Dividing and gliding and sliding, And falling and brawling and sprawling, And driving and riving and striving, And sprinkling and twinkling and wrinkling, And sounding and bounding and rounding, And bubbling and troubling and doubling, And grumbling and rumbling and tumbling, And chattering and battering and shattering; Retreating and beating and meeting and sheeting, Delaying and straying and playing and spraying, Advancing and prancing and glancing and dancing, Recoiling, turmoiling, and toiling and boiling, And gleaming and streaming and steaming and beaming, And rushing and flushing and brushing and gushing, And flapping and rapping and clapping and slapping, And curling and whirling and purling and twirling, And thumping and plumping and bumping and jumping. And dashing and flashing and splashing and clashing; And so never ending, but always descending, Sounds and motions forever and ever are blending, All at once, and all o'er, with a mighty uproar: And this way the water comes down at Lodore. HELPS TO STUDY. Biographical: Robert Southey, 1774-1843, was a great English poet. In 1813 he was made poet laureate. Notes and Questions. Who was "laureate"? What is it to be "laureate"? Who was the king to whom Southey was poet-laureate? To whom beside the king does he say he is laureate? What do you think he means by this? Find this cataract on your map (Derwent River in Cumberland). What is a cataract? Have you ever seen one? Find changes in rhythm as the stream advances. Where in the poem does Southey first use lines in which two words rhyme? In which three words rhyme? Why does the poet use all these rhymes? Compare the first and second stanzas as to rate. Point out lines that are especially pleasing to you. Words and Phrases for Discussion. "cataract" "tarn" "brake" "glade" "helter-skelter" "hurry-skurry" "vocation" "recreation" "fell" * * * * * THE BELLS EDGAR ALLAN POE Hear the sledges with the bells-- Silver bells! What a world of merriment their melody foretells! How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, In the icy air of night! While the stars that oversprinkle All the heavens, seem to twinkle With a crystalline delight; Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells-- From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.