Page 149 - Lavender-B-8

Now, let’s read a poem about a lighthouse on a rocky shore.

The rocky ledge runs far into the sea,

And on its outer point, some miles away,

The Lighthouse lifts its massive masonry,

A pillar of fire by night, of cloud by day.

Even at this distance I can see the tides,

Upheaving, break unheard along its base,

A speechless wrath, that rises and subsides

In the white lip and tremor of the face.

And as the evening darkens, lo! how bright,

Through the deep purple of the twilight air,

Beams forth the sudden radiance of its light
How is the poet
With strange, unearthly splendor in the glare! trying to portray

the lighthouse?
Just a Minute!
Not one alone; from each projecting cape

And perilous reef along the ocean’s verge,

Starts into life a dim, gigantic shape,

Holding its lantern o’er the restless surge. masonry: refers to the massive stone
construction of the lighthouse
upheaving: rising and lifting of the tides
along the base of the rocky ledge
Like the great giant Christopher it stands tremor: a slight trembling or shaking
1
twilight: the period between daylight and
Upon the brink of the tempestuous wave, darkness when the sky is deep purple
unearthly: something that is otherworldly
Wading far out among the rocks and sands, or supernatural
splendor: great beauty or brilliance
The night-o’ertaken mariner to save. perilous: dangerous or risky
verge: the edge or boundary
o’er: short form of ‘over’
surge: powerful movement of the sea
brink: the edge or the point at which
1 St Christopher is the patron saint of travellers. He was reportedly a something begins or ends
giant of a man. On the advice of a Holy Man, he stationed himself tempestuous: stormy with strong winds
at a particularly dangerous river crossing and carried travellers and waves
across because he was so strong.

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