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Taking Ownership of Accreditation Assessment Processes
That Promote Institutional Improvement and Faculty
Engagement 1st Edition Amy Driscoll Digital Instant
Download
Author(s): Amy Driscoll; Judith A. Ramaley; Diane Cordero De Noriega
ISBN(s): 9781620360446, 1620360446
Edition: 1
File Details: PDF, 1.60 MB
Year: 2011
Language: english

T A K I N G O W N E R S H I P O F A C C R E D I T A T I O N
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PAGE ii
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TAKING OWNERSHIP
OF ACCREDITATION
Assessment Processes that
Promote Institutional Improvement
and Faculty Engagement
Edited by
Amy Driscoll and
Diane Cordero de Noriega
Preface by Judith A. Ramaley
S TE RL IN G, VI RG IN IA
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copyright 䉷 2006 by stylus publishing, llc
Published by Stylus Publishing, LLC
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Taking ownership of accreditation : participatory
approaches to promote engagement in assessment and
ongoing institutional improvement / edited by Amy
Driscoll and Diane Cordero de Noriega.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-57922-175-0 (alk. paper)—ISBN 1-57922-176-9
(pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Accreditation (Education)—United
States. 2. Universities and colleges—United
States—Evaluation. 3. California State
University—Accreditation. I. Driscoll,
Amy. II. Noriega, Diane Cordero de, 1943–
LB2810.3.U6D75 2005
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Dedication
This book is dedicated to our colleague and dear friend, Linda Stamps.
As the Senior Associate for Accreditation and Policy Development,
Linda provided leadership and guidance to the campus for the entire
accreditation process. Linda was relentless in her pursuit of integrity
and the highest standards for our documentation. She was meticulous
in her attention to detail and transparent in her commitment to a true
process of inquiry. Linda brought both mischief and brilliance to our
processes. Our best memories are filled with her deep laughter, her un-
wavering enthusiasm, her sincere search to ‘‘get it,’’ her passionate in-
tolerance of less than our best, and her patience with our most
convoluted thinking.
Linda was a perfect fit for the energy and impassioned inquiry of
the campus. Linda Stamps left her signature on California State Uni-
versity Monterey Bay’s successful accreditation and the ongoing im-
provement we describe in this book. We dedicate our work to her with
affection and admiration.
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We thank Richard Winn, Assistant Director of WASC, and the West-
ern Association of Schools and Colleges, for kind permission to repro-
duce the chart ‘‘Preparation for WASC Interactions: An Overview’’ in
Chapter 2.
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CONTENTS
PREFACE: USING ACCREDITATION TO IMPROVE PRACTICE xi
Judith A. Ramaley
1 ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION: PRODUCTIVE
PARTNERSHIPS 1
Amy Driscoll
Setting the Stage; Assessment of the Past; Assessment Today; Accreditation of
the Past; Evidence of the Accreditation Shift; Assessment and Accreditation:
Partners for Improvement; The Future of Accreditation and Assessment
2 CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY MONTEREY BAY AND
THE WESTERN ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOLS AND
COLLEGES: UNDERSTANDING THEIR CULTURES OF
INNOVATION 19
Amy Driscoll
Descriptions from Two Perspectives; Western Association of Schools and
Colleges: Innovative Accreditation Thinking; California State University
Monterey Bay: Innovative Accreditation Thinking
3 INSTITUTIONAL VISION, VALUES, AND MISSION:
FOUNDATIONAL FILTERS FOR INQUIRY 37
Diane Cordero de Noriega
A Trio of Guides for Campus Practices and Assessment; A Trifocal Lens:
Filtering Our Intentions and Inquiry; Bringing It All into Focus
4 PREPARING FOR ACCREDITATION: SOWING THE SEEDS
OF LONG-TERM CHANGE 53
Salina Diiorio
Directions for Preparation; Preparing the Soil: Communicating and
Working with Campus Constituencies; Weeding and Pruning: Selecting the
Best Evidence to Grow; Harvesting and Arranging: Presenting the Evidence;
Moving On to Other Pastures?
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viii CONTENTS
5 PROGRAM REVIEW AS A MODEL OF VISION-BASED
CONTINUOUS RENEWAL 73
Seth Pollack
Overview: CSUMB’s Academic Program Review Process; Revision of the
Initial Committee Mandate; Additional Processes: Facilitating Campuswide
Discussion; Reflections on This Process Through a Best Practices Lens
6 MULTILAYERED INQUIRY FOR PROGRAM REVIEWS:
METHODS AND ANALYSIS FOR CAMPUSWIDE
IMPLICATIONS 95
Annette March
Rationale for Inquiry; Implementing a Multilayered Inquiry: Planning and
Design; Implementing a Multilayered Inquiry: Collecting the Data;
Implementing a Multilayered Inquiry: Analyzing Data; Implementing a
Multilayered Inquiry: Writing the Report; Implementing a Multilayered
Inquiry: Dissemination; Implementing a Multilayered Inquiry: Closing the
Loop; Adapting the Writing Program Inquiry Process for Your Campus
7 EXAMINING CAPSTONE PRACTICES: A MODEL OF
ASSETS-BASED SELF-STUDY 121
Dan Shapiro
The Self-Study Model; Implementing the Self-Study; Brief Summary of Self-
Study Results; The CSUMB Capstone Self-Study and Accreditation:
Emerging Institutional Improvement
8 A STUDY OF ‘‘BEST PRACTICES’’ IN ASSESSMENT: A
VISIBLE AND PUBLIC LEARNING PROCESS 141
Betty McEady
The Research Processes; Evidence of Best Practices in Campus Assessment
Profile; Assessment Guideline 1: Define and Clarify Program Goals and
Outcomes for Long-Term Improvement; Assessment Guideline 2: Make
Assessment-for-Improvement a Team Effort; Assessment Guideline 3: Embed
Assessment into Campus Conversations about Learning; Assessment
Guideline 4: Use Assessment to Support Diverse Learning Abilities and to
Understand Conditions Under Which Students Learn Best; Assessment
Guideline 5: Connect Assessment Processes to Questions or Concerns That
Program Decision Makers or Internal Stakeholders Really Care About;
Assessment Guideline 6: Make Assessment Protocols and Results Meaningful
and Available to Internal and External Stakeholders for Feedback and
Ultimately Improvement; Assessment Guideline 7: Design an Assessment
Model That Aligns With the Institutional Capacity to Support It
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CONTENTS ix
9 ONE DEPARTMENT’S ASSESSMENT STORY: PROCESSES
AND LESSONS 171
Brian Simmons
The Collaborative Health and Human Services Program: Background and
History; The Path to Skillful Assessment Practice; The CHHS Assessment
Protocol; Lessons Learned
10 FACULTY INTERVIEWS: A STRATEGY FOR DEEPENING
ENGAGEMENT IN INQUIRY 205
Swarup Wood
Rationale and Chapter Organization; Campus and Researcher Context;
First Interview Study; Findings: First Interview Study; Second Interview
Study; Findings: Second Interview Study; The Value of Interview Studies
11 ADMINISTRATIVE ALIGNMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY:
STUDENT LEARNING AS FOCUS 229
Diane Cordero de Noriega and Salina Diiorio
Early Alignment Attempts; Alignment and Accountability; Planning
Alignment and Integration: Thinking Alignment Across Plans; Costing the
Model: Thinking Alignment and Student Learning; Strategic Plan Review
and Renewal: Bringing Assessment, Alignment, and Accountability Together
12 POSTSCRIPT AND REFLECTIONS 243
Amy Driscoll
INDEX 247
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PREFACE
USING ACCREDITATION TO
IMPROVE PRACTICE
Judith A. Ramaley
I
t has been a privilege to be an outside insider as California State Univer-
sity Monterey Bay (CSUMB) has developed over the past several years.
Usually, the role of the chair of a site-visit team is to support a group of
visitors who come to a campus during the accreditation process to study the
evidence that an institution has prepared to demonstrate its ‘‘accreditability’’
and to test some of the assertions by direct observation. In this instance,
however, as chair of three different teams that visited CSUMB during its
initial accreditation process, I became a collaborator in a grand experiment
designed to demonstrate how an institution could embody and advance its
vision and demonstrate its institutional capacity and effectiveness in new
ways, while, at the same time, advancing those goals in the very process of
demonstrating them to its accreditors. As Amy Driscoll explains in chapter
2, this was a joint venture between CSUMB as it prepared for its first institu-
tional accreditation and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges
(WASC) as it worked on introducing a new way of approaching the process
of accreditation. Since the whole thing was an experiment, it will not come
as a surprise that the role of the site visit team was an experiment also.
Accreditation as an Example of Design Research
In the past decade, a new approach to linking scholarship to practice has
begun to emerge in education research. The analogy between this model,
called design research, and the experimental accreditation process undertaken
by CSUMB in cooperation with WASC is instructive. As in design research,
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xii TAKING OWNERSHIP OF ACCREDITATION
we all invented as we went, and the process got better and the product more
useful as we moved from one phase of the accreditation process to the next.
Burkhardt and Schoenfeld (2003) divide the field of educational research
into three domains based on the cognate disciplines in the humanities, sci-
ence, and engineering. The humanities approach is judged by its internal
consistency, its fit with prevailing wisdom, and its plausibility. There is no
requirement that the assertions be subject to empirical test. In contrast, the
scientific approach does require empirical observations and testing of asser-
tions. However, neither approach can close the gap between research and
practice unless it becomes linked functionally to the practical experiences
and needs of the education system. This is what design research seeks to do,
based on an engineering design paradigm. This is also what the innovative
approach to accreditation undertaken by CSUMB and WASC sought to do,
to link assessment, reflection, and institutional improvement to the process
of accreditation itself. However, in the absence of an agreed-upon way to test
assumptions and claims, the design research field remains an interesting but
not yet compelling approach to bridging the research-practice gap (Kelly,
2004). According to Eamonn Kelly, the question that design research cannot
yet answer is, ‘‘Can this new set of methods establish boundaries (demarca-
tions) between sound and unsound claims about learning and teaching’’ (p.
12). In our joint venture, we set out to solve that problem for the accredita-
tion process and explore ways to distinguish between sound and unsound
claims, both on the basis of documents and on the basis of direct interaction
and observation.
In 1992, Ann L. Brown wrote about her research ‘‘in the blooming, buzz-
ing confusion of inner-city classrooms’’ (1992, p. 141). She described her at-
tempt ‘‘to engineer innovative educational environments and simultaneously
conduct experimental studies of those innovations (p. 141.)’’ The resulting
design research model seeks to contribute simultaneously to the advance-
ment of theory and practice through an iterative process in which the start-
ing theory and interpretation of research findings become design elements
for an intervention, the results of which test the starting design and the the-
ory that underlies it and advance a growing body of knowledge in what Bur-
khardt and Schoenfeld (2003) call a process of ‘‘cumulativity.’’ The results of
this linkage of research and practice are ‘‘key products . . . tools and/or proc-
esses that work well for their intended uses and users, with evidence-based
evaluation’’ (p. 5). The conceptual model is comparable to the approach
taken in engineering design research, where research is directed toward
knowledge that will have a practical impact, combining ‘‘imaginative design
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USING ACCREDITATION TO IMPROVE PRACTICE xiii
and empirical testing of the products and processes during development’’
(p. 5). That is just what we were setting out to do at CSUMB.
A New Approach to Accreditation: Design Research
in Action
The new WASC process for accreditation was in the design stages as
CSUMB moved into the preparation for its first full accreditation review.
The process had two components, institutional integrity and educational ef-
fectiveness, to be assessed in two separate phases a number of months apart.
The two core commitments upon which the entire accreditation process was
to be based were defined by WASC as follows:
1. Institutional Integrity: The institution functions with clear purposes,
high levels of institutional integrity, fiscal stability, and organizational
structures to fulfill its purposes.
2. Educational Effectiveness: The institution evidences clear and appro-
priate educational objectives and design at the institutional and pro-
gram level, and employs processes of review, including the collection
and use of data, that assure delivery of programs and learner accom-
plishments at a level of performance appropriate for the degree or cer-
tificate awarded.
The role of the WASC evaluation team was to work with the institu-
tion’s own evidence and exhibits (e.g., documents, databases) to determine
if they accurately and fairly described the institution and then, using the
commission’s standards, to determine if the institution had made a convinc-
ing case that it had met the two components (i.e., core commitments) of the
review. In addition, the site visit team chose to ask itself whether the institu-
tion had sufficient capacity and systems of quality assurance and improve-
ment in place to demonstrate educational effectiveness at the time of the
review and whether these conditions were likely to continue.
One of the distinctive features of the entire evaluation was that it resem-
bled design research, a process through which, with careful experimentation
and testing, a stronger and more effective institutional model would emerge.
WASC was very clear about its intentions and invited both the campus com-
munity and the site visit team to work out ways to advance these goals and to
invent ways to demonstrate that the process was, in fact, producing these re-
sults. The expectations were challenging. The list consisted of seven elements.
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xiv TAKING OWNERSHIP OF ACCREDITATION
1. The development and more effective use of indicators of institutional
performance and educational effectiveness to support institutional
planning and decision making
2. Greater clarity about the institution’s educational outcomes and cri-
teria for defining and evaluating these outcomes
3. Improvement of the institution’s capacity for self-review and of its
systems of quality assurance
4. A deeper understanding of student learning, the development of
more varied and effective methods of assessing learning, and the use
of the results of this process to improve programs and institutional
practices
5. Systematic engagement of the faculty with issues of assessing and im-
proving teaching and learning processes within the institution, and
with aligning support systems for faculty more effectively toward this
end
6. Validation of the institution’s presentation of evidence, both to assess
compliance with accreditation standards and to provide a basis for
institutional improvement
7. Demonstration of the institution’s fulfillment of the Core Commit-
ments to Institutional Capacity and Educational Effectiveness
Specific Tasks of the Preparatory Review Team
Unlike other site visits that I have led, this one was more like an anthropo-
logical field trip, or at least, my understanding of what my colleagues in an-
thropology tell me goes on during field trips. We invented a way to audit
and verify the information provided in the institutional presentation and to
assure ourselves that the evidence fairly and accurately portrayed the state of
the institution at the time of the review. We did this by examining the self-
study materials as well as by observing how people on campus interacted,
worked on problems, and explored issues. The team served as participant-
observers, interacting with members of the campus community in problem-
solving mode rather than solely in interview mode.
When examining the documentary evidence, we applied the same crite-
ria that any scholar would use to evaluate a work of scholarship. Were the
objectives clear? Had explicit indicators and metrics of achievement and/or
specific bodies of evidence been provided that could help the institution de-
termine to what degree its objectives have been met? Had action been taken
on the basis of evidence in order to improve performance? What had been
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USING ACCREDITATION TO IMPROVE PRACTICE xv
the results of those actions? This may remind the reader of the criteria for
scholarship articulated by Glassick, Huber, and Maeroff (1997).
Using the Glassick, Huber, and Maeroff (1997) model as a guide, the
case for institutional effectiveness must have clear goals and must be firmly
grounded in knowledge about the institution and the context in which it
operates (adequate preparation). The warrant must be built upon a solid body
of evidence gathered and interpreted in a disciplined and principled way (ap-
propriate methods) and shown to be significantly related to the challenges at
hand (significant results). The case must be presented effectively (effective pre-
sentation) and be studied reflectively (reflective critique), with a clear and
compelling sense of responsibility for the effects of the ideas and proposed
actions on the community that will be affected, both inside and outside the
institution (ethical and social responsibility) (qualities in italics taken from
Glassick, Huber, & Maeroff, 1997).
This list of standards leads to a more finely grained set of expectations
for how an institution and its leadership can most effectively approach insti-
tutional development and improvement at a transformational level. Change
must be intentional and must affect a significant part of the institutional
mission; for example, general education, undergraduate majors, research,
and outreach. Change must be supported by a culture of evidence that docu-
ments the consequences of the steps undertaken. A community must have a
way to learn from its experiences.
It is very important to start out with a clear sense of the stages of organi-
zational change. Since everything is always connected to everything else, it
helps to be mindful that one thing will lead to another—what I have learned
to call the ‘‘ripple effect’’ and to examine how this set of interactions may
spread and what happens when it does. No matter where a campus starts
and what change it introduces, the experience will set in motion a chain
reaction of adjustments and realignments necessary to support and maintain
the desired outcome. These kinds of reactions are hard to capture in a docu-
ment, but they can be studied directly if a site visit team interacts in authen-
tic collegial mode with members of a campus community. For this reason,
the site visit teams developed the idea of an on-campus audit to sample spe-
cific administrative processes and procedures to verify that they are followed
and in place, to select a set of important and challenging questions that are
authentically relevant to the campus in its current stage of development, and
to engage in as realistic an exploration of these questions as possible while
on campus. This allowed the team to see how the campus worked, how peo-
ple talked with each other, how they dealt with difficult and often complex
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xvi TAKING OWNERSHIP OF ACCREDITATION
issues, whether they really did approach the work of institutional design and
development in the ways that they attested to in their self-study. The ques-
tions that were used for this test probe were developed in cooperation with
the institution and are outlined in Amy Driscoll’s chapter 2. Another campus
in a different stage of development would have generated different questions.
The interactions that arose from a consideration of these questions (e.g., is
there a continuous process of inquiry and engagement by the institution to
enhance educational effectiveness?) offered everyone an opportunity to ob-
serve the campus community in action. At the same time, the issues that
framed the interactions of the campus and the team were important to the
campus and merited their serious attention. One might call this inquiry-
based or problem-based learning, embedded in the accreditation process it-
self.
In my opinion, this new design research model of accreditation worked
extremely well. The site team learned a lot about the institution, and the
institution, I believe, learned a lot about itself, both during its own self-study
process, whose design is described in wonderful detail in this book, and
through its interactions with the site visit teams. By approaching both the
self-study and the site visits as an act of scholarship, CSUMB demonstrated
that it did, indeed, engage in a continuous process of inquiry and engage-
ment with a resultant advance in educational effectiveness while, at the same
time, contributing to the scholarly literature on assessment and institutional
change. I have no doubt that you will learn a lot from CSUMB about put-
ting a compelling vision into action, about maintaining and enhancing a
sense of common purpose and a community of interest, and about making
progress visible. This is indeed a university that practices what it teaches.
References
Brown, A. L. (1992). Design experiments: Theoretical and methodological chal-
lenges in creating complex interventions in classroom settings. Journal of the
Learning Sciences, 2(2), 141–178.
Burkhardt, H., & Schoenfeld, A. H. (2003). Improving educational research:
Toward a more useful, more influential, and better-funded enterprise. Educa-
tional Researcher, 32(9), 3–14.
Glassick, C. E., Huber, M. T., & Maeroff, G. I. (1997) Scholarship assessed: Evalua-
tion of the professoriate. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Kelly, A. E. (2004). Design research in education: Yes, but is it methodological?
Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13(1), 115–128.
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1
ASSESSMENT AND
ACCREDITATION
Productive Partnerships
Amy Driscoll
I
n the opinion of the editors of this book, it could not have been written
fifteen years ago—it would not have fit in the scene of higher education,
would not have made sense to our colleagues, and it probably would
have gathered dust on a shelf had anyone ordered it. In today’s context of
assessment and accreditation in higher education, we intend this book to
be useful and usable, offering strategies for the documentation process of
accreditation.
The chapters of this book are authentic descriptions of the processes of
assessment used by our campus to demonstrate educational effectiveness.
Our campus, California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB), dedi-
cated our accreditation self-study to ongoing improvement processes rather
than one-time strategies. The processes and strategies that we describe here
are practical—ready to use or adapt for most campuses. Our approach also
reflects the fact that both processes (assessment and accreditation) have un-
dergone a significant shift in terms of form and function, and even more
important, a welcome change in perspective.
Setting the Stage
This chapter sets the stage for the strategies and processes that our colleagues
will present in the following chapters by tracing the paradigm shift in assess-
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2 TAKING OWNERSHIP OF ACCREDITATION
ment and in accreditation. This description is intended to make it easier to
understand and apply the ideas that follow. Both of those A words along
with a close relative, accountability, have not been popular on campuses.
Sherril Gelmon (1997) once said that the three terms are capable of ‘‘pro-
voking responses ranging from religious fervor to extreme distaste to com-
plete cynicism’’ (p. 51). In fact, all three A words have been misunderstood,
considered suspect, and viewed as unconnected from the work of faculty and
student learning. From the perspective of faculty, assessment, accreditation,
and accountability have been the responsibility of ‘‘someone else.’’ That
someone else has typically been an administrator, often in an office of insti-
tutional research.
The current state of all three As is that they are very much part of the
mainstream of higher education, a shared responsibility of administration
and faculty across several offices or centers, and are integral to teaching and
learning. Fortunately for you, and us, perspectives about and responses to
assessment and accreditation have changed, as we will describe in the sections
that follow.
Assessment of the Past
Not so very long ago in higher education, assessment was a data-gathering
process assigned to an institutional office. Faculty were involved in assess-
ment only in so far as they engaged in informal formative assessment (quiz-
zes, question-and-answer sessions, homework assignments) or in formal
summative assessment (exams, final reports, projects), typically in the privacy
of their own classrooms. The campus assessment or research offices were not
connected to their processes and were seldom used or accessed by faculty.
Resistance to Assessment
When the pressure to change assessment began to be heard and felt on cam-
puses, it generated enormous resistance on the part of faculty (Palomba &
Banta, 1999). Our experiences tell us that there were two reasons for that
resistance—fear that assessment would be used to evaluate faculty, and facul-
ty’s discomfort with their own lack of expertise. In addition, Trudy Banta
(Palomba & Banta, 1999) points out that ‘‘some faculty view assessment as a
threat to their academic freedom’’ (p. 71). The lack of experience or expertise
is not as publicly acknowledged but few faculty will claim skill or take the
lead in assessment work. Both of us have advanced degrees in education, yet
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ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION 3
we acknowledge that our preparation for assessment was limited or almost
nonexistent.
Ongoing Resistance
Over and above faculty and administrators’ resistance to assessment, another
barrier has been the issue of assessment costs, in terms of money, resources,
and faculty time. Resentment about the allocation of resources to assessment
was exacerbated by the perception that the process was externally driven, as
indeed it generally was.
Peter Ewell (2002) described a range of state mandates that left public
colleges and universities scrambling to develop assessment capacity in the
late 1980s and early 1990s. Institutions of higher education took a reactive
role, much to the chagrin of faculty. Assessment began with the taint of
being part of a corporatist vision, and as a means for governmental interfer-
ence in the academic business of colleges and universities. This was followed
by debate about higher education’s public purposes and ensuing calls for
statewide outcomes testing. Assessment was viewed as a mechanism for assur-
ing quality for external audiences. It was received with emphatic resistance—
faculty felt huge pressures ‘‘put upon them.’’
Indications of Change
These external pressures did little to reduce faculty resistance even as think-
ing about assessment began to change. External forces may have added to
the resistance, but they also accelerated the momentum of assessment with-
out giving it form or substance. However, it wasn’t until assessment was seen
as higher education’s ‘‘means to examine its educational intentions on its
own terms’’ (Maki, 2004, p. 15) that the resistance began to break down.
With this breakdown came the perception of faculty responsibilities and
roles in assessment and an engagement that would be mutually rewarding
for them and their institutions. Our readers will hear descriptions of those
rewards in the chapters that follow, chapters written by our coauthors, col-
leagues at California State University Monterey Bay.
When you study this book, it will be clear that faculty have shifted their
responses to assessment. They no longer have to be cajoled to engage in as-
sessment. Many of the authors (chapters 6, 7, 10, for example) initiated
major assessment projects themselves out of interest and commitments. They
found value and used assessment to improve student learning and their own
teaching. How did this change happen? What prompted the shift in assess-
ment in higher education? What forces finally broke down the resistance? A
look at the history of assessment’s shift will help answer those questions.
PAGE 3
................. 15886$ $CH1 03-20-06 14:14:27 PS

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THE RETURN HOME.
1823-4.
1.
On my life, a life of darkness,
Once a vision sweet shone bright;
Now that vision sweet hath faded,
And I’m veil’d in utter night.
When in darkness children wander,
Soon their spirits die away,
And to overcome their terror,
Some loud song straight carol they.
I, a foolish child, am singing
In the darkness spread around;
Though my song may give no pleasure,
Yet mine anguish it hath drown’d.
2.

In vain would I seek to discover
Why sad and mournful am I;
My thoughts without ceasing brood over
A tale of the times gone by.
The air is cool, and it darkleth,
And calmly flows the Rhine;
The peak of the mountain sparkleth,
While evening’s sun doth shine.
Yon sits a wondrous maiden
On high, a maiden fair;
With bright golden jewels all-laden,
She combs her golden hair.
She combs it with comb all-golden,
And sings the while a song;
How strange is that melody olden,
As loudly it echoes along!
It fills with wild terror the sailor
At sea in his tiny skiff;
He looks but on high, and grows paler,
Nor sees the rock-girded cliff.
The waves will the bark and its master
At length swallow up, then methought
’Tis Lore-ley who this disaster
With her false singing hath wrought.
3.

My heart, my heart is mournful,
Yet May is gleaming like gold;
I stand, ’gainst the linden reclining,
High over the bastion old.
Beneath, the moat’s blue water
Flows peacefully along;
A boy his bark is steering,
And fishes, and pipes his song.
Beyond, in pleasing confusion,
In distant and chequer’d array,
Are men, and villas, and gardens,
And cattle, woods, meadows so gay.
The maidens are bleaching the linen,
And spring on the grass, like deer
The mill-wheel’s powd’ring diamonds,
Its distant murmur I hear.
Beside the old grey tower
A sentry-box is set;
A red-accoutred fellow
Walks up and down there yet.
He’s playing with his musket,
While gleameth the sun o’erhead;
He first presents and shoulders—
I would that he’d shoot me dead!
4.

With tears through the forest I wander,
The throstle’s sitting on high;
She, springing, sings softly yonder:
O wherefore dost thou sigh?
“Sweet bird, thy sister the swallow
“Can tell thee the cause of my gloom;
“She dwells in a nest all hollow,
“Beside my sweetheart’s room.”
5.
The night is damp and stormy,
No star is in the sky;
In the wood, ’neath the rustling branches
In silence wander I.
A distant light is twinkling
From the hunter’s lonely cot;
But within, the scene is but saddening,
And the light can allure me not.
The blind old grandmother’s sitting
In her leather elbow-chair,
All-gloomily fix’d like a statue,
Not a word escapeth her there.
With curses to and fro paces
The forester’s red-headed son;
With fury and scorn he’s laughing,
As he throws ’gainst the wall his gun.
The fair spinning-maiden’s weeping,
And moistens the flax with her tears;
The father’s terrier, whining,
Curl’d up at her feet appears.

6.
When I, on my travels, by hazard,
My sweetheart’s family found,
Her sister and father and mother,—
They gave me a welcome all round.
When they for my health had inquired,
They added, all of a breath,
That they thought me quite unalter’d,
Though my face was pale as death.
I ask’d for their aunts and their cousins,
And many a tiresome friend;
I ask’d for the little puppy
Whose soft bark knew no end.
And then for my married sweetheart
I ask’d, as if just call’d to mind,
And they answer’d, in friendly fashion,
That she had but just been confin’d.
I gave them my very best wishes,
And lovingly begg’d them apart
That they’d give her a thousand greetings
From the bottom of my heart.
Then cried the little sister:
“The small and gentle hound
Grew to be big and savage,
And in the Rhine was drown’d.”
That little one’s like my sweetheart,
So like when she wears a smile!
Her eyes are the same as her sister’s
Which caus’d all my mis’ry the while.
7.

We sat by the fisherman’s cottage,
O’er ocean cast our eye;
Then came the mists of evening,
And slowly rose on high.
The lamps within the light-house
Were kindled, light by light,
And in the farthest distance
A ship was still in sight.
We spoke of storm and shipwreck,
And of the sailor’s strange life,
’Twixt sky and water, ’twixt terror
And joy in endless strife.
We spoke of distant regions,
Of North and South spoke we,
The many strange races yonder,
And customs, strange to see.
The air on the Ganges is balmy,
And giant-trees extend,
And fair and silent mortals
Before the lotos bend.
In Lapland, the people are dirty,
Flat-headed, broad-mouthèd, and small;
They squat round the fire, bake fishes,
And squeak, and speak shrilly, and squall.
The maidens earnestly listen’d,
At length not a word was said;
The ship from sight had vanish’d,
For darkness o’er all things was spread.
8.

Thou pretty fisher-maiden,
Quick, push thy bark to land;
Come hither, and sit beside me,
And toy with me, hand in hand.
Recline thy head on my bosom,
Nor be so fearful of me;
Thou trustest thyself, void of terror,
Each day to the raging sea.
My heart is like the ocean,
Hath tempest, ebb, and flow,
And many pearls full precious
Lie in its depths below.
9.
The moon hath softly risen,
And o’er the waves doth smile;
Mine arms hold my sweetheart in prison,
Our hearts both swelling the while.
Blest in her sweet embraces
I calmly repose on the strand:
Hear’st thou aught in the wind as it races?
Why shrinks thy snow-white hand?
“O, ’tis not the tempest’s commotion,
“ ’Tis the song of the mermaids below;
“ ’Tis the voice of my sisters, whom Ocean
“Swallow’d up in its depths long ago.”
10.

On the clouds doth rest the moon,
Like a giant-orange gleaming;
Broad her streaks, with golden rays
O’er the dusky ocean beaming.
Lonely roam I by the strand
While the billows white are breaking;
Many sweet words hear I there,
From the water’s depths awaking.
Ah! the night is long, full long,
And my heart must break its slumbers;
Beauteous nymphs, come forth to light,
Dance! and sing your magic numbers!
To your bosom take my head,
Soul and body I surrender!
Sing me dead, caress me dead,
Drain my life with kisses tender.
11.
In their grey-hued clouds envelop’d,
Now the mighty gods are sleeping;
And I listen to their snoring,
Stormy weather o’er us creeping.
Stormy weather! Raging tempests
On the poor ship bring disaster;
On these winds who’ll place a bridle,—
On these waves that own no master?
I the storm can never hinder,
Nor the mast and planks from creaking,
So I wrap me in my mantle,
Like the gods for slumber seeking.

12.
The wind puts on its breeches again,
Its white and watery breeches;
It flogs each billow with might and main,
Till it howls and rushes and pitches.
From the darksome height, with furious might
Pours the rain in wild commotion;
It seems as though the ancient Night
Would drown the ancient Ocean.
To the ship’s high mast the sea-mew clings,
With hoarse and shrill shrieking and yelling;
In anxious-wise she flutters her wings,
Approaching disasters foretelling.
13.
The storm strikes up for dancing,
It blusters, pipes, roars with delight;
Hurrah, how the bark is springing!
How merry and wild is the night!
A living watery mountain
The raging sea builds tow’rd the sky;
A gloomy abyss here is gaping,
There, mounts a white tower on high.
A vomiting, cursing, and praying
From the cabin bursts forth ’mid the roar;
I cling to the mast for protection,
And wish I was safely on shore.
14.

’Tis evening, darker ’tis getting,
Mist veils the sea from the eye;
The waves are mysteriously fretting,
White shadows are rising on high.
From the billows the mermaid arises,
And sits herself near me on shore;
The veil which her figure disguises
Her snow-white bosom peeps o’er.
She warmly doth caress me,
And takes my breath away:
Too closely dost thou press me,
Thou lovely water-fay!
“My arms thus closely caress thee,
“I clasp thee with all my might;
“In hope of warmth do I press thee,
“For cold indeed is the night.”
The moon from her dusky cloister
Of clouds, sheds a paler ray;
Thine eye grows sadder and moister
“No sadder nor moister ’tis growing,
“Mine eye is moist and wet,
“For when from the wave I was going,
“A drop remain’d in it yet.”
The sea-mew mourns shrilly, while ocean
Is growling and heaving its spray;
Thy heart throbs with raging emotion,
“My heart throbs with raging emotion,
“Emotion raging and wild;
“For I love thee with speechless devotion

For I love thee with speechless devotion,
“Thou darling human child!”
15.
When I before thy dwelling
At morning happen to be,
I rejoice, my little sweet one,
When thee at thy window I see.
With thy dark-brown eyes so piercing
My figure thou dost scan:
Who art thou, and what ails thee,
Thou strange and sickly man?
“I am a German poet,
“Well known in the German land;
“When the best names in it are reckon’d,
“My name amongst them will stand.
“My little one, that which ails me
“Ails crowds in the German land;
“When the fiercest sorrows are reckon’d,
“My sorrows amongst them will stand.”
16.

The gleam o’er the ocean had faded not,
While the eve’s last rays were flitting;
We sat by the lonely fisherman’s cot,
Alone and in silence sitting.
The waters swell’d, while the mist rose above,
The restless sea-mew was screaming;
From out thine eyes, so full of love,
The tears were quickly streaming.
I saw them falling on thy fair hand,
And on my knees soon sank I,
And then from off thy snow-white hand
The tears with rapture drank I.
Since that hour, my body hath fast decay’d,
My soul is dying with yearning;
I was poison’d, alas! by the hapless maid
With her falling tears so burning.
17.

Up high on yonder mountain
Stands a stately castle alone,
Where dwell three beauteous maidens,
Whose love in turns I have known.
On Saturday Harriet kiss’d me,
While Sunday was Julia’s right;
On Monday Cunigund follow’d,
Who well nigh stifled me quite.
To hold a fête in the castle
On Tuesday my maidens agreed;
The neighbouring lords and ladies
All came with carriage or steed.
But I was never invited,
To your great wonder, no doubt;
The whispering aunts and cousins
Observ’d it, and laugh’d right out.
18.
On the dim and far horizon
Appeareth, misty and pale,
The city, with all its towers,
In evening twilight’s veil.
A humid gust is ruffling
The path o’er the waters dark;
With mournful measure, the sailor
Is rowing my tiny bark.
The sun once more ariseth,
And over the earth gleams he,
And shows me the spot out yonder
Where my loved one was lost to me.

19.
All hail to thee, thou stately
Mysterious town, all hail,
Who erst within thy bosom
My loved one’s form didst veil!
O say, ye towers and gateways,
O where can my loved one be?
To your keeping of yore was she trusted,
And ye must her bail be to me.
The towers, in truth, are guiltless,
From their places they could not come down,
When she, with her trunks and boxes,
So hastily went from the town.
The gates, however, they suffer’d
My darling to slip through them straight;
A gate is ever found willing
To let a fool “gang her ain gait.”[23]
20.
Once more my steps through the olden path
And the well-known streets are taken,
Until I come to my loved one’s house,
So empty now and forsaken.
How narrow and close the streets appear!
How nauseous the smell of the plaster!
The houses seem tumbling down on my head,
So I haste away, fearing disaster.
21.

Once more through the halls I pass’d
Where her troth to me was plighted;
On the spot where her tears fell fast
A serpent’s brood had alighted.
22.
The night is still, and the streets are deserted,
In this house my love had her dwelling of yore;
’Tis long since she from the city departed,
Yet her house still stands on the spot as before.
There stands, too, a man, who stares up at her casement,
And wrings his hands with the weight of his woes;
I look on his face with shudd’ring amazement,—
The moon doth the form of myself disclose.
Thou pallid fellow, thou worthless double!
Why dare to mimic my love’s hard lot,
Which many a night gave me grief and trouble
In former days, on this very spot?
23.

How canst thou sleep in quiet,
And know that I’m still alive?
I burst the yoke that’s upon me,
When my olden wrath doth revive.
Dost know the ancient ballad:
How of yore a dead stripling brave
At midnight came to his loved one,
And carried her down to his grave.
Believe me, thou wondrous beauty,
Thou wondrously lovely maid,
I’m alive still, and feel far stronger
Than the whole of the dead’s brigade!
24.

“The maiden’s asleep in her chamber,
“In peeps the quivering moon;
“Outside is a singing and jingling,
“As though to a waltz’s tune.
“I needs must look through my window,
“To see who’s disturbing my rest;
“There stands a skeleton ghastly
“Who’s fiddling and singing his best:
“Thy hand for the dance thou didst pledge me,
“And then thy promise didst break;
“To-night there’s a ball in the churchyard,
“Come with me, the dance to partake.
“He forcibly seizes the maiden,
“And lures her from out her abode;
“She follows the skeleton wildly,
“Who fiddles and sings on the road.
“He hops and he skips and he fiddles,
“His bones they rattle away;
“With his skull he keeps nidding and nodding,
“By the moonlight’s glimmering ray.”
25.

I stood, while sadly mused I,
And her likeness closely did scan,
And her belovèd features
To glow with life began.
Around her lips there gather’d
A sweet and wondrous smile,
And as through tears of sorrow
Her clear eyes shone the while.
And then my tears responsive
Adown my cheeks did pour—
And ah! I scarce can believe it,
That I’ve lost thee evermore.
26.
Unhappy Atlas that I am! I’m doom’d
To bear a world, a very world of sorrows;
Unbearable’s the load I bear, and e’en
The heart within me’s breaking.
O thou proud heart! thy doing ’twas indeed,
Thou wouldst be happy, utterly be happy,
Or utterly be wretched, O proud heart,
And now in truth thou’rt wretched!
27.

The years are coming and going,
To the grave whole races descend,
And yet the love in my bosom
Shall never wax fainter or end.
O could I but once more behold thee,
Before thee sink down on my knee,
And die, as these words I utter:
Dear Madam, I love but thee!
28.
I dreamt: the quivering moon gleam’d above,
And the stars cast a mournful ray;
I was borne to the town where dwelleth my love,
Many hundred miles away
And when I arrived at her dwelling so blest,
I kiss’d the stones of the stair,
Which her little foot so often had press’d,
And the train of her garment fair.
The night was long, the night was chill,
And cold were the stones that night;
Her pallid form from the window-sill
Look’d down in the moonbeam’s light.
29.

What means this tear all-lonely
That troubles now my gaze?
Of olden times the offspring
Still in mine eye it stays.
It had its shining sisters,
Who all have faded from sight,
With all my joys and sorrows,
Yea, faded in storm and night.
Like clouds have also fleeted
The stars so blue and mild,
Which into my yearning bosom
Those joys and sorrows once smiled.
Ah! even my love’s devotion
Like idle breath did decay;
Thou old, old tear all-lonely,
Do thou, too, pass away!
30.

The pallid autumnal half-moon
Looks down from the clouds on high;
The parsonage, silent and lonely,
By the side of the churchyard doth lie.
The mother is reading her Bible,
The son on the light turns his eyes,
All-sleepy, the elder daughter
Doth stretch, while the younger thus cries:
“Good heavens, how dreadfully tedious
“The days are! I’m quite in despair!
“ ’Tis only when there’s a burial
“One sees aught of life, I declare!
The mother then says, midst her reading:
“You’re mistaken, four only have died
“Since the time when they buried your father
“By the gate of the churchyard outside.”
The elder daughter says gaping:
“I’ll starve no longer with you;
“I’ll go to the Count to-morrow,
“He’s rich and he loves me too.”
The son bursts out into laughter:
“At the tavern drink huntsmen three;
“They’re making money, and gladly
“Would teach the secret to me.”
The mother then throws her Bible
Full hard in his lanky face:
“Wouldst thou dare, thou accursed of heaven,
“As a robber thy friends to disgrace?”
They hear a knock at the window,
And see a beckoning hand;
And behold outside the dead father

And behold, outside the dead father
In his black preaching-garment doth stand.
31.

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