Class Book s>rf?s/76 GopynghtTSl - COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. MELODIES OF ENGLISH VERSE MELODIES OF ENGLISH VEKSE SELECTIONS FOR MEMORIZING CHOSEN AND ARRANGED BY LEWIS KENNEDY MORSE Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter ; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on ; Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd, Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone. Keats. BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 1910 COPYRIGHT, I9IO, BY LEWIS KENNEDY MORSE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ©C1.A268255 TO HER AND TO HER CHILDREN ANNA AND ARTHUR WILLIAM WATSON 1858- IN PRAISE OF RHYTHM Song is no bauble — Slight not the songsmith, England my mother, Maker of men. Lo, with the ancient Roots of man's nature, Twines the eternal Passion of song. Deep in the world-heart Stand its foundations, Tangled with all things, Twin-made with all. Nay, what is Nature's Self, but an endless Strife toward music, Euphony, rhyme? Trees in their blooming, Tides in their flowing, Stars in their circling, Tremble with song. God on His throne is Eldest of poets : Unto His measures Moveth the Whole. From England my Mother CONTENTS Order of Selections xi The Training of the Ear xv Part I. Iambic Movement I-LXXI 1 Part II. Trochaic Movement LXXII-LXXXIII 97 Part III. Anapaestic Movement LXXXIV-XCIII 115 Part IV. Dactylic Movement XCIV-C 133 Part V. Poems of Reverence CI-CVT 143 Notes 161 Index of Metres 165 Index of Writers 179 Index of First Lines 181 ORDER OF SELECTIONS In Praise of Rhythm Watson The Brave Heart Herrick Early Spring Tennyson Spring Sights and Sounds Wordsworth Guiding Saints Vaughan Solitude Pope To a Mouse Burns . Crossing the Bar Tennyson The Rainbow Wordsworth Comrades Barbauld The Bird Vaughan Man Goes, Flowers Return Spenser The Elixir Herbert The Brook Tennyson The Children of God Coleridge The Angel Choir Coleridge The Education of Nature Wordsworth Past and Present Hood Youthful Age , Jonson . The Ocean and its Melody .... Arnold . To Evening Collins . The Wandering Moon Milton . The Fireside Whittier Brooding Grief Rossetti The Coming of the Wind ..... Tennyson The Ballad of Rosabelle Scott . vn 3 4 6 7 9 11 13 14 15 16 17 18 20 22 24 25 26 28 29 30 32 33 34 35, 36 Xll ORDER OF SELECTIONS Comparisons Wotton The Hard Man Wordsworth Beaching the Boat Browning Each and All Emerson The Revelation Patmore Corinna goes a-Maying Herrick The Pale Moon Shelley . The Bugle Song Tennyson Queen Mab . . . Shakespeare Address to his Soldiers Shakespeare Life as a Play Shakespeare Ambition Shakespeare Morning Milton . . Skating Wordsworth Silent Night Keats . Ulysses Tennyson The Beauty of Reality Browning Ships at Night Morris . The Swimmer Marlowe On Writing Verse Pope The Village Preacher Goldsmith Waste Places by the Sea Shelley . The Office of Beauty Keats . Song of Allegiance Tennyson The West Wind Shelley . Talks in the Potter's House FitzGerald The Fallen Tree Vaughan The Elegy Gray . Melancholy Keats . The Two Rivers Longfellow On his Blindness Milton . ORDER OF SELECTIONS xm The Ongoing Ship Wordsworth The Crowding World Wordsworth Night and Death White . . Despondency Shakespeare Ozymandias Shelley . Great Things and Small Spenser The Sounds of Morning Beattie . The Ocean Byron . Day-Dreams Tennyson The Cheerful Day Drayton The Grandmother Tennyson The Camp at Night Chapman Looking Backward Byron . A Mood Aldrich Recollections of Childhood Wordsworth The Oak Tennyson Things Loved Shelley . Rising Smoke Longfellow In a Garden Wither . The Guardian Spirit's Farewell . . . Milton . The Tiger Blake . The Tempest Palmer . The Chimes Longfellow The Raven Poe . . The Promise of the Skies Tennyson The Old Familiar Faces Lamb . Sleigh Bells Poe . . A Greeting of the Morning Browning Fleeting Joy Shelley . The Cloud Shelley . The Solitary Cowper . XIV ORDER OF SELECTIONS The Burial of Sir John Moore .... Wolfe . Spring Nash The Poplar Field Cowper . David Goes to Cure the King .... Browning The May Queen Tennyson The Incoming Tide Lanier . Creative Moments Browning The Leaders Arnold . The Place for the Nest Browning Cradle Song Tennyson The Gallop Browning The Blacksmith Longfellow The Tide Clough . . Vastness Tennyson Nature Wordsworth Love Browning . The Hero Tennyson . The State Longfellow God Watts . . 123 125 126 127 128 130 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 145 147 149 150 152 154 For permission to use The Marshes of Glynn from the Poems of Sidney Lanier, copyright 1884, 1891, by Mary D. Lanier, the editor is indebted to the publishers, Charles Scribner's Sons. THE TRAINING OF THE EAR The habit of learning poetry by heart is one of the most valu- able that a school can give. The memory can be trained to hold what is wanted, be it facts till an examination, or beauty till old age. Memory in a remarkable way shapes life to what it holds. Especially in early childhood, when impressions are per- sistent and strong, poetry once learned becomes a large factor in education. It works by an agency all its own and grows with the growth of him who has learned it. Verses carried in the mind create capacity, and in no other way can the young so quickly acquire refinement of feeling, increase of intellec- tual power, and sure provision for future enjoyment. Reading does not bring about these results in anything like the same degree. Its impressions are too fleeting. We need to be long in the company of beauty, to hold it indeed within us, in order to be vitalized by it into creatures of nobler mould. In learn- ing lines by heart, the child goes behind the printed page, identifies himself with the author, and, sharing his ideas, re- creates the poet's emotions. Because committing to memory is difficult, it is the more valuable, as causing words to be dwelt upon and canvassed, new ones grasped and explored. How instructive lapses of memory become ! Trying to recall a line, the child puts in a poorer word, perceives it to be poorer, and so has the significance of the original freshly revealed. As if he were himself a creator, he sees why the words must have xvi THE TRAINING OF THE EAR fallen just so and in no other way. By such means, too, speech acquires ease, range, and precision. Methods of learning by heart are as various as the learners. For some the chief thing will be the physical mouthing of the words, as in a refrain ; with others the eye helps most by pic- turing the printed page ; while for the rest the melody or the jingle, as carried by the ear, keeps the lines true. All these temperamental differences are valuable, and it may be well to let the order in which the poems are learned turn on individ- ual pleasure. The order in which they are here printed indi- cates nothing as to the best order for committing to memory. Indeed, age and liking may frequently require the teacher to choose only a part of a selection. But whatever one's age may be, the ability to repeat verse from memory is a necessary stage in the growth of appreciation. If the book is begun at seven, by the time one is eighteen he might possess almost the whole collection, to go with him as an inheritance of worth into every year of his life. Already there exist many admirable collections of verse for children, and some of these will, it is hoped, be used to supplement this little book. But none has precisely its aim. There are two contrasted aspects in all verse : thought with its attendant emotion, and ordered sound through which thought and emotion are given expression. The sensuous and technical form appeals to the ear, the matter or contents — consisting of scenes, events, and thoughts — to the intellect. Of these two contrasted, yet ever allied, aspects of poetry, it might seem that the intellectual and visual would be the proper one to put forward for children, and other collections have generally been guided by this view. But it is the technical THE TRAINING OF THE EAR xvii side which is made prominent here, and, strangely enough, this is the order of nature. In nursery rhymes, the earliest poetry to be learned by heart, there is nothing rational. All is melody. As there is an ear for music, there is as truly an ear for rhythm, and the love of Mother Goose shows how rhythm and rhyme rule the early years, and how strongly music and metrical utterance are desired. Those fondly loved cadences reveal intellectual elements but slightly. It is the ear which they subtly and accurately train. But too often, after the pe- riod of nursery jingles, there is an abrupt leap into the poetry of thought and feeling. Instead, the beginner should be car- ried on into rhythms and rhymes of greater subtlety ; and this book may be his guide during this second formative period. It seeks to restore nature to her rights. What is true of music is true of poetry : response to music is to be had in high degree only by a disciplined ear. So, too, some preliminary training in the distinctive melodies of verse will ease the ap- proach to its ideas and emotions. Rhythmic sound is ever the instinctive expression of emotion. Instead then of concen- trating attention on the intricacies of thought and feeling which verse embodies, this book appeals primarily to the ear, and by stimulating growth in instinctive sensuous appre- hension, prepares for more readily seizing what is intellectual and passionate in poetry. The teacher, however, may wish for a few suggestions in re- gard to poetic technicalities, in order that, being himself com- pletely conscious, he may the better keep the pupil in uncon- sciousness. That will be the best condition for a considerable time. If the ear is suitably trained, comprehension of metrical structure may wisely be deferred to more reflective years. xviii THE TRAINING OF THE EAR Poetry, like music and the arts, is based on the repetition of similar parts. In poetry this repetition in its most elementary form appears in the foot. The foot is the basal unit. It is a definitely planned group of sounds, and on its technical side is hard and rigid. The kinds most frequently used are four. In the iambus the contrasted sounds are an unaccented followed by an accented, represented here by + '. In the trochee this contrast is reversed, and appears as ' + . The anapaest prefixes another unaccented sound to the iambus which becomes + + ', while the dactyl adds an unaccented syllable to the trochee, and results in ' + + . The foot repeated again and again makes the line. For marking out this new unit of the line, and to relate it to another similar unit, rhyme is used. Rhyme em- phasizes the line and coordinates it with other lines. Where the metrical scheme runs on through several lines, the group consti- tutes a stanza or third form of unity. Out of repeated stanzas a poem may be fashioned. It will therefore be seen that from first to last some kind of repetition has bound together the whole poetic structure. But rhyme and stanza must not be supposed to be essential for verse. They may be used or not according to the intended purpose. Emotion dictates structure. Where continuity of feeling is the chief thing, rhyme, and still more the stanza, may easily interfere. In such case the verse is left blank. On the contrary, when feeling is complex, a compli- cated system of rhyme may be used, as in the extreme in- stance of the Spenserian stanza, to detach its parts while at the same time knitting them into an elaborate whole. The simplest forms of rhyming structure are the couplet, the trip- let, and the quatrain or four-lined stanza with its various rhyming systems. Because so simple, these schemes lend them- THE TRAINING OF THE EAR xix selves to a wide variety of uses. In so strongly emphasizing, however, the systematic character of verse, there is danger of suggesting mechanical accuracy. Nothing of the kind will be found in true poetry. Hoping to aid the teacher in tracing plans of metrical structure, a detailed scansion of parts of eight poems is here printed, five representing metres tolerably reg- ular and three markedly irregular. The suggestions of these diagrams are, however, only tentative. A mechanical scheme must not be slavishly followed. The fall of the accent is largely regulated by feeling, and is therefore frequently debatable. Since the chief gain of committing to memory comes through the necessity we are under to examine beauty closely and long, passages have been chosen which can bear this intimate and testing experience as well as the wear and tear of frequent oral repetition. The volume contains one hundred and six short se- lections, making a total body of less than eighteen hundred lines. Forty-nine poets are represented. The length of each selection, averaging about sixteen lines, is fixed with a view, not only to avoid taxing the mind, but also to persuade chil- dren to delight in repetition and teachers to encourage it. Be- cause of this necessary brevity, and for the sake of clearness and unity, an occasional change of the original text has been made. The indentation of lines is generally determined by the rhymes and enables the eye to help the ear to understand. For each selection the centre of interest is pointed out by a title, the year of the writer's birth and of his death are given, and also his own title for the whole poem from which a part has been taken ; while, just as on the musical page, the name of the prevailing foot is indicated and the number of beats in the line. Except for the last six poems which concern the sub- xx THE TRAINING OF THE EAR ject-matter of poetry, dividing it into six parts under the general title, Poems of Reverence, the whole collection falls into four sections according to the kind of foot which pre- vails in each ; and within the section the order follows the number of feet in the line. Within this sequence, the arrange- ment is chronological only when the metrical scheme of the selections is identical as to rhyme and accent ; otherwise, be- ginning with verses without rhymes, the order is determined by the number of lines or rhymes in the stanza. In the group of sonnets technical considerations of structure and rhyme have dictated the order. There is an analytical index of metres, showing diversity in rhyming schemes and grouping together similar kinds of verse. For the teacher this will be of special use, the more consciously to find for the learner's ear variety and contrast in the sequence of choices for committing to memory. For the teacher and pupil alike the authors' index and an index of first lines will be found useful. Let it not be thought that the greatest poetry is unfit for common children, or that the worth of learning by heart is limited to the young. Poetry commands a response from ears of every age and station. The profounder its passion, and the richer its rhythm, the deeper is the awakening of the human soul. In the faith that deep can thus call unto deep, this book is gathered. It is made especially to help children and their teachers to reach a larger reverence for the great poets, and through melodies that are immortal, to acquire beauty in their speech, and in their lives a lasting joy. L. K. M. Boxford, April 21, 1910. PART I IAMBIC MOVEMENT [Iambic one, anapaestic one] ROBERT HERRICK 1591-1674 THE BRAVE HEART As one Undone By my losses, Comply Will I With my crosses. Yet still I will Not be grieving; Since thence And hence Comes relieving. But this Sweet is In our mourning; Times bad And sad Are a turning; And he Whom we See dejected, Next day We may See erected. From Anacreontike MELODIES II ALFRED TENNYSON 1809-1892 EARLY SPRING Once more the Heavenly Power Makes all things new, And domes the red-plow'd hills With loving blue; The blackbirds have their wills, The throstles too. Opens a door in heaven; From skies of glass A Jacob's ladder falls On greening grass, And o'er the mountain-walls Young angels pass. Before them fleets the shower, And burst the buds, And shine the level lands, And flash the floods ; The stars are from their hands Flung thro' the woods, [Iambics two, three] OF ENGLISH VERSE The woods with living airs How softly fann'd, Light airs from where the deep, All down the sand, Is breathing in his sleep, Heard by the land. O, follow, leaping blood, The season's lure! O heart, look down and up Serene, secure, Warm as the crocus cup, Like snowdrops, pure! For now the Heavenly Power Makes all things new, And thaws the cold, and fills The flower with dew; The blackbirds have their wills, The poets too. From Early Spring MELODIES III WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 1770-1850 SPRING SIGHTS AND SOUNDS The cock is crowing, The stream is flowing, The small birds twitter, The lake doth glitter, The green field sleeps in the sun; The oldest and youngest Are at work with the strongest; The cattle are grazing, Their heads never raising; There are forty feeding like one! From Written in March, while Resting on the Bridge at tJie Foot of Brothers Water [Mixed iambics anapsestics two, three] OF ENGLISH VERSE IV HENRY VAUGHAN 1622-1695 GUIDING SAINTS Stars are of mighty use: the night Is dark, and long; The road foul ; and where one goes right, Six may go wrong. One twinkling ray, Shot o'er some cloud, May clear much way, And guide a crowd. God's saints are shining lights: who stays Here long must pass O'er dark hills, swift streams, and steep ways As smooth as glass; But these all night, Like candles, shed Their beams, and light Us into bed. MELODIES They are, indeed, our pillar-fires, Seen as we go; They are that City's shining spires We travel to. A swordlike gleam Kept man from sin, First out; this beam Will guide him in. From Content [Iambics two, four] OF ENGLISH VERSE ALEXANDER POPE 1688-1744 SOLITUDE Happy the man whose wish and care A few paternal acres bound, Content to breathe his native air In his own ground. Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread, Whose flocks supply him with attire; Whose trees in summer yield him shade, In winter fire. Blest, who can unconcern 'dly find Hours, days, and years, slide soft away In health of body, peace of mind, Quiet by day, Sound sleep by night; study and ease, Together mixt, sweet recreation, And innocence, which most does please With meditation. 10 MELODIES Thus let me live, unseen, unknown; Thus unlamented let me die; Steal from the world, and not a stone Tell where I lie. From Ode on Solitude [Iambics two, four] OF ENGLISH VERSE 11 VI ROBERT BURNS 1759-1796 TO A MOUSE Wee, sleekit, 1 cow'rin', tim'rous beastie, O, what a panic 's in thy breastie! Thou need na start awa sae hasty Wi' bickering 2 brattle ! 3 I wad be laith 4 to rin an' chase thee, Wi' murd'ring pattle! 5 Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste, An' weary winter comin' fast, An' cozie here, beneath the blast, Thou thought to dwell, Till, crash! the cruel coulter past Out thro' thy cell. But Mousie, thou art no thy 6 lane, 6 In proving foresight may be vain: The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang oft agley, 7 An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promised joy! 12 MELODIES Still thou art blest, compared wi' me! The present only toucheth thee: But och ! I backward cast my e'e, 8 On prospects drear! An' forward, tho' I canna see, I guess an' fear! From To a Mouse on Turning her up in her Nest, with the Plow, November, 1785 [Iambics two, four] 1 Sleek. 2 Hurrying. 3 Scamper. 4 Loath. 5 A kind of spade for scraping the plowshare. 6 Alone. 7 Askew. 8 Eye. OF ENGLISH VERSE 13 VII ALFRED TENNYSON 1809-1892 CROSSING THE BAR Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me! And may there be no moaning of the bar, When I put out to sea, But such a tide as moving seems asleep, Too full for sound and foam, When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home. Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crost the bar. From Crossing the Bar [Iambics two, three, five] 14 MELODIES VIII WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 1770-1850 THE RAINBOW My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die ! The Child is father of the Man ; And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety. " My heart leaps up when I behold " [Iambics two, three, four, five] OF ENGLISH VERSE 15 IX ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD 1743-1825 COMRADES Life ! I know not what thou art, But know that thou and I must part; And when, or how, or where we met, I own to me 's a secret yet. Life! we have been long together Through pleasant and through cloudy weather; 'T is hard to part when friends are dear ; Perhaps 'twill cost a sigh, a tear; — Then steal away, give little warning, Choose thine own time; Say not Good-night, but in some brighter clime Bid me Good-morning! From Life [Iambics two, four, five] 16 MELODIES X HENRY VAUGHAN 1622-1695 THE BIRD Hither thou com'st. The busy wind all night Blew through thy lodging, where thy own warm wing Thy pillow was. Many a sullen storm, For which coarse man seems much the fitter born, Rain'd on thy bed, And harmless head. From The Bird [Iambics two, five] OF ENGLISH VERSE 17 XI EDMUND SPENSER 1552-1599 MAN GOES, FLOWERS RETURN Whence is it, that the floweret of the field doth fade, And lieth buried long in Winter's bale; Yet, soon as Spring his mantle hath display'd, It flowereth fresh, as it should never fail ? But thing on earth that is of most avail, As virtues branch and beauties bud, Reliven not for any good. O heavy hearse! The branch once dead, the bud eke needs must quail ; O careful verse! From The Shepheardes Calender (November) [Iambics two, four, five, six] 18 MELODIES XII GEORGE HERBERT 1593-1633 THE ELIXIR Teach me, my God and King, In all things thee to see; And what I do in any thing, To do it as for thee. Not rudely, as a beast, To run into an action; But still to make thee prepossesst, And give it his perfection. A man that looks on glass On it may stay his eye, Or if he pleaseth, through it pass, And then the heav'n espy. All may of thee partake: Nothing can be so mean, Which with his tincture (for thy sake) Will not grow bright and clean. OF ENGLISH VERSE 19 A servant with this clause Makes drudgery divine: Who sweeps a room, as for thy laws, Makes that and th' action fine. This is the famous stone That turneth all to gold : For that which God doth touch and own Cannot for less be told. The Elixir [Iambics three, four] 20 MELODIES XIII ALFRED TENNYSON 1809-1892 THE BROOK I come from haunts of coot and hern, I make a sudden sally, And sparkle out among the fern, To bicker down a valley. I wind about, and in and out, With here a blossom sailing, And here and there a lusty trout, And here and there a grayling, And here and there a foamy flake Upon me, as I travel, With many a silvery water-break Above the golden gravel, And draw them all along, and flow To join the brimming river, For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever. OF ENGLISH VERSE 21 I steal by lawns and grassy plots, I slide by hazel covers; I move the sweet forget-me-nots That grow for happy lovers. I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance, Among my skimming swallows; I make the netted sunbeam dance Against my sandy shallows. I murmur under moon and stars In brambly wildernesses; I linger by my shingly bars; I loiter round my cresses; And out again I curve and flow To join the brimming river, For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever. From The Brook [Iambics three, four] 22 MELODIES XIV SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE 1772-1834 THE CHILDREN OF GOD O Wedding-Guest! this soul hath been Alone on a wide wide sea: So lonely 'twas, that God himself Scarce seemed there to be. 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, 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 - To thee, thou Wedding-Guest! He prayeth well, who loveth well Both man and bird and beast. OF ENGLISH VERSE 23 He prayeth best, who loveth best All things both great and small ; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all. From The Rime of the Ancient Mariner [Iambics three, four] 24 MELODIES XV SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE 1772-1834 THE ANGEL CHOIR Around, around, flew each sweet sound, Then darted to the Sun; Slowly the sounds came back again, Now mixed, now one by one. Sometimes a-dropping from the sky I heard the sky-lark sing; Sometimes all little birds that are, How they seem'd to fill the sea and air With their sweet jargoning! And now 't was like all instruments, Now like a lonely flute; And now it is an angel's song, 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, That to the sleeping woods all night Singeth a quiet tune. From The Rime of the Ancient Mariner [Iambics three, four] OF ENGLISH VERSE 25 XVI WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 1770-1850 THE EDUCATION OF NATURE Three years she grew in sun and shower, Then Nature said, "A lovelier flower On earth was never sown; This Child I to myself will take; She shall be mine, and I will make A Lady of my own. "The floating clouds their state shall lend To her; for her the willow bend; Nor shall she fail to see Even in the motions of the Storm Grace that shall mould the Maiden's form By silent sympathy. "The stars of midnight shall be dear To her; and she shall lean her ear In many a secret place Where rivulets dance their wayward round, And beauty born of murmuring sound Shall pass into her face." From " Three years she grew in sun and shower " [Iambics three, four] 26 MELODIES XVII THOMAS HOOD 1799-1845 PAST AND PRESENT I remember, I remember The Rouse where I was born, The little window where the sun Came peeping in at morn; He never came a wink too soon Nor brought too long a day; But now, I often wish the night Had borne my breath away. I remember, I remember Where I was used to swing, And thought the air must rush as fresh To swallows on the wing; My spirit flew in feathers then That is so heavy now, And summer pools could hardly cool The fever on my brow. OF ENGLISH VERSE 27 I remember, I remember The fir trees dark and high; I used to think their slender tops Were close against the sky; It was a childish ignorance, But now 't is little joy To know I'm farther off from Heaven Than when I was a boy. From " / remember, I remember " [Iambics three, four; refrain trochaics four] 28 MELODIES XVIII BEN JONSON 1573-1637 YOUTHFUL AGE It is not growing like a tree In bulk, doth make Man better be; Or standing long an oak, three hundred year, To fall a log at last dry, bald, and sere: A lily of a day Is fairer far in May, Although it fall and die that night — It was the plant and flower of Light. In small proportions we just beauties see; And in short measures life may perfect be. From To the Immortal Memory and Friendship of that Noble Pair, Sir Lucius Cary and Sir H. Morison [Iambics three, four, five] OF ENGLISH VERSE XIX MATTHEW ARNOLD 1822-1888 THE OCEAN AND ITS MELODY The sea is calm to-night. The tide is full ; the moon lies fair Upon the straits ; — on the French coast the light Gleams, and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay, Only, from the long line of spray Where the sea meets the moon-blanch'd land, Listen ! you hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, At their return, up the high strand, Begin, and cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in. From Dover Beach [Mixed chiefly iambics three, four, five, six] 30 MELODIES XX WILLIAM COLLINS 1721-1759 TO EVENING Now air is hush'd, save where the weak-eyed bat With short shrill shriek flits by on leathern wing; Or where the beetle winds His small but sullen horn, As oft he rises midst the twilight path, Against the pilgrim borne in heedless hum : Now teach me, maid composed, To breathe some soften 'd strain. While Spring shall pour his showers, as oft he wont, And bathe thy breathing tresses, meekest eve! While Summer loves to sport Beneath thy lingering light; While sallow Autumn fills thy lap with leaves; Or Winter, yelling through the troublous air, Affrights thy shrinking train And rudely rends thy robes; OF ENGLISH VERSE 31 So long, regardful of thy quiet rule, Shall Fancy, Friendship, Science, smiling Peace, Thy gentlest influence own, And love thy favourite name ! From To Evening [Iambics three, five] 32 MELODIES XXI JOHN MILTON 1608-1674 THE WANDERING MOON I walk unseen On the dry smooth-shaven green, To behold the wandering Moon, Riding near her highest noon, Like one that had been led astray Through the heaven's wide pathless way, And oft, as if her head she bow'd, Stooping through a fleecy cloud. From II Penseroso [Iambics four] OF ENGLISH VERSE 33 XXII v JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER 1807-1892 THE FIRESIDE Shut in from all the world without, We sat the clean-wing'd hearth about, Content to let the north-wind roar In baffled rage at pane and door, While the red logs before us beat The frost-line back with tropic heat; And ever, when a louder blast Shook beam and rafter as it pass'd, The merrier up its roaring draught The great throat of the chimney laugh'd; What matter how the night behaved ? What matter how the north-wind raved ? Blow high, blow low, not all its snow Could quench our hearth-fire's ruddy glow. From Snow-Bound [Iambics four] 34 MELODIES XXIII DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI 1828-1882 BROODING GRIEF The wind flapp'd loose, the wind was still, Shaken out dead from tree and hill: I had walk'd on at the wind's will, — I sat now, for the wind was still. Between my knees my forehead was, — My lips, drawn in, said not Alas ! My hair was over in the grass, My naked ears heard the day pass. My eyes, wide open, had the run Of some ten weeds to fix upon; Among those few, out of the sun, The woodspurge flower'd, three cups in one. From perfect grief there need not be Wisdom or even memory: One thing then learnt remains to me, — The woodspurge has a cup of three. The Woodspurge [Iambics four] OF ENGLISH VERSE 35 XXIV ALFRED TENNYSON 1809-1892 THE COMING OF THE WIND To-night the winds begin to rise And roar from yonder dropping day; The last red leaf is whirl'd away, The rooks are blown about the skies; The forest crack 'd, the waters curl'd, The cattle huddled on the lea; And wildly dash'd on tower and tree The sunbeam strikes along the world. We paused : the winds were in the beech ; We heard them sweep the winter land; And in a circle hand-in-hand Sat silent, looking each at each. From In Memoriam [Iambics four] 36 MELODIES XXV WALTER SCOTT 1771-1832 THE BALLAD OF ROSABELLE Moor, moor the barge, ye gallant crew ! And, gentle lady, deign to stay! Rest thee in Castle Ravensheuch, Nor tempt the stormy firth to-day. Last night the gifted Seer did view A wet shroud swath'd round lady gay; Then stay thee, Fair, in Ravensheuch; Why cross the gloomy firth to-day? 1 'T is not because Lord Lindesay's heir To-night at Roslin leads the ball, But that my lady-mother there Sits lonely in her castle-hall. 1 'T is not because the ring they ride, And Lindesay at the ring rides well, But that my sire the cup will chide If 't is not fill'd by Rosabelle." OF ENGLISH VERSE 37 Light glared on Roslin's castled rock, It ruddied all the copse-wood glen; 'T was seen from Dryden's groves of oak, And seen from cavern 'd Hawthornden. Blazed battlement and pinnet high, Blazed every rose-carved buttress fair — So still they blaze, when fate is nigh The lordly line of high Saint Clair. There are twenty of Roslin's barons bold — Lie buried within that proud chapelle; Each one the holy vault doth hold — But the sea holds lovely Rosabelle. And each Saint Clair was buried there, With candle, with book, and with knell ; But the sea-caves rung, and the wild winds sung The dirge of lovely Rosabelle. From The Lay of the Last Minstrel, Canto VI [Iambics four] 38 MELODIES XXVI HENRY WOTTON 1568-1639 COMPARISONS . You meaner beauties of the night, That poorly satisfy our eyes More by your number than your light, You common people of the skies, What are you, when the moon shall rise ? You curious chanters of the wood That warble forth dame Nature's lays, Thinking your passions understood By your weak accents ; what 's your praise When Philomel her voice doth raise? You violets that first appear, By your pure purple mantles known Like the proud virgins of the year, As if the spring were all your own, — What are you, when the Rose is blown ? From On his Mistris, tlie Queen of Bohemia [Iambics four] OF ENGLISH VERSE 39 XXVII WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 1770-1850 THE HARD MAN He roved among the vales and streams, In the green wood and hollow dell; They were his dwellings night and day, — But Nature ne'er could find the way Into the heart of Peter Bell. In vain, through every changeful year, Did Nature lead him as before; A primrose by a river's brim A yellow primrose was to him, And it was nothing more. At noon, when, by the forest's edge He lay beneath the branches high, The soft blue sky did never melt Into his heart; he never felt The witchery of the soft blue sky! A savage wildness round him hung As of a dweller out of doors; In his whole figure and his mien A savage character was seen Of mountains and of dreary moors. 40 MELODIES There was a hardness in his cheek, There was a hardness in his eye, As if the man had fix'd his face In many a solitary place, Against the wind and open sky! From Peter Bell: A Tale, Part I [Iambics four] OF ENGLISH VERSE 41 [Chiefly iambics four] XXVIII ROBERT BROWNING 1812-1889 BEACHING THE BOAT The gray sea and the long black land; And the yellow half -moon large and low; And the startled little waves that leap In fiery ringlets from their sleep, As I gain the cove with pushing prow, And quench its speed i' the slushy sand. From Meeting at Night 42 MELODIES XXIX RALPH WALDO EMERSON 1803-1882 EACH AND ALL Little thinks, in the field, yon red-cloak'd clown Of thee from the hill-top looking down; The heifer that lows in the upland farm, Far-heard, lows not thine ear to charm; The sexton, tolling his bell at noon, Deems not that great Napoleon Stops his horse, and lists with delight, Whilst his files sweep round yon Alpine height; Nor knowest thou what argument Thy life to thy neighbor's creed has lent. All are needed by each one; Nothing is fair or good alone. I thought the sparrow's note from heaven, Singing at dawn on the alder bough; I brought him home, in his nest, at even; He sings the song, but it cheers not now, For I did not bring home the river and sky ; — He sang to my ear, — they sang to my eye. From Each and All [Mixed iambics anapaestics four] OF ENGLISH VERSE 43 XXX COVENTRY PATMORE 1823-1896 THE REVELATION An idle poet, here and there, Looks round him; but, for all the rest, The world, unfathomably fair, Is duller than a witling's jest. Love wakes men, once a lifetime each; They lift their heavy lids, and look; And, lo, what one sweet page can teach, They read with joy, then shut the book. And some give thanks, and some blaspheme And most forget; but, either way, That and the Child's unheeded dream Is all the light of all their day. From The Angel in the House, Book 7, Canto VIII [Iambics four] 44 MELODIES XXXI ROBERT HERRICK 1591-1674 CORINNA GOES A-MAYING Get up, get up for shame! The blooming morn Upon her wings presents the god unshorn. See how Aurora throws her fair Fresh-quilted colors through the air: Get up, sweet Slug-a-bed, and see The dew bespangling herb and tree. Each flower has wept, and bow'd toward the east, Above an hour since; yet you not drest, Nay ! not so much as out of bed ? When all the birds have matins said, And sung their thankful hymns : 't is sin, Nay, profanation, to keep in, — Whenas a thousand virgins on this day, Spring, sooner than the lark, to fetch-in May. OF ENGLISH VERSE 45 Rise; and put on your foliage, and be seen To come forth, like the Spring-time, fresh and green, And sweet as Flora. Take no care For jewels for your gown, or hair : Fear not; the leaves will strew Gems in abundance upon you: Besides, the childhood of the day has kept, Against you come, some orient pearls unwept: Come, and receive them while the light Hangs on the dew-locks of the night: And Titan on the eastern hill Retires himself, or else stands still Till you come forth. Wash, dress, be brief in praying: Come, my Corinna! come, let's go a-Maying. From Corinna ' s going a-Maying. [Iambics four, five] 46 MELODIES XXXII PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY 1792-1822 THE PALE MOON Art thou pale for weariness Of climbing heaven and gazing on the earth, Wandering companionless Among the stars that have a different birth, — And ever changing, like a joyless eye That finds no object worth its constancy ? To the Moon [Iambics four, five] OF ENGLISH VERS& 47 XXXIII ALFRED TENNYSON 1809-1892 THE BUGLE SONG The splendor falls on castle walls And snowy summits old in story; The long light shakes across the lakes, And the wild cataract leaps in glory. Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying, Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying. O, hark, O, hear! how thin and clear, And thinner, clearer, farther going! O, sweet and far from cliff and scar The horns of Elfland faintly blowing! Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying, Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying. O love, they die in yon rich sky, They faint on hill or field or river; Our echoes roll from soul to soul, And grow forever and forever. Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying, And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying. From The Princess, Part III [Chiefly iambics four, five, six] 48 MELODIES XXXIV WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 1564-1616 QUEEN MAB O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you. She is the fairies' midwife ; and she comes In shape no bigger than an agate-stone On the fore-finger of an alderman, Drawn with a team of little atomies Over men's noses as they lie asleep; Her wagon-spokes made of long spinners' legs; The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers; The traces, of the smallest spider's web; The collars, of the moonshine's watery beams; Her whip, of cricket's bone; the lash, of film; Her wagoner, a small grey-coated gnat, Not half so big as a round little worm Prick'd from the lazy finger of a maid. Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut Made by the joiner squirrel, or old grub, Time out o' mind the fairies' coachmakers, And in this state she gallops night by night. From Romeo and Juliet, I, 4 [Iambics five] OF ENGLISH VERSE 49 XXXV WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 1564-1616 ADDRESS TO HIS SOLDIERS Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead ! In peace there 's nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility: But when the blast of war blows in our ears, Then imitate the action of the tiger; Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, Disguise fair nature with hard-favor'd rage; Then lend the eye a terrible aspect; Let it pry through the portage of the head Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it As fearfully as doth a galled rock O'erhang and jutty his confounded base, Swill 'd with the wild and wasteful ocean. Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostril wide; Hold hard the breath, and bend up every spirit To his full height ! On, on, you noblest English ! I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, Straining upon the start. The game 's afoot! Follow your spirit, and upon this charge Cry, — " God for Harry ! England and Saint George ! " From King Henry V, III, 1 [Iambics five] 50 MELODIES XXXVI WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 1564-1616 LIFE AS A PLAY All the world 's a stage, And all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. Then the whining school-boy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier, Jealous in honor, sudden, and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon, With spectacles on nose; his manly voice, OF ENGLISH VERSE 51 Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. From As You Like It, II, 7 [Iambics five] 52 MELODIES XXXVII WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 1564-1616 AMBITION I did not think to shed a tear In all my miseries; but thou hast forced me, Out of thy honest truth, to play the woman. Let 's dry our eyes ; and thus far hear me, Cromwell ; And, when I am forgotten, as I shall be, And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention Of me more must be heard of, say, I taught thee; Say, Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory, And sounded all the depths and shoals of honor, Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in; A sure and safe one, though thy master miss'd it. Mark but my fall, and that that ruin'd me. Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition! By that sin fell the angels; how can man, then, The image of his Maker, hope to win by it ? Love thyself last. Cherish those hearts that hate thee; Corruption wins not more than honesty. Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not. OF ENGLISH VERSE 53 Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's, Thy God's, and truth's; then if thou fall'st, O Cromwell, Thou fall'st a blessed martyr! . . . Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king, He would not in mine age Have left me naked to mine enemies. From King Henry VIII, III, 2 [Iambics five] 54 MELODIES XXXVIII JOHN MILTON 1608-1674 MORNING Sweet is the breath of Morn, her rising sweet, With charm of earliest birds; pleasant the Sun, When first on this delightful land he spreads His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower, Glistering with dew; fragrant the fertile Earth After soft showers; and sweet the coming-on Of grateful Evening mild; then silent Night, With this her solemn bird, and this fair Moon, And these the gems of Heaven, her starry train : But neither breath of Morn, when she ascends With charm of earliest birds; nor rising Sun On this delightful land; nor herb, fruit, flower, Glistering with dew; nor fragrance after showers; Nor grateful Evening mild; nor silent Night, With this her solemn bird ; nor walk by moon, Or glittering star-light, without thee is sweet. From Paradise Lost, Book IV [Iambics five] OF ENGLISH VERSE 55 XXXIX WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 1770-1850 SKATING And in the frosty season, when the sun Was set, and visible for many a mile The cottage windows blazed through twilight gloom, I heeded not their summons: happy time It was indeed for all of us — for me It was a time of rapture ! Clear and loud The village clock tolPd six, — I wheel'd about, Proud and exulting like an untired horse That cares not for his home. All shod with steel, We hiss'd along the polish'd ice in games Confederate, imitative of the chase. So through the darkness and the cold we flew, And not a voice was idle; with the din Smitten, the precipices rang aloud; The leafless trees and every icy crag Tinkled like iron ; while far distant hills Into the tumult sent an alien sound Of melancholy not unnoticed, while the stars Eastward were sparkling clear, and in the west The orange sky of evening died away. From The Prelude, Book I [Iambics five and six] 56 MELODIES XL JOHN KEATS 1795-1821 SILENT NIGHT Sleep on! As when, upon a tranced summer-night, Tall oaks, branch-charmed by the earnest stars, Dream, and so dream all night without a stir, Save from one gradual solitary gust Which comes upon the silence, and dies off, As if the ebbing air had but one wave. From Hyperion, Book I [Iambics five] OF ENGLISH VERSE 57 XLI ALFRED TENNYSON 1809-1892 ULYSSES I cannot rest from travel; Much have I seen and known, — cities of men And manners, climates, councils, governments, Myself not least, but honor 'd of them all, — And drunk delight of battle with my peers, Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy. I am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethro' Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades For ever and for ever when I move. How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use! There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail; The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks; The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, 'T is not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths Of all the western stars, until I die. From Ulysses [Iambics five] 58 MELODIES XLII ROBERT BROWNING 1812-1889 THE BEAUTY OF REALITY This world 's no blot for us Nor blank; it means intensely, and means good: To find its meaning is my meat and drink. — The beauty and the wonder and the power, The shapes of things, their colors, lights and shades, Changes, surprises, — and God made it all ! — For what ? Do you feel thankful, ay, or no, For this fair town's face, yonder river's line, The mountain round it and the sky above, Much more the figures of man, woman, child, These are the frame to ? What 's it all about ? To be pass'd over, despised ? or dwelt upon, Wonder'd at ? oh, this last of course ! — you say. But why not do as well as say, — paint these Just as they are, careless what comes of it? God's works — paint any one, and count it crime To let a truth slip. Don't object, "His works Are here already; nature is complete." For, don't you mark ? we 're made so that we love OF ENGLISH VERSE 59 First when we see them painted, things we have pass'd Perhaps a hundred times nor cared to see; And so they are better, painted — better to us, Which is the same thing. Art was given for that; God uses us to help each other so, Lending our minds out. From Fra Lippo Lippi [Iambics five] 60 MELODIES XLIII WILLIAM MORRIS 1834-1896 SHIPS AT NIGHT And such a fate I could not choose but fear For us sometimes; and sometimes when at night Beneath the moon I watch'd the foam fly white From off our bows, and thought how weak and small Show'd the Rose-Garland's mast that look'd so tall Beside the quays of Breman; when I saw With measured steps the watch on toward me draw, And in the moon the helmsman's peering face, And 'twixt the cordage strain 'd across my place Beheld the white sail of the Fighting Man Lead down the pathway of the moonlight wan — Then when the ocean seem'd so measureless The very sky itself might well be less, When midst the changeless piping of the wind, The intertwined slow waves press 'd on behind Roll'd o'er our wake and made it nought again, Then would it seem an ill thing and a vain To leave the hopeful world that we had known, When all was o'er, hopeless to die alone Within this changeless world of waters grey. From The Earthly Paradise (Prologue of The Wanderers) [Iambics five] OF ENGLISH VERSE 61 XLIV CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE 1564-1593 THE SWIMMER Leander, being up, began to swim, And looking back, saw Neptune follow him; "O, let me visit Hero ere I die!" The god put Helle's bracelet on his arm, And swore the sea should never do him harm. He watch'd his arms, and, as they open'd wide At every stroke, betwixt them would he slide, And steal a kiss, and then run out and dance, And, as he turn'd, cast many a gleeful glance, And throw him gaudy toys to please his eye, And dive into the water, and there pry Upon his breast, his thighs, and every limb, And up again, and close beside him swim, And talk of love. From Hero and Leander, Second Sestiad [Iambics five] 62 MELODIES XLV ALEXANDER POPE 1688-1744 ON WRITING VERSE 'T is not enough no harshness gives offence, The sound must seem an echo to the sense. Soft is the strain when zephyr gently blows, And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows; But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar : When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, The line too labors, and the words move slow. Not so, when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the main. True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance. True wit is nature to advantage dress'd; What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd. From An Essay on Criticism [Iambics five and six] OF ENGLISH VERSE XLVI OLIVER GOLDSMITH 1728-1774 THE VILLAGE PREACHER A man he was to all the country dear, And passing rich with forty pounds a year; Remote from towns he ran his godly race, Nor e'er had changed, nor wish'd to change, his place; Unpracticed he to fawn, or seek for power, By doctrines fashion'd to the varying hour; Far other aims his heart had learn'd to prize, More skill'd to raise the wretched than to rise. His house was known to all the vagrant train; He chid their wanderings, but relieved their pain : Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride, And e'en his failings lean'd to Virtue's side; But in his duty prompt at every call, He watch'd and wept, he pray'd 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. 64 MELODIES His ready smile a parent's warmth express'd ; Their welfare pleased him, and their cares distress'd: 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, Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head. From The Deserted Village [Iambics five] OF ENGLISH VERSE 65 XLVII PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY 1792-1822 WASTE PLACES BY THE SEA I rode one evening with Count Maddalo Upon the bank of land which breaks the flow Of Adria towards Venice : a bare strand Of hillocks, heap'd from ever-shifting sand, Matted with thistles and amphibious weeds, Such as from earth's embrace the salt ooze breeds, Is this; an uninhabited sea-side, Which the lone fisher, when his nets are dried, Abandons; and no other object breaks The waste, but one dwarf tree and some few stakes Broken and unrepair 'd, and the tide makes A narrow space of level sand thereon, Where 't was our wont to ride while day went down. This ride was my delight. I love all waste And solitary places; where we taste The pleasure of believing what we see Is boundless, as we wish our souls to be : And such was this wide ocean, and this shore More barren than its billows; and yet more 66 MELODIES Than all, with a remember'd friend I love To ride as then I rode ; — for the winds drove The living spray along the sunny air Into our faces; the blue heavens were bare, Stripp'd to their depths by the awakening north; And from the waves, sound like delight broke forth Harmonizing with solitude, and sent Into our hearts aerial merriment. From Julian and Maddalo [Iambics five] OF ENGLISH VERSE 67 XLVIII JOHN KEATS 1795-1821 THE OFFICE OF BEAUTY A thing of beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing. Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing A flowery band to bind us to the earth, Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth Of noble natures, of the gloomy days, Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darken'd ways Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all, Some shape of beauty moves away the pall From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon, Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon For simple sheep; and such are daffodils With the green world they live in ; and clear rills That for themselves a cooling covert make 'Gainst the hot season; the mid forest brake, 68 MELODIES Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms: And such too is the grandeur of the dooms We have imagined for the mighty dead; All lovely tales that we have heard or read : An endless fountain of immortal drink, Pouring into us from the heaven's brink. From Endymion, Book I [Iambics five] OF ENGLISH VERSE 69 XLIX ALFRED TENNYSON 1809-1892 SONG OF ALLEGIANCE Blow trumpet, for the world is white with May! Blow trumpet, the long night hath roll'd away ! Blow thro' the living world — "Let the King reign!" Shall Rome or Heathen rule in Arthur's realm ? Flash brand and lance, fall battle-axe upon helm, Fall battle-axe, and flash brand ! Let the King reign ! Strike for the King and live! his knights have heard That God hath told the King a secret word. Fall battle-axe, and flash brand ! Let the King reign ! Blow trumpet ! he will lift us from the dust. Blow trumpet! live the strength, and die the lust! Clang battle-axe, and clash brand ! Let the King reign ! Strike for the King and die ! and if thou diest, The King is king, and ever wills the highest. Clang battle-axe, and clash brand ! Let the King reign ! From Idylls of the King {The Coming of Arthur) [Chiefly iambics five] 70 MELODIES PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY 1792-1822 THE WEST WIND O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou, Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low, Each like a corpse within its grave, until Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill (Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air) With living hues and odors plain and hill : Wild Spirit, which art moving every where; Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh hear! From Ode to the West Wind [Iambics five] OF ENGLISH VERSE 71 LI EDWARD FITZGERALD 1809-1883 TALKS IN THE POTTER'S HOUSE As under cover of departing day Slunk hunger-stricken Ramazan away, Once more within the potter's house alone I stood, surrounded by the shapes of clay. Shapes of all sorts and sizes, great and small, That stood along the floor and by the wall; And some loquacious vessels were; and some Listen'd perhaps, but never talk'd at all. Said one among them — " Surely not in vain My substance of the common earth was ta'en And to this figure moulded, to be broke, Or trampled back to shapeless earth again." Then said a second — " Ne'er a peevish boy Would break the bowl from which he drank in joy And he that with his hand the vessel made Will surely not in after wrath destroy." 72 MELODIES After a momentary silence spake Some vessel of a more ungainly make; "They sneer at me for leaning all awry; What! did the hand then of the potter shake?" Whereat some one of the loquacious lot — I think a Sufi pipkin — waxing hot — "All this of pot and potter — Tell me then, Who is the potter, pray, and who the pot?" From Rubdiydt of Omar Khayyam [Iambics five] OF ENGLISH VERSE 73 LII HENRY VAUGHAN 1622-1695 THE FALLEN TREE Sure thou didst flourish once ! and many springs, Many bright mornings, much dew, many showers, Pass'd o'er thy head; many light hearts and wings, Which now are dead, lodg'd in thy living bowers. And still a new succession sings and flies; Fresh groves grow up, and their green branches shoot Towards the old and still enduring skies; While the low violet thrives at their root. From The Timber [Iambics five] 74 MELODIES LIII THOMAS GRAY 1716-1771 THE ELEGY The curfew 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, And all the air a solemn stillness holds, Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds. Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap, Each in his narrow cell forever laid, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. 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. OF ENGLISH VERSE 75 Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke; How jocund did they drive their team afield ! How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke! Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray; Along the cool sequester'd vale of life They kept the noiseless tenor of their way. Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear: Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air. Let not ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys, and destiny obscure; Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smile The short and simple annals of the poor. The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Await alike th' inevitable hour : — The paths of glory lead but to the grave. From Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard [Iambics five] 76 MELODIES LIV JOHN KEATS 1795-1821 MELANCHOLY In the mid days of autumn, on their eves The breath of Winter comes from far away, And the sick west continually bereaves Of some gold tinge, and plays a roundelay Of death among the bushes and the leaves, To make all bare before he dares to stray From his north cavern. So sweet Isabel By gradual decay from beauty fell. And she forgot the stars, the moon, and sun, And she forgot the blue above the trees, And she forgot the dells where waters run, And she forgot the chilly autumn breeze; She had no knowledge when the day was done, And the new morn she saw not : soon to peace Among the dead, she'll wither, like a palm Cut by an Indian for its juicy balm. From Isabella [Iambics five] OF ENGLISH VERSE 77 LV HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 1807-1882 THE TWO RIVERS O River of Yesterday, with current swift Through chasms descending, and soon lost to sight, I do not care to follow in their flight The faded leaves, that on thy bosom drift! River of To-morrow, I uplift Mine eyes, and thee I follow, as the night Wanes into morning, and the dawning light Broadens, and all the shadows fade and shift! 1 follow, follow, where thy waters run Through unfrequented, unfamiliar fields, Fragrant with flowers and musical with song; Still follow, follow; sure to meet the sun, And confident, that what the future yields Will be the right, unless myself be wrong. From The Two Rivers, II [Iambics five] 78 MELODIES LVI JOHN MILTON 1608-1674 ON HIS BLINDNESS When I consider how my light is spent Ere half my days in this dark world and wide, And that one Talent which is death to hide Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present My true account, lest He returning chide, — " Doth God exact day-labor, light denied ? " I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent That murmur, soon replies, " God doth not need Either man's work, or his own gifts. Who best Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state Is kingly: thousands at his bidding speed, And post o'er land and ocean without rest; They also serve who only stand and wait." On his Blindness [Iambics five] OF ENGLISH VERSE 79 LVII WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 1770-1850 THE ONGOING SHIP With ships the sea was sprinkled far and nigh, Like stars in heaven, and joyously it show'd; Some lying fast at anchor in the road, Some veering up and down, one knew not why. A goodly vessel did I then espy Come like a giant from a haven broad; And lustily along the bay she strode, Her tackling rich, and of apparel high. This ship was nought to me, nor I to her, Yet I pursued her with a lover's look; This ship to all the rest did I prefer: When will she turn, and whither ? She will brook No tarrying; where she comes the winds must stir; On went she, and due north her journey took. "With ships the sea was sprinkled far and nigh " [Iambics five] 80 MELODIES LVIII WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 1770-1850 THE CROWDING WORLD The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers : Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon ! This sea that bares her bosom to the moon ; The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gather'd now like sleeping flowers; For this, for everything, we are out of tune; It moves us not. — Great God ! I 'd rather be A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn ; Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn. " The world is too much with us; hie and soon " [Iambics five] OF ENGLISH VERSE 81 LIX JOSEPH BLANCO WHITE 1775-1841 NIGHT AND DEATH Mysterious Night! when our first parent knew Thee from report divine, and heard thy name, Did he not tremble for this lovely frame, This glorious canopy of light and blue ? Yet 'neath a curtain of translucent dew, Bathed in the rays of the great setting flame, Hesperus with the host of heaven came, And lo! creation widen'd in man's view. Who could have thought such darkness lay conceaPd Within thy beams, O Sun ! or who could find, Whilst fly, and leaf, and insect stood reveaPd, That to such countless orbs thou mad'st us blind ? Why do we, then, shun death with anxious strife ? If light can thus deceive, wherefore not life ? Night and Death [Iambics five] 82 MELODIES LX WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 1564-1616 % DESPONDENCY When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state, And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself, and curse my fate, Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd, Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope, With what I most enjoy contented least; Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, Haply I think on thee — and then my state, Like to the lark at break of day arising From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate; For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings. "When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes" [Iambics five] OF ENGLISH VERSE 83 LXI PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY 1792-1822 OZYMANDIAS I met a traveller from an antique land Who said : Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things, The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed : And on the pedestal these words appear : " My name is Ozymandias, king of kings : Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair ! " Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away. Ozymandias of Egypt [Iambics five] 84 MELODIES LXII EDMUND SPENSER 1552-1599 GREAT THINGS AND SMALL For take thy balance, if thou be so wise, And weigh the wind that under heaven doth blow; Or weigh the light that in the east doth rise; Or weigh the thought that from man's mind doth flow : But if the weight of these thou canst not show, Weigh but one word which from thy lips doth fall : For how canst thou those greater secrets know That dost not know the least thing of them all ? Ill can he rule the great that cannot reach the small. From The Faerie Queene, Booh V, Canto II, 43 [Iambics five and six] OF ENGLISH VERSE 85 LXIII JAMES BEATTIE 1735-1803 THE SOUNDS OF MORNING But who the melodies of morn can tell ? The wild brook babbling down the mountain-side ; The lowing herd; the sheepfold's simple bell; The pipe of early shepherd dim descried In the lone valley; echoing far and wide The clamorous horns along the cliffs above; The hollow murmur of the ocean-tide; The hum of bees, and linnet's lay of love, And the full choir that wakes the universal grove. From The Minstrel [Iambics five and six] 86 MELODIES LXIV GEORGE GORDON NOEL BYRON 1788-1824 THE OCEAN There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not Man the less, but Nature more, From these our interviews, in which I steal From all I may be or have been before, To mingle with the Universe, and feel What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal. Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean, roll! Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain; Man marks the earth with ruin, his control Stops with the shore; upon the watery plain The wrecks are all thy deed, nor doth remain A shadow of man's ravage, save his own, When, for a moment, like a drop of rain, He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan, Without a grave, unknell'd, uncofiin'd, and unknown. OF ENGLISH VERSE 87 And I have loved thee, Ocean ! and my joy Of youthful sports was on thy breast to be Borne, like thy bubbles, onward. From a boy I wanton 'd with thy breakers — they to me Were a delight; and if the freshening sea Made them a terror — 't was a pleasing fear, For I was as it were a child of thee, And trusted to thy billows far and near, And laid my hand upon thy mane — as I do here. From Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto IV [Iambics five and six] 88 MELODIES LXV ALFRED TENNYSON 1809-1892 DAY-DREAMS "Courage!" he said, and pointed toward the land, "This mounting wave will roll us shoreward soon." In the afternoon they came unto a land In which it seemed always afternoon. All round the coast the languid air did swoon, Breathing like one that hath a weary dream. Full-faced above the valley stood the moon ; And, like a downward smoke, the slender stream Along the cliff to fall and pause and fall did seem. There is sweet music here that softer falls Than petals from blown roses on the grass, Or night-dews on still waters between walls Of shadowy granite, in a gleaming pass; Music that gentlier on the spirit lies, Than tired eyelids upon tired eyes; Music that brings sweet sleep down from the blissful skies. Here are cool mosses deep, And thro' the moss the ivies creep, And in the stream the long-leaved flowers weep, And from the craggy ledge the poppy hangs in sleep. From The Lotos-Eaters [Iambics three, four, five, six] OF ENGLISH VERSE 89 LXVI MICHAEL DRAYTON 1563-1631 THE CHEERFUL DAY Then from her burnish'd gate the goodly glitt'ring East Guilds every lofty top, which late the humorous Night Bespangled had with pearl, to please the Morning's sight; On which the mirthful Choirs, with their clear open throats Unto the joyful Morn so strain their warbling notes, That Hills and Valleys ring, and even the echoing Air Seems all compos'd of sounds, about them everywhere. Thus sing away the Morn, until the mounting Sun, Through thick exhaled fogs, his golden head hath run, And through the twisted tops of our close Covert creeps, To kiss the gentle Shade, this while that sweetly sleeps. From Poly-Olbion, Song XIII [Iambics six] 90 MELODIES LXVII ALFRED TENNYSON 1809-1892 THE GRANDMOTHER Why do you look at me, Annie ? You think I am hard and cold ; But all my children have gone before me, I am so old. I cannot weep for Willy, nor can I weep for the rest; Only at your age, Annie, I could have wept with the best. For mine is a time of peace, it is not often I grieve; I am oftener sitting at home in my father's farm at eve; And the neighbors come and laugh and gossip, and so do I; I find myself often laughing at things that have long gone by. And age is a time of peace, so it be free from pain, And happy has been my life; but I would not live it again. I seem to be tired a little, that 's all, and long for rest ; Only at your age, Annie, I could have wept with the best. From The Grandmother [Mixed iambics anapaestics six] OF ENGLISH VERSE 91 LXVIII GEORGE CHAPMAN 1559-1634 THE CAMP AT NIGHT They spent all night in open field ; fires round about them shined. As when about the silver moon, when air is free from wind, And stars shine clear, to whose sweet beams, high prospects, and the brows Of all steep hills and pinnacles thrust up themselves for shows, And even the lowly valleys joy to glitter in their sight, While the unmeasured firmament bursts to disclose her light, And all the signs in heaven are seen that glad the shepherd's heart ; So many fires disclosed their beams, so show'd the Trojan part. Translation of The Iliads of Homer, Book VIII, 553-561 [Iambics seven] 92 MELODIES LXIX GEORGE GORDON NOEL BYRON 1788-1824 LOOKING BACKWARD There 's not a joy the world can give like that it takes away, When the glow of early thought declines in feeling's dull decay ; 'T is not on youth's smooth cheek the blush alone, which fades so fast, But the tender bloom of heart is gone, ere youth itself be past. Oh could I feel as I have felt, — or be what I have been, Or weep as I could once have wept, o'er many a vanish'd scene ; As springs in deserts found seem sweet, all brackish though they be, So midst the wither'd waste of life, those tears would flow to me. From Stanzas for Music [Iambics seven] OF ENGLISH VERSE 93 LXX THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH 1836-1907 A MOOD ^V. blight, a gloom, I know not what, has crept upon my glad- ness, Some vague, remote ancestral touch of sorrow or of madness ; A fear that is not fear, a pain that has not pain's insistence ; A sense of longing, or of loss, in some foregone existence; A subtle hurt that never pen has writ nor tongue has spoken. Such hurt perchance as Nature feels when a blossom'd bough is broken. A Mood [Iambics seven] 94 MELODIES LXXI WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 1770-1850 RECOLLECTIONS OF CHILDHOOD There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, The earth, and every common sight, To me did seem Apparell'd in celestial light, The glory and the freshness of a dream. It is not now as it hath been of yore ; — Turn wheresoe'er I may, By night or day, The things which I have seen I now can see no more. The Rainbow comes and goes, And lovely is the Rose, — The Moon doth with delight Look round her when the heavens are bare; Waters on a starry night Are beautiful and fair; The sunshine is a glorious birth; But yet I know, where'er I go, That there hath past away a glory from the earth. OF ENGLISH VERSE 95 Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home. Heaven lies about us in our infancy! Shades of the prison-house begin to close Upon the growing Boy, But he beholds the light, and whence it flows, He sees it in his joy; The Youth, who daily farther from the east Must travel, still is Nature's Priest, And by the vision splendid Is on his way attended ; At length the Man perceives it die away, And fade into the light of common day. From Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood [Iambics two, three, four, five, six] PART II TROCHAIC MOVEMENT LXXII ALFRED TENNYSON 1809-1892 THE OAK Live thy Life, Young and old, Like yon oak, Bright in spring, Living gold; Summer-rich Then; and then Autumn-changed, Soberer-hued Gold again. All his leaves Fallen at length, Look, he stands, Trunk and bough, Naked strength. The Oak [Trochaics two] 100 MELODIES LXXIII PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY 1792-1822 THINGS LOVED I love all that thou lovest, Spirit of delight! The fresh Earth in new leaves dress'd, And the starry night; Autumn evening, and the morn When the golden mists are born. I love snow, and all the forms Of the radiant frost; I love waves, and winds, and storms, Everything almost Which is Nature's, and may be Untainted by man's misery. I love Love — though he has wings, And like light can flee, But above all other things, Spirit, I love thee — Thou art love and life ! Oh come, Make once more my heart thy home. From Song: "Rarely, rarely comest thou " [Chiefly trochaics three, four] OF ENGLISH VERSE 101 LXXIV HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 1807-1882 RISING SMOKE And the smoke rose slowly, slowly, Through the tranquil air of morning, First a single line of darkness, Then a denser, bluer vapor, Then a snow-white cloud unfolding, Like the tree-tops of the forest, Ever rising, rising, rising, Till it touch'd the top of heaven, Till it broke against the heaven, And roll'd outward all around it. From The Song of Hiawatha (The Peace-Pipe) [Trochaics four] 102 MELODIES LXXV GEORGE WITHER 1588-1667 IN A GARDEN First the Primrose courts his eyes ; Then the Cowslip he espies; Next the Pansy seems to woo him; Then Carnations bow unto him. As half -fearing to be seen Prettily her leaves between Peeps the Violet, pale to see That her virtues slighted be ; Which so much his liking wins That to seize her he begins. Yet before he stoop'd so low He his wanton eye did throw On a stem that grew more high, And the Rose did there espy. Who, beside her precious scent, To procure his eyes content Did display her goodly breast, Where he found at full express'd OF ENGLISH VERSE 103 All the good that Nature showers On a thousand other flowers ; Wherewith he affected takes it, His beloved flower he makes it, And without desire of more Walks through all he saw before. From Faire-Virtue, Mistresse of PhiVarete [Trochaics four] 104 MELODIES LXXVI JOHN MILTON 1608-1674 THE GUARDIAN SPIRIT'S FAREWELL To the ocean now I fly, And those happy climes that lie Where day never shuts his eye, Up in the broad fields of the sky. Mortals, that would follow me, Love Virtue, she alone is free; She can teach you how to climb Higher than the sphery chime: Or, if Virtue feeble were, Heaven itself would stoop to her. From Comus, III [Chiefly trochaics four] OF ENGLISH VERSE 105 [Chiefly trochaics four] LXXVII WILLIAM BLAKE 1757-1827 THE TIGER Tigek ! Tiger ! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry ? And what shoulder, and what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand form'd thy dread feet? What the hammer ? what the chain ? Knit thy strength and forged thy brain ? What the anvil ? what dread grasp Dared thy deadly terrors clasp ? Tiger! Tiger! burning bright In the forests of the night, Did he smile his work to see ? Did he who made the Lamb make thee ? From The Tyger 106 MELODIES LXXVIII ALICE FREEMAN PALMER 1855-1902 THE TEMPEST He shall give His angels charge Over thee in all thy ways. Though the thunders roam at large, Though the lightning round me plays, Like a child I lay my head In sweet sleep upon my bed. Though the terror comes so close, It shall have no power to smite; It shall deepen my repose, Turn the darkness into light. Touch of angels' hands is sweet; Not a stone shall hurt my feet. All Thy waves and billows go Over me to press me down Into arms so strong I know They will never let me drown. Ah, my God, how good Thy will ! I will nestle and be still. The Tempest [Trochaics four] OF ENGLISH VERSE 107 LXXIX HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 1807-1882 THE CHIMES In the ancient town of Bruges, In the quaint old Flemish city, As the evening shades descended, Low and loud and sweetly blended, Low .at times and loud at times, And changing like a poet's rhymes, Rang the beautiful wild chimes From the Belfry in the market Of the ancient town of Bruges. Oft amid my broken slumbers Still I hear those magic numbers, As they loud proclaim'd the flight And stolen marches of the night; Till their chimes in sweet collision Mingle with each wandering vision, Mingle with the fortune-telling Gipsy-bands of dreams and fancies, Which amid the waste expanses Of the silent land of trances Have their solitary dwelling. From The Belfry of Bruges (Carillon) [Trochaics four] 108 MELODIES LXXX EDGAR ALLAN POE 1809-1849 THE RAVEN Once upon a midnight dreary, while I ponder'd, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, — While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. " 'T is some visitor," I mutter'd, "tapping at my chamber door: Only this and nothing more." Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor; But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token. " Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore, Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore ; 'T is the wind and nothing more." OF ENGLISH VERSE 109 Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, In there stepp'd a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore, Not the least obeisance made he; not an instant stopp'd or stay'd he; But, with mien of lord or lady, perch'd above my chamber door, Perch'd upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door : Perch'd, and sat, and nothing more. From The Raven [Trochaics four, eight] 110 MELODIES LXXXI ALFRED TENNYSON 1809-1892 THE PROMISE OF THE SKIES Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to rest, Did I look on great Orion sloping slowly to the west. Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising thro' the mellow shade, Glitter like a swarm of fireflies tangled in a silver braid. Here about the beach I wander' d, nourishing a youth sublime With the fairy tales of science, and the long result of time ; When the centuries behind me like a fruitful land reposed ; When I clung to all the present for the promise that it closed ; When I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be ; Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails, Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales ; Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rain'd a ghastly dew From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue ; OF ENGLISH VERSE 111 Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm, With the standards of the people plunging thro' the thunder storm ; Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer, and the battle-flags were furl'd In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world. Yet I doubt not thro' the ages one increasing purpose runs, And the thoughts of men are widen'd with the process of the suns. From Locksley Hall [Trochaics eight] 112 MELODIES LXXXII CHARLES LAMB 1775-1834 THE OLD FAMILIAR FACES I have had playmates, I have had companions, In my days of childhood, in my joyful school-days; All, all are gone, the old familiar faces. Ghost-like I paced round the haunts of my childhood, Earth seem'd a desert I was bound to traverse, Seeking to find the old familiar faces. Friend of my bosom, thou more than a brother, Why wert not thou born in my father's dwelling ? So might we talk of the old familiar faces, How some they have died, and some they have left me, And some are taken from me; all are departed; All, all are gone, the old familiar faces. From The Old Familiar Faces [Mixed trochaics, free disposal of accent] OF ENGLISH VERSE 113 LXXXIII EDGAR ALLAN POE 1809-1849 SLEIGH BELLS Hear the sledges with the bells, Silver bells ! What a world of merriment their melody foretells ! How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, In the icy air of night ! While the stars, that oversprinkle All the heavens, seem to twinkle With a crystalline delight; Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells — From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells. From The Bells [Trochaics, free disposal of accent] PART III ANAPiESTIC MOVEMENT LXXXIV ROBERT BROWNING 1812-1889 A GREETING OF THE MORNING The year 's at the spring And day 's at the morn ; Morning *s at seven ; The hillside 's dew-pearl'd; The lark 's on the wing; The snail 's on the thorn: God 's in his heaven — All 's right with the world ! From Pippa Passes (I, Morning) [Mixed anapaestics two] 118 MELODIES LXXXV PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY 1792-1822 FLEETING JOY When the lamp is shatter'd, The light in the dust lies dead ; When the cloud is scatter 'd, The rainbow's glory is shed. When the lute is broken, Sweet tones are remember' d not; When the lips have spoken, Loved accents are soon forgot. As music and splendor Survive not the lamp and the lute, The heart's echoes render No song when the spirit is mute : — No song but sad dirges, Like the wind through a ruin'd cell, Or the mournful surges That ring the dead seaman's knell. From Lines: "When the lamp is shatter'd." [Mixed anapsestics two, three] OF ENGLISH VERSE 119 LXXXVI PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY 1792-1822 THE CLOUD I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, From the seas and the streams; I bear light shade for the leaves when laid In their noonday dreams. From my wings are shaken the dews that waken The sweet buds every one, When rock'd to rest on their mother's breast, As she dances about the sun. I wield the flail of the lashing hail, And whiten the green plains under, And then again I dissolve it in rain, And laugh as I pass in thunder. 120 MELODIES I sift the snow on the mountains below, And their great pines groan aghast; And all the night 't is my pillow white, While I sleep in the arms of the blast. Sublime on the towers of my skyey bowers Lightning my pilot sits, In a cavern under is fetter'd the thunder, It struggles and howls at fits. I am the daughter of earth and water, And the nursling of the sky; I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores; I change, but I cannot die. From The Cloud [Mixed anapsestics two, three, four] OF ENGLISH VERSE 121 LXXXVII WILLIAM COWPER 1731-1800 THE SOLITARY I am monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute, From the centre all round to the sea, I am lord of the fowl and the brute. O solitude ! where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face ? Better dwell in the midst of alarms, Than reign in this horrible place. Religion ! what treasure untold Lies hid in that heavenly word ! More precious than silver or gold, Or all that this earth can afford. But the sound of the church-going bell, These valleys and rocks never heard, Never sigh'd at the sound of a knell, Or smiled when a sabbath appear 'd. 122 MELODIES . Ye winds that have made me your sport, Convey to this desolate shore Some cordial endearing report Of a land I shall visit no more ! My friends, do they now and then send A wish or a thought after me ? O tell me I yet have a friend, Though a friend I am never to see. From Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk, dur- ing his Solitary Abode in the Island of Juan Fernandez [Chiefly anapsestics three] OF ENGLISH VERSE 123 LXXXVIII CHARLES WOLFE 1791-1823 THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, As his corpse to the rampart we hurried; Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot O'er the grave where our hero we buried. We buried him darkly at dead of night, The sods with our bayonets turning; By the struggling moonbeam's misty light And the lantern dimly burning. No useless coffin enclosed his breast, Not in sheet or in shroud we wound him; But he lay like a warrior taking his rest, With his martial cloak around him. ■ Few and short were the prayers we said, And we spoke not a word of sorrow; But we steadfastly gazed on the face that was dead, And we bitterly thought of the morrow. 124 MELODIES But half of our heavy task was done AYhen the clock struck the hour for retiring: And we heard the distant and random gun That the foe was sullenly firing. Slowly and sadly we laid him down, From the field of his fame fresh and gory; We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone, But we left him alone with his glory. From Burial of Sir John Moore [Mixed anapaestics three, four] OF ENGLISH VERSE 125 LXXXIX THOMAS NASH 1567-1601 SPRING Spring, the sweet Spring, is the year's pleasant king; Then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring, Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing, Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo ! The palm and may make country houses gay, Lambs frisk and play, the shepherds pipe all day, And we hear aye birds tune this merry lay, Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo. The fields breathe sweet, the daisies kiss our feet, Young lovers meet, old wives a-sunning sit, In every street these tunes our ears do greet, Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo! Spring! the sweet Spring! From Summer's Last Will and Testament [Anapaest ics four, iambics five, refrain iambics five] 126 MELODIES XC WILLIAM COWPER 1731-1800 THE POPLAR FIELD The poplars are fell'd ; farewell to the shade And the whispering sound of the cool colonnade! The winds play no longer and sing in the leaves, Nor Ouse on his bosom their image receives. Twelve years have elapsed since I first took a view Of my favorite field, and the bank where they grew : And now in the grass behold they are laid, And the tree is my seat that once lent me a shade ! The blackbird has fled to another retreat, Where the hazels afford him a screen from the heat; And the scene where his melody charm'd me before Resounds with his sweet-flowing ditty no more. The change both my heart and my fancy employs; I reflect on the frailty of man and his joys : Short-lived as we are, yet our pleasures, we see, Have a still shorter date, and die sooner than we. From The Poplar Field [Chiefly anapsestics four] OF ENGLISH VERSE 127 XCI ROBERT BROWNING 1812-1889 DAVID GOES TO CURE THE KING Then I, as was meet, Knelt down to the God of my fathers, and rose on my feet, And ran o'er the sand burnt to powder. The tent was unloop'd ; I pull'd up the spear that obstructed, and under I stoop'd ; Hands and knees on the slippery grass-patch, all wither'd and gone, That extends to the second enclosure, I groped my way on Till I felt where the foldskirts fly open. Then once more I pray'd, And open'd the foldskirts and enter'd, and was not afraid But spoke, "Here is David, thy servant!" And no voice re- plied. At the first I saw nought but the blackness : but soon I descried A something more black than the blackness — the vast, the upright Main prop which sustains the pavilion : and slow into sight Grew a figure against it, gigantic and blackest of all. Then a sunbeam, that burst through the tent-roof, show'd Saul. From Saul [Anapsestics five] 128 MELODIES XCII ALFRED TENNYSON 1809-1892 THE MAY QUEEN You must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear ; To-morrow 'ill be the happiest time of all the glad New-year ; Of all the glad New-year, mother, the maddest merriest day, For I 'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I 'm to be Queen o ' the May. The honeysuckle round the porch has woven its wavy bowers, And by the meadow-trenches blow the faint sweet cuckoo- flowers ; And the wild marsh-marigold shines like fire in swamps and hollows gray, And I 'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I 'm to be Queen o' the May. The night-winds come and go, mother, upon the meadow-grass, And the happy stars above them seem to brighten as they pass ; There will not be a drop of rain the whole of the livelong day, And I 'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I 'm to be Queen o* the May. OF ENGLISH VERSE 129 All the valley, mother, 'ill be fresh and green and still, And the cowslip and the crowfoot are over all the hill, And the rivulet in the flowery dale 'ill merrily glance and play, For I 'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I 'm to be Queen o' the May. So you must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear, To-morrow 'ill be the happiest time of all the glad New-year ; To-morrow 'ill be of all the year the maddest merriest day, For I 'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I 'm to be Queen o' the May. From The May Queen [Mixed anapaestics iambics seven] 130 MELODIES XCIII SIDNEY LANIER 1842-1881 THE INCOMING TIDE And the sea lends large, as the marsh : lo, out of his plenty the sea Pours fast : full soon the time of the flood-tide must be : Look how the grace of the sea doth go About and about through the intricate channels that flow Here and there, Everywhere, Till his waters have flooded the uttermost creeks and the low- lying lanes, And the marsh is mesh'd with a million veins, That like as with rosy and silvery essences flow In the rose-and-silver evening glow. Farewell, my lord Sun ! The creeks overflow: a thousand rivulets run 'Twixt the roots of the sod ; the blades of the marsh-grass stir; Passeth a hurrying sound of wings that westward whirr; Passeth, and all is still ; and the currents cease to run ; And the sea and the marsh are one. OF ENGLISH VERSE 131 How still the plains of the water be! The tide is in his ecstasy; The tide is at his highest height; And it is night. From The Marshes of Glynn [Mixed anapaestics, free disposal of accent] PART IV DACTYLIC MOVEMENT XCIV ROBERT BROWNING 1812-1889 CREATIVE MOMENTS Such a starved bank of moss Till, that May-morn, Blue ran the flash across : Violets were born ! Sky — what a scowl of cloud Till, near and far, Ray on ray split the shroud : Splendid, a star! World — how it wall'd about Life with disgrace Till God's own smile came out: That was thy face ! From The Two Poets of Croisic [Dactylics two x ] 1 For dactylics two, see In Praise of Rhythm, by William Watson, Pre- liminary Leaves. 136 MELODIES XCV MATTHEW ARNOLD 1822-1888 THE LEADERS Then, in such hour of need Of your fainting, dispirited race, Ye, like angels, appear, Radiant with ardor divine! Beacons of hope, ye appear! Languor is not in your heart, Weakness is not in your word, Weariness not on your brow. Ye alight in our van ! at your voice, Panic, despair, flee away. Ye move through the ranks, recall The stragglers, refresh the outworn, Praise, re-inspire the brave! Order, courage, return. Eyes rekindling, and prayers, Follow your steps as ye go. Ye fill up the gaps in our files, Strengthen the wavering line, Stablish, continue our march, On, to the bound of the waste, On, to the City of God. From Rugby Chapel [Mixed chiefly dactylics three] OF ENGLISH VERSE 137 XCVI ROBERT BROWNING 1812-1889 THE PLACE FOR THE NEST This is the spray the Bird clung to, Making it blossom with pleasure, Ere the high tree-top she sprung to, Fit for her nest and her treasure. Oh, what a hope beyond measure Was the poor spray's, which the flying feet hung to, — So to be singled out, built in, and sung to. From Misconceptions [Dactylics three, four] 138 MELODIES XCVII ALFRED TENNYSON 1809-1892 CRADLE SONG Sweet and low, sweet and low, Wind of the western sea, Low, low, breathe and blow, Wind of the western sea ! Over the rolling waters go, Come from the dying moon, and blow, Blow him again to me; While my little one, while my pretty one sleeps. Sleep and rest, sleep and rest, Father will come to thee soon ; Rest, rest, on mother's breast, Father will come to thee soon; Father will come to his babe in the nest, Silver sails all out of the west Under the silver moon; Sleep, my little one, sleep, my pretty one, sleep. From The Princess, Part I [Mixed dactylics three, four, five] OF ENGLISH VERSE 139 XCVIII ROBERT BROWNING 1812-1889 THE GALLOP Boot, saddle, to horse, and away! Rescue my castle before the hot day Brightens to blue from its silvery gray. Chorus. — Boot, saddle, to horse, and away! Ride past the suburbs, asleep as you 'd say; Many 's the friend there, will listen and pray, " God's luck to gallants that strike up the lay — Chorus. — "Boot, saddle, to horse, and away! " Forty miles off, like a roebuck at bay, Flouts Castle Brancepeth the Roundheads' array: Who laughs, "Good fellows ere this, by my fay, Chorus. — "Boot, saddle, to horse, and away! " Who ? My wife Gertrude ; that, honest and gay, Laughs when you talk of surrendering, "Nay! "I 've better counsellors ; what counsel they? Chorus. — "Boot, saddle, to horse, and away !" From Cavalier Tunes (III, Boot and Saddle) [Dactylics four] 140 MELODIES XCIX HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 1807-1882 THE BLACKSMITH Swiftly they hurried away to the forge of Basil the blacksmith. There at the door they stood, with wondering eyes to behold him Take in his leathern lap the hoof of the horse as a plaything, Nailing the shoe in its place; while near him the tire of the cart-wheel Lay like a fiery snake, coil'd round in a circle of cinders. Oft on autumnal eves, when without in the gathering darkness Bursting with light seem'd the smithy, through every cranny and crevice, Warm by the forge within they watch'd the laboring bellows, And as its panting ceased, and the sparks expired in the ashes, Merrily laugh' d, and said they were nuns going into the chapel. From Evangeline, Part I [Chiefly dactylics six] OF ENGLISH VERSE 141 ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH 1819-1861 THE TIDE As at return of tide the total weight of ocean, Drawn by moon and sun from Labrador and Greenland, Sets-in amain, in the open space betwixt Mull and Scarba, Heaving, swelling, spreading the might of the mighty Atlantic ; There into cranny and slit of the rocky, cavernous bottom Settles down, and with dimples huge the smooth sea-surface Eddies, coils, and whirls ; by dangerous Corryvreckan : So in my soul of souls, through its cells and secret recesses, Comes back, swelling and spreading, the old democratic fervor. From The Bothie of Tober-Na-Vuolich, Part IX [Mixed dactylics trochaics six] PART V POEMS OF REVERENCE CI ALFRED TENNYSON 1809-1892 VASTNESS Many a hearth upon our dark globe sighs after many a van- ish'd face, Many a planet by many a sun may roll with the dust of a van- ish'd race. Fame blowing out from her golden trumpet a jubilant challenge to Time and to Fate; Slander, her shadow, sowing the nettle on all the laurell'd graves of the great; National hatreds of whole generations, and pigmy spites of the village spire; Vows that will last to the last death-ruckle, and vows that are snapt in a moment of fire; Stately purposes, valor in battle, glorious annals of army and fleet, Death for the right cause, death for the wrong cause, trumpets of victory, groans of defeat; 146 MELODIES Raving politics, never at rest — as this poor earth's pale his- tory runs, — What is it all but a trouble of ants in the gleam of a million million of suns? What but a murmur of gnats in the gloom, or a moment's anger of bees in their hive ? Peace, let it be ! for I loved him, and love him for ever : the dead are not dead but alive. From Vastness [Mixed dactylics eight] OF ENGLISH VERSE 147 CII WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 1770-1850 NATURE These beauteous forms, Through a long absence, have not been to me As a landscape to a blind man's eye: But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din Of towns and cities, I have owed to them, In hours of weariness, sensations sweet, Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart; And passing even into my purer mind, With tranquil restoration : — feelings too Of unremember'd pleasure: such, perhaps, As have no slight or trivial influence On that best portion of a good man's life, His little, nameless, unremember'd, acts Of kindness and of love. Nor less, I trust, To them I may have owed another gift, Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood, In which the burthen of the mystery, In which the heavy and the weary weight Of all this unintelligible world, 148 MELODIES Is lighten'd : — that serene and blessed mood, In which the affections gently lead us on, — Until, the breath of this corporeal frame And even the motion of our human blood Almost suspended, we are laid asleep In body, and become a living soul : While with an eye made quiet by the power Of harmony, and the deep power of joy, We see into the life of things. From Lines, composed a few miles above T intern Abbey, on Re- visiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour, July 13, 1798 [Iambics five] OF ENGLISH VERSE 149 cm ROBERT BROWNING 1812-1889 LOVE O lyric Love, half angel and half bird And all a wonder and a wild desire, — Boldest of hearts that ever braved the sun, And sang a kindred soul out to his face, — Hail thou, and harken from the realms of help ! Never may I commence my song, my due To God who best taught song by gift of thee, Except with bent head and beseeching hand — That still, despite the distance and the dark, What was, again may be; some interchange Of grace, some splendor once thy very thought, Some benediction anciently thy smile: — Never conclude, but raising hand and head Thither where eyes, that cannot reach, yet yearn For all hope, all sustainment, all reward, Their utmost up and on, — so blessing back In those thy realms of help, that heaven thy home, Some whiteness which, I judge, thy face makes proud, Some wanness where, I think, thy foot may fall ! From The Ring and the Booh (I, The Ring and the Book) [Iambics five] 150 MELODIES CIV ALFRED TENNYSON 1809-1892 THE HERO Yea, let all good things await Him who cares not to be great But as he saves or serves the state. Not once or twice in our rough island-story The path of duty was the way to glory. He that walks it, only thirsting For the right, and learns to deaden Love of self, before his journey closes, He shall find the stubborn thistle bursting Into glossy purples, which outredden All voluptuous garden-roses. Not once or twice in our fair island-story The path of duty was the way to glory. He, that ever following her commands, On with toil of heart and knees and hands, Thro' the long gorge to the far light has won His path upward, and prevail'd, Shall find the toppling crags of Duty scaled Are close upon the shining table-lands OF ENGLISH VERSE 151 To which our God Himself is moon and sun. Such was he : his work is done. Speak no more of his renown. Lay your earthly fancies down, And in the vast cathedral leave him. God accept him, Christ receive him ! From Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington [Chiefly trochaics three, four, five] 152 MELODIES cv HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 1807-1882 THE STATE Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State! Sail on, O Union, strong and great! Humanity with all its fears, With all the hopes of future years, Is hanging breathless on thy fate ! We know what Master laid thy keel, What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel, Who made each mast, and sail, and rope, What anvils rang, what hammers beat, In what a forge and what a heat Were shaped the anchors of thy hope ! Fear not each sudden .sound and shock, 'T is of the wave and not the rock; 'T is but the flapping of the sail, And not a rent made by the gale ! In spite of rock and tempest's roar, In spite of false lights on the shore, OF ENGLISH VERSE 153 Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea ! Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee, Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, Are all with thee, — are all with thee ! From The Building of the Ship [Iambics four] 154 MELODIES CVI ISAAC WATTS 1674-1748 GOD Our God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come; Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home : — Under the shadow of thy throne The saints have dwelt secure; Sufficient is thine arm alone, And our defence is sure. Before the hills in order stood, Or earth received her frame, From everlasting thou art God, To endless years the same. A thousand ages, in thy sight, Are like an evening gone; Short as the watch that ends the night, Before the rising sun. OF ENGLISH VERSE 155 Time, like an ever-rolling stream, Bears all its sons away; They fly, forgotten, as a dream Dies at the opening day. Our God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Be thou our guard while troubles last, And our eternal home. Psalm XC, 1-5, First Part (Man Frail and God Eternal) [Iambics three, four] And therefore, I said, Glaucon, that training in 'poetry is a more potent instrument than any other, be- cause rhythm and harmony find their way into the in- ward places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful, or of him who is ill-educated ungraceful ; and also because he who has received this true education of the inner being will most shrewdly perceive omissions or faults in art and nature, and with a true taste, while he praises and rejoices over and re- ceives into his soul the good, and becomes noble and good, he will justly blame and hate the bad, now in the days of his youth, even before he is able to know the rea- son why ; and when reason comes he will recognize and salute the friend with whom his education has made him long familiar. Plato, Republic, III, Jfi<2. NOTES AND INDEXES NOTES The symbol ' denotes an accented syllable, the symbol + an unaccented one, and the symbol ( ) an omitted portion of a foot. Verses ending with an incom- plete foot are called catalectic. If a portion of a foot is omitted at the beginning of the verse, the verse is said to be truncated. An extra unaccented syllable in the foot at the end of the line does not change the foot but makes a double ending of the line. An extra unaccented syllable in the foot at the beginning of a line makes what is called anacrusis without changing the character of the verse. An exceptional foot may be substituted for the typical foot, and the verse become irregular and sometimes decidedly irregular as these substi- tutions are more or less frequent. But any verse while retaining on the whole its peculiar rhythm may begin with an accented syllable and the same is true of a verse-section after a pause. Sometimes a two syllable foot with equally accented syllables is found in verse. Such a foot is a spondee. The symbol / / denotes a rhythmic pause in the line and such a pause is called a caesura. In a rhythmic pause, no syllable is dropped, but in a compensating pause, a portion of a foot is omitted and this omission is indicated by the symbol ( ). A verse is named by its prevailing foot, — iambic, trochaic, anapaestic, dactylic. By iambic is meant -f- ' By trochaic is meant ' + By anapaestic is meant + + ' By dactylic is meant ' + -f- As the terms are here used, foot iambic means verse is regular, Prevailing foot iambic means verse is irregular. Mixed prevailing foot iambic means verse is decidedly irregular. Trochaic, anapaestic, and dactylic verse are also simi- larly divided and classified. SCHEMES OF SCANSION In Memoriam, Tennyson. Selection XXIV Foot iambic, four accent first stanza Four Line Stanza 1 +'/ + '/ + '/ + '/ a rhyme 2 +'/ + '/ + '/ + '/ b 162 NOTES AND INDEXES Four Line Stanza 3 +'/ + '/ + '/ + '/ b rhyme 4 + '/ + '/ + '/ + '/ a Stanzas for Music, Byron. Selection LXIX Foot iambic, seven accent FIRST STANZA Four Line Stanza 1 + '/ + '/ + '/ + '// + '/ + '/+ '/ a rhyme 2 + + 7 + 7 + 7 + 7/ + 7 + 7 + '/a 3 + '/ + '/ + '/ + '/ + '// + '/ + '/ b. The Oak, Tennyson. Selection LXXII Foot trochaic, two accent FIRST STANZA Five Line Stanza 1 '+/'() a rhyme 2 '+/'() b 3 '■+/'() c 4 '+/'<) d 5 '+/'() b The Old Familiar Faces, Lamb. Selection LXXXII Prevailing foot trochaic, four, five, and six accent FIRST TWO STANZAS Three Line Stanza 1 ' + + /'+//'+/ '+/'+/ unrhymed 2'+ /'+ /' + //'+ /'+/'+/ 3 '()/'+ /'// + /'+/'+ /*+ / 1 "'+ + /'// + + /'+ + /'+ / 2'+ + /'+ //'+ /'+ /' + / 3 '+ + /'+ //'+ /'+ /' + / Burial of Sir John Moore, Wolfe. Selection LXXXVIII Mixed prevailing foot anapaestic, three and four accent FOURTH AND FIFTH STANZAS Four Line Stanza 1 ( ) ' / + '/++'/ + '/ a rhyme 2 ++'/++'/ + '+/ b 3 ++ , / + + , /+ + '/ + + '/a 4 ++'/ + + ' / + + '+/ b NOTES AND INDEXES 163 Four Line Stanza 1 2 3 4 + '/ + +' / + '/ + '/ aa rhyme + ■+'/++'/+ + '+/ b + +'/ + '/++'/ + '/ a + +'/ + ' / + + '+/ b. Spring, Nash. Selection LXXXB£ Foot anapaestic and iambic, four and five accent ; refrain iambic, five accent FIRST TWO STANZAS Four Line Stanza 1 2 3 4 ()'/+ + '// + +' /+ +' ()'/ + +' // + +'/ + +' ()'/ + + '//+' / + '/+' + '/ + '/ + ' // + '/ + '/ / / a rhyme a a b 1 2 3 4 + '/ + '// + '/ + '/ + '/ 4-'/ + '/ + '// + '/ + '/ + '/ + '/ + '// + '/ + '/ a a a b Couplets 1 2 + '/ + 3 + '/ + 4 + ' / + + '/ + + '/ a rhyme + '/ + + '/ a + '/ + + '/ b + '/ + + '/ b Blank Verse Saul, Browning. Selection XCI Foot anapaestic, five accent first two couplets + '/ + +'/ + //- + '/ + +'/ + // + '/ + +'/ + // Evangeline, Longfellow. Selection XCIX Prevailing foot dactylic, six accent first four lines 1 '+ + /'+ + /' // + + / , + / r + + /'+/ unrhymed 2'+ + /'+/' // + /'+ + /' + + /'+/ 3' + + /'+/'// + /'+ + / / + + / , + / 4'+ + /'+ + / , // + / / + + /'+ + /'+/ METRES BLANK VERSE Unrhymed four and five syllable, two accent verse, catalectic, and with alliteration or beginning- rhyme regular in Anglo-Saxon verse. Foot dactylic. Unrhymed three accent verse, catalectic. Prevailing foot dac- tylic. Unrhymed three and five accent verse. Foot iambic. Unrhymed four accent verse. Foot trochaic. Unrhymed heroic or five accent verse. Foot iambic. Same as above. Same as above. Same as above, but with quite constant double endings, which are used as a test to mark off the share of Fletcher in the author- ship of this play. Unrhymed heroic or five accent verse. Foot iambic. Same as above, except for one Alexandrine or six iambic verse. From England my Mother Watson vii Rugby Chapel Arnold 136 Ode to Even- ing Collins 30 The Song of Hiawatha (The Peace- Pipe) Longfellow 101 Romeo and Juliet, I, 4 Shakespeare 48 King Henry V, III, 1 Shakespeare 49 As You Like It, II, 7 Shakespeare 50 King Henry VIII, III, 2 Shakespeare 52 Paradise Lost, Book IV Milton 54 The Prelude, Book I Wordsworth 55 166 NOTES AND INDEXES Unrhymed heroic or five accent verse. Foot iambic. Same as above. Same as above. Same as above. Same as above. Same as above. Unrhymed four, five, and six ac- cent verse, and each third verse with a refrain marking the end of the stanza. See Notes. Mixed prevailing foot trochaic. Unrhymed Alexandrine or six accent verse. Foot iambic. Unrhymed hexameter or six ac- cent verse. Prevailing foot dac- tylic, except in first two verses, which are trochaic. Same as above. See Notes. Prevailing foot dactylic. COUPLETS Seven and eight syllable four ac- cent verse, with the seven syllable verse catalectic and the eight syl- lable couplets having two sylla- ble rhymes. Foot trochaic. From Lines, composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey Wordsworth 147 " Hyperion, Book I Keats 56 " Ulysses Tennyson 57 " Fra Lippo Lippi Browning 58 " The Ring and the Book, I Browning 149 " The Earthly Paradise (Prologue of The Wander- ers) Morris 60 " The Old Fa- miliar Faces Lamb 112 Poly-Olbion, Song XIII Drayton 89 The Bothie of Tober-Na- Vuolich, Part IX Clough 141 Evangeline, Parti Longfellow 140 Faire-Virtue, Mistresse of PhiFarete Wither 102 NOTES AND INDEXES Seven and eight syllable, four From Comus, III accent verse, mostly catalectic. Prevailing foot trochaic. Seven and eight syllable four ac- cent verse, mostly truncated. Iambics four. Eight syllable four accent verse. Foot iambic. Same as above. HEROIC COUPLETS Ten syllable five accent verse. Foot iambic. Same as above except for one six accent verse. Ten syllable five accent verse. Foot iambic. Same as above. Same as above, but with occa- sional double ending. COUPLETS Fourteen and fifteen syllable five accent verse. See Notes. Foot anapaestic. Fourteen syllable seven accent verse. Foot iambic. Fifteen syllable seven accent verse with constant double end- ing. Foot iambic. Fifteen syllable eight accent verse, catalectic. Foot trochaic. Milton II Penseroso Milton Snow-Bound Whittier 167 104 32 33 The Building of the Ship Longfellow 152 Hero and Le- ander, Second Sestiad Marlowe 61 Essay on Crit- icism Pope 62 The Deserted Village Goldsmith 63 Julian and Maddalo Shelley 65 Endymion, Book I Keats 67 Saul Browning 127 The Iliads of Homer, Book VIII, 553-561 Translated by Chapman 91 A Mood Aldrich 93 Locksley Hall Tennyson 110 168 NOTES AND INDEXES Eighteen to twenty-two syllable eight accent verse, catalectic. Prevailing foot dactylic. Three to eighteen syllable verse. Free disposal of accent. Mixed prevailing foot anapaestic. THREE LINE STANZA Unrhymed four, five, and six ac- cent verse and each third verse with a refrain marking the end of the stanza. See Notes. Mixed prevailing foot trochaic. A a b rhyme in ten syllable five accent verse with unrhymed re- frain marking end of stanza. Verses thirteen and fourteen have double ending, and so eleven syllables. Prevailing foot iambic. A b a-b c b-c d c-d e d-e e rhyme in ten syllable five accent verse. Verses one and three have double ending and so eleven syllables. Foot iambic. FOUR LINE STANZA Unrhymed four and five syllable two accent verse, catalectic and with alliteration or beginning- rhyme regular in Anglo-Saxon verse. Foot dactylic. Unrhymed three and five accent verse. Foot iambic. A a a a rhyme in four accent verse with the last verse of each stanza a refrain which by its rhyme is made a part of the struc- ture of the stanza. The rhyme is identical throughout the poem. Foot dactylic. From Vastness Tennyson 145 The Marshes of Glynn Lanier " The Old Fa- miliar Faces Lamb Idylls of the King (The Coming of Arthur) Tennyson Ode to the West Wind Shelley 130 112 69 70 " England my Mother Watson vu Ode to Even- ing Collins 30 Cavalier Tunes (III, Boot and Saddle) Browning 139 NOTES AND INDEXES 169 A a a a rhyme in four accent verse. Foot iambic. A a a b rhyme in four and five accent verse with interior rhyme and each fourth verse an unrhymed five accent refrain marking end of stanza. See Notes. Foot anapaestic and iambic, re- frain iambic. A a b a rhyme in five accent verse. Foot iambic. A a b b rhyme in four accent verse. Seven syllable verse, foot trochaic, catalectic ; eight syllable verse, foot iambic. A a b b rhyme in four accent verse. Prevailing foot anapaestic. A a b b rhyme in six accent verse. Mixed prevailing foot iambic, but with anapaestic tendency. A a b b *rhyme in seven accent verse with each fourth verse a re- frain which by its rhyme is made a part of the structure of the stanza and the poem. The thir- teenth and fourteenth verses are truncated, and the seventeenth has an unaccented syllable pre- fixed. Foot anapaestic and iambic. A a b b rhyme in seven accent verse. Verses two and four have an unaccented syllable prefixed in first foot. See Notes. Foot iambic. From The Wood- spurge Rossetti 34 " Summer's Last Will and Testament Nash 125 Rubaiyat of Omar Khay- yam FitzGerald 71 The Tyger Blake 105 The Poplar Field Cowper 126 The Grand- mother Tennyson 90 " The May Queen Stanzas for Music Tennyson 128 Byron 92 170 NOTES AND INDEXES A b a b rhyme in four and six syl- lable two accent verse, four syl- lable verse catalectic. Foot dactylic. A b a b rhyme in two and four accent verse ; the shorter verse used to unify and mark the end of the stanza. Foot iambic. A b a b rhyme in two, three, and five accent verse. Foot iambic. A b a b rhyme in three and four accent verse; the third verse only having four accents. Foot iambic. A b a b rhyme in three accent verse alternating with four accent verse. Foot iambic. Same as above, except verses two and four have double ending. Foot iambic. A b a b rhyme in four accent verse. Foot iambic. A b a b rhyme in eight to twelve syllable, three and four accent verse. See Notes. Mixed prevailing foot anapaestic. A b a b rhyme in five accent verse. Foot iambic. A b a b rhyme in five accent verse. Foot iambic. Abba rhyme in four accent verse. See Notes. Foot iambic. ron i The Two Poets of Croisic Browning 135 (C Ode on Soli- tude Pope 9 (( Crossing the Bar Tennyson 13 c< The Elixir Herbert 18 (t Psalm XC, 1- -5, First Part (Man Frail and God Eternal) Watts 154 The Brook Tennyson 20 Lay of the Last Minstrel, Canto VI Scott 36 Burial of Sir John Moore Wolfe 123 The Timber Vaughan 73 Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard Gray 74 In Memoriam Tennyson 35 Sections xv, xxx NOTES AND INDEXES 171 A b c b rhyme in three and From The Rime of four accent verse. Rhyme in third the Ancient stanza a b c c b and in fourth Mariner, stanza a b a b. Foot iambic. Part VII A b c b rhyme in three and " The Rime of four accent verse. Rhyme in the Ancient second stanza a b c c b and in Mariner, fourth stanza a b c b d b. Foot Part V iambic. Coleridge 22 Coleridge 24 FIVE LINE STANZA A b c c b rhyme in three and " The Rime of four accent verse in third stanza. the Ancient Foot iambic. Mariner, Part VII Coleridge 22 Same as above in second stanza. " The Rime of the Ancient . Mariner, Part V Coleridge 24 A b a b b rhyme in four accent " On his Mistris, verse. Foot iambic. the Queen of Bohemia Wotton 38 A b c c b rhyme in four accent " Peter Bell: verse. The tenth verse has but A Tale, three accents. Foot iambic. Parti Wordsworth 39 A b c d b rhyme in two accent " The Oak Tennyson 99 verse, catalectic. See Notes. Foot trochaic. SIX LINE STANZA A a a b a b rhyme in two and four accent verse with occasional double ending. Foot iambic. To a Mouse on Turning her up in her Nest, with the Plow, November, 1785 Burns 11 172 NOTES AND INDEXES A a b c c b rhyme in three and four accent verse. Verses three and six have three accents and divide the body of the stanza into two parts, but as they rhyme they bind these parts together. Foot iambic. A b a b c c rhyme in three and four accent verse, catalectic. Couplet added to a b a b rhyme making a three part stanza a b-a b-c c. Prevailing foot trochaic. A b a b c c rhyme in four accent verse. Foot trochaic. A b a b c c rhyme in seven and ten syllable four and five accent verse; seven syllable verse trun- cated. Foot iambic. A b c b b b rhyme in four and eight accent verse. Verses one and three have interior rhyme; each stanza has sporadic interior rhyme and lines ending b are cat- alectic. The verses in this selec- tion all have similar end-rhyme except the second and fourth in each stanza. Foot trochaic. From "Three years she grew in sun and shower" Wordsworth 25 " Song: "Rarely, rarely comest thou" Shelley " The Tempest Palmer To the Moon Shelley The Raven Poe 100 106 46 108 A b c b c b rhyme in two " Early Spring and three accent verse. Foot iambic. A b c b d b rhyme in three " The Rime of and four accent verse in fourth the Ancient stanza. Foot iambic. Mariner, Part V Tennyson Coleridge 24 NOTES AND INDEXES 173 Abcbdd rhyme in four, five, and six accent verse; b b d d have double endings, verses one and three have interior rhymes, and verses five and six, except in second stanza, make a refrain of two verses. Prevailing foot iambic. A b c c b a rhyme in four ac- cent verse. Foot iambic, but with some anapaestic tendency. A b c c d d rhyme in two and five accent verse. Foot iambic. SEVEN LINE STANZA A b a b b a a rhyme in three and four accent verse, catalectic. Foot dactylic EIGHT LINE STANZA Ababaabc rhyme in three, four, and five accent verse. Verses one and three have interior rhymes and verse four repeats verse two. Mixed prevailing foot dactylic. Abababcc rhyme in five ac- cent verse. Foot iambic. Ababcdcd rhyme in two and three accent verse. Mixed prevailing foot anapaestic. Ababcdcd rhyme in two and four accent verse. Foot iambic. Ababcdcd rhyme in three accent verse. Prevailing foot anapaestic. From The Princess, Part in Tennyson 47 " Meeting at Night Browning 41 " The Bird Vaughan 16 " Misconcep- tions Browning 137 The Princess, Part I Tennyson 138 Isabella Keats 76 Lines: "When the lamp is shattered" Shelley 118 Content Vaughan 7 Alexander Selkirk Cowper 121 174 NOTES AND INDEXES Abcdabca two accent verse. Mixed prevailing foot anapaestic. Abcbdefe rhyme in three accent verse alternating with four accent verse. Refrain marks the beginning of stanza. Foot iambic, but in refrain foot trochaic. From Pippa Passes (I, Morning) Browning " "I Remember, I remember" Hood 117 26 INE LINE STANZA Ababbcbcc rhyme in five " The Faerie accent verse; the ninth verse Queene, an Alexandrine or six iambic. Book V, Foot iambic. Canto II, 43 Spenser 84 Same as above. " The Minstrel Beattie 85 Same as above. " Childe Har- old's Pilgrim- age, Canto IV Byron 86 First stanza same as above; sec- " The Lotos- ond stanza ababccceeee Eaters Tennyson 88 rhyme in three, four, five, and six accent verse. Foot iambic. Abccabcee rhyme in two, "My heart three, four, and five accent verse. leaps up Foot iambic. when I be- hold" Wordsworth 14 EN LINE STANZA Aabbccddaa rhyme in " A Pindaric three, four, and five accent verse. Ode, to the Foot iambic. Immortal Memory and Friendship of that Noble Pair, Sir Lu- cius Cary and 1 SirH. Morison Jonson 28 NOTES AND INDEXES 175 Aabbcddeec rhyme in From Written in two and three accent verse. Prevailing foot iambic but with some anapaestic tendency. Ababbccdbd rhyme in two, four, five, and six accent verse. Foot iambic. TWELVE LINE STANZA Abcbdefeghih rhyme in two, three, and four accent verse with interior rhyme in alternate lines and occasional double end- ing. Mixed prevailing foot ana- paestic. March, while Resting on the Bridge at the Foot of Brothers Water Wordsworth 6 The Shep- heardes Cal- ender (November) Spenser " The Cloud Shelley 17 119 FOURTEEN LINE STANZA Aabbccddeeffgg rhyme in four and five accent verse. Foot iambic. A b b a a b b a-c d e c d e rhyme in five accent verse. A sonnet with strict Italian rhyme-scheme and structure. Foot iambic. Same as above except that strict Italian structure is departed from in division into two parts, the first part running over into the ninth line. Foot iambic. " Corinna 's going a-Maying Herrick 44 " The Two Riv- ers, II Longfellow 77 On his Blind- ness Milton 78 176 NOTES AND INDEXES Abbaabba-cdcdcd rhyme in five accent verse. A sonnet with strict Italian rhyme-scheme and structure. Foot iambic. Same as above except that strict Italian structure is departed from in division into two parts, the first part running over into the ninth line. Foot iambic. A b b a a b b a-c d c d e e rhyme in five accent verse. A sonnet same as above in rhyme-scheme except that the last two lines are couplets. Division regular into two parts. Foot iambic. A b a b c d c-d e f e f g g rhyme in five accent verse. English or Shakespearian form of sonnet. Foot iambic. Ababacdcedefef rhyme in five accent verse. A sonnet with rhyme-scheme irregular and structure a unit without division into two parts. Foot iambic. "With ships the sea was sprinkled far and nigh" Wordsworth 79 "The world is too much with us, late and soon" Wordsworth 80 Night and Death White 81 "When in dis- grace with fortune and men's eyes" Shakespeare 82 Ozymandias of Egypt Shelley 83 ARBITRARY STANZAS OF VARYING LENGTHS Aabccbddeffegghiihjj k 1 1 k rhyme in two and four syl- lable one accent verse, each third verse having a double ending. Foot iambic; but in each third verse, foot anapaestic. Chiefly couplets in two, four, and five accent verse with occasional double ending. Foot iambic. From Anacreontike Herrick Life Barbauld 15 NOTES AND INDEXES 177 Free disposal of rhyme and ac- cent in two, three, four, five, and six accent verse. Foot iambic. Free disposal of rhyme and ac- cent, in two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight accent verse. Verses are mostly catalectic and poem has sporadic interior rhyme. Foot trochaic. Free disposal of rhyme in three, four, and five accent verse. Pre- vailing foot trochaic. Free disposal of rhyme in three, four, five, and six accent verse. Prevailing foot iambic. Free disposal of rhyme in four accent verse, without much re- gard to the number of syllables and with an occasional truncated verse. Mixed prevailing foot iambic. Free disposal of rhyme in four accent verse of seven and eight syllables; many couplets and some verses catalectic. Foot trochaic. Ababcdcdefef rhyme in four accent verse. Foot iambic. From Ode: Intima- tions of Im- mortality from Recol- lections of Early Child- hood " The Bells Wordsworth 94 Poe 113 Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington Tennyson Dover Beach Arnold Each and All Emerson 150 29 The Belfry of Bruges (Carillon) The Angel in the House, Book I, Canto VIII Longfellow 107 Patmore WRITERS Aldrich, Thomas Bailey lxx Arnold, Matthew xix, xcv Barbauld, Anna Letitia ix Beattie, James lxiii Blake, William lxxvii Browning, Robert xxviii, xlii, lxxxiv, xci, xciv, xcvi, XCVIII, cm Burns, Robert vi Byron, George Gordon Noel lxiv, lxix Chapman, George lxviii Clough, Arthur Hugh c Coleridge, Samuel Taylor xiv, xv Collins, William xx Cowper, William lxxxvii, xc Drayton, Michael lxvi Emerson, Ralph Waldo XXIX FitzGerald, Edward LI Goldsmith, Oliver Gray, Thomas XLVI LIII Herbert, George Herrick, Robert Hood, Thomas XII I, XXXI XVII Jonson, Ben XVIII Keats, John XL, XLVIII, LIV Lamb, Charles Lanier, Sidney LXXXII XCIII Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth lv, lxxiv, lxxix, xcix, cv Marlowe, Christopher • xliv Milton, John xxi, xxxviii, lvi, lxxvi Morris, William xliii Nash, Thomas lxxxix Palmer, Alice Freeman lxxviii Patmore, Coventry • xxx Poe, Edgar Allan lxxx, lxxxiii Pope, Alexander v, xlv Rossetti, Dante Gabriel xxiii Scott, Walter xxv Shakespeare, William xxxiv, xxxv, xxxvi, xxxvii, LX Shelley, Percy Bysshe xxxn, xlvii, L, LXI, LXXIII, LXXXV, LXXXVI Spenser, Edmund xi, lxii Tennyson, Alfred n, vn, xm, xxrv, xxxiii, xli, xlix, lxv, lxvii, lxxii, lxxxi, xch, xcvii, ci, civ Vaughan, Henry IV, x, LII Watson, William Preliminary Leaves Watts, Isaac cvi White, Joseph Blanco lix Whittier, John Greenleaf xxn Wither, George lxxv Wolfe, Charles lxxxviii Wordsworth, William in, vm, xvi, XXVII, XXXIX, LVII, LVIII, LXXI, CII Wotton, Henry xxvi FIRST LINES A blight, a gloom, I know not what, has crept upon my gladness, 93 A man he was to all the country dear, 63 A thing of beauty is a joy forever: 67 All the world 's a stage, 50 An idle poet, here and there, 43 And in the frosty season, when the sun 55 And such a fate I could not choose but fear 60 And the sea lends large, as the marsh: lo, out of his plenty the sea 130 And the smoke rose slowly, slowly, 101 Around, around, flew each sweet sound, 24 Art thou pale for weariness 46 As at return of tide the total weight of ocean, 141 As one 3 As under cover of departing day 71 Blow trumpet, for the world is white with May ! 69 Boot, saddle, to horse, and away! 139 But who the melodies of morn can tell ? 85 "Courage!" he said, and pointed toward the land, 88 First the Primrose courts his eyes; 102 For take thy balance, if thou be so wise, 84 Get up, get up for shame! The blooming morn 44 Happy the man whose wish and care 9 He roved among the vales and streams, 39 He shall give His angels charge 106 Hear the sledges with the bells, 113 Hither thou com'st. The busy wind all night 16 I am monarch of all I survey, 121 I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, 119 I cannot rest from travel; 57 182 NOTES AND INDEXES I come from haunts of coot and hern, 20 I did not think to shed a tear 52 I have had playmates, I have had companions, 112 I love all that thou lovest, 100 I met a traveller from an antique land 83 I remember, I remember 26 I rode one evening with Count Maddalo 65 I walk unseen 32 In the ancient town of Bruges, 107 In the mid days of autumn, on their eves 76 It is not growing like a tree 28 Leander, being up, began to swim, 61 Life! I know not what thou art, 15 Little thinks, in the field, yon red-cloak'd clown 42 Live thy Life, 99 Many a hearth upon our dark globe sighs after many a vanish 'd face, 145 Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to rest, 110 Moor, moor the barge, ye gallant crew! 36 My heart leaps up when I behold 14 Mysterious Night! when our first parent knew 81 Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, 123 Now air is hush'd, save where the weak-eyed bat 30 O lyric Love, half angel and half bird 149 O River of Yesterday, with current swift 77 O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you. 48 O Wedding-Guest! this soul hath been 22 O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, 70 Once more the Heavenly Power 4 Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; 49 Once upon a midnight dreary, while I ponder'd, weak and weary, 108 Our God, our help in ages past, 154 Shut in from all the world without, 33 Sleep on! 56 Song is no bauble vii NOTES AND INDEXES 183 Spring, the sweet Spring, is the year's pleasant king; 125 Stars are of mighty use: the night 7 Such a starved bank of moss 135 Sunset and evening star, 13 Sure thou didst flourish once! and many springs, 73 Sweet and low, sweet and low, 138 Sweet is the breath of Morn, her rising sweet, 54 Swiftly they hurried away to the forge of Basil the blacksmith. 140 Teach me, my God and King, 18 The cock is crowing, 6 The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, 74 The gray sea and the long black land; 41 The poplars are fell'd; farewell to the shade 126 The sea is calm to-night. 29 The splendor falls on castle walls 47 The wind flapp'd loose, the wind was still, 34 The world is too much with us; late and soon, 80 The year 's at the spring 117 Then from her burnish'd gate the goodly glitt'ring East 89 Then I, as was meet, 127 Then, in such hour of need 136 There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, 86 There 's not a joy the world can give like that it takes away, 92 There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, 94 These beauteous forms, 147 They spent all night in open field ; fires round about them shined. 91 This is the spray the Bird clung to, 137 This world 's no blot for us 58 Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State! 152 Three years she grew in sun and shower, 25 Tiger! Tiger! burning bright 105 'T is not enough no harshness gives offence, 62 To the ocean now I fly, 104 To-night the winds begin to rise 35 Wee, sleekit, cow'rin', tim'rous beastie, 11 When I consider how my light is spent 78 184 NOTES AND INDEXES When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, 82 When the lamp is shatter'd, 118 Whence is it, that the floweret of the field doth fade, 17 Why do you look at me, Annie ? You think I am hard and cold ; 90 With ships the sea was sprinkled far and nigh, 79 Yea, let all good things await 150 You meaner beauties of the night 38 You must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear; 128 CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS U . S . A m U I9IQ Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: Jan. 2009 PreservationTechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 111 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township. PA 1 6066 (724) 779-2111 One copy del. to Cat. Div.