Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79. | | | | Dover | | The Cliffs | | William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
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THERE is a cliff whose high and bending head | |
| Looks fearfully in the confinéd deep. * * * * * | |
| Come on, sir; here ’s the place;—stand still. How fearful | |
| And dizzy ’t is, to cast one’s eyes so low! | |
| The crows and choughs, that wing the midway air, | 5 |
| Show scarce so gross as beetles: half-way down | |
| Hangs one that gathers samphire: dreadful trade! | |
| Methinks he seems no bigger than his head: | |
| The fishermen, that walk upon the beach, | |
| Appear like mice; and yond’ tall anchoring bark | 10 |
| Diminished to her cock; her cock, a buoy | |
| Almost too small for sight: the murmuring surge, | |
| That on the unnumbered idle pebbles chafes, | |
| Cannot be heard so high:—I ’ll look no more; | |
| Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight | 15 |
| Topple down headlong. * * * * * | |
| From the dread summit of this chalky bourn | |
| Look up a-height; the shrill-gorged lark so far | |
| Cannot be seen or heard. | | | | |
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