“JOY THAT NE'ER WAS GIVEN, SAVE TO THE PURE, AND IN THEIR PUREST HOUR,-(S. T. COLERIDGE)

66

129

'OH, NEVER RUDELY WILL I BLAME HIS FAITH— COLERIDGE)

KUBLA KHAN; OR, A VISION IN A DREAM.

A mighty fountain momently was forced;

Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.

Five miles meandering with a mazy motion

Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!

The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure

From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

A damsel with her dulcimer
In a vision once I saw :
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.

Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me
That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,

That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,

And all should cry, Beware! beware

His flashing eyes, his floating hair!

Weave a circle round him thrice,

IN THE MIGHT OF STARS AND ANGELS."-S. T. COLERIDGE.

JOY IS THE SPIRIT AND THE POWER WHICH WEDDING NATURE GIVES TO US IN DOWER."-COLERIDGE.

OH, IT IS PLEASANT, WITH A HEART AT EASE,-(SAMUEL T. COLERIDGE)

130

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE.

And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,

And drunk the milk of Paradise.

[Commenting on the fourth and fifth lines of this magnificent piece of féerie, Leigh Hunt exclaims: "What a grand flood is this, flowing down through measureless caverns to a sea without a sun! I know no other sea equal to it; except Keats's, in his 'Ode to a Nightingale '—and none can surpass that."]

"THE EARNEST STAR OF MANHOOD, MUSING WHAT AND WHENCE IS MAN!"-S. T. COLERIDGE.

TO MAKE THE SHIFTING CLOUDS BE WHAT YOU PLEASE.

"DELIGHT IN LITTLE THINGS, THE BUOYANT CHILD SURVIVING IN THE MAN."-S. T. COLERIDGE.

"ALL NATURE SEEMS AT WORK SLUGS LEAVE THEIR LAIR; THE BEES ARE STIRRING: BIRDS ON THE WING:

"THE BUTTERFLY THE ANCIENT GRECIANS MADE-(S. T. COLERIDGE)

THE SOUL'S FAIR EMBLEM, AND ITS ONLY NAME."-S. T. COLERIDGE.

AND WINTER SLUMBERING IN THE OPEN AIR, WEARS ON HIS SMILING FACE A DREAM OF SPRING!"-COLERIDGE.

YE EAGLES, PLAYMATES OF THE MOUNTAIN-STORM! YE LIGHTNINGS, THE DREAD ARROWS OF THE CLOUDS!-COLERIDGE)

YE SIGNS AND WONDERS OF THE ELEMENT! UTTER FORTH GOD, AND FILL THE HILLS WITH PRAISE!"-S.

T. COLERIDGE.

THAT DREAD AMBASSADOR FROM EARTH TO HEAVEN, GREAT HIERARCH! TELL THOU THE SILENT SKY,—(COLERIDGE)

["This is one of the most perfect poems-for style, feeling, and everything-that ever was written."-Leigh Hunt.)

THE NIGHTINGALE.

O cloud, no relique of the sunken day
Distinguishes the West, no long thin slip
Of sullen light, no obscure trembling hues.
Come, we will rest on this old mossy bridge!

THOU KINGLY SPIRIT THRONED AMONG THE HILLS,

AND TELL THE STARS, AND TELL YON RISING SUN,-EARTH, WITH THOUSAND VOICES, PRAISES GOD!"-Coleridge.