"Dear mother Ida, harken ere I die. 151 My love hath told me so a thousand times. Yet, indeed, If gazing on divinity disrobed "Here she ceas'd, And cast the golden fruit upon the board, 180 And bred this change; that I might speak my "Dear mother Ida, harken ere I die. But when I look'd, Paris had raised his arm, "Yet, mother Ida, harken ere I die. Fairest-why fairest wife? am I not fair? mind, And tell her to her face how much I hate "O mother, hear me yet before I die. 190 O happy heaven, how canst thou see my face? † The will, tried and perfected by experience until it is redeemed from all temptation to lawlessness, attains and only then to perfect freeIdalia and Paphos, in Cyprus, were places where Venus was especially worshiped. dom. § Note the marked delaying effect of four trochaic words in an iambic line. 6 Eris, or "Strife": whence the apple was called the "Apple of Discord." "This mounting wave will roll us shoreward They sat them down upon the yellow sand, A land of streams! some, like a downward smoke, Slow-dropping veils of thinnest lawn, did go; And some thro' wavering lights and shadows broke, Rolling a slumbrous sheet of foam below. 7 The Death of Enone, a late poem of Tennyson's, describes her death on the funeral pyre of Paris. 8 Sister of Paris, and a prophetess. * This poem is founded on the story told by Ulys ses (Odyssey IX, 83-97) of himself and his 36 Between the sun and moon upon the shore; And all at once they sang, “Our island home roam.'" SAINT AGNES' EVE Deep on the convent-roof the snows As are the frosty skies, That in my bosom lies. men arriving at the land of the lotos and partaking of the "flowery food" which caused for getfulness of home. These five Spenserian stanzas, which are followed in the original by a long "Choric Song," contain some distinct echoes of Thomson's Castle of Indolence, which see (p. 344). 1 A tall sedge. 45 12 As these white robes are soil'd and dark, To yonder shining ground; As this pale taper's earthly spark, To yonder argent round; So shows my soul before the Lamb, My spirit before Thee; So in mine earthly house I am, To that I hope to be. Break up the heavens, O Lord! and far, Draw me, thy bride, a glittering star, In raiment white and clean. He lifts me to the golden doors; All heaven bursts her starry floors, Roll back, and far within For me the Heavenly Bridegroom waits, To make me pure of sin. The Sabbaths of Eternity, One Sabbath deep and wide A light upon the shining sea The Bridegroom with his bride! SIR GALAHAD* My good blade carves the casques of men, The shattering trumpet shrilleth high, How sweet are looks that ladies bend On whom their favours fall! For them I battle till the end, Between dark stems the forest glows, I hear a voice, but none are there; 24 Sometimes on lonely mountain-meres I leap on board; no helmsman steers; A gentle sound, an awful light! Three angels bear the Holy Grail; On sleeping wings they sail. 36 When on my goodly charger borne 10 30 40 50 The cock crows ere the Christmas morn,2 But o'er the dark a glory spreads, I leave the plain, I climb the height; A maiden knight-to me is given I yearn to breathe the airs of heaven I muse on joy that will not cease, The clouds are broken in the sky, A rolling organ-harmony Swells up and shakes and falls. 1 vault, cell * See Malory's account on pages 100, 105-108. 2 Cp. Hamlet, I, i, 158. 60 70 Should banded unions persecute When single thought is civil crime, And individual freedom mute, 8 So all day long the noise of battle roll 'd Among the mountains by the winter sea, 16 Until King Arthur's table, man by man, Had fallen in Lyonesse about their lord, King Arthur; then, because his wound was deep, The bold Sir Bedivere uplifted him, * Founded on an old ballad, which may be read in Percy's Reliques. † The original reading, "broadens slowly down." which was changed for the sake of euphony, gave a more correct emphasis. 1 Jove's thunderbolt. 2 Supposed to have been in Cornwall. * See Malory's account on pages 108-110. This fragment was the germ of the Idylls of the King. It was written in 1835, and was incorporated in the "Passing of Arthur" when that was published in 1869. Sir Bedivere, the last of all his knights, Myriads of topaz-lights, and jacinth work 60 10 This way and that dividing the swift mind, 20 What is it thou hast seen, or what hast heard?'" And answer made the bold Sir Bedivere: "I heard the ripple washing in the reeds, 70 And the wild water lapping on the crag." In those old days, one summer noon, an arm To whom replied King Arthur, faint and pale: "Thou hast betray'd thy nature and thy name, Not rendering true answer, as beseem'd Thy fealty, nor like a noble knight; For surer sign had follow'd, either hand, Or voice, or else a motion of the mere. 30 This is a shameful thing for men to lie. Yet now, I charge thee, quickly go again As thou art liefs and dear, and do the thing 80 I bade thee, watch, and liatly bring me word." Then went Sir Bedivere the second time Across the ridge, and paced beside the mere, Counting the dewy pebbles, fix'd in thought: Watch what thou seest, and lightly bring me But when he saw the wonder of the hilt, 50 What record, or what relic of my lord And sparkled keen with frost against the hilt; 3 The capital of Arthur. 4 See pages 96, 99, etc. 5 See page 98. 6 into the mid-lake 7 quickly 8 beloved |