While breasts are red and wings are bold
And green trees wave us globes of gold,
Time's scythe shall reap but bliss for me
Sunlight, song, and the orange tree.

"Burn, golden globes in leafy sky,
My orange planets: crimson I
Will shine and shoot among the spheres
(Blithe meteor that no mortal fears)
And thrid the heavenly orange tree
With orbits bright of minstrelsy.

"If that I hate wild winter's spite
The gibbet trees, the world in white,
The sky but gray wind over a grave
Why should I ache, the season's slave?
I'll sing from the top of the orange tree
Gramercy, winter's tyranny.

I'll south with the sun, and keep my clime;

My wing is king of the summer time;

My breast to the sun his torch shall hold;
And I'll call down through the green and gold
Time, take thy scythe, reap bliss for me,
Bestir thee under the orange tree."

THE WHIPPOORWILL 1

MADISON J. CAWEIN

Madison J. Cawein (1865–1914), the poet, was born in Louisville, Kentucky. From early boyhood he wrote verse. Even his graduation speech at the high school was a poem, which awakened much interest. Probably no American poet of his day received more European recog

1 Copyright, 1910. Used by special arrangement with the author and The Macmillan Company.

nition. He published several volumes of poems, all of which show rare imaginative power and an exquisite appreciation of nature. See also:

Halleck's History of American Literature, pp. 332-334, 338.

Trent's Southern Writers, pp. 332-378.

Townsend's Kentucky in American Letters, Vol. II, pp. 187–198. Review of Reviews, Recent Verse, Vol. 47, pp. 370–373 (March, 1913).

ABOVE lone woodland ways that led
To dells the stealthy twilights tread
The west was hot geranium red;
And still, and still,

Along old lanes the locusts sow

With clustered pearls the Maytimes know,

Deep in the crimson afterglow,

We heard the homeward cattle low,

And then the far-off, far-off woe

Of "whippoorwill!" of "whippoorwill!"

Beneath the idle beechen boughs

We heard the far bells of the cows

Come slowly jangling toward the house;

And still, and still,

Beyond the light that would not die
Out of the scarlet-haunted sky;
Beyond the evening-star's white eye
Of glittering chalcedony,

Drained out of dusk the plaintive cry
Of "whippoorwill," of "whippoorwill."

And in the city oft, when swims
The pale moon o'er the smoke that dims
Its disk, I dream of wildwood limbs;
And still, and still,

I seem to hear, where shadows grope

'Mid ferns and flowers that dewdrops rope,

Lost in faint deeps of heliotrope
Above the clover-sweetened slope,
Retreat, despairing, past all hope,
The whippoorwill, the whippoorwill.

THE FIRST BLUEBIRD 1

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

James Whitcomb Riley (1853- ) was born in the little town of Greenfield, Indiana. The Raggedy Man, and Little Orphant Annie, which are among his most familiar poems, illustrate his perfect sympathy with children, and explain their love for him. His poems on nature and rural life, such as When the Frost is on the Punkin and The First Bluebird, are great favorites. It has been truly said that "he lives in the understanding and affection of the millions." See also: Halleck's History of American Literature, pp. 352-354, 366. Bookman, 35: 637-645; 38: 163–168.

McCoy's The Boy who was Born in our Town in The World's Work, 25:565-567.

Good Housekeeping, 55:456–460; Literary Digest, 47: 782.

JEST rain and snow! and rain again!

And dribble! drip! and blow!

Then snow! and thaw! and slush! and then

Some more rain and snow!

This morning I was 'most afeard

To wake up when, I jing!
I seen the sun shine out and heerd
The first bluebird of Spring!-
Mother she'd raised the winder some;
And in acrost the orchurd come,
Soft as a angel's wing,

A breezy, treesy, beesy hum,

Too sweet fer anything!

1 From Neighborly Poems, by James Whitcomb Riley, copyright, 1891. Used by

special permission of the publishers, The Bobbs-Merrill Company.

The winter's shroud was rent a-part
The sun bust forth in glee,

And when that bluebird sung, my hart
Hopped out o' bed with me!

STUDY HINTS

There are twenty-one stanzas in Shelley's The Skylark. Would you not like to read the other fifteen? What does the poet think may be the cause of the skylark's song? Why does he think the bird must know the true and deep realities of death? Does the third stanza express almost universal truths of human nature? How does Shelley compare his own skill with that of the skylark? Is the world now listening to him?

In Hayne's poem why is the mocking bird called the "laureate"? Name the birds that have stopped to listen. What is the different position of each? Does it require careful observation to write verse like this? Visualize in distinct images the eight birds mentioned and describe the appearance of each. Does the poet convey to you the beauty of the mocking bird's song by direct description? What method does he employ?

How is the character of the robin shown in Lanier's poem? In what does the robin find bliss? How many examples of personification are there in this poem? Think carefully over the second line of the last stanza. Reread the poem aloud and see how spirited you can make it. Statistical investigation of children's geographical knowledge shows that they usually agree in considering the same two states the most interesting. Which states do you think these are? Why? Compare the background of Tampa Robins with that of The First Bluebird.

In Cawein's The Whippoorwill, explain why the word "stealthy" is very happily used in this connection. Would any one but a natural poet have thought of such expressions as "stealthy twilights," "hot geranium red," "scarlet-haunted sky"? What is the time of year of this poem? The time of day? If you were an artist, could you embody the first stanza in a picture? How does the second stanza tell you that there is no air stirring? Why is "drained out of dusk" very appropriate for such a "plaintive cry"? Mention the chief natural objects that lend fascination to this poem. Would you be more apt to discover this fascination in nature after reading this poem aloud several times?

Note that Riley's The First Bluebird is written in the dialect of the Indiana farmer. Have you ever known a March day, such as the first four lines realistically describe? How does the poet make you feel the fascination of the bluebird's song? In what way does he make the song more effective by its background?

The first is an English bird; the others may be heard in many parts of our own country. Can you name the birds in your own locality? How many bird notes can you whistle?

Of the five poems in this group, which gives you the most pleasure? Which do you think is the greatest? Read them all to some of your friends and learn their opinions. Perhaps some very good-natured friend or company may allow you at some special time to read aloud all of this and the preceding groups, and they may express their preferences. Of the fifteen poems in the three groups in this volume note that all but two are complete and that you are to read all of these two if you like them.

SUGGESTIONS FOR ADDITIONAL READINGS

The Skylark. James Hogg.

The Redbreast. William Wordsworth.

The Green Linnet. William Wordsworth.

The Rain-Crow. Madison Cawein.

The Owlet. Madison Cawein.

In the Shadow of the Beeches. Madison Cawein.

There are Fairies. Madison Cawein.

The Shadow Garden. Madison Cawein.

In Solitary Places. Madison Cawein.

The Spirit of the Forest Spring. Madison Cawein.
A Sudden Shower. James Whitcomb Riley.

A Song. James Whitcomb Riley.

A Life Lesson. James Whitcomb Riley.

The Old Swimmin' Hole. James Whitcomb Riley.

The Boy Lives on Our Farm. James Whitcomb Riley.

Our Hired Girl. James Whitcomb Riley.

The Old Man and Jim. James Whitcomb Riley.

The Name of Old Glory. James Whitcomb Riley.

Our New Neighbors at Ponkapog. Thomas Bailey Aldrich.