INDEX

AN ESSAY ON MAN by ALEXANDER POPE

  Look round our world; behold the chain of love

Combining all below and all above.

See plastic nature working to this end,

The single atoms each to other tend,

Attract, attracted to, the next in place

Form'd and impell'd its neighbour to embrace.

See matter next, with various life endu'd,

Press to one centre still, the gen'ral good.

See dying vegetables life sustain,

See life dissolving vegetate again:

All forms that perish other forms supply,

( By turns we catch the vital breath, and die)

Like bubbles on the sea of matter born,

They rise, they break, and to that sea return.

Nothing is foreign: parts relate to whole;

One all extending all preserving soul

Connects each being, greatest with the least;

Made beast in aid of man, and man of beast;

All serv'd all serving! nothing stands alone;

The chain holds on, and where it ends, unknown.

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BADGER by JOHN CLARE

When midnight comes a host of dogs and men

Go  out and track the badger to his den,

And put a sack within the hole, and lie

Till the old grunting badger passes by.

He comes and hears - they let the strongest loose,

The old fox hears the noise and drops the goose,

The poacher shoots and hurries from the cry,

And the old hare half wounded buzzes by.

They get a forked stick to bear him down

And clap the dogs and take him to the town,

And bait him all the day with many dogs,

And laugh and shout and fright the scampering hogs.

He runs along and bites at all he meets:

They shout and hollo down the noisy streets.

He turns about to face the loud uproar

And drives the rebels to their very door.

The frequent stone is hurled and where'er they go;

When badgers fight, then every one's a foe.

The dogs are clapt and urged to join the fray;

The badger turns and drives them all away.

Though scarcely half as big, demure and small,

He fights the dogs for hours and beats them all.

The heavy mastiff, savage in the fray,

Lies down and licks his feet and turns away.

The bulldog knows his match and waxes cold,

The badger grins and never leaves his hold.

He drives the crowd and follows at their heels

And bites them thourgh  - the drunkard swears and reels.

The frighted women take the boys away,

The blackguard laughs and hurries on the fray,

He tries to reach the woods, an arkward race,

But sticks and cudgels quickly stop the chase.

He runs agen and drives the noisy crowd

And beats the many dogs in noises loud.

He drives away and beats them every one,

And then they loose them all and set them on.

He falls as dead and kicked by boys and men,

Then starts and grins and drives the crowd agen,

Till kicked and torn and beaten out he lies

And leaves his hold and cackles, groans and dies

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CROCODILE  by LEWIS CARROLL

How doth the little crocodile

   Improve his shining tail,

And pour the waters of the Nile

   On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin,

   How neatly spreads his claws,

And welcomes little fished in,

   With gently smiling jaws!

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DRINKING by ABRAHAM COWLEY

The thirsty earth soaks up the rain,

And drinks and gapes for drink again;

The plants suck in the earth, and are

With constant drinking fresh and fair;

The sea itself ( which one would think

should have but little need of drink)

Drinks ten thousand rivers up,

So fill'd that they o'er flow the cup.

The busy Sun ( and one would guess

By's drunken fiery face no less)

DRinks up the sea, and when he's done,

The Moon and Stars drink up the Sun.

They drink and dance by their own light,

They drink and revel all the night.

Nothing in Nature's sober found,

But an eternal health goes round.

Fill up the bowl, then fill it high,

Fill all the glasses there, for why

Should every creature drink but I ?

Why, man of morals, tell me why ?

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DAFFODILS by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

I wander'd lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host of golden daffodils,

Beside the lake, beneath the trees

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They strech'd in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: -

A poet could not but be gay

In such a jocund company!

I gazed - and gazed - but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought.

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills

And dances with the daffodils.

INDEX

NOW by ROBERT BROWNING

Out of your whole life give but a moment!

All of your life that has gone before,

All to come after it, - so you ignore,

So you make perfect the present, _ condense,

In a rapture of rage, for perfection's endowment,

Thought and feeling and soul and sense -

Merged in a moment which gives me at last

You around me for once, you beneath me, above me -

Me - sure that despite of time future, time past, -

This tick of our life-time's one moment you love me !

How long such suspension may linger? Ah, Sweet -

the moment eternal - just that and no more -

When ecstasy's utmost we clutch at the core

while cheeks burn, arms open, eyes shut and lips meet!