Runokokoelma

{
  "data": [
    {
      "author": "Geoffrey Chaucer",
      "line_count": "746",
      "lines": [
        "THE PROLOGUE.",
        "",
        "When that the Knight had thus his tale told",
        "In all the rout was neither young nor old,",
        "That he not said it was a noble story,",
        "And worthy to be drawen to memory;",
        "And namely the gentles every one.",
        "Our Host then laugh'd and swore, \"So may I gon,",
        "This goes aright; unbuckled is the mail;",
        "Let see now who shall tell another tale:",
        "For truely this game is well begun.",
        "Now telleth ye, Sir Monk, if that ye conne,",
        "Somewhat, to quiten with the Knighte's tale.\"",
        "The Miller that fordrunken was all pale,",
        "So that unnethes upon his horse he sat,",
        "He would avalen neither hood nor hat,",
        "Nor abide no man for his courtesy,",
        "But in Pilate's voice he gan to cry,",
        "And swore by armes, and by blood, and bones,",
        "\"I can a noble tale for the nones",
        "With which I will now quite the Knighte's tale.\"",
        "Our Host saw well how drunk he was of ale,",
        "And said; \"Robin, abide, my leve brother,",
        "Some better man shall tell us first another:",
        "Abide, and let us worke thriftily.\"",
        "By Godde's soul,\" quoth he, \"that will not I,",
        "For I will speak, or elles go my way!\"",
        "Our Host answer'd; \"Tell on a devil way;",
        "Thou art a fool; thy wit is overcome.\"",
        "\"Now hearken,\" quoth the Miller, \"all and some:",
        "But first I make a protestatioun.",
        "That I am drunk, I know it by my soun':",
        "And therefore if that I misspeak or say,",
        "Wite it the ale of Southwark, I you pray:",
        "For I will tell a legend and a life",
        "Both of a carpenter and of his wife,",
        "How that a clerk hath set the wrighte's cap.\"",
        "The Reeve answer'd and saide, \"Stint thy clap,",
        "Let be thy lewed drunken harlotry.",
        "It is a sin, and eke a great folly",
        "To apeiren any man, or him defame,",
        "And eke to bringe wives in evil name.",
        "Thou may'st enough of other thinges sayn.\"",
        "This drunken Miller spake full soon again,",
        "And saide, \"Leve brother Osewold,",
        "Who hath no wife, he is no cuckold.",
        "But I say not therefore that thou art one;",
        "There be full goode wives many one.",
        "Why art thou angry with my tale now?",
        "I have a wife, pardie, as well as thou,",
        "Yet n'old I, for the oxen in my plough,",
        "Taken upon me more than enough,",
        "To deemen of myself that I am one;",
        "I will believe well that I am none.",
        "An husband should not be inquisitive",
        "Of Godde's privity, nor of his wife.",
        "So he may finde Godde's foison there,",
        "Of the remnant needeth not to enquere.\"",
        "",
        "What should I more say, but that this Millere",
        "He would his wordes for no man forbear,",
        "But told his churlish tale in his mannere;",
        "Me thinketh, that I shall rehearse it here.",
        "And therefore every gentle wight I pray,",
        "For Godde's love to deem not that I say",
        "Of evil intent, but that I must rehearse",
        "Their tales all, be they better or worse,",
        "Or elles falsen some of my mattere.",
        "And therefore whoso list it not to hear,",
        "Turn o'er the leaf, and choose another tale;",
        "For he shall find enough, both great and smale,",
        "Of storial thing that toucheth gentiless,",
        "And eke morality and holiness.",
        "Blame not me, if that ye choose amiss.",
        "The Miller is a churl, ye know well this,",
        "So was the Reeve, with many other mo',",
        "And harlotry they tolde bothe two.",
        "Avise you now, and put me out of blame;",
        "And eke men should not make earnest of game.",
        "",
        "THE TALE.",
        "",
        "Whilom there was dwelling in Oxenford",
        "A riche gnof, that guestes held to board,",
        "And of his craft he was a carpenter.",
        "With him there was dwelling a poor scholer,",
        "Had learned art, but all his fantasy",
        "Was turned for to learn astrology.",
        "He coude a certain of conclusions",
        "To deeme by interrogations,",
        "If that men asked him in certain hours,",
        "When that men should have drought or elles show'rs:",
        "Or if men asked him what shoulde fall",
        "Of everything, I may not reckon all.",
        "",
        "This clerk was called Hendy Nicholas;",
        "Of derne love he knew and of solace;",
        "And therewith he was sly and full privy,",
        "And like a maiden meek for to see.",
        "A chamber had he in that hostelry",
        "Alone, withouten any company,",
        "Full fetisly y-dight with herbes swoot,",
        "And he himself was sweet as is the root",
        "Of liquorice, or any setewall.",
        "His Almagest, and bookes great and small,",
        "His astrolabe,  belonging to his art,",
        "His augrim stones, layed fair apart",
        "On shelves couched at his bedde's head,",
        "His press y-cover'd with a falding red.",
        "And all above there lay a gay psalt'ry",
        "On which he made at nightes melody,",
        "So sweetely, that all the chamber rang:",
        "And Angelus ad virginem he sang.",
        "And after that he sung the kinge's note;",
        "Full often blessed was his merry throat.",
        "And thus this sweete clerk his time spent",
        "After his friendes finding and his rent.",
        "",
        "This carpenter had wedded new a wife,",
        "Which that he loved more than his life:",
        "Of eighteen year, I guess, she was of age.",
        "Jealous he was, and held her narr'w in cage,",
        "For she was wild and young, and he was old,",
        "And deemed himself belike a cuckold.",
        "He knew not Cato, for his wit was rude,",
        "That bade a man wed his similitude.",
        "Men shoulde wedden after their estate,",
        "For youth and eld are often at debate.",
        "But since that he was fallen in the snare,",
        "He must endure (as other folk) his care.",
        "Fair was this younge wife, and therewithal",
        "As any weasel her body gent and small.",
        "A seint she weared, barred all of silk,",
        "A barm-cloth eke as white as morning milk",
        "Upon her lendes, full of many a gore.",
        "White was her smock, and broider'd all before,",
        "And eke behind, on her collar about",
        "Of coal-black silk, within and eke without.",
        "The tapes of her white volupere",
        "Were of the same suit of her collere;",
        "Her fillet broad of silk, and set full high:",
        "And sickerly she had a likerous eye.",
        "Full small y-pulled were her browes two,",
        "And they were bent, and black as any sloe.",
        "She was well more blissful on to see",
        "Than is the newe perjenete tree;",
        "And softer than the wool is of a wether.",
        "And by her girdle hung a purse of leather,",
        "Tassel'd with silk, and pearled with latoun.",
        "In all this world to seeken up and down",
        "There is no man so wise, that coude thenche",
        "So gay a popelot, or such a wench.",
        "Full brighter was the shining of her hue,",
        "Than in the Tower the noble forged new.",
        "But of her song, it was as loud and yern,",
        "As any swallow chittering on a bern.",
        "Thereto she coulde skip, and make a game",
        "As any kid or calf following his dame.",
        "Her mouth was sweet as braket, or as methe",
        "Or hoard of apples, laid in hay or heath.",
        "Wincing she was as is a jolly colt,",
        "Long as a mast, and upright as a bolt.",
        "A brooch she bare upon her low collere,",
        "As broad as is the boss of a bucklere.",
        "Her shoon were laced on her legges high;",
        "She was a primerole, a piggesnie ,",
        "For any lord t' have ligging in his bed,",
        "Or yet for any good yeoman to wed.",
        "",
        "Now, sir, and eft sir, so befell the case,",
        "That on a day this Hendy Nicholas",
        "Fell with this younge wife to rage and play,",
        "While that her husband was at Oseney,",
        "As clerkes be full subtle and full quaint.",
        "And privily he caught her by the queint,",
        "And said; \"Y-wis, but if I have my will,",
        "For derne love of thee, leman, I spill.\"",
        "And helde her fast by the haunche bones,",
        "And saide \"Leman, love me well at once,",
        "Or I will dien, all so God me save.\"",
        "And she sprang as a colt doth in the trave:",
        "And with her head she writhed fast away,",
        "And said; \"I will not kiss thee, by my fay.",
        "Why let be,\" quoth she, \"let be, Nicholas,",
        "Or I will cry out harow and alas!",
        "Do away your handes, for your courtesy.\"",
        "This Nicholas gan mercy for to cry,",
        "And spake so fair, and proffer'd him so fast,",
        "That she her love him granted at the last,",
        "And swore her oath by Saint Thomas of Kent,",
        "That she would be at his commandement,",
        "When that she may her leisure well espy.",
        "\"My husband is so full of jealousy,",
        "That but ye waite well, and be privy,",
        "I wot right well I am but dead,\" quoth she.",
        "\"Ye muste be full derne as in this case.\"",
        "\"Nay, thereof care thee nought,\" quoth Nicholas:",
        "\"A clerk had litherly beset his while,",
        "But if he could a carpenter beguile.\"",
        "And thus they were accorded and y-sworn",
        "To wait a time, as I have said beforn.",
        "When Nicholas had done thus every deal,",
        "And thwacked her about the lendes well,",
        "He kiss'd her sweet, and taketh his psalt'ry",
        "And playeth fast, and maketh melody.",
        "Then fell it thus, that to the parish church,",
        "Of Christe's owen workes for to wirch,",
        "This good wife went upon a holy day;",
        "Her forehead shone as bright as any day,",
        "So was it washen, when she left her werk.",
        "",
        "Now was there of that church a parish clerk,",
        "The which that was y-cleped Absolon.",
        "Curl'd was his hair, and as the gold it shone,",
        "And strutted as a fanne large and broad;",
        "Full straight and even lay his jolly shode.",
        "His rode was red, his eyen grey as goose,",
        "With Paule's windows carven on his shoes",
        "In hosen red he went full fetisly.",
        "Y-clad he was full small and properly,",
        "All in a kirtle of a light waget;",
        "Full fair and thicke be the pointes set,",
        "And thereupon he had a gay surplice,",
        "As white as is the blossom on the rise.",
        "A merry child he was, so God me save;",
        "Well could he letten blood, and clip, and shave,",
        "And make a charter of land, and a quittance.",
        "In twenty manners could he trip and dance,",
        "After the school of Oxenforde tho,",
        "And with his legges caste to and fro;",
        "And playen songes on a small ribible;",
        "Thereto he sung sometimes a loud quinible",
        "And as well could he play on a gitern.",
        "In all the town was brewhouse nor tavern,",
        "That he not visited with his solas,",
        "There as that any garnard tapstere was.",
        "But sooth to say he was somedeal squaimous",
        "Of farting, and of speeche dangerous.",
        "This Absolon, that jolly was and gay,",
        "Went with a censer on the holy day,",
        "Censing the wives of the parish fast;",
        "And many a lovely look he on them cast,",
        "And namely on this carpenter's wife:",
        "To look on her him thought a merry life.",
        "She was so proper, and sweet, and likerous.",
        "I dare well say, if she had been a mouse,",
        "And he a cat, he would her hent anon.",
        "This parish clerk, this jolly Absolon,",
        "Hath in his hearte such a love-longing!",
        "That of no wife took he none offering;",
        "For courtesy he said he woulde none.",
        "The moon at night full clear and brighte shone,",
        "And Absolon his gitern hath y-taken,",
        "For paramours he thoughte for to waken,",
        "And forth he went, jolif and amorous,",
        "Till he came to the carpentere's house,",
        "A little after the cock had y-crow,",
        "And dressed him under a shot window ,",
        "That was upon the carpentere's wall.",
        "He singeth in his voice gentle and small;",
        "\"Now, dear lady, if thy will be,",
        "I pray that ye will rue on me;\"",
        "Full well accordant to his giterning.",
        "This carpenter awoke, and heard him sing,",
        "And spake unto his wife, and said anon,",
        "What Alison, hear'st thou not Absolon,",
        "That chanteth thus under our bower wall?\"",
        "And she answer'd her husband therewithal;",
        "\"Yes, God wot, John, I hear him every deal.\"",
        "This passeth forth; what will ye bet than well?",
        "",
        "From day to day this jolly Absolon",
        "So wooeth her, that him is woebegone.",
        "He waketh all the night, and all the day,",
        "To comb his lockes broad, and make him gay.",
        "He wooeth her by means and by brocage,",
        "And swore he woulde be her owen page.",
        "He singeth brokking as a nightingale.",
        "He sent her piment , mead, and spiced ale,",
        "And wafers piping hot out of the glede:",
        "And, for she was of town, he proffer'd meed.",
        "For some folk will be wonnen for richess,",
        "And some for strokes, and some with gentiless.",
        "Sometimes, to show his lightness and mast'ry,",
        "He playeth Herod  on a scaffold high.",
        "But what availeth him as in this case?",
        "So loveth she the Hendy Nicholas,",
        "That Absolon may blow the bucke's horn:",
        "He had for all his labour but a scorn.",
        "And thus she maketh Absolon her ape,",
        "And all his earnest turneth to a jape.",
        "Full sooth is this proverb, it is no lie;",
        "Men say right thus alway; the nighe sly",
        "Maketh oft time the far lief to be loth.",
        "For though that Absolon be wood or wroth",
        "Because that he far was from her sight,",
        "This nigh Nicholas stood still in his light.",
        "Now bear thee well, thou Hendy Nicholas,",
        "For Absolon may wail and sing \"Alas!\"",
        "",
        "And so befell, that on a Saturday",
        "This carpenter was gone to Oseney,",
        "And Hendy Nicholas and Alison",
        "Accorded were to this conclusion,",
        "That Nicholas shall shape him a wile",
        "The silly jealous husband to beguile;",
        "And if so were the game went aright,",
        "She shoulde sleepen in his arms all night;",
        "For this was her desire and his also.",
        "And right anon, withoute wordes mo',",
        "This Nicholas no longer would he tarry,",
        "But doth full soft unto his chamber carry",
        "Both meat and drinke for a day or tway.",
        "And to her husband bade her for to say,",
        "If that he asked after Nicholas,",
        "She shoulde say, \"She wist not where he was;",
        "Of all the day she saw him not with eye;",
        "She trowed he was in some malady,",
        "For no cry that her maiden could him call",
        "He would answer, for nought that might befall.\"",
        "Thus passed forth all thilke Saturday,",
        "That Nicholas still in his chamber lay,",
        "And ate, and slept, and didde what him list",
        "Till Sunday, that the sunne went to rest.",
        "This silly carpenter had great marvaill",
        "Of Nicholas, or what thing might him ail,",
        "And said; \"I am adrad, by Saint Thomas!",
        "It standeth not aright with Nicholas:",
        "God shielde that he died suddenly.",
        "This world is now full fickle sickerly.",
        "I saw to-day a corpse y-borne to chirch,",
        "That now on Monday last I saw him wirch.",
        "\"Go up,\" quod he unto his knave, \"anon;",
        "Clepe at his door, or knocke with a stone:",
        "Look how it is, and tell me boldely.\"",
        "This knave went him up full sturdily,",
        "And, at the chamber door while that he stood,",
        "He cried and knocked as that he were wood:",
        "\"What how? what do ye, Master Nicholay?",
        "How may ye sleepen all the longe day?\"",
        "But all for nought, he hearde not a word.",
        "An hole he found full low upon the board,",
        "Where as the cat was wont in for to creep,",
        "And at that hole he looked in full deep,",
        "And at the last he had of him a sight.",
        "This Nicholas sat ever gaping upright,",
        "As he had kyked on the newe moon.",
        "Adown he went, and told his master soon,",
        "In what array he saw this ilke man.",
        "",
        "This carpenter to blissen him began,",
        "And said: \"Now help us, Sainte Frideswide.",
        "A man wot little what shall him betide.",
        "This man is fall'n with his astronomy",
        "Into some woodness or some agony.",
        "I thought aye well how that it shoulde be.",
        "Men should know nought of Godde's privity.",
        "Yea, blessed be alway a lewed man,",
        "That nought but only his believe can.",
        "So far'd another clerk with astronomy:",
        "He walked in the fieldes for to pry",
        "Upon the starres, what there should befall,",
        "Till he was in a marle pit y-fall.",
        "He saw not that. But yet, by Saint Thomas!",
        "Me rueth sore of Hendy Nicholas:",
        "He shall be rated of his studying,",
        "If that I may, by Jesus, heaven's king!",
        "Get me a staff, that I may underspore",
        "While that thou, Robin, heavest off the door:",
        "He shall out of his studying, as I guess.\"",
        "And to the chamber door he gan him dress",
        "His knave was a strong carl for the nonce,",
        "And by the hasp he heav'd it off at once;",
        "Into the floor the door fell down anon.",
        "This Nicholas sat aye as still as stone,",
        "And ever he gap'd upward into the air.",
        "The carpenter ween'd he were in despair,",
        "And hent him by the shoulders mightily,",
        "And shook him hard, and cried spitously;",
        "\"What, Nicholas? what how, man? look adown:",
        "Awake, and think on Christe's passioun.",
        "I crouche thee from elves, and from wights.",
        "Therewith the night-spell said he anon rights,",
        "On the four halves of the house about,",
        "And on the threshold of the door without.",
        "\"Lord Jesus Christ, and Sainte Benedight,",
        "Blesse this house from every wicked wight,",
        "From the night mare, the white Pater-noster;",
        "Where wonnest thou now, Sainte Peter's sister?\"",
        "And at the last this Hendy Nicholas",
        "Gan for to sigh full sore, and said; \"Alas!",
        "Shall all time world be lost eftsoones now?\"",
        "This carpenter answer'd; \"What sayest thou?",
        "What? think on God, as we do, men that swink.\"",
        "This Nicholas answer'd; \"Fetch me a drink;",
        "And after will I speak in privity",
        "Of certain thing that toucheth thee and me:",
        "I will tell it no other man certain.\"",
        "",
        "This carpenter went down, and came again,",
        "And brought of mighty ale a large quart;",
        "And when that each of them had drunk his part,",
        "This Nicholas his chamber door fast shet,",
        "And down the carpenter by him he set,",
        "And saide; \"John, mine host full lief and dear,",
        "Thou shalt upon thy truthe swear me here,",
        "That to no wight thou shalt my counsel wray:",
        "For it is Christes counsel that I say,",
        "And if thou tell it man, thou art forlore:",
        "For this vengeance thou shalt have therefor,",
        "That if thou wraye me, thou shalt be wood.\"",
        "\"Nay, Christ forbid it for his holy blood!\"",
        "Quoth then this silly man; \"I am no blab,",
        "Nor, though I say it, am I lief to gab.",
        "Say what thou wilt, I shall it never tell",
        "To child or wife, by him that harried Hell.\"",
        "",
        "\"Now, John,\" quoth Nicholas, \"I will not lie,",
        "I have y-found in my astrology,",
        "As I have looked in the moone bright,",
        "That now on Monday next, at quarter night,",
        "Shall fall a rain, and that so wild and wood,",
        "That never half so great was Noe's flood.",
        "This world,\" he said, \"in less than half an hour",
        "Shall all be dreint, so hideous is the shower:",
        "Thus shall mankinde drench, and lose their life.\"",
        "This carpenter answer'd; \"Alas, my wife!",
        "And shall she drench? alas, mine Alisoun!\"",
        "For sorrow of this he fell almost adown,",
        "And said; \"Is there no remedy in this case?\"",
        "\"Why, yes, for God,\" quoth Hendy Nicholas;",
        "\"If thou wilt worken after lore and rede;",
        "Thou may'st not worken after thine own head.",
        "For thus saith Solomon, that was full true:",
        "Work all by counsel, and thou shalt not rue.",
        "And if thou worke wilt by good counseil,",
        "I undertake, withoute mast or sail,",
        "Yet shall I save her, and thee, and me.",
        "Hast thou not heard how saved was Noe,",
        "When that our Lord had warned him beforn,",
        "That all the world with water should be lorn?\"",
        "\"Yes,\" quoth this carpenter,\" full yore ago.\"",
        "\"Hast thou not heard,\" quoth Nicholas, \"also",
        "The sorrow of Noe, with his fellowship,",
        "That he had ere he got his wife to ship?",
        "Him had been lever, I dare well undertake,",
        "At thilke time, than all his wethers black,",
        "That she had had a ship herself alone.",
        "And therefore know'st thou what is best to be done?",
        "This asketh haste, and of an hasty thing",
        "Men may not preach or make tarrying.",
        "Anon go get us fast into this inn",
        "A kneading trough, or else a kemelin,",
        "For each of us; but look that they be large,",
        "In whiche we may swim as in a barge:",
        "And have therein vitaille suffisant",
        "But for one day; fie on the remenant;",
        "The water shall aslake and go away",
        "Aboute prime upon the nexte day.",
        "But Robin may not know of this, thy knave,",
        "Nor eke thy maiden Gill I may not save:",
        "Ask me not why: for though thou aske me",
        "I will not telle Godde's privity.",
        "Sufficeth thee, but if thy wit be mad,",
        "To have as great a grace as Noe had;",
        "Thy wife shall I well saven out of doubt.",
        "Go now thy way, and speed thee hereabout.",
        "But when thou hast for her, and thee, and me,",
        "Y-gotten us these kneading tubbes three,",
        "Then shalt thou hang them in the roof full high,",
        "So that no man our purveyance espy:",
        "And when thou hast done thus as I have said,",
        "And hast our vitaille fair in them y-laid,",
        "And eke an axe to smite the cord in two",
        "When that the water comes, that we may go,",
        "And break an hole on high upon the gable",
        "Into the garden-ward, over the stable,",
        "That we may freely passe forth our way,",
        "When that the greate shower is gone away.",
        "Then shalt thou swim as merry, I undertake,",
        "As doth the white duck after her drake:",
        "Then will I clepe, 'How, Alison? How, John?",
        "Be merry: for the flood will pass anon.'",
        "And thou wilt say, 'Hail, Master Nicholay,",
        "Good-morrow, I see thee well, for it is day.'",
        "And then shall we be lordes all our life",
        "Of all the world, as Noe and his wife.",
        "But of one thing I warne thee full right,",
        "Be well advised, on that ilke night,",
        "When we be enter'd into shippe's board,",
        "That none of us not speak a single word,",
        "Nor clepe nor cry, but be in his prayere,",
        "For that is Godde's owen heste dear.",
        "Thy wife and thou must hangen far atween,",
        "For that betwixte you shall be no sin,",
        "No more in looking than there shall in deed.",
        "This ordinance is said: go, God thee speed",
        "To-morrow night, when men be all asleep,",
        "Into our kneading tubbes will we creep,",
        "And sitte there, abiding Godde's grace.",
        "Go now thy way, I have no longer space",
        "To make of this no longer sermoning:",
        "Men say thus: Send the wise, and say nothing:",
        "Thou art so wise, it needeth thee nought teach.",
        "Go, save our lives, and that I thee beseech.\"",
        "",
        "This silly carpenter went forth his way,",
        "Full oft he said, \"Alas! and Well-a-day!,'",
        "And to his wife he told his privity,",
        "And she was ware, and better knew than he",
        "What all this quainte cast was for to say.",
        "But natheless she fear'd as she would dey,",
        "And said: \"Alas! go forth thy way anon.",
        "Help us to scape, or we be dead each one.",
        "I am thy true and very wedded wife;",
        "Go, deare spouse, and help to save our life.\"",
        "Lo, what a great thing is affection!",
        "Men may die of imagination,",
        "So deeply may impression be take.",
        "This silly carpenter begins to quake:",
        "He thinketh verily that he may see",
        "This newe flood come weltering as the sea",
        "To drenchen Alison, his honey dear.",
        "He weepeth, waileth, maketh sorry cheer;",
        "He sigheth, with full many a sorry sough.",
        "He go'th, and getteth him a kneading trough,",
        "And after that a tub, and a kemelin,",
        "And privily he sent them to his inn:",
        "And hung them in the roof full privily.",
        "With his own hand then made he ladders three,",
        "To climbe by the ranges and the stalks",
        "Unto the tubbes hanging in the balks;",
        "And victualed them, kemelin, trough, and tub,",
        "With bread and cheese, and good ale in a jub,",
        "Sufficing right enough as for a day.",
        "But ere that he had made all this array,",
        "He sent his knave, and eke his wench also,",
        "Upon his need to London for to go.",
        "And on the Monday, when it drew to night,",
        "He shut his door withoute candle light,",
        "And dressed every thing as it should be.",
        "And shortly up they climbed all the three.",
        "They satte stille well a furlong way.",
        "\"Now, Pater noster, clum,\" said Nicholay,",
        "And \"clum,\" quoth John; and \"clum,\" said Alison:",
        "This carpenter said his devotion,",
        "And still he sat and bidded his prayere,",
        "Awaking on the rain, if he it hear.",
        "The deade sleep, for weary business,",
        "Fell on this carpenter, right as I guess,",
        "About the curfew-time, or little more,",
        "For travail of his ghost he groaned sore,",
        "And eft he routed, for his head mislay.",
        "Adown the ladder stalked Nicholay;",
        "And Alison full soft adown she sped.",
        "Withoute wordes more they went to bed,",
        "There as the carpenter was wont to lie:",
        "There was the revel, and the melody.",
        "And thus lay Alison and Nicholas,",
        "In business of mirth and in solace,",
        "Until the bell of laudes gan to ring,",
        "And friars in the chancel went to sing.",
        "",
        "This parish clerk, this amorous Absolon,",
        "That is for love alway so woebegone,",
        "Upon the Monday was at Oseney",
        "With company, him to disport and play;",
        "And asked upon cas a cloisterer",
        "Full privily after John the carpenter;",
        "And he drew him apart out of the church,",
        "And said, \"I n'ot; I saw him not here wirch",
        "Since Saturday; I trow that he be went",
        "For timber, where our abbot hath him sent.",
        "And dwellen at the Grange a day or two:",
        "For he is wont for timber for to go,",
        "Or else he is at his own house certain.",
        "Where that he be, I cannot soothly sayn.\"",
        "This Absolon full jolly was and light,",
        "And thought, \"Now is the time to wake all night,",
        "For sickerly I saw him not stirring",
        "About his door, since day began to spring.",
        "So may I thrive, but I shall at cock crow",
        "Full privily go knock at his window,",
        "That stands full low upon his bower wall:",
        "To Alison then will I tellen all",
        "My love-longing; for I shall not miss",
        "That at the leaste way I shall her kiss.",
        "Some manner comfort shall I have, parfay,",
        "My mouth hath itched all this livelong day:",
        "That is a sign of kissing at the least.",
        "All night I mette eke I was at a feast.",
        "Therefore I will go sleep an hour or tway,",
        "And all the night then will I wake and play.\"",
        "When that the first cock crowed had, anon",
        "Up rose this jolly lover Absolon,",
        "And him arrayed gay, at point devise.",
        "But first he chewed grains and liquorice,",
        "To smelle sweet, ere he had combed his hair.",
        "Under his tongue a true love   he bare,",
        "For thereby thought he to be gracious.",
        "",
        "Then came he to the carpentere's house,",
        "And still he stood under the shot window;",
        "Unto his breast it raught, it was so low;",
        "And soft he coughed with a semisoun'.",
        "\"What do ye, honeycomb, sweet Alisoun?",
        "My faire bird, my sweet cinamome,",
        "Awaken, leman mine, and speak to me.",
        "Full little thinke ye upon my woe,",
        "That for your love I sweat there as I go.",
        "No wonder is that I do swelt and sweat.",
        "I mourn as doth a lamb after the teat",
        "Y-wis, leman, I have such love-longing,",
        "That like a turtle true is my mourning.",
        "I may not eat, no more than a maid.\"",
        "\"Go from the window, thou jack fool,\" she said:",
        "\"As help me God, it will not be, 'come ba me.'",
        "I love another, else I were to blame\",",
        "Well better than thee, by Jesus, Absolon.",
        "Go forth thy way, or I will cast a stone;",
        "And let me sleep; a twenty devil way.",
        "\"Alas!\" quoth Absolon, \"and well away!",
        "That true love ever was so ill beset:",
        "Then kiss me, since that it may be no bet,",
        "For Jesus' love, and for the love of me.\"",
        "\"Wilt thou then go thy way therewith?\" , quoth she.",
        "\"Yea, certes, leman,\" quoth this Absolon.",
        "\"Then make thee ready,\" quoth she, \"I come anon.\"",
        "[And unto Nicholas she said full still:",
        "\"Now peace, and thou shalt laugh anon thy fill.\"]",
        "This Absolon down set him on his knees,",
        "And said; \"I am a lord at all degrees:",
        "For after this I hope there cometh more;",
        "Leman, thy grace, and, sweete bird, thine ore.\"",
        "The window she undid, and that in haste.",
        "\"Have done,\" quoth she, \"come off, and speed thee fast,",
        "Lest that our neighebours should thee espy.\"",
        "Then Absolon gan wipe his mouth full dry.",
        "Dark was the night as pitch or as the coal,",
        "And at the window she put out her hole,",
        "And Absolon him fell ne bet ne werse,",
        "But with his mouth he kiss'd her naked erse",
        "Full savourly. When he was ware of this,",
        "Aback he start, and thought it was amiss;",
        "For well he wist a woman hath no beard.",
        "He felt a thing all rough, and long y-hair'd,",
        "And saide; \"Fy, alas! what have I do?\"",
        "\"Te he!\" quoth she, and clapt the window to;",
        "And Absolon went forth at sorry pace.",
        "\"A beard, a beard,\" said Hendy Nicholas;",
        "\"By God's corpus, this game went fair and well.\"",
        "This silly Absolon heard every deal,",
        "And on his lip he gan for anger bite;",
        "And to himself he said, \"I shall thee quite.",
        "Who rubbeth now, who frotteth now his lips",
        "With dust, with sand, with straw, with cloth, with chips,",
        "But Absolon? that saith full oft, \"Alas!",
        "My soul betake I unto Sathanas,",
        "But me were lever than all this town,\" quoth he",
        "I this despite awroken for to be.",
        "Alas! alas! that I have been y-blent.\"",
        "His hote love is cold, and all y-quent.",
        "For from that time that he had kiss'd her erse,",
        "Of paramours he sette not a kers,",
        "For he was healed of his malady;",
        "Full often paramours he gan defy,",
        "And weep as doth a child that hath been beat.",
        "A softe pace he went over the street",
        "Unto a smith, men callen Dan Gerveis,",
        "That in his forge smithed plough-harness;",
        "He sharped share and culter busily.",
        "This Absolon knocked all easily,",
        "And said; \"Undo, Gerveis, and that anon.\"",
        "\"What, who art thou?\" \"It is I, Absolon.\"",
        "\"What? Absolon, what? Christe's sweete tree,",
        "Why rise so rath? hey! Benedicite,",
        "What aileth you? some gay girl, God it wote,",
        "Hath brought you thus upon the viretote:",
        "By Saint Neot, ye wot well what I mean.\"",
        "This Absolon he raughte not a bean",
        "Of all his play; no word again he gaf,",
        "For he had more tow on his distaff",
        "Than Gerveis knew, and saide; \"Friend so dear,",
        "That hote culter in the chimney here",
        "Lend it to me, I have therewith to don:",
        "I will it bring again to thee full soon.\"",
        "Gerveis answered; \"Certes, were it gold,",
        "Or in a poke nobles all untold,",
        "Thou shouldst it have, as I am a true smith.",
        "Hey! Christe's foot, what will ye do therewith?\"",
        "\"Thereof,\" quoth Absolon, \"be as be may;",
        "I shall well tell it thee another day:\"",
        "And caught the culter by the colde stele.",
        "Full soft out at the door he gan to steal,",
        "And went unto the carpentere's wall",
        "He coughed first, and knocked therewithal",
        "Upon the window, light as he did ere.",
        "This Alison answered; \"Who is there",
        "That knocketh so? I warrant him a thief.\"",
        "\"Nay, nay,\" quoth he, \"God wot, my sweete lefe,",
        "I am thine Absolon, my own darling.",
        "Of gold,\" quoth he, \"I have thee brought a ring,",
        "My mother gave it me, so God me save!",
        "Full fine it is, and thereto well y-grave:",
        "This will I give to thee, if thou me kiss.\"",
        "Now Nicholas was risen up to piss,",
        "And thought he would amenden all the jape;",
        "He shoulde kiss his erse ere that he scape:",
        "And up the window did he hastily,",
        "And out his erse he put full privily",
        "Over the buttock, to the haunche bone.",
        "And therewith spake this clerk, this Absolon,",
        "\"Speak, sweete bird, I know not where thou art.\"",
        "This Nicholas anon let fly a fart,",
        "As great as it had been a thunder dent;",
        "That with the stroke he was well nigh y-blent;",
        "But he was ready with his iron hot,",
        "And Nicholas amid the erse he smote.",
        "Off went the skin an handbreadth all about.",
        "The hote culter burned so his tout,",
        "That for the smart he weened he would die;",
        "As he were wood, for woe he gan to cry,",
        "\"Help! water, water, help for Godde's heart!\"",
        "",
        "This carpenter out of his slumber start,",
        "And heard one cry \"Water,\" as he were wood,",
        "And thought, \"Alas! now cometh Noe's flood.\"",
        "He sat him up withoute wordes mo'",
        "And with his axe he smote the cord in two;",
        "And down went all; he found neither to sell",
        "Nor bread nor ale, till he came to the sell,",
        "Upon the floor, and there in swoon he lay.",
        "Up started Alison and Nicholay,",
        "And cried out an \"harow!\"   in the street.",
        "The neighbours alle, bothe small and great",
        "In ranne, for to gauren on this man,",
        "That yet in swoone lay, both pale and wan:",
        "For with the fall he broken had his arm.",
        "But stand he must unto his owen harm,",
        "For when he spake, he was anon borne down",
        "With Hendy Nicholas and Alisoun.",
        "They told to every man that he was wood;",
        "He was aghaste so of Noe's flood,",
        "Through phantasy, that of his vanity",
        "He had y-bought him kneading-tubbes three,",
        "And had them hanged in the roof above;",
        "And that he prayed them for Godde's love",
        "To sitten in the roof for company.",
        "The folk gan laughen at his phantasy.",
        "Into the roof they kyken and they gape,",
        "And turned all his harm into a jape.",
        "For whatsoe'er this carpenter answer'd,",
        "It was for nought, no man his reason heard.",
        "With oathes great he was so sworn adown,",
        "That he was holden wood in all the town.",
        "For every clerk anon right held with other;",
        "They said, \"The man was wood, my leve brother;\"",
        "And every wight gan laughen at his strife.",
        "Thus swived was the carpentere's wife,",
        "For all his keeping and his jealousy;",
        "And Absolon hath kiss'd her nether eye;",
        "And Nicholas is scalded in the tout.",
        "This tale is done, and God save all the rout."
      ],
      "title": "The Canterbury Tales. The Miller's Tale."
    },
    {
      "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron",
      "line_count": "18",
      "lines": [
        "She walks in Beauty, like the night",
        "  Of cloudless climes and starry skies;",
        "And all that's best of dark and bright",
        "  Meet in her aspect and her eyes:",
        "Thus mellowed to that tender light",
        "  Which Heaven to gaudy day denies.",
        "",
        "One shade the more, one ray the less,",
        "  Had half impaired the nameless grace",
        "Which waves in every raven tress,",
        "  Or softly lightens o'er her face;",
        "Where thoughts serenely sweet express,",
        " How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.",
        "",
        "And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,",
        "  So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,",
        "The smiles that win, the tints that glow,",
        "  But tell of days in goodness spent,",
        "A mind at peace with all below,",
        "  A heart whose love is innocent!"
      ],
      "title": "She Walks in Beauty"
    },
    {
      "author": "John Keats",
      "line_count": "887",
      "lines": [
        "BOOK I",
        "",
        "     Deep in the shady sadness of a vale",
        "Far sunken from the healthy breath of morn,",
        "Far from the fiery noon, and eve's one star,",
        "Sat gray-hair'd Saturn, quiet as a stone,",
        "Still as the silence round about his lair;",
        "Forest on forest hung above his head",
        "Like cloud on cloud. No stir of air was there,",
        "Not so much life as on a summer's day",
        "Robs not one light seed from the feather'd grass,",
        "But where the dead leaf fell, there did it rest.",
        "A stream went voiceless by, still deadened more",
        "By reason of his fallen divinity",
        "Spreading a shade: the Naiad 'mid her reeds",
        "Press'd her cold finger closer to her lips.",
        "",
        "     Along the margin-sand large foot-marks went,",
        "No further than to where his feet had stray'd,",
        "And slept there since.  Upon the sodden ground",
        "His old right hand lay nerveless, listless, dead,",
        "Unsceptred; and his realmless eyes were closed;",
        "While his bow'd head seem'd list'ning to the Earth,",
        "His ancient mother, for some comfort yet.",
        "",
        "     It seem'd no force could wake him from his place;",
        "But there came one, who with a kindred hand",
        "Touch'd his wide shoulders, after bending low",
        "With reverence, though to one who knew it not.",
        "She was a Goddess of the infant world;",
        "By her in stature the tall Amazon",
        "Had stood a pigmy's height: she would have ta'en",
        "Achilles by the hair and bent his neck;",
        "Or with a finger stay'd Ixion's wheel.",
        "Her face was large as that of Memphian sphinx,",
        "Pedestal'd haply in a palace court,",
        "When sages look'd to Egypt for their lore.",
        "But oh! how unlike marble was that face:",
        "How beautiful, if sorrow had not made",
        "Sorrow more beautiful than Beauty's self.",
        "There was a listening fear in her regard,",
        "As if calamity had but begun;",
        "As if the vanward clouds of evil days",
        "Had spent their malice, and the sullen rear",
        "Was with its stored thunder labouring up.",
        "One hand she press'd upon that aching spot",
        "Where beats the human heart, as if just there,",
        "Though an immortal, she felt cruel pain:",
        "The other upon Saturn's bended neck",
        "She laid, and to the level of his ear",
        "Leaning with parted lips, some words she spake",
        "In solemn tenor and deep organ tone:",
        "Some mourning words, which in our feeble tongue",
        "Would come in these like accents; O how frail",
        "To that large utterance of the early Gods!",
        "\"Saturn, look up!---though wherefore, poor old King?",
        "I have no comfort for thee, no not one:",
        "I cannot say, 'O wherefore sleepest thou?'",
        "For heaven is parted from thee, and the earth",
        "Knows thee not, thus afflicted, for a God;",
        "And ocean too, with all its solemn noise,",
        "Has from thy sceptre pass'd; and all the air",
        "Is emptied of thine hoary majesty.",
        "Thy thunder, conscious of the new command,",
        "Rumbles reluctant o'er our fallen house;",
        "And thy sharp lightning in unpractised hands",
        "Scorches and burns our once serene domain.",
        "O aching time! O moments big as years!",
        "All as ye pass swell out the monstrous truth,",
        "And press it so upon our weary griefs",
        "That unbelief has not a space to breathe.",
        "Saturn, sleep on:---O thoughtless, why did I",
        "Thus violate thy slumbrous solitude?",
        "Why should I ope thy melancholy eyes?",
        "Saturn, sleep on! while at thy feet I weep.\"",
        "",
        "     As when, upon a tranced summer-night,",
        "Those green-rob'd senators of mighty woods,",
        "Tall oaks, branch-charmed by the earnest stars,",
        "Dream, and so dream all night without a stir,",
        "Save from one gradual solitary gust",
        "Which comes upon the silence, and dies off,",
        "As if the ebbing air had but one wave;",
        "So came these words and went; the while in tears",
        "She touch'd her fair large forehead to the ground,",
        "Just where her fallen hair might be outspread",
        "A soft and silken mat for Saturn's feet.",
        "One moon, with alteration slow, had shed",
        "Her silver seasons four upon the night,",
        "And still these two were postured motionless,",
        "Like natural sculpture in cathedral cavern;",
        "The frozen God still couchant on the earth,",
        "And the sad Goddess weeping at his feet:",
        "Until at length old Saturn lifted up",
        "His faded eyes, and saw his kingdom gone,",
        "And all the gloom and sorrow ofthe place,",
        "And that fair kneeling Goddess; and then spake,",
        "As with a palsied tongue, and while his beard",
        "Shook horrid with such aspen-malady:",
        "\"O tender spouse of gold Hyperion,",
        "Thea, I feel thee ere I see thy face;",
        "Look up, and let me see our doom in it;",
        "Look up, and tell me if this feeble shape",
        "Is Saturn's; tell me, if thou hear'st the voice",
        "Of Saturn; tell me, if this wrinkling brow,",
        "Naked and bare of its great diadem,",
        "Peers like the front of Saturn? Who had power",
        "To make me desolate? Whence came the strength?",
        "How was it nurtur'd to such bursting forth,",
        "While Fate seem'd strangled in my nervous grasp?",
        "But it is so; and I am smother'd up,",
        "And buried from all godlike exercise",
        "Of influence benign on planets pale,",
        "Of admonitions to the winds and seas,",
        "Of peaceful sway above man's harvesting,",
        "And all those acts which Deity supreme",
        "Doth ease its heart of love in.---I am gone",
        "Away from my own bosom: I have left",
        "My strong identity, my real self,",
        "Somewhere between the throne, and where I sit",
        "Here on this spot of earth. Search, Thea, search!",
        "Open thine eyes eterne, and sphere them round",
        "Upon all space: space starr'd, and lorn of light;",
        "Space region'd with life-air; and barren void;",
        "Spaces of fire, and all the yawn of hell.---",
        "Search, Thea, search! and tell me, if thou seest",
        "A certain shape or shadow, making way",
        "With wings or chariot fierce to repossess",
        "A heaven he lost erewhile: it must---it must",
        "Be of ripe progress---Saturn must be King.",
        "Yes, there must be a golden victory;",
        "There must be Gods thrown down, and trumpets blown",
        "Of triumph calm, and hymns of festival",
        "Upon the gold clouds metropolitan,",
        "Voices of soft proclaim, and silver stir",
        "Of strings in hollow shells; and there shall be",
        "Beautiful things made new, for the surprise",
        "Of the sky-children; I will give command:",
        "Thea! Thea! Thea! where is Saturn?\"",
        "This passion lifted him upon his feet,",
        "And made his hands to struggle in the air,",
        "His Druid locks to shake and ooze with sweat,",
        "His eyes to fever out, his voice to cease.",
        "He stood, and heard not Thea's sobbing deep;",
        "A little time, and then again he snatch'd",
        "Utterance thus.---\"But cannot I create?",
        "Cannot I form? Cannot I fashion forth",
        "Another world, another universe,",
        "To overbear and crumble this to nought?",
        "Where is another Chaos? Where?\"---That word",
        "Found way unto Olympus, and made quake",
        "The rebel three.---Thea was startled up,",
        "And in her bearing was a sort of hope,",
        "As thus she quick-voic'd spake, yet full of awe.",
        "",
        "     \"This cheers our fallen house: come to our friends,",
        "O Saturn! come away, and give them heart;",
        "I know the covert, for thence came I hither.\"",
        "Thus brief; then with beseeching eyes she went",
        "With backward footing through the shade a space:",
        "He follow'd, and she turn'd to lead the way",
        "Through aged boughs, that yielded like the mist",
        "Which eagles cleave upmounting from their nest.",
        "",
        "     Meanwhile in other realms big tears were shed,",
        "More sorrow like to this, and such like woe,",
        "Too huge for mortal tongue or pen of scribe:",
        "The Titans fierce, self-hid, or prison-bound,",
        "Groan'd for the old allegiance once more,",
        "And listen'd in sharp pain for Saturn's voice.",
        "But one of the whole mammoth-brood still kept",
        "His sov'reigny, and rule, and majesy;---",
        "Blazing Hyperion on his orbed fire",
        "Still sat, still snuff'd the incense, teeming up",
        "From man to the sun's God: yet unsecure:",
        "For as among us mortals omens drear",
        "Fright and perplex, so also shuddered he---",
        "Not at dog's howl, or gloom-bird's hated screech,",
        "Or the familiar visiting of one",
        "Upon the first toll of his passing-bell,",
        "Or prophesyings of the midnight lamp;",
        "But horrors, portion'd to a giant nerve,",
        "Oft made Hyperion ache.  His palace bright,",
        "Bastion'd with pyramids of glowing gold,",
        "And touch'd with shade of bronzed obelisks,",
        "Glar'd a blood-red through all its thousand courts,",
        "Arches, and domes, and fiery galleries;",
        "And all its curtains of Aurorian clouds",
        "Flush'd angerly: while sometimes eagles' wings,",
        "Unseen before by Gods or wondering men,",
        "Darken'd the place; and neighing steeds were heard",
        "Not heard before by Gods or wondering men.",
        "Also, when he would taste the spicy wreaths",
        "Of incense, breath'd aloft from sacred hills,",
        "Instead of sweets, his ample palate took",
        "Savor of poisonous brass and metal sick:",
        "And so, when harbor'd in the sleepy west,",
        "After the full completion of fair day,---",
        "For rest divine upon exalted couch,",
        "And slumber in the arms of melody,",
        "He pac'd away the pleasant hours of ease",
        "With stride colossal, on from hall to hall;",
        "While far within each aisle and deep recess,",
        "His winged minions in close clusters stood,",
        "Amaz'd and full offear; like anxious men",
        "Who on wide plains gather in panting troops,",
        "When earthquakes jar their battlements and towers.",
        "Even now, while Saturn, rous'd from icy trance,",
        "Went step for step with Thea through the woods,",
        "Hyperion, leaving twilight in the rear,",
        "Came slope upon the threshold of the west;",
        "Then, as was wont, his palace-door flew ope",
        "In smoothest silence, save what solemn tubes,",
        "Blown by the serious Zephyrs, gave of sweet",
        "And wandering sounds, slow-breathed melodies;",
        "And like a rose in vermeil tint and shape,",
        "In fragrance soft, and coolness to the eye,",
        "That inlet to severe magnificence",
        "Stood full blown, for the God to enter in.",
        "",
        "     He enter'd, but he enter'd full of wrath;",
        "His flaming robes stream'd out beyond his heels,",
        "And gave a roar, as if of earthly fire,",
        "That scar'd away the meek ethereal Hours",
        "And made their dove-wings tremble. On he flared",
        "From stately nave to nave, from vault to vault,",
        "Through bowers of fragrant and enwreathed light,",
        "And diamond-paved lustrous long arcades,",
        "Until he reach'd the great main cupola;",
        "There standing fierce beneath, he stampt his foot,",
        "And from the basements deep to the high towers",
        "Jarr'd his own golden region; and before",
        "The quavering thunder thereupon had ceas'd,",
        "His voice leapt out, despite of godlike curb,",
        "To this result: \"O dreams of day and night!",
        "O monstrous forms! O effigies of pain!",
        "O spectres busy in a cold, cold gloom!",
        "O lank-eared phantoms of black-weeded pools!",
        "Why do I know ye? why have I seen ye? why",
        "Is my eternal essence thus distraught",
        "To see and to behold these horrors new?",
        "Saturn is fallen, am I too to fall?",
        "Am I to leave this haven of my rest,",
        "This cradle of my glory, this soft clime,",
        "This calm luxuriance of blissful light,",
        "These crystalline pavilions, and pure fanes,",
        "Of all my lucent empire?  It is left",
        "Deserted, void, nor any haunt of mine.",
        "The blaze, the splendor, and the symmetry,",
        "I cannot see but darkness, death, and darkness.",
        "Even here, into my centre of repose,",
        "The shady visions come to domineer,",
        "Insult, and blind, and stifle up my pomp.---",
        "Fall!---No, by Tellus and her briny robes!",
        "Over the fiery frontier of my realms",
        "I will advance a terrible right arm",
        "Shall scare that infant thunderer, rebel Jove,",
        "And bid old Saturn take his throne again.\"---",
        "He spake, and ceas'd, the while a heavier threat",
        "Held struggle with his throat but came not forth;",
        "For as in theatres of crowded men",
        "Hubbub increases more they call out \"Hush!\"",
        "So at Hyperion's words the phantoms pale",
        "Bestirr'd themselves, thrice horrible and cold;",
        "And from the mirror'd level where he stood",
        "A mist arose, as from a scummy marsh.",
        "At this, through all his bulk an agony",
        "Crept gradual, from the feet unto the crown,",
        "Like a lithe serpent vast and muscular",
        "Making slow way, with head and neck convuls'd",
        "From over-strained might.  Releas'd, he fled",
        "To the eastern gates, and full six dewy hours",
        "Before the dawn in season due should blush,",
        "He breath'd fierce breath against the sleepy portals,",
        "Clear'd them of heavy vapours, burst them wide",
        "Suddenly on the ocean's chilly streams.",
        "The planet orb of fire, whereon he rode",
        "Each day from east to west the heavens through,",
        "Spun round in sable curtaining of clouds;",
        "Not therefore veiled quite, blindfold, and hid,",
        "But ever and anon the glancing spheres,",
        "Circles, and arcs, and broad-belting colure,",
        "Glow'd through, and wrought upon the muffling dark",
        "Sweet-shaped lightnings from the nadir deep",
        "Up to the zenith,---hieroglyphics old,",
        "Which sages and keen-eyed astrologers",
        "Then living on the earth, with laboring thought",
        "Won from the gaze of many centuries:",
        "Now lost, save what we find on remnants huge",
        "Of stone, or rnarble swart; their import gone,",
        "Their wisdom long since fled.---Two wings this orb",
        "Possess'd for glory, two fair argent wings,",
        "Ever exalted at the God's approach:",
        "And now, from forth the gloom their plumes immense",
        "Rose, one by one, till all outspreaded were;",
        "While still the dazzling globe maintain'd eclipse,",
        "Awaiting for Hyperion's command.",
        "Fain would he have commanded, fain took throne",
        "And bid the day begin, if but for change.",
        "He might not:---No, though a primeval God:",
        "The sacred seasons might not be disturb'd.",
        "Therefore the operations of the dawn",
        "Stay'd in their birth, even as here 'tis told.",
        "Those silver wings expanded sisterly,",
        "Eager to sail their orb; the porches wide",
        "Open'd upon the dusk demesnes of night",
        "And the bright Titan, phrenzied with new woes,",
        "Unus'd to bend, by hard compulsion bent",
        "His spirit to the sorrow of the time;",
        "And all along a dismal rack of clouds,",
        "Upon the boundaries of day and night,",
        "He stretch'd himself in grief and radiance faint.",
        "There as he lay, the Heaven with its stars",
        "Look'd down on him with pity, and the voice",
        "Of Coelus, from the universal space,",
        "Thus whisper'd low and solemn in his ear:",
        "\"O brightest of my children dear, earth-born",
        "And sky-engendered, son of mysteries",
        "All unrevealed even to the powers",
        "Which met at thy creating; at whose joys",
        "And palpitations sweet, and pleasures soft,",
        "I, Coelus, wonder, how they came and whence;",
        "And at the fruits thereof what shapes they be,",
        "Distinct, and visible; symbols divine,",
        "Manifestations of that beauteous life",
        "Diffus'd unseen throughout eternal space:",
        "Of these new-form'd art thou, O brightest child!",
        "Of these, thy brethren and the Goddesses!",
        "There is sad feud among ye, and rebellion",
        "Of son against his sire.  I saw him fall,",
        "I saw my first-born tumbled from his throne!",
        "To me his arms were spread, to me his voice",
        "Found way from forth the thunders round his head!",
        "Pale wox I, and in vapours hid my face.",
        "Art thou, too, near such doom? vague fear there is:",
        "For I have seen my sons most unlike Gods.",
        "Divine ye were created, and divine",
        "In sad demeanour, solemn, undisturb'd,",
        "Unruffled, like high Gods, ye liv'd and ruled:",
        "Now I behold in you fear, hope, and wrath;",
        "Actions of rage and passion; even as",
        "I see them, on the mortal world beneath,",
        "In men who die.---This is the grief, O son!",
        "Sad sign of ruin, sudden dismay, and fall!",
        "Yet do thou strive; as thou art capable,",
        "As thou canst move about, an evident God;",
        "And canst oppose to each malignant hour",
        "Ethereal presence:---I am but a voice;",
        "My life is but the life of winds and tides,",
        "No more than winds and tides can I avail:---",
        "But thou canst.---Be thou therefore in the van",
        "Of circumstance; yea, seize the arrow's barb",
        "Before the tense string murmur.---To the earth!",
        "For there thou wilt find Saturn, and his woes.",
        "Meantime I will keep watch on thy bright sun,",
        "And of thy seasons be a careful nurse.\"---",
        "Ere half this region-whisper had come down,",
        "Hyperion arose, and on the stars",
        "Lifted his curved lids, and kept them wide",
        "Until it ceas'd; and still he kept them wide:",
        "And still they were the same bright, patient stars.",
        "Then with a slow incline of his broad breast,",
        "Like to a diver in the pearly seas,",
        "Forward he stoop'd over the airy shore,",
        "And plung'd all noiseless into the deep night.",
        "",
        "",
        "BOOK II",
        "",
        "Just at the self-same beat of Time's wide wings",
        "Hyperion slid into the rustled air,",
        "And Saturn gain'd with Thea that sad place",
        "Where Cybele and the bruised Titans mourn'd.",
        "It was a den where no insulting light",
        "Could glimmer on their tears; where their own groans",
        "They felt, but heard not, for the solid roar",
        "Of thunderous waterfalls and torrents hoarse,",
        "Pouring a constant bulk, uncertain where.",
        "Crag jutting forth to crag, and rocks that seem'd",
        "Ever as if just rising from a sleep,",
        "Forehead to forehead held their monstrous horns;",
        "And thus in thousand hugest phantasies",
        "Made a fit roofing to this nest of woe.",
        "Instead of thrones, hard flint they sat upon,",
        "Couches of rugged stone, and slaty ridge",
        "Stubborn'd with iron.  All were not assembled:",
        "Some chain'd in torture, and some wandering.",
        "Caus, and Gyges, and Briareus,",
        "Typhon, and Dolor, and Porphyrion,",
        "With many more, the brawniest in assault,",
        "Were pent in regions of laborious breath;",
        "Dungeon'd in opaque element, to keep",
        "Their clenched teeth still clench'd, and all their limbs",
        "Lock'd up like veins of metal, crampt and screw'd;",
        "Without a motion, save of their big hearts",
        "Heaving in pain, and horribly convuls'd",
        "With sanguine feverous boiling gurge of pulse.",
        "Mnemosyne was straying in the world;",
        "Far from her moon had Phoebe wandered;",
        "And many else were free to roam abroad,",
        "But for the main, here found they covert drear.",
        "Scarce images of life, one here, one there,",
        "Lay vast and edgeways; like a dismal cirque",
        "Of Druid stones, upon a forlorn moor,",
        "When the chill rain begins at shut of eve,",
        "In dull November, and their chancel vault,",
        "The Heaven itself, is blinded throughout night.",
        "Each one kept shroud, nor to his neighbour gave",
        "Or word, or look, or action of despair.",
        "Creus was one; his ponderous iron mace",
        "Lay by him, and a shatter'd rib of rock",
        "Told of his rage, ere he thus sank and pined.",
        "Iapetus another; in his grasp,",
        "A serpent's plashy neck; its barbed tongue",
        "Squeez'd from the gorge, and all its uncurl'd length",
        "Dead: and because the creature could not spit",
        "Its poison in the eyes of conquering Jove.",
        "Next Cottus: prone he lay, chin uppermost,",
        "As though in pain; for still upon the flint",
        "He ground severe his skull, with open mouth",
        "And eyes at horrid working.  Nearest him",
        "Asia, born of most enormous Caf,",
        "Who cost her mother Tellus keener pangs,",
        "Though feminine, than any of her sons:",
        "More thought than woe was in her dusky face,",
        "For she was prophesying of her glory;",
        "And in her wide imagination stood",
        "Palm-shaded temples, and high rival fanes",
        "By Oxus or in Ganges' sacred isles.",
        "Even as Hope upon her anchor leans,",
        "So leant she, not so fair, upon a tusk",
        "Shed from the broadest of her elephants.",
        "Above her, on a crag's uneasy shelve,",
        "Upon his elbow rais'd, all prostrate else,",
        "Shadow'd Enceladus; once tame and mild",
        "As grazing ox unworried in the meads;",
        "Now tiger-passion'd, lion-thoughted, wroth,",
        "He meditated, plotted, and even now",
        "Was hurling mountains in that second war,",
        "Not long delay'd, that scar'd the younger Gods",
        "To hide themselves in forms of beast and bird.",
        "Not far hence Atlas; and beside him prone",
        "Phorcus, the sire of Gorgons.  Neighbour'd close",
        "Oceanus, and Tethys, in whose lap",
        "Sobb'd Clymene among her tangled hair.",
        "In midst of all lay Themis, at the feet",
        "Of Ops the queen; all clouded round from sight,",
        "No shape distinguishable, more than when",
        "Thick night confounds the pine-tops with the clouds:",
        "And many else whose names may not be told.",
        "For when the Muse's wings are air-ward spread,",
        "Who shall delay her flight? And she must chaunt",
        "Of Saturn, and his guide, who now had climb'd",
        "With damp and slippery footing from a depth",
        "More horrid still. Above a sombre cliff",
        "Their heads appear'd, and up their stature grew",
        "Till on the level height their steps found ease:",
        "Then Thea spread abroad her trembling arms",
        "Upon the precincts of this nest of pain,",
        "And sidelong fix'd her eye on Saturn's face:",
        "There saw she direst strife; the supreme God",
        "At war with all the frailty of grief,",
        "Of rage, of fear, anxiety, revenge,",
        "Remorse, spleen, hope, but most of all despair.",
        "Against these plagues he strove in vain; for Fate",
        "Had pour'd a mortal oil upon his head,",
        "A disanointing poison: so that Thea,",
        "Affrighted, kept her still, and let him pass",
        "First onwards in, among the fallen tribe.",
        "",
        "     As with us mortal men, the laden heart",
        "Is persecuted more, and fever'd more,",
        "When it is nighing to the mournful house",
        "Where other hearts are sick of the same bruise;",
        "So Saturn, as he walk'd into the midst,",
        "Felt faint, and would have sunk among the rest,",
        "But that he met Enceladus's eye,",
        "Whose mightiness, and awe of him, at once",
        "Came like an inspiration; and he shouted,",
        "\"Titans, behold your God!\" at which some groan'd;",
        "Some started on their feet; some also shouted;",
        "Some wept, some wail'd, all bow'd with reverence;",
        "And Ops, uplifting her black folded veil,",
        "Show'd her pale cheeks, and all her forehead wan,",
        "Her eye-brows thin and jet, and hollow eyes.",
        "There is a roaring in the bleak-grown pines",
        "When Winter lifts his voice; there is a noise",
        "Among immortals when a God gives sign,",
        "With hushing finger, how he means to load",
        "His tongue with the filll weight of utterless thought,",
        "With thunder, and with music, and with pomp:",
        "Such noise is like the roar of bleak-grown pines;",
        "Which, when it ceases in this mountain'd world,",
        "No other sound succeeds; but ceasing here,",
        "Among these fallen, Saturn's voice therefrom",
        "Grew up like organ, that begins anew",
        "Its strain, when other harmonies, stopt short,",
        "Leave the dinn'd air vibrating silverly.",
        "Thus grew it up---\"Not in my own sad breast,",
        "Which is its own great judge and searcher out,",
        "Can I find reason why ye should be thus:",
        "Not in the legends of the first of days,",
        "Studied from that old spirit-leaved book",
        "Which starry Uranus with finger bright",
        "Sav'd from the shores of darkness, when the waves",
        "Low-ebb'd still hid it up in shallow gloom;---",
        "And the which book ye know I ever kept",
        "For my firm-based footstool:---Ah, infirm!",
        "Not there, nor in sign, symbol, or portent",
        "Of element, earth, water, air, and fire,---",
        "At war, at peace, or inter-quarreling",
        "One against one, or two, or three, or all",
        "Each several one against the other three,",
        "As fire with air loud warring when rain-floods",
        "Drown both, and press them both against earth's face,",
        "Where, finding sulphur, a quadruple wrath",
        "Unhinges the poor world;---not in that strife,",
        "Wherefrom I take strange lore, and read it deep,",
        "Can I find reason why ye should be thus:",
        "No, nowhere can unriddle, though I search,",
        "And pore on Nature's universal scroll",
        "Even to swooning, why ye, Divinities,",
        "The first-born of all shap'd and palpable Gods,",
        "Should cower beneath what, in comparison,",
        "Is untremendous might. Yet ye are here,",
        "O'erwhelm'd, and spurn'd, and batter'd, ye are here!",
        "O Titans, shall I say 'Arise!'---Ye groan:",
        "Shall I say 'Crouch!'---Ye groan. What can I then?",
        "O Heaven wide! O unseen parent dear!",
        "What can I? Tell me, all ye brethren Gods,",
        "How we can war, how engine our great wrath!",
        "O speak your counsel now, for Saturn's ear",
        "Is all a-hunger'd. Thou, Oceanus,",
        "Ponderest high and deep; and in thy face",
        "I see, astonied, that severe content",
        "Which comes of thought and musing: give us help!\"",
        "",
        "     So ended Saturn; and the God of the sea,",
        "Sophist and sage, from no Athenian grove,",
        "But cogitation in his watery shades,",
        "Arose, with locks not oozy, and began,",
        "In murmurs, which his first-endeavouring tongue",
        "Caught infant-like from the far-foamed sands.",
        "\"O ye, whom wrath consumes!  who, passion-stung,",
        "Writhe at defeat, and nurse your agonies!",
        "Shut up your senses, stifle up your ears,",
        "My voice is not a bellows unto ire.",
        "Yet listen, ye who will, whilst I bring proof",
        "How ye, perforce, must be content to stoop:",
        "And in the proof much comfort will I give,",
        "If ye will take that comfort in its truth.",
        "We fall by course of Nature's law, not force",
        "Of thunder, or of Jove. Great Saturn, thou",
        "Hast sifted well the atom-universe;",
        "But for this reason, that thou art the King,",
        "And only blind from sheer supremacy,",
        "One avenue was shaded from thine eyes,",
        "Through which I wandered to eternal truth.",
        "And first, as thou wast not the first of powers,",
        "So art thou not the last; it cannot be:",
        "Thou art not the beginning nor the end.",
        "From Chaos and parental Darkness came",
        "Light, the first fruits of that intestine broil,",
        "That sullen ferment, which for wondrous ends",
        "Was ripening in itself.  The ripe hour came,",
        "And with it Light, and Light, engendering",
        "Upon its own producer, forthwith touch'd",
        "The whole enormous matter into life.",
        "Upon that very hour, our parentage,",
        "The Heavens and the Earth, were manifest:",
        "Then thou first born, and we the giant race,",
        "Found ourselves ruling new and beauteous realms.",
        "Now comes the pain of truth, to whom 'tis pain;",
        "O folly! for to bear all naked truths,",
        "And to envisage circumstance, all calm,",
        "That is the top of sovereignty.  Mark well!",
        "As Heaven and Earth are fairer, fairer far",
        "Than Chaos and blank Darkness, though once chiefs;",
        "And as we show beyond that Heaven and Earth",
        "In form and shape compact and beautiful,",
        "In will, in action free, companionship,",
        "And thousand other signs of purer life;",
        "So on our heels a fresh perfection treads,",
        "A power more strong in beauty, born of us",
        "And fated to excel us, as we pass",
        "In glory that old Darkness: nor are we",
        "Thereby more conquer'd, than by us the rule",
        "Of shapeless Chaos. Say, doth the dull soil",
        "Quarrel with the proud forests it hath fed,",
        "And feedeth still, more comely than itself?",
        "Can it deny the chiefdom of green groves?",
        "Or shall the tree be envious of the dove",
        "Because it cooeth, and hath snowy wings",
        "To wander wherewithal and find its joys?",
        "We are such forest-trees, and our fair boughs",
        "Have bred forth, not pale solitary doves,",
        "But eagles golden-feather'd, who do tower",
        "Above us in their beauty, and must reign",
        "In right thereof; for 'tis the eternal law",
        "That first in beauty should be first in might:",
        "Yea, by that law, another race may drive",
        "Our conquerors to mourn as we do now.",
        "Have ye beheld the young God of the seas,",
        "My dispossessor? Have ye seen his face?",
        "Have ye beheld his chariot, foam'd along",
        "By noble winged creatures he hath made?",
        "I saw him on the calmed waters scud,",
        "With such a glow of beauty in his eyes,",
        "That it enforc'd me to bid sad farewell",
        "To all my empire: farewell sad I took,",
        "And hither came, to see how dolorous fate",
        "Had wrought upon ye; and how I might best",
        "Give consolation in this woe extreme.",
        "Receive the truth, and let it be your balm.\"",
        "",
        "     Whether through pos'd conviction, or disdain,",
        "They guarded silence, when Oceanus",
        "Left murmuring, what deepest thought can tell?",
        "But so it was, none answer'd for a space,",
        "Save one whom none regarded, Clymene;",
        "And yet she answer'd not, only complain'd,",
        "With hectic lips, and eyes up-looking mild,",
        "Thus wording timidly among the fierce:",
        "\"O Father! I am here the simplest voice,",
        "And all my knowledge is that joy is gone,",
        "And this thing woe crept in among our hearts,",
        "There to remain for ever, as I fear:",
        "I would not bode of evil, if I thought",
        "So weak a creature could turn off the help",
        "Which by just right should come of mighty Gods;",
        "Yet let me tell my sorrow, let me tell",
        "Of what I heard, and how it made me weep,",
        "And know that we had parted from all hope.",
        "I stood upon a shore, a pleasant shore,",
        "Where a sweet clime was breathed from a land",
        "Of fragrance, quietness, and trees, and flowers.",
        "Full of calm joy it was, as I of grief;",
        "Too full of joy and soft delicious warmth;",
        "So that I felt a movement in my heart",
        "To chide, and to reproach that solitude",
        "With songs of misery, music of our woes;",
        "And sat me down, and took a mouthed shell",
        "And murmur'd into it, and made melody---",
        "O melody no more! for while I sang,",
        "And with poor skill let pass into the breeze",
        "The dull shell's echo, from a bowery strand",
        "Just opposite, an island of the sea,",
        "There came enchantment with the shifting wind,",
        "That did both drown and keep alive my ears.",
        "I threw my shell away upon the sand,",
        "And a wave fill'd it, as my sense was fill'd",
        "With that new blissful golden melody.",
        "A living death was in each gush of sounds,",
        "Each family of rapturous hurried notes,",
        "That fell, one after one, yet all at once,",
        "Like pearl beads dropping sudden from their string:",
        "And then another, then another strain,",
        "Each like a dove leaving its olive perch,",
        "With music wing'd instead of silent plumes,",
        "To hover round my head, and make me sick",
        "Of joy and grief at once.  Grief overcame,",
        "And I was stopping up my frantic ears,",
        "When, past all hindrance of my trembling hands,",
        "A voice came sweeter, sweeter than all tune,",
        "And still it cried, 'Apollo! young Apollo!",
        "The morning-bright Apollo! young Apollo!'",
        "I fled, it follow'd me, and cried 'Apollo!'",
        "O Father, and O Brethren, had ye felt",
        "Those pains of mine; O Saturn, hadst thou felt,",
        "Ye would not call this too indulged tongue",
        "Presumptuous, in thus venturing to be heard.\"",
        "",
        "     So far her voice flow'd on, like timorous brook",
        "That, lingering along a pebbled coast,",
        "Doth fear to meet the sea: but sea it met,",
        "And shudder'd; for the overwhelming voice",
        "Of huge Enceladus swallow'd it in wrath:",
        "The ponderous syllables, like sullen waves",
        "In the half-glutted hollows of reef-rocks,",
        "Came booming thus, while still upon his arm",
        "He lean'd; not rising, from supreme contempt.",
        "\"Or shall we listen to the over-wise,",
        "Or to the over-foolish, Giant-Gods?",
        "Not thunderbolt on thunderbolt, till all",
        "That rebel Jove's whole armoury were spent,",
        "Not world on world upon these shoulders piled,",
        "Could agonize me more than baby-words",
        "In midst of this dethronement horrible.",
        "Speak! roar! shout! yell! ye sleepy Titans all.",
        "Do ye forget the blows, the buffets vile?",
        "Are ye not smitten by a youngling arm?",
        "Dost thou forget, sham Monarch of the waves,",
        "Thy scalding in the seas?  What! have I rous'd",
        "Your spleens with so few simple words as these?",
        "O joy! for now I see ye are not lost:",
        "O joy! for now I see a thousand eyes",
        "Wide-glaring for revenge!\"---As this he said,",
        "He lifted up his stature vast, and stood,",
        "Still without intermission speaking thus:",
        "\"Now ye are flames, I'll tell you how to burn,",
        "And purge the ether of our enemies;",
        "How to feed fierce the crooked stings of fire,",
        "And singe away the swollen clouds of Jove,",
        "Stifling that puny essence in its tent.",
        "O let him feel the evil he hath done;",
        "For though I scorn Oceanus's lore,",
        "Much pain have I for more than loss of realms:",
        "The days of peace and slumbrous calm are fled;",
        "Those days, all innocent of scathing war,",
        "When all the fair Existences of heaven",
        "Carne open-eyed to guess what we would speak:---",
        "That was before our brows were taught to frown,",
        "Before our lips knew else but solemn sounds;",
        "That was before we knew the winged thing,",
        "Victory, might be lost, or might be won.",
        "And be ye mindful that Hyperion,",
        "Our brightest brother, still is undisgraced---",
        "Hyperion, lo! his radiance is here!\"",
        "",
        "     All eyes were on Enceladus's face,",
        "And they beheld, while still Hyperion's name",
        "Flew from his lips up to the vaulted rocks,",
        "A pallid gleam across his features stern:",
        "Not savage, for he saw full many a God",
        "Wroth as himself.  He look'd upon them all,",
        "And in each face he saw a gleam of light,",
        "But splendider in Saturn's, whose hoar locks",
        "Shone like the bubbling foam about a keel",
        "When the prow sweeps into a midnight cove.",
        "In pale and silver silence they remain'd,",
        "Till suddenly a splendor, like the morn,",
        "Pervaded all the beetling gloomy steeps,",
        "All the sad spaces of oblivion,",
        "And every gulf, and every chasm old,",
        "And every height, and every sullen depth,",
        "Voiceless, or hoarse with loud tormented streams:",
        "And all the everlasting cataracts,",
        "And all the headlong torrents far and near,",
        "Mantled before in darkness and huge shade,",
        "Now saw the light and made it terrible.",
        "It was Hyperion:---a granite peak",
        "His bright feet touch'd, and there he stay'd to view",
        "The misery his brilliance had betray'd",
        "To the most hateful seeing of itself.",
        "Golden his hair of short Numidian curl,",
        "Regal his shape majestic, a vast shade",
        "In midst of his own brightness, like the bulk",
        "Of Memnon's image at the set of sun",
        "To one who travels from the dusking East:",
        "Sighs, too, as mournful as that Memnon's harp",
        "He utter'd, while his hands contemplative",
        "He press'd together, and in silence stood.",
        "Despondence seiz'd again the fallen Gods",
        "At sight of the dejected King of day,",
        "And many hid their faces from the light:",
        "But fierce Enceladus sent forth his eyes",
        "Among the brotherhood; and, at their glare,",
        "Uprose Iapetus, and Creus too,",
        "And Phorcus, sea-born, and together strode",
        "To where he towered on his eminence.",
        "There those four shouted forth old Saturn's name;",
        "Hyperion from the peak loud answered, \"Saturn!\"",
        "Saturn sat near the Mother of the Gods,",
        "In whose face was no joy, though all the Gods",
        "Gave from their hollow throats the name of \"Saturn!\"",
        "",
        "",
        "BOOK III",
        "",
        "Thus in altemate uproar and sad peace,",
        "Amazed were those Titans utterly.",
        "O leave them, Muse!  O leave them to their woes;",
        "For thou art weak to sing such tumults dire:",
        "A solitary sorrow best befits",
        "Thy lips, and antheming a lonely grief.",
        "Leave them, O Muse! for thou anon wilt find",
        "Many a fallen old Divinity",
        "Wandering in vain about bewildered shores.",
        "Meantime touch piously the Delphic harp,",
        "And not a wind of heaven but will breathe",
        "In aid soft warble from the Dorian flute;",
        "For lo! 'tis for the Father of all verse.",
        "Flush everything that hath a vermeil hue,",
        "Let the rose glow intense and warm the air,",
        "And let the clouds of even and of morn",
        "Float in voluptuous fleeces o'er the hills;",
        "Let the red wine within the goblet boil,",
        "Cold as a bubbling well; let faint-lipp'd shells,",
        "On sands, or in great deeps, vermilion turn",
        "Through all their labyrinths; and let the maid",
        "Blush keenly, as with some warm kiss surpris'd.",
        "Chief isle of the embowered Cyclades,",
        "Rejoice, O Delos, with thine olives green,",
        "And poplars, and lawn-shading palms, and beech,",
        "In which the Zephyr breathes the loudest song,",
        "And hazels thick, dark-stemm'd beneath the shade:",
        "Apollo is once more the golden theme!",
        "Where was he, when the Giant of the sun",
        "Stood bright, amid the sorrow of his peers?",
        "Together had he left his mother fair",
        "And his twin-sister sleeping in their bower,",
        "And in the morning twilight wandered forth",
        "Beside the osiers of a rivulet,",
        "Full ankle-deep in lilies of the vale.",
        "The nightingale had ceas'd, and a few stars",
        "Were lingering in the heavens, while the thrush",
        "Began calm-throated.  Throughout all the isle",
        "There was no covert, no retired cave,",
        "Unhaunted by the murmurous noise of waves,",
        "Though scarcely heard in many a green recess.",
        "He listen'd, and he wept, and his bright tears",
        "Went trickling down the golden bow he held.",
        "Thus with half-shut suffused eyes he stood,",
        "While from beneath some cumbrous boughs hard by",
        "With solemn step an awful Goddess came,",
        "And there was purport in her looks for him,",
        "Which he with eager guess began to read",
        "Perplex'd, the while melodiously he said:",
        "\"How cam'st thou over the unfooted sea?",
        "Or hath that antique mien and robed form",
        "Mov'd in these vales invisible till now?",
        "Sure I have heard those vestments sweeping o'er",
        "The fallen leaves, when I have sat alone",
        "In cool mid-forest.  Surely I have traced",
        "The rustle of those ample skirts about",
        "These grassy solitudes, and seen the flowers",
        "Lift up their heads, as still the whisper pass'd.",
        "Goddess! I have beheld those eyes before,",
        "And their eternal calm, and all that face,",
        "Or I have dream'd.\"---\"Yes,\" said the supreme shape,",
        "\"Thou hast dream'd of me; and awaking up",
        "Didst find a lyre all golden by thy side,",
        "Whose strings touch'd by thy fingers, all the vast",
        "Unwearied ear of the whole universe",
        "Listen'd in pain and pleasure at the birth",
        "Of such new tuneful wonder. Is't not strange",
        "That thou shouldst weep, so gifted? Tell me, youth,",
        "What sorrow thou canst feel; for I am sad",
        "When thou dost shed a tear: explain thy griefs",
        "To one who in this lonely isle hath been",
        "The watcher of thy sleep and hours of life,",
        "From the young day when first thy infant hand",
        "Pluck'd witless the weak flowers, till thine arm",
        "Could bend that bow heroic to all times.",
        "Show thy heart's secret to an ancient Power",
        "Who hath forsaken old and sacred thrones",
        "For prophecies of thee, and for the sake",
        "Of loveliness new born.\"---Apollo then,",
        "With sudden scrutiny and gloomless eyes,",
        "Thus answer'd, while his white melodious throat",
        "Throbb'd with the syllables.---\"Mnemosyne!",
        "Thy name is on my tongue, I know not how;",
        "Why should I tell thee what thou so well seest?",
        "Why should I strive to show what from thy lips",
        "Would come no mystery? For me, dark, dark,",
        "And painful vile oblivion seals my eyes:",
        "I strive to search wherefore I am so sad,",
        "Until a melancholy numbs my limbs;",
        "And then upon the grass I sit, and moan,",
        "Like one who once had wings.---O why should I",
        "Feel curs'd and thwarted, when the liegeless air",
        "Yields to my step aspirant? why should I",
        "Spurn the green turf as hateful to my feet?",
        "Goddess benign, point forth some unknown thing:",
        "Are there not other regions than this isle?",
        "What are the stars? There is the sun, the sun!",
        "And the most patient brilliance of the moon!",
        "And stars by thousands!  Point me out the way",
        "To any one particular beauteous star,",
        "And I will flit into it with my lyre,",
        "And make its silvery splendor pant with bliss.",
        "I have heard the cloudy thunder: Where is power?",
        "Whose hand, whose essence, what divinity",
        "Makes this alarum in the elements,",
        "While I here idle listen on the shores",
        "In fearless yet in aching ignorance?",
        "O tell me, lonely Goddess, by thy harp,",
        "That waileth every morn and eventide,",
        "Tell me why thus I rave about these groves!",
        "Mute thou remainest---Mute! yet I can read",
        "A wondrous lesson in thy silent face:",
        "Knowledge enormous makes a God of me.",
        "Names, deeds, gray legends, dire events, rebellions,",
        "Majesties, sovran voices, agonies,",
        "Creations and destroyings, all at once",
        "Pour into the wide hollows of my brain,",
        "And deify me, as if some blithe wine",
        "Or bright elixir peerless I had drunk,",
        "And so become immortal.\"---Thus the God,",
        "While his enkindled eyes, with level glance",
        "Beneath his white soft temples, steadfast kept",
        "Trembling with light upon Mnemosyne.",
        "Soon wild commotions shook him, and made flush",
        "All the immortal fairness of his limbs;",
        "Most like the struggle at the gate of death;",
        "Or liker still to one who should take leave",
        "Of pale immortal death, and with a pang",
        "As hot as death's is chill, with fierce convulse",
        "Die into life: so young Apollo anguish'd:",
        "His very hair, his golden tresses famed,",
        "Kept undulation round his eager neck.",
        "During the pain Mnemosyne upheld",
        "Her arms as one who prophesied. At length",
        "Apollo shriek'd;---and lo! from all his limbs",
        "Celestial."
      ],
      "title": "Hyperion"
    }
  ],
  "success": true
}