70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 Hear the tolling of the bells- What a world of solemn thought their monody compels! From the rust within their throats And the people-ah, the people— And who tolling, tolling, tolling, Feel a glory in so rolling On the human heart a stone- And their king it is who tolls; A pæan from the bells! Keeping time, time, time, As he knells, knells, knells, 110 To the rolling of the bells- Of the bells, bells, bells, bells— To the moaning and the groaning of the bells. HELPS TO STUDY Biographical and Historical: Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston on January 19th, 1809. Both his parents were members of a theatrical troupe then playing in Boston. He was left an orphan at the age of three years, and was adopted by a wealthy Virginia planter and by him educated in England and elsewhere. Owing to his erratic habits, Poe's foster-father disowned him, and after that life for him was a constant battle with poverty. His prose tales abound in adventure, allegory, and the supernatural. His poetry is full of imagery, beauty, and melody. It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of Annabel Lee; 5 And this maiden she lived with no other thought. Than to love and be loved by me. 10 I was a child and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea: But we loved with a love that was more than love I and my Annabel Lee; With a love that the wingèd seraphs of heaven And this was the reason that, long ago, In this kingdom by the sea, 15 A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling 20 The angels, not half so happy in heaven, Yes!-that was the reason (as all men know, 25 That the wind came out of the cloud by night, But our love it was stronger by far than the love Of many far wiser than we 30 And neither the angels in heaven above, 35 40 Nor the demons down under the sea, For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side. In her tomb by the sounding sea. 5 10 15 OPPORTUNITY * EDWARD ROWLAND SILL THIS I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream:- A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords And thought, "Had I a sword of keener steel That blue blade that the king's son bears, but this Then came the king's son, wounded, sore bestead, And ran and snatched it, and with battle-shout By permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co. HELPS TO STUDY Biographical: Edward Rowland Sill was born in Connecticut in 1841. He graduated at Yale and lived most of his life in California, being for some years professor of English language and literature at the State University. Sill was a true poet, but the whole of his literary output is contained in two slender volumes. His poems are noted for their compressed thought. The selection here given shows this quality. Notes and Questions 5 TO A WATERFOWL WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT WHITHER, midst falling dew, While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, Vainly the fowler's eye Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, Thy figure floats along. |