Xxxvii. The Revived Ballad (Percy To Coleridge)

(a) Percy's imitation of equivalence and extension of scheme (Sir Cawline):

Then she | held forth | her lil|y-white hand Towards | that knight | so free; He gave | to it | one gen|til kiss, His heart | was brought | from bale | to bliss, The tears | sterte from | his ee.

(Not bad; might have been improved by "And the tears|.")

(b) Goldsmith (regularised sing-song):

Turn An|geli|na, ev|er dear, My charm|er, turn | to see Thy own, | thy long-|lost Ed|win here Restored | to love | and thee!

(c) Southey (quite sound in principle, and not bad in effect; but a little more poetic powder wanted):

They laid | her where | these four | roads meet Here in | this ver|y place-- The earth | upon | her corpse | was pressed, This post | was driv|en into | her breast, And a stone | is on | her face.

(d) Coleridge (the real thing in simpler and more complex form):

It is | an an|cient ma|riner, And he stop|peth one | of three-- "By thy long | grey beard | and glit|tering eye, Now where|fore stop'st | thou me?" . . . . . . . Her lips | were red, | her looks | were free, Her locks | were yel|low as gold; Her skin | was as white | as lep|rosy-- The night|mare Life-|in-Death | was she, Who thicks | man's blood | with cold. . . . . . . . We list|ened and | looked side|ways up! Fear at | my heart, | as at | a cup, My life-|blood seemed | to sip! The stars | were dim | and thick | the night, The steers|man's face | by his lamp | gleamed white; From the sails | the dew | did drip-- Till clomb | above | the east|ern bar The horn|èd moon, | with one | bright star Within | the neth|er tip.

(The presence and absence of anapæstic substitution here, with its effect in each case, should be carefully studied.)