so that he may know. + +[51.] For she guides him, etc., _i.e._ whether smooth or rough, the +ocean is always guided by the moon. + +[52.] Charnel-dungeon, a vault where the bones of the dead are kept. + +[53.] Countree, country; this form of the word occurs frequently in old +ballads. + +[54.] Harbor bar, a bank of sand or other matter at the mouth of a +harbor, which obstructs navigation. + +[55.] The harbor bay, etc. Notice the effect of quietness produced by +this line and the eight which follow. + +[56.] Holy rood, holy cross. + +[57.] Impart, give forth, send forth. + +[58.] Shrieve, shrive, hear confession and pronounce absolution. In +the earlier ages of the Christian Church it was not uncommon for men to +live as hermits, devoting themselves to fasting, penance, and prayer. + +[59.] Trow (pronounced _tro_), think. + +[60.] Ivy-tod, ivy-bush. + +[61.] Afeared, afraid; an old form. + +[62.] The Hermit crossed his brow. He did this to ward off evil, for +he feared that the Mariner was a wicked spirit in human form. + +[63.] Vesper bell, a bell calling to evening prayer. See note on l. 76. + +[64.] Of sense forlorn, deprived of sense, of feeling. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Selections from Five English Poets, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SELECTIONS FROM FIVE ENGLISH POETS *** + +***** This file should be named 13535.txt or 13535.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/5/3/13535/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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