ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD

III. GOLDSMITH
THE TRAVELLER
THE DESERTED VILLAGE

IV. BURNS
THE COTTER'S SATURDAY NIGHT

V. COLERIDGE
THE ANCIENT MARINER




INTRODUCTION

When a poem is read aloud it is easy to realize that poetry is closely
related to music. Like music it awakens vague, mysterious feelings
which cannot be expressed in ordinary speech; and the person who fails
to catch the subtle melody of a poem gets but little from it even
though he understands perfectly the meaning of the words. To illustrate
this, put into commonplace prose a passage of beautiful verse,--for
instance, lines 358-372 of _The Ancient Mariner_, beginning, "Sometimes
a-dropping from the sky,"--and then compare the prose version with the
original. The two will be found as unlike as the flower after it has
been dissected by the botanist, and the same flower still on the stalk,
opening its petals to the morning sun.

The Greeks divided all poetry into three kinds,--lyric, epic, and