THE BELLE OF THE SHANNON. 1

1 The title and metre are suggested by Mahony's most musical

verses in praise of The Bells of Shandon.

I.

 

With swate sensashuns,

And palpitashuns,

And suspirashuns,

Which thrill me through!

Here in Limerick, city Of maidens² pretty,

A tender ditty I'll chant to you.

II.

 

With maid and man on,

A stamer ran on,

Where silver Shannon In glory glames!

Shure, all big rivers He bates to shivers,

Rowling majestic⁴,

This King o' Strames!

III.

 

There, blandly⁵ baming,

As we went staming,

Och, was I draming?

I first did note,

Such a swate fairy,

As super mare⁶,

No, nor yet in aere,

Did iver float!

IV.

 

Her very bonnet⁷

Desarves a sonnet⁸,

And I'd write one on it,

If I'd the time.

But something fairer,

And dear, and rarer,

In coorse, the wearer,

Shall have my rhyme.

V.

 

With eyes like mayteors,

And parfect phaytures,

Which aisy bate³ yours,

Great Vanus, fair!

I'll ne'er forget her,

As first I met her,

On (what place betther?)

The cabin stair!

VI.

 

Her darlint face is

Beyond all praises,

And thin for graces,

There's not her like.

All other lasses

She just surpasses,

As wine molasses,

Or salmon⁹ pike!

VII.

 

Her hair's the brightest,

Her hand the whitest,

Her step the lightest,—

Ah me, those fate!

You need not tell a—bout

Cinderella,

For hers excel a-

ny boots you'll mate!

VIII.

 

With look the purest,

That ever tourist,

From eyes azurest,

Saw anywhere,

I met her blushing,

As I went rushing,

For bitter beer, down

The cabin stair.

IX.

 

Then she sat and smiled, where,

On luggage piled there, 1

She me beguiled,—ne'er

A smile like that!

And I began to Compose a canto¹⁰

On Frank's portmanteau,

Whereon she sat.

X.

 

I've read in story,

What dades of glory,

Knights¹¹ grand and gory¹²,

For love have wrought¹³.

But ne'er was duel¹⁴,

Nor torture cruel,

I'd shun¹, my jewel,

If you besought¹⁵!

XI.

 

For her voice is swatest,

Her shape the natest,

And she complatest

Of womankind.

And while that river,

In sunlight quiver,

Oh, sure, he'll niver

Her aqual find

XII.

 

Troth, since we've parted,

I've felt down-hearted,

And disconsarted,—

A cup too low!

And so I think, boys,

We'd better drink, boys,

Her health in whiskey,

Before we go.

1 This luggage included a long narrow box, and, from an

aperture¹⁶ at the top there emerged from time to time a

peacock's head, exhibiting (despite the presence of Juno) an

expression of sublime¹⁷ misery¹⁸. I doubt whether that bird will

ever take heart to spread his tail again!

“He'll forget her to-morrow morning,” said Frank to his neighbour, in a pretended whisper, which all could hear, “and it's better so, poor fellow, for the girl's ridiculously fond of me, and I've got no end of her hair in my pocket.”

 

Of course, there were plenty of fools to giggle¹⁹; but I never could see any wit in lies. I am quite positive, that, when we parted, she returned my regretful gaze, and

 

“Phyllida amo ante alias²⁰; nam me discedere flevit.”

 

1 shun   

vt.避开，回避，避免

参考例句：

• Materialists face truth,whereas idealists shun it.唯物主义者面向真理，唯心主义者则逃避真理。
• This extremist organization has shunned conventional politics.这个极端主义组织有意避开了传统政治。

2 maidens   

处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球

参考例句：

• stories of knights and fair maidens 关于骑士和美女的故事
• Transplantation is not always successful in the matter of flowers or maidens. 花儿移栽往往并不成功，少女们换了环境也是如此。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

3 bate   

v.压制；减弱；n.（制革用的）软化剂

参考例句：

• The cruel landlord would bate him no rent.那个狠心的地主不肯给他减租。
• I was unable to bate my enthusiasm.我无法抑制自己的热切的心情。

4 majestic   

adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的

参考例句：

• In the distance rose the majestic Alps.远处耸立着雄伟的阿尔卑斯山。
• He looks majestic in uniform.他穿上军装显得很威风。

5 blandly   

adv.温和地，殷勤地

参考例句：

• There is a class of men in Bristol monstrously prejudiced against Blandly. 布里斯托尔有那么一帮人为此恨透了布兰德利。 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
• \"Maybe you could get something in the stage line?\" he blandly suggested. “也许你能在戏剧这一行里找些事做，\"他和蔼地提议道。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

6 mare   

n.母马，母驴

参考例句：

• The mare has just thrown a foal in the stable.那匹母马刚刚在马厩里产下了一只小马驹。
• The mare foundered under the heavy load and collapsed in the road.那母马因负载过重而倒在路上。

7 bonnet   

n.无边女帽；童帽

参考例句：

• The baby's bonnet keeps the sun out of her eyes.婴孩的帽子遮住阳光，使之不刺眼。
• She wore a faded black bonnet garnished with faded artificial flowers.她戴着一顶褪了色的黑色无边帽，帽上缀着褪了色的假花。

8 sonnet   

n.十四行诗

参考例句：

• The composer set a sonnet to music.作曲家为一首十四行诗谱了曲。
• He wrote a sonnet to his beloved.他写了一首十四行诗，献给他心爱的人。

9 salmon   

n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的

参考例句：

• We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
• Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗？

10 canto   

n.长篇诗的章

参考例句：

• It's the fourth canto of Byron's "Childe Harold".这是拜伦长诗《恰尔德·哈罗尔德游记》的第四章。
• The Fifth Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam tells of innumerable universes.《圣典博伽瓦谭》第五篇讲述了有无数宇宙存在。

11 knights   

骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马

参考例句：

• stories of knights and fair maidens 关于骑士和美女的故事
• He wove a fascinating tale of knights in shining armour. 他编了一个穿着明亮盔甲的骑士的迷人故事。

12 gory   

adj.流血的；残酷的

参考例句：

• I shuddered when I heard the gory details.我听到血淋淋的详情，战栗不已。
• The newspaper account of the accident gave all the gory details.报纸上报道了这次事故中所有骇人听闻的细节。

13 wrought   

v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的

参考例句：

• Events in Paris wrought a change in British opinion towards France and Germany.巴黎发生的事件改变了英国对法国和德国的看法。
• It's a walking stick with a gold head wrought in the form of a flower.那是一个金质花形包头的拐杖。

14 duel   

n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争

参考例句：

• The two teams are locked in a duel for first place.两个队为争夺第一名打得难解难分。
• Duroy was forced to challenge his disparager to duel.杜洛瓦不得不向诋毁他的人提出决斗。

15 besought   

v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的过去式和过去分词 )；(beseech的过去式与过去分词)

参考例句：

• The prisoner besought the judge for mercy/to be merciful. 囚犯恳求法官宽恕[乞求宽大]。 来自辞典例句
• They besought him to speak the truth. 他们恳求他说实话. 来自辞典例句

16 aperture   

n.孔，隙，窄的缺口

参考例句：

• The only light came through a narrow aperture.仅有的光亮来自一个小孔。
• We saw light through a small aperture in the wall.我们透过墙上的小孔看到了亮光。

17 sublime   

adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的

参考例句：

• We should take some time to enjoy the sublime beauty of nature.我们应该花些时间去欣赏大自然的壮丽景象。
• Olympic games play as an important arena to exhibit the sublime idea.奥运会，就是展示此崇高理念的重要舞台。

18 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

19 giggle   

n.痴笑，咯咯地笑；v.咯咯地笑着说

参考例句：

• Both girls began to giggle.两个女孩都咯咯地笑了起来。
• All that giggle and whisper is too much for me.我受不了那些咯咯的笑声和交头接耳的样子。

20 alias   

n.化名；别名；adv.又名

参考例句：

• His real name was Johnson,but he often went by the alias of Smith.他的真名是约翰逊，但是他常常用化名史密斯。
• You can replace this automatically generated alias with a more meaningful one.可用更有意义的名称替换这一自动生成的别名。