[ { "title": "The Strayed Reveller", "author": "Matthew Arnold", "lines": [ "The Youth.", "", "Faster, faster,", "O Circe, Goddess,", "Let the wild, thronging train", "The bright procession", "Of eddying forms,", "Sweep through my soul!", "Thou standest, smiling", "Down on me! thy right arm,", "Lean'd up against the column there,", "Props thy soft cheek;", "Thy left holds, hanging loosely,", "The deep cup, ivy-cinctured,", "I held but now.", "Is it, then, evening", "So soon? I see, the night-dews,", "Cluster'd in thick beads, dim", "The agate brooch-stones", "On thy white shoulder;", "The cool night-wind, too,", "Blows through the portico,", "Stirs thy hair, Goddess,", "Waves thy white robe!", "", "", "Circe.", "", "Whence art thou, sleeper?", "", "", "The Youth.", "", "When the white dawn first", "Through the rough fir-planks", "Of my hut, by the chestnuts,", "Up at the valley-head,", "Came breaking, Goddess!", "I sprang up, I threw round me", "My dappled fawn-skin;", "Passing out, from the wet turf,", "Where they lay, by the hut door,", "I snatch'd up my vine-crown, my fir-staff,", "All drench'd in dew-", "Came swift down to join", "The rout early gather'd", "In the town, round the temple,", "Iacchus' white fane", "On yonder hill.", "Quick I pass'd, following", "The wood-cutters' cart-track", "Down the dark valley;-I saw", "On my left, through the beeches,", "Thy palace, Goddess,", "Smokeless, empty!", "Trembling, I enter'd; beheld", "The court all silent,", "The lions sleeping,", "On the altar this bowl.", "I drank, Goddess!", "And sank down here, sleeping,", "On the steps of thy portico.", "", "", "Circe.", "", "Foolish boy! Why tremblest thou?", "Thou lovest it, then, my wine?", "Wouldst more of it? See, how glows,", "Through the delicate, flush'd marble,", "The red, creaming liquor,", "Strown with dark seeds!", "Drink, thee! I chide thee not,", "Deny thee not my bowl.", "Come, stretch forth thy hand, thee-so!", "Drink-drink again!", "", "", "The Youth.", "", "Thanks, gracious one!", "Ah, the sweet fumes again!", "More soft, ah me,", "More subtle-winding", "Than Pan's flute-music!", "Faint-faint! Ah me,", "Again the sweet sleep!", "", "", "Circe.", "", "Hist! Thou-within there!", "Come forth, Ulysses!", "Art tired with hunting?", "While we range the woodland,", "See what the day brings.", "", "", "Ulysses.", "", "Ever new magic!", "Hast thou then lured hither,", "Wonderful Goddess, by thy art,", "The young, languid-eyed Ampelus,", "Iacchus' darling-", "Or some youth beloved of Pan,", "Of Pan and the Nymphs?", "That he sits, bending downward", "His white, delicate neck", "To the ivy-wreathed marge", "Of thy cup; the bright, glancing vine-leaves", "That crown his hair,", "Falling forward, mingling", "With the dark ivy-plants--", "His fawn-skin, half untied,", "Smear'd with red wine-stains? Who is he,", "That he sits, overweigh'd", "By fumes of wine and sleep,", "So late, in thy portico?", "What youth, Goddess,-what guest", "Of Gods or mortals?", "", "", "Circe.", "", "Hist! he wakes!", "I lured him not hither, Ulysses.", "Nay, ask him!", "", "", "The Youth.", "", "Who speaks' Ah, who comes forth", "To thy side, Goddess, from within?", "How shall I name him?", "This spare, dark-featured,", "Quick-eyed stranger?", "Ah, and I see too", "His sailor's bonnet,", "His short coat, travel-tarnish'd,", "With one arm bare!--", "Art thou not he, whom fame", "This long time rumours", "The favour'd guest of Circe, brought by the waves?", "Art thou he, stranger?", "The wise Ulysses,", "Laertes' son?", "", "", "Ulysses.", "", "I am Ulysses.", "And thou, too, sleeper?", "Thy voice is sweet.", "It may be thou hast follow'd", "Through the islands some divine bard,", "By age taught many things,", "Age and the Muses;", "And heard him delighting", "The chiefs and people", "In the banquet, and learn'd his songs.", "Of Gods and Heroes,", "Of war and arts,", "And peopled cities,", "Inland, or built", "By the gray sea.-If so, then hail!", "I honour and welcome thee.", "", "", "The Youth.", "", "The Gods are happy.", "They turn on all sides", "Their shining eyes,", "And see below them", "The earth and men.", "They see Tiresias", "Sitting, staff in hand,", "On the warm, grassy", "Asopus bank,", "His robe drawn over", "His old sightless head,", "Revolving inly", "The doom of Thebes.", "They see the Centaurs", "In the upper glens", "Of Pelion, in the streams,", "Where red-berried ashes fringe", "The clear-brown shallow pools,", "With streaming flanks, and heads", "Rear'd proudly, snuffing", "The mountain wind.", "They see the Indian", "Drifting, knife in hand,", "His frail boat moor'd to", "A floating isle thick-matted", "With large-leaved, low-creeping melon-plants", "And the dark cucumber.", "He reaps, and stows them,", "Drifting--drifting;--round him,", "Round his green harvest-plot,", "Flow the cool lake-waves,", "The mountains ring them.", "They see the Scythian", "On the wide stepp, unharnessing", "His wheel'd house at noon.", "He tethers his beast down, and makes his meal--", "Mares' milk, and bread", "Baked on the embers;--all around", "The boundless, waving grass-plains stretch, thick-starr'd", "With saffron and the yellow hollyhock", "And flag-leaved iris-flowers.", "Sitting in his cart", "He makes his meal; before him, for long miles,", "Alive with bright green lizards,", "And the springing bustard-fowl,", "The track, a straight black line,", "Furrows the rich soil; here and there", "Cluster of lonely mounds", "Topp'd with rough-hewn,", "Gray, rain-blear'd statues, overpeer", "The sunny waste.", "They see the ferry", "On the broad, clay-laden", "Lone Chorasmian stream;--thereon,", "With snort and strain,", "Two horses, strongly swimming, tow", "The ferry-boat, with woven ropes", "To either bow", "Firm harness'd by the mane; a chief", "With shout and shaken spear,", "Stands at the prow, and guides them; but astern", "The cowering merchants, in long robes,", "Sit pale beside their wealth", "Of silk-bales and of balsam-drops,", "Of gold and ivory,", "Of turquoise-earth and amethyst,", "Jasper and chalcedony,", "And milk-barred onyx-stones.", "The loaded boat swings groaning", "In the yellow eddies;", "The Gods behold him.", "They see the Heroes", "Sitting in the dark ship", "On the foamless, long-heaving", "Violet sea.", "At sunset nearing", "The Happy Islands.", "These things, Ulysses,", "The wise bards, also", "Behold and sing.", "But oh, what labour!", "O prince, what pain!", "They too can see", "Tiresias;--but the Gods,", "Who give them vision,", "Added this law:", "That they should bear too", "His groping blindness,", "His dark foreboding,", "His scorn'd white hairs;", "Bear Hera's anger", "Through a life lengthen'd", "To seven ages.", "They see the Centaurs", "On Pelion:--then they feel,", "They too, the maddening wine", "Swell their large veins to bursting; in wild pain", "They feel the biting spears", "Of the grim Lapithж, and Theseus, drive,", "Drive crashing through their bones; they feel", "High on a jutting rock in the red stream", "Alcmena's dreadful son", "Ply his bow;--such a price", "The Gods exact for song:", "To become what we sing.", "They see the Indian", "On his mountain lake; but squalls", "Make their skiff reel, and worms", "In the unkind spring have gnawn", "Their melon-harvest to the heart.--They see", "The Scythian: but long frosts", "Parch them in winter-time on the bare stepp,", "Till they too fade like grass; they crawl", "Like shadows forth in spring.", "They see the merchants", "On the Oxus stream;--but care", "Must visit first them too, and make them pale.", "Whether, through whirling sand,", "A cloud of desert robber-horse have burst", "Upon their caravan; or greedy kings,", "In the wall'd cities the way passes through,", "Crush'd them with tolls; or fever-airs,", "On some great river's marge,", "Mown them down, far from home.", "They see the Heroes", "Near harbour;--but they share", "Their lives, and former violent toil in Thebes,", "Seven-gated Thebes, or Troy;", "Or where the echoing oars", "Of Argo first", "Startled the unknown sea.", "The old Silenus", "Came, lolling in the sunshine,", "From the dewy forest-coverts,", "This way at noon.", "Sitting by me, while his Fauns", "Down at the water-side", "Sprinkled and smoothed", "His drooping garland,", "He told me these things.", "But I, Ulysses,", "Sitting on the warm steps,", "Looking over the valley,", "All day long, have seen,", "Without pain, without labour,", "Sometimes a wild-hair'd Mжnad--", "Sometimes a Faun with torches--", "And sometimes, for a moment,", "Passing through the dark stems", "Flowing-robed, the beloved,", "The desired, the divine,", "Beloved Iacchus.", "Ah, cool night-wind, tremulous stars!", "Ah, glimmering water,", "Fitful earth-murmur,", "Dreaming woods!", "Ah, golden-haired, strangely smiling Goddess,", "And thou, proved, much enduring,", "Wave-toss'd Wanderer!", "Who can stand still?", "Ye fade, ye swim, ye waver before me--", "The cup again!", "Faster, faster,", "O Circe, Goddess.", "Let the wild, thronging train,", "The bright procession", "Of eddying forms,", "Sweep through my soul!" ], "linecount": "308" }, { "title": "Tray", "author": "Robert Browning", "lines": [ "Sing me a hero! Quench my thirst", "Of soul, ye bards!", " Quoth Bard the first:", "\"Sir Olaf, the good knight, did don", "His helm, and eke his habergeon ...\"", "Sir Olaf and his bard----!", "", "\"That sin-scathed brow\" (quoth Bard the second),", "\"That eye wide ope as tho' Fate beckoned", "My hero to some steep, beneath", "Which precipice smiled tempting Death ...\"", "You too without your host have reckoned!", "", "\"A beggar-child\" (let's hear this third!)", "\"Sat on a quay's edge: like a bird", "Sang to herself at careless play,", "And fell into the stream. 'Dismay!", "Help, you the standers-by!' None stirred.", "", "\"Bystanders reason, think of wives", "And children ere they risk their lives.", "Over the balustrade has bounced", "A mere instinctive dog, and pounced", "Plumb on the prize. 'How well he dives!", "", "\"'Up he comes with the child, see, tight", "In mouth, alive too, clutched from quite", "A depth of ten feet--twelve, I bet!", "Good dog! What, off again? There's yet", "Another child to save? All right!", "", "\"'How strange we saw no other fall!", "It's instinct in the animal.", "Good dog! But he's a long while under:", "If he got drowned I should not wonder--", "Strong current, that against the wall!", "", "\"'Here he comes, holds in mouth this time", "--What may the thing be? Well, that's prime!", "Now, did you ever? Reason reigns", "In man alone, since all Tray's pains", "Have fished--the child's doll from the slime!'", "", "\"And so, amid the laughter gay,", "Trotted my hero off,--old Tray,--", "Till somebody, prerogatived", "With reason, reasoned: 'Why he dived,", "His brain would show us, I should say.", "", "\"'John, go and catch--or, if needs be,", "Purchase that animal for me!", "By vivisection, at expense", "Of half-an-hour and eighteen pence,", "How brain secretes dog's soul, we'll see!'\"" ], "linecount": "46" }, { "title": "Pigmy seraphs gone astray", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Pigmy seraphs gone astray,", "Velvet people from Vevay,", "Belles from some lost summer day,", "Bees' exclusive coterie.", "Paris could not lay the fold", "Belted down with emerald;", "Venice could not show a cheek", "Of a tint so lustrous meek.", "Never such an ambuscade", "As of brier and leaf displayed", "For my little damask maid.", "I had rather wear her grace", "Than an earl's distinguished face;", "I had rather dwell like her", "Than be Duke of Exeter", "Royalty enough for me", "To subdue the bumble-bee!" ], "linecount": 17, "source": "Project Gutenberg — Poems by Emily Dickinson, Three Series, Complete (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12242)" } ]