FULL FATHOM FIVE, by William Shakespeare, from The Tempest

The Tempest, by William Shakespeare (1611)

Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 376-405


“Enter Ferdinand [,] and ARIEL, invisible, playing and singing.

ARIEL [Sings].

Come unto these yellow sands,
     And then take hands:
Curtsied when you have and kissed
     The wild waves whist,
Foot it featly here and there,
And sweet sprites bear
     The burden.

     (burden dispersedly)

SPIRITS

Hark, hark! Bow-wow,
The watch-dogs bark, bow-wow.

ARIEL

Hark, hark! I hear
The strain of strutting chanticleer
Cry, Cock a diddle dow.

ARIEL [Sings]

Full fathom five thy father lies,
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes,
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell

SPIRITS

    Ding-dong

ARIEL

Hark! now I hear them.

SPIRITS

    Ding-dong, bell.”