LORD ULLIN'S DAUGHTER THOMAS CAMPBELL A chieftain to the Highlands bound "Now who be ye, would cross Lochgyle, And this, Lord Ullin's daughter. "And fast before her father's men 10 Three days we've fled together, For should he find us in the glen, My blood would stain the heather. "His horsemen hard behind us rideShould they our steps discover, 15 Then who will cheer my bonny bride When they have slain her lover?" 20 Out spoke the hardy Highland wight, "And by my word! the bonny bird So though the waves are raging white, I'll row you o'er the ferry." 25 By this the storm grew loud apace, The water-wraith was shrieking; And in the scowl of Heaven each face Grew dark as they were speaking. 20 For, sore dismayed, through storm and shade His child he did discover; One lovely hand she stretched for aid, And one was round her lover. "Come back! come back!" he cried in grief, "Across this stormy water; And I'll forgive your Highland chief, My daughter!-Oh, my daughter!" 25 'Twas vain; the loud waves lashed the shore, Return or aid preventing; The waters wild went o'er his child, NOTES AND QUESTIONS Biography. Thomas Campbell (1777-1844), a popular Scotch poet, was born in Glasgow, where his father was a prominent merchant. At an early age Campbell began to write poetry, and at twenty-one had published "The Pleasures of Hope," a poem that was received with much favor. He excelled in war poetry, of which "Hohenlinden," "The Battle of the Baltic," and "Ye Mariners of England" are most widely read. Of his ballads, "Lochiel" and "Lord Ullin's Daughter are best known. Campbell is remembered not alone for these stirring narrative poems, but also for the excellence of favorite lines that he wrote, such as "To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die." Discussion. 1. Tell briefly the story of the poem. 2. What picture do the first two stanzas give you? 3. What reason did the boatman give for saying he would row them over the ferry? 4. What change of time do you notice in the third stanza on page 197? 5. What does the fourth stanza on page 197 tell you? 6. Which stanza tells you of the tragedy? 7. What other poems of the sea have you read in this book? 8. What characteristics of the ballad has this poem? 9. Find in the Glossary the meaning of pound; water-wraith. Phrases for Study to the Highlands bound, 196, 1 grew loud apace, 196, 25 in the scowl of Heaven, 196, 27 waters fast prevailing, 197, 14 fatal shore, 197, 15 A Suggested Problem. Notice the quotation from Campbell in the Biography; make a list of similar “favorite lines" from selections that you have read in this book. SPANISH WATERS JOHN MASEFIELD Spanish waters, Spanish waters, you are ringing in my ears, There's a surf breaks on Los Muertos, and it never stops to roar, And it's there we came to anchor, and it's there we went ashore, Where the blue lagoon is silent amid snags of rotting trees, Dropping like the clothes of corpses cast up by the seas. 5 We anchored at Los Muertos when the dipping sun was red, We bore it through the marshes in a half-score battered chests, 10 Sinking, in the sucking quagmires, to the sunburn on our breasts, Heaving over tree-trunks, gasping, damning at the flies and heat, Longing for a long drink, out of silver, in the ship's cool lazareet. The moon came white and ghostly as we laid the treasure down; There was gear there'd make a beggarman as rich as Lima Town, 15 Copper charms and silver trinkets from the chests of Spanish crews, Gold doubloons and double moidores, louis d'ors and ortagues. Clumsy yellow-metal earrings from the Indians of Brazil, Uncut emeralds out of Rio, bezoar stone from Guayaquil, Silver, in the crude and fashioned, pots of old Arica bronze, 20 Jewels from the bones of Incas desecrated by the Dons. We smoothed the place with mattocks, and we took and blazed the tree Which marks yon where the gear is hid that none will ever see, And we laid aboard the ship again, and south away we steers, Through the loud surf of Los Muertos, which is beating in my ears. 25 I'm the last alive that knows it. All the rest have gone their ways, It's not the way to end it all. I'm old and nearly blind, And an old man's past's a strange thing, for it never leaves his mind. And I see in dreams, awhiles, the beach, the sun's disk dipping red, And the tall ship, under topsails, swaying in past Nigger Head. 6 I'd be glad to step ashore there. Glad to take a pick and go NOTES AND QUESTIONS Biography. John Masefield (1875- ) is an English poet and playwright. When he was a small boy he had a mania for running away from home; to satisfy this longing his father sent him to sea when he was fourteen years old, in charge of the captain of a sailing vessel. During his travels he collected much material which he afterwards used in his poems. On one of his trips he landed in New York City, where he gained a considerable knowledge of American customs. Masefield has published several volumes of poems, among which his Salt-Water Ballads is most widely known. "Spanish Waters" is taken from The Story of a Round House and Other Poems. Early in 1916 Masefield came to the United States on a lecture tour. This visit aroused in Americans much interest in him and his writings. During the World War Masefield served in France in connection with the Red Cross. He also served in the campaign on the Gallipoli Peninsula and wrote a splendid account of it. Discussion. 1. Who is addressed in the first stanza? 2. What comparison do you find in this stanza? 3. Tell the story in your own words. 4. Where was the treasure secured? 5. What marks of the ballad do you find in this poem? 6. What do you particularly like in the selection? 7. This poem is rich in musical quality, about which you read on page 20; can you tell what gives it this quality? Compare it with Wordsworth's "The Daffodils"; which seems to you the more musical? 8. What reference to Spanish treasure-ships is made by Lowell in "To the Dandelion"? 9. Find in the Glossary the meaning of: lazareet; gear; desecrated; Don; mattock; blazed; awhiles. 10. Pronounce: quagmire; palm. |