Prelude

• Paragraph one

  “One summer evening (led by her) I found

  A little boat tied to a willow tree

  Within a rocky cove, its usual home.
• Paragraph 2

  Straight I unloosed her chain, and stepping in

  Pushed from the shore. It was an act of stealth

  And troubled pleasure, nor without the voice

  Of mountain-echoes did my boat move on;
• Paragraph 2

  Leaving behind her still, on either side,

  Small circles glittering idly in the moon,

  Until they melted all into one track

  Of sparkling light. But now, like one who rows,

  Proud of his skill, to reach a chosen point
• Paragraph four

  With an unswerving line, I fixed my view

  Upon the summit of a craggy ridge,

  The horizon’s utmost boundary; far above

  Was nothing but the stars and the grey sky
• Paragraph 5

  She was an elfin pinnace; lustily

  I dipped my oars into the silent lake,

  And, as I rose upon the stroke, my boat

  Went heaving through the water like a swan
• When from behind that craggy steep till then

  The horizon’s bound, a huge peak, black and huge,

  As if with voluntary power instinct,

  Upreared its head. I struck and struck again,
• paragraph 7

  And growing still in stature the grim shape

  Towered up between me and the stars, and still,

  For so it seemed, with purpose of its own

  And measured motion like a living thing,

  Strode after me. With trembling oars I turned,

  And through the silent water stole my way

  Back to the covert of the willow tree;”