Clears the entry like a hound,

Keeps the passage, as its inch of way were the wide sea's profound! 75 See, safe thro' shoal and rock,

How they follow in a flock,
Not a ship that misbehaves, not a keel that grates the ground,

Not a spar that comes to grief !
The peril, see, is past.
80 All are harbored to the last,

And just as Hervé Riel hollas “Anchor !” sure as fate,
Up the English come,—too late!
So, the storm subsides to calm:

They see the green trees wave
85 On the heights o’erlooking Grève.

Hearts that bled are stanched with balm. “Just our rapture to enhance,

Let the English rake the bay, Gnash their teeth and glare askance 90 As they cannonade away!

’Neath rampired Solidor pleasant riding on the Rance !" How hope succeeds despair on each captain's countenance ! Out burst all with one accord,

"This is paradise for hell! 95 Let France, let France's king,

Thank the man that did the thing !" What a shout, and all one word,

“Hervé Riel !” As he stepped in front once more; 100 Not a symptom of surprise

In the frank blue Breton eyes,Just the same man as before.

Then said Damfreville, "My friend,

I must speak out at the end,
105 Though I find the speaking hard;

Praise is deeper than the lips :
You have saved the king his ships;

You must name your own reward.
Faith, our sun was near eclipse !

110

Demand whate'er you will,
France remains your debtor still.
Ask to heart's content, and have! or my name's not Damfreville.”
Then a beam of fun outbroke

On the bearded mouth that spoke,
115 As the honest heart laughed through

Those frank eyes of Breton blue:“Since I needs must say my say,

Since on board the duty's done,

And from Malo Roads to Croisic Point, what is it but a run! 120 Since 'tis ask and have, I maySince the others

go

ashoreCome! A good whole holiday!

Leave to go and see my wife, whom I call the Belle Aurore !"

That he asked and that he got,—nothing more. 125 Name and deed alike are lost: Not a pillar nor a post

In his Croisic keeps alive the feat as it befell; Not a head in white and black

On a single fishing-smack, 130 In memory of the man but for whom had gone to wrack All that France saved from the fight whence England bore the

bell. Go to Paris : rank on rank

Search the heroes flung pell-mell On the Louvre, face and flank! 135

You shall look long enough ere you come to Hervé Riel. So, for better and for worse, Hervé Riel, accept my verse! In my verse, Hervé Riel, do thou once more Save the squadron, honor France, love thy wife the Belle Aurore !

HELPS TO STUDY

Notes and Questions

Find on your map: Saint Malo, le

Croisic (St. Croisic), Plymouth
Sound, Paris.

What forfeit did Hervé Riel pro

pose in case he failed to pilot the ships safely in

The splendor falls on castle walls

And snowy summits, old in story;
The long light shakes across the lakes,

And the wild cataract leaps in glory.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying;
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

0, hark! 0, hear! how thin and clear,

And thinner, clearer, farther going !

10

0, sweet and far from cliff and scar,

The horns of Elfland, faintly blowing !
Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying;
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

15

0, love, they die in yon rich sky.;

They faint on hill or field or river.
Our echoes roll from soul to soul,

And grow forever and forever.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying ;
And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying.

HELPS TO STUDY

Notes and Questions Why does the poet use “splendor” Line 16—They "die” and “faint"

instead of "sun-set,” and “sum while "our echoes” 66 roll” and

mits' instead of "mountains''g “grow.” Note that “grow" is Line 2–What is meant by “old the important word. in story''

Note the refrain and the changes Line 3—Why does the poet use in its use; in the first stanza"shakes")

the bugle; in the second-the Line 13—To what does "they” echo; in the third-the spiritual relate

echo. Line 15—Explain.

Point out lines that have rhyme Line 15—Why does the poet use within themselves. “roll”,

Words and Phrases for Discussion "wild echoes''

"horns of Elfland' "purple glens" “cliff and scar". "rich sky''

THE BROOK

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

I COME from haunts of coot and hern,

I make a sudden sally,
And sparkle out among the fern,

To bicker down a valley.