The speaker of "The Scholar-Gipsy" describes a beautiful rural setting in the pastures, with the town of Oxford lying in the distance. He watches the shepherd and reapers working amongst the field, and then tells the shepherd that he will remain out there until sundown, enjoying the scenery and studying the towers of Oxford. All the while, he will keep his book beside him. His book...

Go, for they call you, shepherd, from the hill;  Go, shepherd, and untie the wattled cotes!  No longer leave thy wistful flock unfed,  Nor let thy bawling fellows rack their throats,  Nor the cropp'd herbage shoot another head.  But when the fields are still,  And the tired men and dogs all gone to rest,  And only the white sheep are...

One night, the speaker of "Dover Beach" sits with a woman inside a house, looking out over the English Channel near the town of Dover. They see the lights on the coast of France just twenty miles away, and the sea is quiet and calm. When the light over in France suddenly extinguishes, the speaker focuses on the English side, which remains tranquil. He trades visual imagery...

The sea is calm tonight.  The tide is full, the moon lies fair  Upon the straits; on the French coast the light  Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,  Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.  Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!  Only, from the long line of spray  Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,  Listen!...