The Inchcape Rock
Robert southey (1774 to 1834)
He was born in Bristol England he was the son of a draper educated at Westminster school and balliol collage Oxford
He was a poem laureate of England from 1813 to 1843 some of his short poems like the scholar the battle of blenheim bishop hatto the Inchcape Rock etc are very popular with the school children
The Inchcape Rock is a ballad it s the story of the 14th century attempt by the abbot of aberbrothok to install a warning bell on Inchcape a notorious sandstone reef about 11 miles (18k) of. The east coast of Angus Scotland near Dundee and Fife occupied by the bell rock lighthouse
Southey was inspired by the the legendary story of a pirate who removed the bell on the Inchcape Rock placed by the abbot of aberbrothok the poem gives us a message that those who do wrong things will meet with due punishment
The Inchcape Rock
No stir in the air no stir in the sea the ship was as still as she could be her sails from heaven recived ni motion her keel was steady in the ocean
Without either sign or sound of their shock the waves flow 'd over the Inchcape Rock so little they rose so little they fell they did not move the Inchcape bell
The abbot of aberbrothok had placed they bell on the Inchcape Rock on the buoy in the storm it floated and swung and over the waves it's warning rung
When the rock was hid by the surge's swell the Mariners heard the warning bell and then they knew the perilous rock and blest the abbot of aberbrothok
The sun in heaven was shining gay all things were joyful on that day the sea birds scream'd as they wheel'd round and there was joyance in their sound
The buoy of the Inchcape bell was seen a darker speck on the ocean green sir ralph the rover walk'd his deck and he fix'd his eye on the darker speck
He felt the cheering power of spring it made him whistle it made him sing his heart was mirthful to excess but the rover's mirth was wickedness
His eye was on the Inchcape float Quoth my men put out the boat and row me to the Inchcape Rock and I'll plague the abbot of aberbrothok
The boat is lower'd the boatmen row. And to the Inchcape Rock they go sir ralph bent over from the boat and he cut the bell from the Inchcape float
Down sunk the bell with a gurgling sound the bubbles rose and burst around Quoth sir ralph the next who comes to the rock won't bless the abbot of aberbrothok
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Sir ralph the rover sail'd away he scour'd the seas for many a day and now grown rich with plunder'd store he steers his course for Scotland's shore
So thick a haze o erspreads the sky they cannot see the sun on high the wind hath blown a gale all day at evening it hath died away
On the deck the rover takes his stand so dark it is they see no land Quoth sir ralph It will be lighter soon for there is the down of the dawn of the rising moon
Canst hear said one the breakers roar for methinks we should be near the shore now where we are I cannot tell But I wish I could hear the Inchcape bell
They hear no sound the swell is strong though the wind hath fallen they drift along till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock - O christ it is the Inchcape Rock!
Sir ralph the rover tore his hair he curst. Himself in his despair the waves rush in every side the ship is sinking beneath the tide
But even in his dying fear one dreadful sound could the rover hear a sound as if with the Inchcape bell the devil below was ringing his knell
-Robert South
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