Read the excerpt from "The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe.Hear the sledges with the bells—Silver bells!What a world of merriment their melody foretells!How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,In the icy air of night!While the stars that oversprinkleAll the heavens, seem to twinkleWith a crystalline delight
Read the excerpt from "Parsley” by Rita Dove.The word the general’s chosen is parsley. . . . the general sees the fields of sugar cane, lashed by rain and streaming. He sees his mother’s smile, the teeth gnawed to arrowheads. He hears the Haitians sing without R’s as they swing the great machetes: Katalina, they sing, Katalina,mi madle, mi amol en muelte. God knows his mother was no stupid woman; she could roll an R like a queen. Even a parrot can roll an R!
Read the excerpt from "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by William Wordsworth.For oft, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the daffodils.
Read the excerpt from "The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe. What a tale their terror tellsOf Despair!How they clang, and clash, and roar!What a horror they outpourOn the bosom of the palpitating air!
Read the excerpt from "The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe.Hear the mellow wedding bells,Golden bells!What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!Through the balmy air of nightHow they ring out their delight!From the molten-golden notes,And all in tune,What a liquid ditty floatsTo the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloatsOn the moon!
Read "Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” by William Wordsworth.Earth has not any thing to show more fair:Dull would he be of soul who could pass byA sight so touching in its majesty:This City now doth, like a garment, wearThe beauty of the morning; silent, bare,Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lieOpen unto the fields, and to the sky;All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.Never did sun more beautifully steepIn his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!The river glideth at his own sweet will:Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;And all that mighty heart is lying still!
Read the excerpt from "Parsley” by Rita Dove.El General has found his word: perejil.Who says it, lives. He laughs, teeth shining out of the swamp. The cane appears
Read the excerpt from "Parsley” by Rita Dove.The general remembers the tiny green sprigs men of his village wore in their capes to honor the birth of a son. He willorder many, this time, to be killedfor a single, beautiful word.
Read the excerpt from "Parsley” by Rita Dove.There is a parrot imitating springin the palace, its feathers parsley green.Out of the swamp the cane appearsto haunt us, and we cut it down. El Generalsearches for a word; he is all the worldthere is. Like a parrot imitating spring
Read the excerpt from "The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe.Hear the loud alarum bells—Brazen bells!What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!In the startled ear of nightHow they scream out their affright!Too much horrified to speak,They can only shriek, shriek,Out of tune,In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,Leaping higher, higher, higher,With a desperate desire,And a resolute endeavorNow—now to sit or never,By the side of the pale-faced moon.Oh, the bells, bells, bells!What a tale their terror tellsOf Despair!
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