Note 115 — Chapter VI · THE LAST STAGE—TENNYSON TO SWINBURNE
Reading edition
[116] Morning | and eve|ning Maids heard | the gob|lins cry: "Come buy | our or|chard fruits, Come buy, | come buy: Apples and | quinces, Lemons and | oranges, Plump unpecked | cherries, Melons and | raspberries." . . . . . . .
(Where, as almost always, the dactylic lines can be made anapæstic with anacrusis, "Mel|ons and rasp|berries," etc.)
[117] She clipped | a pre|cious gold|en lock, She dropped | a tear | more rare | than pearl, Then sucked | their fruit | globes fair | or red. Sweeter | than hon|ey from | the rock, Stronger | than man-|rejoic|ing wine, Clearer | than wa|ter flowed | that juice.
[118] But ev|er in | the noon|light She pined | and pined | away; Sought them | by night | and day, Found them | no more, | but dwin|dled and | grew grey; Then fell | with the | first snow, While to | this day | no grass | will grow Where she | lies low: I plant|ed dai|sies there | a year | ago That nev|er blow.
[119] Laughed every | goblin When they | spied her | peeping: Came towards her | hobbling, Flying, | running, | leaping, | Puffing and | blowing.
[120] Where sun|less riv|ers weep Their waves | into | the deep, She sleeps | a charm|èd sleep: Awake | her not. Led by | a sin|gle star, She came | from ver|y far, To seek, | where sha|dows are, Her plea|sant lot.
[121] Come to | me in | the si|lence of | the night; Come in | the speak|ing si|lence of | a dream; Come with | soft round|ed cheeks | and eyes | as bright As sun|light on | a stream; Come back | in tears, O mem|ory, | hope, love, | of fin|ished years.
[122] One by one | slowly, Ah | how sad | and slow! Wailing and | praying The spir|its rise | and go: Clear stainless | spirits, White, as | white as | snow; Pale spirits, | wailing For an | over|throw.
[123] "Oh! whence | do you come,|| my de|ar friend, | to me? With your gold|en hair || all fallen | below | your knee, And your face | as white || as snow|drops on | the lea, And your voice | as hol||low as | the hol|low sea?"
(This last extract is a most audacious, but quite justifiable, fingering of the ordinary five-foot iambic line, with substitutions and adaptations which give it now anapæstic, now trochaic undertone. The first exhibits, in a batch of five from Goblin Market, the same audacity and the same success in varying line-length as well as constitution; (2), (3), and (4), with more of what is commonly called "regularity," show the same various address.)