PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY (1792-1822) was an English poet of great genius, and a man of very pure life and loving nature; but it was not till after his death that he received the high place that he now holds among the poets. Chief works: The Cenci, and odes to The Cloud, and The Skylark. Mother's breast, the earth's surface, which is the parent of all plants. As she dances, &c., the motion of the earth round the sun. Lashing, scourging. Dissolve, melt. Sublime, very grand. 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 noon-day dreams; From my wings are shaken the dews that The sweet buds every one, When rocked to rest on their mother's breast,* I wield the flail of the lashing* hail, * And whiten the green plains under; I sift the snow on the mountains below, In a cavern under is fettered the thunder- Over earth and ocean, with gentle motion, Lured by the love of the Genii* that move Over the rills* and the crags* and the hills, Wherever he dream, under mountain or stream, And I, all the while, bask* in heaven's blue smile, Whilst he is dissolving in rains. 5 10 15 20 25 30 The sanguine sunrise, with his meteor* eyes, 35 As on the jag of a mountain crag, 40 * Which an earthquake rocks and swings, In the light of its golden wings. Sanguine, blood-red; And when sunset may breathe, from the lit planet Venus, when sea beneath, * Its ardours of rest and love, And the crimson pall of eve may fall From the depth of heaven above, With wings folded I rest, on mine airy nest, 45 That orbed * maiden, with white fire laden, 50 Glides glimmering o'er my fleece-like floor, And wherever the beat of her unseen feet, it rises before the sun, and shines in the morning. Earthquake, a convulsion or shaking of the earth. Ardour, warmth of passion or feeling; eagerness. Orbed, in the form of an orb or sphere; circular. May have broken the woof* of my tent's thin The woof, the cross roof, The stars peep behind her and peer; And I laugh to see them whirl * and flee, 55 When I widen the rent in my wind-built tent, 60 65 70 Like strips of the sky fallen through me on high, threads woven into and crossing the warp, which extends lengthwise. Whirl, to turn round very rapidly. I bind the sun's I bind the sun's throne* with a burning zone, throne, &c., here an The volcanoes* are dim, and the stars reel and When the whirlwinds * my banner unfurl.* From cape to cape, with a bridge-like shape, Over a torrent sea, Sunbeam-proof, I hang like a roof: The triumphal arch through which I march allusion is made to the flame-like appearance of suntipped clouds. And the moon's, &c. By moonlight, the edges of the clouds present a mellow, pearl - like appear ance. Volcano, a mountain from which smoke, flame, lava, &c., are thrown. When the powers of the air are chained to my Whirlwind, a violent chair Is the million-coloured bow; The sphere-fire above its soft colours wove, storm. Daughter of earth and water, the vapour of which the clouds are formed is raised from the earth and the water by the heat of the sun. Nursling, child. Pavilion of heaven, the sky; because it appears to be spread out over our heads like a canopy or tent. Convex, circular, like the outer surface of a ball or globe. Cenotaph, an empty tomb, or memorial built to a person who is buried elsewhere. I am the daughter of earth and water,* I pass through the pores of the ocean and 75 shores; I change, but I cannot die. For after the rain, when with never a stain And the winds and sunbeams with their con- I Build up the blue dome of air, And out of the caverns of rain, Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from I arise and unbuild it again. 80 Thrive, to succeed. ADVICE TO A YOUTH.-Jonson. LEARN to be wise, and practise how to thrive; * Till men's affections, or your own desert,* THE RÉVEILLÉ.*-Bret Harte. BRET HARTE (1835- ) is a popular American writer, and author of some humorous poems. 5 IO 15 20 25 HARK! I hear the tramp of thousands, And of armed men the hum; Lo!* a nation's hosts have gathered Freemen, come! Lo, behold, look. Ere your heritage * be wasted," said the quick Heritage, that which alarming drum. “Let me of my heart take counsel : Who shall stay and reap the harvest But the drum Echoed,* "Come! one claims by right of birth. Echoed, to give back Death shall reap the braver harvest," said the a sound. You must do the sum to prove it," said the Yankee-answering drum. Better there in death united, than in life a recreant,*- -come!" Conquest, that which is obtained by force. Subjugation, to conquer, to bring under power. Bomb, a large hollow * Réveillé, the beat of drum or sound of trumpet at daybreak (Fr. réveiller, to awake, to stir up). Sappho, a Greek lyric of But all, &c., their muse was Homer, the first 557. Islands of the blest, Marathon, near For the great heart of the nation, throbbing, THE ISLES OF GREECE.*-Byron. THE isles of Greece! the isles of Greece! The Scian and the Teian* muse, * I dreamed that Greece might still be free: A king sate on the rocky brow Which looks o'er sea-born Salamis,* And men in nations ;-all were his! And where are they? and where art thou, 30 35 5 IO 15 20 25 * Greece, a mountainous country in the south of Europe. With the aid of England, France, and Russia, it threw off the Turkish yoke in 1829, and became an independent kingdom. |