On the sea and at the Hogue, sixteen hundred ninety-two,Did the English fight the French--woe to France!And the thirty-first of May, helter-skelter through the blue,Like a crowd of frightened porpoises a shoal of sharks pursue,Came crowding ship on ship to St. Malo on the Rance,With the English fleet in view.
'Twas the squadron that escaped, with the victor in full chase;First and foremost of the drove, in his great ship, Damfreville;Close on him fled, great and small,Twenty-two good ships in all;And they signalled to the place,"Help the winners of a race!Get us guidance, give us harbor, take us quick--or, quicker still,Here's the English can and will!"
Then the pilots of the place put out brisk and leapt on board;"Why, what hope or chance have ships like these to pass?" laughed they:"Rocks to starboard, rocks to port, all the passage scarred and scored,--Shall the "Formidable" here, with her twelve and eighty guns,Think to make the river-mouth by the single narrow way,Trust to enter--where 'tis ticklish for a craft of twenty tons,And with flow at full beside?Now, 'tis slackest ebb of tide.Reach the mooring? Rather say,While rock stands or water runs,Not a ship will leave the bay!"
Then was called a council straight.Brief and bitter the debate:"Here's the English at our heels; would you have them take in towAll that's left us of the fleet, linked together stern and bow,For a prize to Plymouth Sound? Better run the ships aground!"(Ended Damfreville his speech)."Not a minute more to wait!Let the captains all and eachShove ashore, then blow up, burn the vessels on the beach!France must undergo her fate.
"Give the word!" But no such wordWas ever spoke or heard:For up stood, for out stepped, for in struck, amid all these,--A captain? a lieutenant? a mate,--first, second, third?No such man of mark, and meetWith his betters to compete!But a simple Breton sailor, pressed by Tourville for the fleet,A poor coasting-pilot, he,---Hervé Riel, the Croisickese.
And "What mockery or malice have we here?" cried Hervé Riel."Are you mad, you Malouins? Are you cowards, fools, or rogues?Talk to me of rocks and shoals?--me, who took the soundings, tellOn my fingers every bank, every shallow, every swell,'Twixt the offing here and Grève, where the river disembogues?Are you bought by English gold? Is it love the lying's for?Morn and eve, night and day,Have I piloted your bay,Entered free and anchored fast at the foot of Solidor.Burn the fleet, and ruin France? That were worse than fifty Hogues!Sirs, they know I speak the truth! Sirs, believe me, there's way!Only let me lead the line,Have the biggest ship to steer,Get thisFormidableclear,Make the others follow mine,And I lead them, most and least, by a passage I know well,Right to Solidor past Grève,And there lay them safe and sound;And if one ship misbehave,--Keel so much as grate the ground,Why, I've nothing but my life,--here's my head!" cries Hervé Riel.
Not a minute more to wait."Steer us in, then, small and great!Take the helm, lead the line, save the squadron!" cried its chief.Captains, give the sailor place!He is Admiral, in brief.Still the north-wind, by God's grace!See the noble fellow's faceAs the big ship, with a bound,Clears the entry like a hound,Keeps the passage, as its inch of way were the wide sea's profound!See, safe thro' shoal and rock,How they follow in a flock,Not a ship that misbehaves, not a keel that grates the ground,Not a spar that comes to grief!The peril, see, is past.All are harbored to the last,And just as Hervé Riel hollas "Anchor!" sure as fate,Up the English come,--too late!
So, the storm subsides to calm:They see the green trees waveOn the heights o'erlooking Grève.Hearts that bled are stanched with balm."Just our rapture to enhance,Let the English rake the bay,Gnash their teeth and glare askanceAs they cannonade away!'Neath rampired Solidor pleasant riding on the Rance!"How hope succeeds despair on each captain's countenance!Out burst all with one accord,"This is paradise for hell!Let France, let France's king,Thank the man that did the thing!"What a shout, and all one word,"Hervé Riel!"As he stepped in front once more;Not a symptom of surpriseIn the frank blue Breton eyes,--Just the same man as before.
Then said Damfreville, "My friend,I must speak out at the end,Though I find the speaking hard;Praise is deeper than the lips;You have saved the king his ships;You must name your own reward.Faith, our sun was near eclipse!Demand whate'er you will,France remains your debtor still.Ask to heart's content, and have! or my name's not Damfreville."
Then a beam of fun outbrokeOn the bearded mouth that spoke,As the honest heart laughed throughThose frank eyes of Breton blue:--"Since I needs must say my say,Since on board the duty's done,And from Malo Roads to Croisic Point, what is it but a run!Since 'tis ask and have, I may--Since the others go ashore--Come! A good whole holiday!Leave to go and see my wife, whom I call the Belle Aurore!"That he asked and that he got,--nothing more.
Name and deed alike are lost:Not a pillar nor a postIn his Croisic keeps alive the feat as it befell;Not a head in white and blackOn a single fishing-smack,In memory of the man but for whom had gone to wrackAll that France saved from the fight whence England bore the bell.Go to Paris: rank on rankSearch the heroes flung pell-mellOn the Louvre, face and flank!You shall look long enough ere you come to Hervé Riel.So, for better and for worse, Hervé Riel, accept my verse!In my verse, Hervé Riel, do thou once moreSave the squadron, honor France, love thy wife the Belle Aurore!
HELPS TO STUDY.
Notes and Questions.
Find on your map: Saint Malo, le Croisic (St. Croisic), Plymouth Sound, Paris.
What forfeit did Hervé Riel propose in case he failed to pilot the ships safely in?
What ships were seeking harbor?
Who were the "porpoises" and who the "sharks"?
What reward did he claim?
What comparison is found in the first stanza?
What do stanzas three and four tell?
In what way is the hero's memory perpetuated?
The rhythm gives spirit to the poem. Which lines or stanzas are most spirited?
What line gives the key-note to Hervé Riel's character?
Contrast Hervé Riel with the local pilots.
Saint Malo--noted for its high tides.
Rance--name of a river.
The Hogue--a cape on the French coast.
Malouins--residents of Saint Malo.
Tourville--the French admiral.
Grève--name given the beach.
Solidor--the old fortress.
Belle Aurore--the dawn.
Croisickese--inhabitants of Croisie.
Words and Phrases for Discussion.
"Worse than fifty Hogues""Clears the entry like a hound""Just the same man as before""He is Admiral, in brief""Keeps the passage as its inch of way were the wide sea's profound""Search the heroes flung pell-mell on the Louvre, face and flank""pressed""disembogues""rampired""bore the bell"
THE BUGLE SONG(From "The Princess")
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
The splendor falls on castle wallsAnd snowy summits, old in story;The long light shakes across the lakes,And the wild cataract leaps in glory.Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying;Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.
O, hark! O, hear! how thin and clear,And thinner, clearer, farther going!O, sweet and far from cliff and scar,The horns of Elfland, faintly blowing!Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying;Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.
O, love, they die in yon rich sky;They faint on hill or field or river.Our echoes roll from soul to soul,And grow forever and forever.Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying;And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying.
HELPS TO STUDY.
Notes and Questions.
Why does the poet use "splendor" instead of "sun-set," and "summits" instead of "mountains"?
Line 2--What is meant by "old in story"?
Line 3--Why does the poet use "shakes"?
Line l3--To what does "they" relate?
Line l5--Explain.
Line l5--Why does the poet use "roll"?
Line l6--They "die" and "faint" while "our echoes" "roll" and "grow." Note that "grow" is the important word.
Note the refrain and the changes in its use; in the first stanza--the bugle; in the second--the echo; in the third--the spiritual echo.
Point out lines that have rhyme within themselves.
Words and Phrases for Discussion.
"wild echoes""cliff and scar""horns of Elfland""rich sky""purple glens"
THE BROOK
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
I come from haunts of coot and hern,I make a sudden sally,And sparkle out among the fern,To bicker down a valley.
By thirty hills I hurry down,Or slip between the ridges,By twenty thorps, a little town,And half a hundred bridges,
Till last by Philip's farm I flowTo join the brimming river,For men may come and men may go,But I go on forever.
I chatter over stony ways,In little sharps and trebles;I bubble into eddying bays,I babble on the pebbles.
With many a curve my banks I fretBy many a field and fallow,And many a fairy foreland setWith willow-weed and mallow.
I chatter, chatter, as I flowTo join the brimming river,For men may come and men may go,But I go on forever.
I wind about, and in and out,With here a blossom sailing,And here and there a lusty trout,And here and there a grayling.
And here and there a foamy flakeUpon me, as I travelWith many a silvery water-breakAbove the golden gravel,
And draw them all along, and flowTo join the brimming river,For men may come and men may go,But I go on forever.
I steal by lawns and grassy plots,I slide by hazel covers;I move the sweet forget-me-notsThat grow for happy lovers.
I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,Among my skimming swallows;I make the netted sunbeams danceAgainst my sandy shallows,
I murmur under moon and starsIn brambly wildernesses;I linger by my shingly bars,I loiter round my cresses;
And out again I curve and flowTo join the brimming river,For men may come and men may go,But I go on forever.
HELPS TO STUDY.
Notes and Questions.
These stanzas are part of a longer poem called "The Brook."
In this poem Tennyson personifies the brook. Why?
In what lines do the words and the rhythm suggest the sound of the brook?
Which lines do this most successfully?
Point out words that seem to you especially appropriate in giving the thought.
Where in the poem do we find a meaning for the following lines:"Oh! of all the songs sungNo songs are so sweetAs the songs with refrainsWhich repeat and repeat."
How does the repetition of "chatter" influence the melody of the first line in the sixth stanza?
How does it affect the thought?
Find another place in the poem where an expression is repeated.
Was this done for the sake of the rhythm, or the thought, or for both?
Alliteration is the repetition of the same letter or sound at the beginning of two or more words in close succession.
Find lines in which alliteration is used e. g. "sudden sally," "field and fallow," etc. What does this add to the poem?
Indicate the rhythm of the first four lines by placing them in these curves:_______ _______ _______ _______/ \/ \/ \/ \
Words and Phrases for Discussion.
"coot and hern" (heron)"bicker""thorps""fairy foreland""willow weed and mallow""grayling""water-break""covers""brambly""shingly bars""eddying""fallow""babble""cresses""brimming""sharps and trebles""skimming swallows""netted sunbeams"
SONG OF THE CHATTAHOOCHEE
SIDNEY LANIER
Out of the hills of Habersham,Down the valleys of Hall,I hurry amain to reach the plain,Run the rapid and leap the fall;Split at the rock and together again,Accept my bed, or narrow or wide,And flee from folly on every sideWith a lover's pain to attain the plainFar from the hills of Habersham,Far from the valleys of Hall.
All down the hills of Habersham,All through the valleys of Hall,The rushes cried, "Abide, abide,"The wilful water-weeds held me thrall,The laving laurel turned my tide,The ferns and the fondling grass said, "Stay,"The dewberry dipped for to work delay,And the little reeds sighed, "Abide, abide,"Here in the hills of Habersham,Here in the valleys of Hall.
High o'er the hills of Habersham,Veiling the valleys of Hall,The hickory told me manifoldFair tales of shade; the poplar tallWrought me her shadowy self to hold;The chestnut, the oak, the walnut, the pine,Overleaning, with flickering meaning and sign,Said: "Pass not so cold, these manifoldDeep shades of the hills of Habersham,These glades in the valleys of Hall."
And oft in the hills of Habersham,And oft in the valleys of Hall,The white quartz shone, and the smooth brook stoneDid bar me of passage with friendly brawl;And many a luminous jewel lone(Crystals clear or a-cloud with mist,Ruby, garnet, or amethyst)Made lures with the lights of streaming stoneIn the clefts of the hills of Habersham,In the beds of the valleys of Hall.
But oh! not the hills of Habersham,And oh! not the valleys of HallAvail; I am fain for to water the plain.Downward the voices of Duty call;Downward to toil and be mixed with the main.The dry fields burn and the mills are to turn,And a myriad flowers mortally yearn,And the lordly main from beyond the plainCalls o'er the hills of Habersham,Calls through the valleys of Hall.
HELPS TO STUDY.
Biographical and Historical:The South has given us two most melodious singers, Poe and Lanier. When only nineteen Sidney Lanier enlisted in the Confederate army, and the close of the war found him broken in health, with little else in the world than a brave wife and a brave heart. When his health permitted he played the flute in an orchestra in Baltimore. The rhythm, the rhyme and the melodious words of his poetry all show him the passionate lover of music that he was. Among his prose writings, "The Boy's Froissart" and "The Boy's King Arthur" are of especial interest to young readers.
Notes and Questions.
Find the Chattahoochee river on your map with its source in the "hills of Habersham" and its course through the "valleys of Hall."
Compare this poem with Tennyson's "The Brook."
What is peculiar in the phrases: "run the rapid," "flee from folly," "wilful waterweeds," "loving laurel," etc.
Find alliteration in other lines.
What is added to the poem by alliteration?
Notice the rhythm in the third line of the first stanza.
What is the peculiarity of the eighth line of the first stanza?
Find lines in the other stanzas which contain rhymes. Notice the last word in each of these lines. What two things have you found out?
Lanier believed that poetry is a kind of music. Does the rhythm in this poem sustain this definition?
Point out lines that are especially musical and pleasing.
Habersham, Hall--Counties in northern Georgia.
Words and Phrases for Discussion.
"laving laurel""fondling grass""friendly brawl""made lures""lordly main""run the rapid""leap the fall""hurry amain""veiling the valleys""flickering meaning""the mills are to turn""I am fain for to water the plain"
THE CATARACT OF LODORE
ROBERT SOUTHEY.
"How does the waterCome down at Lodore?"My little boy asked meThus, once on a time;And, moreover, he tasked meTo tell him in rhyme.Anon at the word,There first came one daughter,And then came another,To second and thirdThe request of their brother,And to hear how the waterComes down at Lodore,With its rush and its roar,As many a timeThey had seen it before.So I told them in rhyme--For of rhymes I had store;And 'twas my vocationFor their recreationThat so I should sing;Because I was LaureateTo them and the king.
From its sources, which wellIn the tarn on the fell;From its fountainsIn the mountains,Its rills and its gills;Through moss and through brake,It runs and it creepsFor a while, till it sleepsIn its own little lake.And thence, at departing,Awakening and starting,It runs through the reeds,And away it proceeds,Through meadow and glade,In sun and in shade,And through the wood shelter,Among crags in its flurry,Helter-skelter,Hurry-skurry.Here it comes sparkling,And there it lies darkling;Now smoking and frothingIn tumult and wrath in,Till, in this rapid raceOn which it is bent,It reaches the placeOf its steep descent.
The cataract strongThen plunges along,Striking and raging,As if a war wagingIts caverns and rocks among;Rising and leaping,Sinking and creeping,Swelling and sweeping,Showering and springing,Flying and flinging,Writhing and ringing,Eddying and whisking,Spouting and frisking,Turning and twisting,Around and aroundWith endless rebound;Smiting and fighting,A sight to delight in;Confounding, astounding,Dizzying, and deafening the ear with its sound,
Collecting, projecting,Receding and speeding,And shocking and rocking,And darting and parting,And threading and spreading,And whizzing and hissing,And dripping and skipping,And hitting and splitting,And shining and twining,And rattling and battling,And shaking and quaking,And pouring and roaring,And waving and raving,And tossing and crossing,And flowing and going,And running and stunning,And foaming and roaming,And dinning and spinning,And dropping and hopping,And working and jerking,And guggling and struggling,And heaving and cleaving,And moaning and groaning,And glittering and frittering,And gathering and feathering,And whitening and brightening,And quivering and shivering,And hurrying and skurrying,And thundering and floundering;
Dividing and gliding and sliding,And falling and brawling and sprawling,And driving and riving and striving,And sprinkling and twinkling and wrinkling,And sounding and bounding and rounding,And bubbling and troubling and doubling,And grumbling and rumbling and tumbling,And chattering and battering and shattering;Retreating and beating and meeting and sheeting,Delaying and straying and playing and spraying,Advancing and prancing and glancing and dancing,Recoiling, turmoiling, and toiling and boiling,And gleaming and streaming and steaming and beaming,And rushing and flushing and brushing and gushing,And flapping and rapping and clapping and slapping,And curling and whirling and purling and twirling,And thumping and plumping and bumping and jumping.And dashing and flashing and splashing and clashing;And so never ending, but always descending,Sounds and motions forever and ever are blending,All at once, and all o'er, with a mighty uproar:And this way the water comes down at Lodore.
HELPS TO STUDY.
Biographical: Robert Southey, 1774-1843, was a great English poet. In 1813 he was made poet laureate.
Notes and Questions.
Who was "laureate"? What is it to be "laureate"?
Who was the king to whom Southey was poet-laureate?
To whom beside the king does he say he is laureate?
What do you think he means by this?
Find this cataract on your map (Derwent River in Cumberland). What is a cataract? Have you ever seen one?
Find changes in rhythm as the stream advances.
Where in the poem does Southey first use lines in which two words rhyme? In which three words rhyme?
Why does the poet use all these rhymes?
Compare the first and second stanzas as to rate.
Point out lines that are especially pleasing to you.
Words and Phrases for Discussion.
"cataract""tarn""brake""glade""helter-skelter""hurry-skurry""vocation""recreation""fell"
THE BELLS
EDGAR ALLAN POE
Hear the sledges with the bells--Silver bells!What a world of merriment their melody foretells!How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,In the icy air of night!While the stars that oversprinkleAll the heavens, seem to twinkleWith a crystalline delight;Keeping time, time, time,In a sort of Runic rhyme,To the tintinnabulation that so musically wellsFrom the bells, bells, bells, bells,Bells, bells, bells--From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.
Hear the mellow wedding-bells,Golden bells!What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!Through the balmy air of nightHow they ring out their delight!From the molten-golden notes,And all in tune,What a liquid ditty floatsTo the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloatsOn the moon!Oh, from out the sounding cellsWhat a gush of euphony voluminously wells!How it swells!How it dwellsOn the Future! how it tellsOf the rapture that impelsTo the swinging and the ringingOf the bells, bells, bells--Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,Bells, bells, bells--To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!
Hear the loud alarum bells--Brazen bells!What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!In the startled ear of nightHow they scream out their affright!Too much horrified to speak,They can only shriek, shriek,Out of tune,In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fireLeaping higher, higher, higher,With a desperate desire,And a resolute endeavor,Now--now to sit or never,By the side of the pale-faced moon.Oh, the bells, bells, bells!What a tale their terror tellsOf despair!How they clang, and clash, and roar!What a horror they outpourOn the bosom of the palpitating air!Yet the ear it fully knows,By the twangingAnd the clanging,How the danger ebbs and flows;Yet the ear distinctly tells,In the jangling,And the wrangling,How the danger sinks and swells,By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells--Of the bells--Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,Bells, bells, bells--In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!
Hear the tolling of the bells--Iron bells!What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!In the silence of the night,How we shiver with affrightAt the melancholy menace of their tone!For every sound that floatsFrom the rust within their throatsIs a groan.And the people--ah, the people--They that dwell up in the steeple,All alone,And who tolling, tolling, tolling,In that muffled monotone,Feel a glory in so rollingOn the human heart a stone--They are neither man nor woman--They are neither brute nor human--They are Ghouls;And their king it is who tolls;And he rolls, rolls, rolls,Rolls,A paean from the bells!And his merry bosom swellsWith the paean of the bells!And he dances, and he yells;Keeping time, time, time,In a sort of Runic rhyme,To the paean of the bells--Of the bells:Keeping time, time, time,In a sort of Runic rhyme,To the throbbing of the bells--Of the bells, bells, bells--To the sobbing of the bells;Keeping time, time, time,As he knells, knells, knells,In a happy Runic rhyme,To the rolling of the bells--Of the bells, bells, bells--To the tolling of the bells,Of the bells, bells, bells, bells--Bells, bells, bells--To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.
HELPS TO STUDY.
Biographical and Historical:Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston on January 19th, 1809. Both his parents were members of a theatrical troupe then playing in Boston. He was left an orphan at the age of three years, and was adopted by a wealthy Virginia planter and by him educated in England and elsewhere. Owing to his erratic habits, Poe's foster-father disowned him, and after that life for him was a constant battle with poverty. His prose tales abound in adventure, allegory, and the supernatural. His poetry is full of imagery, beauty, and melody.
Notes and Questions.
What kinds of bells does the poet seek to reproduce the sound of?
Which bells has he described best?
Point out words particularly suited to express the sound they describe.
Which lines are especially musical and pleasing?
What can you say of the fire-bells of today?
Words and Phrases for Discussion.
"euphony""tintinnabulation""expostulation""Runic""crystalline""palpitating"
ANNABEL LEE
EDGAR ALLAN POE
It was many and many a year ago,In a kingdom by the sea,That a maiden there lived whom you may knowBy the name of Annabel Lee;And this maiden she lived with no other thoughtThan to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,In this kingdom by the sea:But we loved with a love that was more than love--I and my Annabel Lee;With a love that the wingèd seraphs of heavenCoveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,In this kingdom by the sea,A wind blew out of a cloud, chillingMy beautiful Annabel Lee;So that her highborn kinsmen cameAnd bore her away from me,To shut her up in a sepulchreIn this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,Went envying her and me--Yes!--that was the reason (as all men know,In this kingdom by the sea)That the wind came out of the cloud by night,Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the loveOf those who were older than we--Of many far wiser than we--And neither the angels in heaven above,Nor the demons down under the sea,Can ever dissever my soul from the soulOf the beautiful Annabel Lee:
For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreamsOf the beautiful Annabel Lee;And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyesOf the beautiful Annabel Lee;And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the sideOf my darling,--my darling,--my life and my bride,In the sepulchre there by the sea,In her tomb by the sounding sea.
HELPS TO STUDY.
Notes and Questions.
Like "The Bells," this poem is musical and the words are chosen with reference to this quality.
Notice that the repetition of the word "many" adds to the music of the first line.
Find other lines in which a word is repeated for the sake of melody.
Find lines in which rhymes occur.
Mention lines that are especially pleasing to you.
What reason is given for the death of Annabel Lee?
Why did the angels "covet" and "envy" the lovers?
How strong was this love?
Why does not the lover feel separated from Annabel Lee?
Do you like this poem? Why?
Words and Phrases for Discussion.
"winged seraphs""sounding sea""sepulchre""highborn kinsmen""coveted""envying"
OPPORTUNITY
EDWARD ROWLAND SILL
This I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream:--There spread a cloud of dust along a plain;And underneath the cloud, or in it, ragedA furious battle, and men yelled, and swordsShocked upon swords and shields. A prince's bannerWavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes.A craven hung along the battle's edge,And thought, "Had I a sword of keener steel--That blue blade that the king's son bears,--but thisBlunt thing--!" he snapt and flung it from his hand,And lowering crept away and left the field.Then came the king's son, wounded, sore bestead,And weaponless, and saw the broken sword,Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand,And ran and snatched it, and with battle-shoutLifted afresh he hewed his enemy down,And saved a great cause that heroic day.
HELPS TO STUDY.
Biographical:Edward Rowland Sill was born in Connecticut in 1841. He graduated at Yale and lived most of his life in California, being for some years professor of English language and literature at the State University. Sill was a true poet, but the whole of his literary output is contained in two slender volumes. His poems are noted for their compressed thought. The selection here given shows this quality.
Notes and Questions.
What do you learn from this poem?
Where was the craven when he decided his sword was useless?
What word shows that he was there of his own choice?
What kind of sword had the craven?
What words tell you that he was greatly needed in the thick of the conflict?
What kind of sword had the king's son?
How long did the king's son look at the discarded sword before using it?
If the battle represents life, and the craven and the king's son are types of the people in the world, what do you think the swords represent?
Why is this poem called "Opportunity"?
Can you think of another title which might be given to it?
Such a story as this is called an allegory.
"furious"--What is a furious battle?
Words and Phrases for Discussion.
"craven""bestead""hung along the battle's edge""shocked""hemmed by foes"
TO A WATERFOWL
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT
Whither, midst falling dew,While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,Far through their rosy depths dost thou pursueThy solitary way?
Vainly the fowler's eyeMight mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,Thy figure floats along.
Seek'st thou the plashy brinkOf weedy lake, or marge of river wide,Or where the rocking billows rise and sinkOn the chafed ocean-side?
There is a Power whose careTeaches thy way along that pathless coast,--The desert and illimitable air,--Lone wandering, but not lost.
All day thy wings have fanned,At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere,Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,Though the dark night is near.
And soon that toil shall end;Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest,And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bendSoon o'er thy sheltered nest.
Thou'rt gone; the abyss of heavenHath swallowed up thy form; yet on my heartDeeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,And shall not soon depart.
He who, from zone to zone,Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,In the long way that I must tread aloneWill lead my steps aright.
HELPS TO STUDY.
Biographical and Historical:William Cullen Bryant was born in 1794 in Western Massachusetts. His education was carried on in the district school. At home he had the use of an exceptionally fine library, for that period, and he made the most of its opportunities. In 1816 he secured a license to practice law, and journeyed on foot to Plainfield, Mass., to look for a place to open an office. He felt forlorn and desolate, and the world seemed big and cold. In this mood, while pausing on his way to contemplate the beauty of the sunset, he saw a solitary bird wing its way along the horizon. He watched it until it was lost in the distance. Then he pursued his journey with new courage and on arriving at the place where he was to stop for the night, he sat down and wrote this beautiful poem of faith and hope.
Notes and Questions.
What lines tell you the time of day?
Which stanza do you like best? Why?
What lines give you the most beautiful picture?
What does the poet learn from the waterfowl?
Note that the rhythm gives the impression of the bird's flight.
Words and Phrases for Discussion.
"thy solitary way""rosy depths""thin atmosphere""the fowler's eye""long way""welcome land""that toil shall end""tread alone""boundless sky""last steps of day""certain flight""lone wandering but not lost""chafed ocean-side""pathless coast""the abyss of heaven hath swallowed up thy form"
THE SKYLARK
JAMES HOGG.
Bird of the wilderness,Blithesome and cumberless,Sweet be thy matin o'er moorland and lea!Emblem of happiness,Blest is thy dwelling place,--O to abide in the desert with thee!Wild is thy lay and loud,Far in the downy cloud,Love gives it energy, love gave it birth.Where on thy dewy wing,Where art thou journeying?Thy lay is in heaven, thy love is on earth,
O'er fell and fountain sheen,O'er moor and mountain green,O'er the red streamer that heralds the day,Over the cloudlet dim,Over the rainbow's rim,Musical cherub, soar, singing, away!Then, when the gloaming comes,Low in the heather blooms,Sweet will thy welcome and bed of love be!
HELPS TO STUDY.
James Hogg was born in Ettrick, Scotland, in 1770, and was known as "the Ettrick Shepherd," because he followed the occupation of a shepherd until he was thirty. The beautiful selection here given was doubtless inspired by the poet's early communion with Nature.
Notes and Questions.
From this poem what can you tell of the home of the skylark? Of its nature?
Why is the lark called an emblem of happiness? Name something that might be called an emblem of strength; of sorrow.
What pictures do the following words make to you: "wilderness," "moor," "lea," "fell," "heather-bloom"?
What is the "red streamer that heralds the day"?
What does the word "dewy" suggest as to the habits of the bird?
What do "matin" and "gloaming" signify?
In the poem what tells you the nest is near the ground?
Why is "downy" used to describe "cloud"?
What makes lines 13 and 14 so musical?
Indicate the rhythm of the first six lines by writing them in groups as shown in the following curves:
__________ ____________/ \/ \Bird of the wil-der-ness
TO A SKYLARK
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY