It is the hush of night, and all between
Thy margin and the mountains, dusk, yet clear, Mellowed and mingling, yet distinctly seen, Save darkened Jura, whose capt heights appear Precipitously steep; and drawing near,There breathes a living fragrance from the shore, Of flowers yet fresh with childhood; on the ear Drops the light drip of the suspended oar,Or chirps the grasshopper one good-night carol more.
And this is in the night. Most glorious night, Thou wert not sent for slumber! Let me be A sharer in thy fierce and far delight,A portion of the tempest and of thee! 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 gleeOf the loud hills shakes with its mountain-mirth, As if they did rejoice o"er a young earthquake"s birth.
Now, where the quick Rhone thus hath cleft his way, The mightiest of the storms hath ta"en his stand; For here not one but many make their play,And fling their thunderbolts from hand to band,Flashing and cast around; of all the hand,The brightest through these parted hills hath forked His lightnings, as if he did understandThat in such gaps as desolation worked,There the hot shaft should blast whatever therein lurked.
The morn is up again, the dewy morn,
With breath all incense, and with cheek all bloom, Laughing the clouds away with playful scorn,And living as if earth contained no tomb, And glowing into day: we may resume The march of our existence; and thus I,Still on thy shores, fair Leman! may find roomAnd food for meditation, nor pass byMuch that may give us pause, if pondered fittingly.
Lord Byron, in Childe Harold"s Pilgrimage.
Author.-George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) was born in London and educated at Harrow and Cambridge. His chief longer poems are Childe Harold, The Giaour (jour), The Corsair, Lara, The Siege of Corinth, Don Juan, and The Prisoner of Chillon. Probably Don Juan and TheVision of Judgment are read more to-day than the rest of his poetry. He died of fever in Greece, whither he had gone to help the Greeks to fight for their independence against the Turks.
General Note.-Find the Jura Mountains on the map. The lake isthe Lake of Geneva (Leman). Trace the course of the Rhone. Why is a storm in the mountains more impressive than a storm on the plains ? The thunderbolt, a quick discharge of lightning, was once thought to be a dart or bolt flung by the gods. Mark the transition from the hush of night to the fury of the storm and the peace of the following morning. Pick out the choice phrases. Write a deion of a thunderstorm.