And he has leaped into the waves, and crossed the shining stream, And he has clambered up the bank, all in the moonlight gleam; Oh, there are kisses sweet as dew, and words as soft as rain But they have heard her father's steps, and in he leaps again! Out spoke the ancient fisherman: "Oh, what was that, my daughter?" ""Twas nothing but a pebble, sir, I threw into the water." "And what is that, pray tell me, love, that paddles off so fast?" "It's nothing but a porpoise, sir, that's been a-swimming past." Out spoke the ancient fisherman: "Now bring me my harpoon! I'll get into my fishing boat, and fix the fellow soon." Down fell the pretty innocent, as falls a snow-white lamb; Her hair drooped round her pallid cheeks, like seaweed on a clam. Alas for those two loving ones! she waked not from her swound, And he was taken with the cramp, and in the waves was drowned; But Fate has metamorphosed1 them, in pity of their woe, And now they keep an oyster shop for mermaids down below. SUGGESTIONS FOR ADDITIONAL READINGS The Deacon's Masterpiece. Oliver Wendell Holmes. The Courtin'. James Russell Lowell. For the teacher to read to the class: The Chambered Nautilus and The Boys, by Holmes. 1 Changed. THREE SEA PICTURES AND A MORAL SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) was born in Devonshire, England. He was a daydreamer from early childhood. For many years Coleridge lived in the Lake Country and he is known as one of the Lake Poets. The Ancient Mariner, from which these selections are taken, was composed while the poet was on a walking tour with his friends, Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy. It is his poetical masterpiece. See also: Halleck's New English Literature, pp. 398–406. Herford's The Age of Wordsworth (Coleridge). Traill's Coleridge. Caine's Life of Coleridge. I The Antarctic Ocean and the Albatross AND now there came both mist and snow, And it grew wondrous cold: And ice, mast-high, came floating by, And through the drifts the snowy clifts Did send a dismal sheen: Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken The ice was all between. The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around: It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, At length did cross an Albatross,1 It ate the food it ne'er had eat, And a good south wind sprung up behind; And every day, for food or play, Came to the mariner's hollo! In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, It perched for vespers nine; While all the night, through fog-smoke white, Glimmered the white moonshine. II Daytime on the Tropical Ocean All in a hot and copper sky, The bloody sun, at noon, Right up above the mast did stand, No bigger than the moon. Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean. Water, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere Nor any drop to drink. III Nighttime on the Tropical Ocean The moving moon went up the sky, And nowhere did abide : Softly she was going up, And a star or two beside Her beams bemocked the sultry main, But where the ship's huge shadow lay, Beyond the shadow of the ship, I watched the water snakes; They moved in tracks of shining white, And when they reared, the elfish light Fell off in hoary flakes. Within the shadow of the ship I watched their rich attire; Blue, glossy green, and velvet black, They coiled and swam; and every track O happy living things! no tongue A spring of love gushed from my heart, Sure my kind saint took pity on me, The selfsame moment I could pray; The Albatross fell off, and sank Like lead into the sea. IV. The Moral O Wedding-Guest! this soul hath been So lonely, 'twas, that God himself O sweeter than the marriage feast, To walk together to the kirk,1 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! 1 Church. |