Huddled on deck, one-half that hardy crew 13 Lie shrunk and wither'd in the biting sky, With filmy stare and lips of livid hue, And sapless limbs that stiffen as they lie: While the dire pest-scourge of the frozen zone[6] Rots through the vein, and gnaws the knotted bone. Yet still the hero-remnant, sires perchance 14 Of Rollo's Norman knighthood, dauntless steer Along the deepening horror and advance Upon the invisible foe, loud chanting clear Some lusty song of Thor, the Hammer-God, When o'er those iron seas the Thunderer trod, And pierced the halls of Lok! Still while they sung, 15 The sick men lifted dim their languid eyes, And palely smiled, and with convulsive tongue Chimed to the choral chant, in hollow sighs; Living or dying, those proud hearts the same Swell to the danger, and foretaste the fame. On, ever on, labours the lonely bark, 16 Time in that world seems dead. Nor jocund sun Nor rosy Hesperus dawns; but visible Dark Stands round the ghastly moon. For ever on Labours the lonely bark, through lock'd defiles That crisping coil around the drifting isles. Honour, thrice honour unto ye, O Brave! 17 And ye, our England's sons, in the later day, Whose valour to the shores of Hela gave Names,--as the guides where suns deny the ray! And, borne by hope and vivid strength of soul, Made Man's last landmark Nature's farthest goal! Whom, nor the unmoulded chaos, with its birth 18 Of uncouth monsters, nor the fierce disease, Nor horrible famine, nor the Stygian dearth Of Orcus dead'ning adamantine seas, Scared from the Spirit's grand desire,--TO KNOW! The Galileos of new worlds below! Man the Discoverer--whosoe'er thou art, 19 Honour to thee from all the lyres of song! Honour to him who leads to Nature's heart One footstep nearer! To the Muse belong All who enact what in the song we read; Man's noblest poem is Man's bravest deed. On, ever on,--when veering to the West 20 Into a broader desert leads the Dove; A larger ripple stirs the ocean's breast, A hazier vapour undulates above; Along the ice-fields move the things that live, Large in the life the misty glamours give. In flocks the lazy walrus lay around 21 Gazing and stolid; while the dismal crane Stalk'd curious near;--and on the hinder ground Paused indistinct the Fenris of the main, The insatiate bear,--to sniff the stranger blood,-- For Man till then had vanish'd since the flood,