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Lyrical Ballads 1798
Lyrical Ballads 1798
Lyrical Ballads 1798
LYRICAL BALLADS,
LONDON
1798
ADVERTISEMENT.
be found in every subject which can interest the human mind. The
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The majority of the following poems are to be considered as experiments.
They were written chiefly with a view to ascertain how far the language
with feelings of strangeness and aukwardness: they will look round for
such readers, for their own sakes, should not suffer the solitary word
gratification; but that, while they are perusing this book, they should
codes of decision.
of these pieces are executed it must be expected that many lines and
phrases will not exactly suit their taste. It will perhaps appear to
them, that wishing to avoid the prevalent fault of the day, the author
has sometimes descended too low, and that many of his expressions are
more conversant the reader is with our elder writers, and with those in
modern times who have been the most successful in painting manners and
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passions, the fewer complaints of this kind will he have to make.
An accurate taste in poetry, and in all the other arts, Sir Joshua
by severe thought, and a long continued intercourse with the best models
prevent the most inexperienced reader from judging for himself; but
be a subject on which much time has not been bestowed, the judgment may
poems in the collection, it may be proper to say that they are either
absolute inventions of the author, or facts which took place within his
sufficiently shew itself in the course of the story. The Rime of the
well as of the spirit of the elder poets; but with a few exceptions, the
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CONTENTS.
Lines left upon a Seat in a Yew-tree which stands near the Lake
of Esthwaite
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We are seven
The Thorn
The Dungeon
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The Complaint of a forsaken Indian Woman
The Convict
IN SEVEN PARTS.
ARGUMENT.
How a Ship having passed the Line was driven by Storms to the cold
Country towards the South Pole; and how from thence she made her course
to the tropical Latitude of the Great Pacific Ocean; and of the strange
things that befell; and in what manner the Ancyent Marinere came back to
I.
It is an ancyent Marinere,
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"The Bridegroom's doors are open'd wide
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The Ship was cheer'd, the Harbour clear'd--
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Listen, Stranger! Storm and Wind,
As green as Emerauld.
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The Marineres gave it biscuit-worms,
II.
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And broad as a weft upon the left
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Down dropt the breeze, the Sails dropt down,
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About, about, in reel and rout
III.
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And then it seem'd a mist:
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The western wave was all a flame,
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Of mouldy damps and charnel crust
Thro' the holes of his eyes and the hole of his mouth
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One after one by the horned Moon
IV.
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This body dropt not down.
My soul in agony.
For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky
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Lay like a load on my weary eye,
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Beyond the shadow of the ship
V.
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O sleep, it is a gentle thing
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That were so thin and sere.
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Ne spake, ne mov'd their eyes:
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Then darted to the sun:
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Never sadder tale was told
As silent as beforne.
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The sails at noon left off their tune
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"The spirit who 'bideth by himself
As soft as honey-dew:
VI.
FIRST VOICE.
SECOND VOICE.
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"If he may know which way to go,
FIRST VOICE.
SECOND VOICE.
As in a gentle weather:
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The pang, the curse, with which they died,
In ripple or in shade.
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It mingled strangely with my fears,
On me alone it blew.
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Full many shapes, that shadows were,
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The rock shone bright, the kirk no less
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This seraph-band, each wav'd his hand,
On me alone it blew.
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He'll shrieve my soul, he'll wash away
VII.
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"Unless perchance it were
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Like one that hath been seven days drown'd
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"O shrieve me, shrieve me, holy Man!"
My ghastly aventure.
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And Bride-maids singing are:
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He prayeth best who loveth best,
FOSTER-MOTHER.
MARIA.
FOSTER-MOTHER.
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Now blessings on the man, whoe'er he be,
MARIA.
FOSTER-MOTHER.
MARIA.
No one.
FOSTER-MOTHER
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With lusty arm. You know that huge round beam
He soon could write with the pen: and from that time,
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And once, as by the north side of the Chapel
MARIA.
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FOSTER-MOTHER.
He went on ship-board
LINES LEFT UPON A SEAT IN A YEW-TREE WHICH STANDS NEAR THE LAKE OF
BEAUTIFUL PROSPECT.
--Who he was
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That piled these stones, and with the mossy sod
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The world, and man himself, appeared a scene
In lowliness of heart.
THE NIGHTINGALE;
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A CONVERSATIONAL POEM, WRITTEN IN APRIL, 1798.
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When he had better far have stretch'd his limbs
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And the trim walks are broken up, and grass,
Their bright, bright eyes, their eyes both bright and full,
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Emerging, hath awaken'd earth and sky
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While his fair eyes that swam with undropt tears
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High o'er the cliffs I led my fleecy store,
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When the bees hummed, and chair by winter fire;
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Can I forget that miserable hour,
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And her whom he had loved in joy, he said
And tears that flowed for ills which patience could not heal.
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Green fields before us and our native shore,
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The pains and plagues that on our heads came down,
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The mine's dire earthquake, and the pallid host
Was best, could I but shun the spot where man might come.
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At last my feet a resting-place had found:
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And thence was borne away to neighbouring hospital.
And groans, which, as they said, would make a dead man start.
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For all belonged to all, and each was chief.
Rolled fast along the sky his warm and genial moon.
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What could I do, unaided and unblest?
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She wept;--because she had no more to say
[2] Several of the Lakes in the north of England are let out to
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Young Harry was a lusty drover,
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Would sit, as any linnet gay.
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She left her fire, or left her bed,
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The bye-road back again to take,
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That day he wore a riding-coat,
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It is the first mild day of March:
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Love, now an universal birth.
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SIMON LEE, THE OLD HUNTSMAN, WITH AN INCIDENT IN WHICH HE WAS CONCERNED.
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Men, dogs, and horses, all are dead;
Of husbandry or tillage;
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At which his heart rejoices;
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My gentle reader, I perceive
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Received my proffer'd aid.
ANECDOTE FOR FATHERS SHEWING HOW THE ART OF LYING MAY BE TAUGHT.
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My thoughts on former pleasures ran;
In very idleness.
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"And tell me, had you rather be,"
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His head he raised--there was in sight,
WE ARE SEVEN.
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Her hair was thick with many a curl
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"Yet you are seven; I pray you tell
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"I take my little porringer,
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'Twas throwing words away; for still
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The budding twigs spread out their fan,
THE THORN.
I.
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With lichens it is overgrown.
II.
A melancholy crop:
III.
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Of water, never dry;
IV.
V.
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So fresh in all its beauteous dyes,
VI.
VII.
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And there beside the thorn she sits
VIII.
IX.
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But if you'd gladly view the spot,
X.
XI.
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I'll give you the best help I can:
XII.
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XIII.
XIV.
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Her looks were calm, her senses clear.
XV.
XVI.
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Were voices of the dead:
XVII.
XVIII.
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Head-foremost, through the driving rain,
And, as I am a man,
XIX.
XX.
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I cannot tell; but some will say
XXI.
XXII.
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And for the little infant's bones
XXIII.
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In distant countries I have been,
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And other sheep from her I raised,
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They cried, "what to the poor is due?"
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And every man I chanc'd to see,
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Alas! and I have none;
THE DUNGEON.
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With other ministrations thou, O nature!
As if by magic cured.
"Conversing as I may,
Deer-skins, and is supplied with water, food, and fuel if the situation
of the place will afford it. He is informed of the track which his
them, he perishes alone in the Desart; unless he should have the good
to add that the females are equally, or still more, exposed to the same
fate. See that very interesting work, _Hearne's Journey from Hudson's
Bay to the Northern Ocean_. When the Northern Lights, as the same writer
And his crime, through the pains that o'erwhelm him, descried,
LINES WRITTEN A FEW MILES ABOVE TINTERN ABBEY, ON REVISITING THE BANKS
If this
Nor, perchance,
Thy voice, nor catch from thy wild eyes these gleams
Tintern.
END.