98 ECHOES AMONG THE ALPS 



How the lit lake shines, a phosphoric sea ! 

 And the big rain comes dancing to the Earth ! 

 And now again 'tis black ; and now, the glee 

 Of the loud hills shakes with its mountain-mirth 

 As if they did rejoice o'er a young Earthquake's birth. 



LORD BYRON. 



[NOTE. These two magnificent stanzas from CJiilde Harold's 

 Pilgrimage are very characteristic of Byron's genius and 

 poetical power. They describe the thunderstorm at midnight 

 of June 13, 1816. Perhaps there is a straining of language in 

 making ' the glee of the hills shake with mirth '.] 



EXERCISE 

 Scan 1. 14. 



THE ECHOES OF KILLARNEY 



THE splendour falls on castle walls 



And snowy summits old in story: 

 The long light shakes across the lakes, 

 And the wild cataract leaps in glory. 

 Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying, 

 Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying. 



O hark, O hear! how thin and clear, 

 And thinner, clearer, farther going ! 

 O sweet and far from cliff and scar 



The horns of Elfland faintly blowing ! 10 



Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying : 

 Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying. 



TENNYSON. 



[The short lyric, commonly known as ' the Bugle Song ', is 

 scarcely less popular than the earlier Break, break, break. It 

 was suggested to Tennyson by the scenery, and especially by the 



