Classic and Contemporary Poetry
DOUGLAS'S RIDE, by EMILY JANE BRONTE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Well, narrower draw the circle round Last Line: He need not fly the dead -- Alternate Author Name(s): Bell, Ellis | ||||||||
Well, narrower draw the circle round And hush that organ's solemn sound And quench the lamp and stir the fire To rouse its flickering radiance higher; Loop up the window's velvet veil That we may hear the night-wind wail -- For wild those gusts and well their chimes Blend with a song of troubled times -- Song What rider up Gobelrin's glen Has spurred his straining steed, And fast and far from living men Has pressed with maddening speed? I saw his hoof-prints mark the rock When swift he left the plain I heard deep down, the echoing shock Re-echo back again. From cliff to cliff, through rock and heath That coal-black courser bounds; Nor heeds the river pent beneath, Nor marks how fierce it sounds. With streaming hair and forehead bare And mantle waving wide His master rides; the eagles there Soar up on every side: The goats fly by with timid cry Their realm so rashly won: They pause -- he still ascends on high They gaze, but he is gone. O gallant horse hold on thy course! The road is tracked behind -- Spur, rider, spur, or vain thy force Death comes on every wind. Roared thunder loud from that pitchy cloud? [From] it the torrents flow? Or woke the breeze in the swaying trees That frown so dark below? He breathes at last, when the valley is past; He rests on the grey rock's brow. What ails thee steed? At thy master's need, Wilt thou prove faithless now? No, hardly checked, with ears erect, The charger champed his rein, Ere his quivering limbs, all foam-beflecked, Were off like light again. Hark through the pass, with threatening crash Comes on the increasing roar! But what shall brave the deep, deep wave? The deadly path before? Their feet are dyed in a darker tide Who dare those dangers drear -- Their breasts have burst through the battle's worst And why should they tremble here? Strong hearts they bear and arms as good To conquer or to fall They dash into the boiling flood, They gain the rock's steep wall -- 'Now my bold men this one pass more This narrow chasm of stone And Douglas -- for our sovereign's gore Shall yield us back his own' -- I hear their ever nearing tread Sound through the granite glen, There is a tall pine overhead Laid by the mountain men That dizzy bridge which no horse could track Has checked the outlaw's way; There like a wild beast he turns back And grimly stands at bay. Why smiles he so when far below He sees the toiling chase? The ponderous tree sways heavily And totters from its place -- They raise their eyes for the sunny skies Are lost in sudden shade, But Douglas neither shrinks nor flies -- He need not fly the dead -- | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A DEATH SCENE by EMILY JANE BRONTE AT CASTLE WOOD by EMILY JANE BRONTE D.G.C. TO J.A by EMILY JANE BRONTE F. DE SAMARA TO A.G.A. by EMILY JANE BRONTE FAITH AND DESPONDENCY by EMILY JANE BRONTE LINES BY CLAUDIA by EMILY JANE BRONTE MY COMFORTER by EMILY JANE BRONTE PLEAD FOR ME by EMILY JANE BRONTE |
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