ANNABEL LEE

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me—

Yes! that was the reason (as all men know,

In this kingdom by the sea)

That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-

Of

many far wiser than we

And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:

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For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side.
Of my darling-my darling-my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea-
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

SUGGESTIVE EXERCISES

1. What was the kingdom by the sea?

2. What is the great thought in the first stanza?

3. What is a love that is more than love?

4. Poe was twenty-seven when he married. Why does he say, "I was a child"?

5. What thought is repeated?

6. What characteristic of the poet is revealed in this repeated thought?

7. What expression in the poem shows the intensity of the love? 8. What kind of love does he indicate is deathless?

9. How does he account for the death of Annabel Lee?

10. Why does he blame the wind for killing her?

11. Who was her highborn kinsman?

12. Why has the author chosen the kingdom and the tomb by the "sounding sea" as an appropriate setting?

13. Why was their love stronger than that of those older and far wiser?

14. Would the white lily or the red rose best symbolize the nature of this love?

15. The new blown snow or the flaming sunset?

REFERENCES

WILLIAM DOUGLAS: Annie Laurie.

BURNS: To Mary in Heaven.

COWPER: On the Receipt of My Mother's Picture.

BYRON: Bright be the Place of Thy Soul. She Walks in Beauty. Fare Thee Well.

BROWNING: Evelyn Hope. Last Ride Together. My Star. Prospice. WHITTIER: Benedicite.

OWEN MEREDITH: Indian Love-Song.

LOUISA MCCARTNEY CRAWFORD: Kathleen Mavourneen.
PINCKNEY: A Health.

MOORE: Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms.
TAYLOR: Bedouin Song.

WORDSWORTH: She Was a Phantom of Delight.

ROGERS: The Rosary.

THOMAS MOORE: The Lake of the Dismal Swamp.

THE BAREFOOT BOY

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER

ALTHOUGH his poetry is characterized as being

rugged as his New England hills, few have written more feelingly of persons and things in the humbler walks of life than John G. Whittier.

Himself sprung from this rank in life, he had sounded

for the extinction of slavery, much that he wrote is tinged with an intensity that keeps his native warmth of heart concealed. It is in poems like the following that his close sympathy with common folk and love for childhood are shown. In this poem the good poet has become for the time a boy again. He throws himself into the spirit of his theme and gives us a vigorous and lovely word picture of his own boyhood. He splashes in the fish-pond, plunges through the berry thickets, climbs the walnut trees, and feasts on the good things of forest and farm with an alluring gayety that gives place to a somber philosophy in the closing lines.

What a simple doctrine of happiness is his!

The poem has been deservedly popular on account of its pervading kindliness and sympathy and may be considered a reflection of the gentle life in which it had its origin.

THE BAREFOOT BOY

Blessings on thee, little man,
Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan!
With thy turned-up pantaloons,
And thy merry whistled tunes;
With thy red lip, redder still
Kissed by strawberries on the hill;

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With the sunshine on thy face,

Through thy torn brim's jaunty grace;

From my heart I give thee joy,

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I was once a barefoot boy!

Prince thou art, the grown-up man
Only is republican.

Let the million-dollared ride!

Barefoot, trudging at his side,
Thou hast more than he can buy
In the reach of ear and eye,—

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THE BAREFOOT BOY

Outward sunshine, inward joy:
Blessings on thee, barefoot boy!

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Oh for boyhood's painless play,
Sleep that wakes in laughing day,
Health that mocks the doctor's rules,
Knowledge never learned of schools:
Of the wild bee's morning chase,

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Of the wild flower's time and place,
Flight of fowl and habitude
Of the tenants of the wood;

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How the tortoise bears his shell,

How the woodchuck digs his cell,

And the ground-mole sinks his well;
How the robin feeds her young,
How the oriole's nest is hung;

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