113.-EVE'S ACCOUNT OF HER CREATION. JOHN MILTON was born in London, December 9, 1608. He was carefully educated by a private tutor, until at the age of twelve he entered Christ Church College, Cambridge. He was a severe student, but of a haughty temper and impatient of constraint. While yet at college he wrote his grand Hymn on the Nativity, any one verse of which was sufficient to show that a great light had risen in English poetry. He graduated in 1632, and afterward pursued his classical studies for five years at his father's house. He wrote a number of political works on subjects then under dispute. His best-known poems are Comus, L'Allegro, Il Penseroso, Samson Agonistes, Paradise Regained, and, most famous of all, Paradise Lost, from which the following extracts are taken. His poetry has a power, a sublimity, and a solemnity not to be found in any other author. He died November 8, 1674. 1. I FIRST awaked, and found myself reposed Under a shade on flowers, much wond'ring where Into a liquid plain, then stood unmoved, With thee it came and goes; but follow me, 114.-EXPULSION FROM PARADISE. : 1. "ADAM, heaven's high behest no preface needs Given thee of grace, wherein thou may'st repent, Permits not to remove thee I am come, And send thee from the garden forth, to till 2. He added not; for Adam at the news Heart-struck with chilling gripe of sorrow stood, 3. "Oh, unexpected stroke,-worse than of death! My early visitation, and my last At even, which I bred up with tender hand From the first opening bud, and gave ye names, Who now shall rear ye to the sun, or rank Your tribes, and water from the ambrosial fount? Thee, lastly, nuptial bower, by me adorned Into a lower world, to this obscure And wild? How shall we breathe in other air Less pure, accustomed to immortal fruits?" JOHN MILTON. DEFINITIONS.-1. Be hěst', command. Ap peased', satisfied. Ra pă cious, seizing by force. 3. Respite, postponement. Am brō'şial, delicious. 115.-OLD AGE. EDMUND WALLER was born at Coleshill, England, March 3, 1605. He was educated at Eton, and afterward at King's College, Cambridge. He wrote several volumes of poetry. His poems are graceful and harmonious, sparkling with wit and vivacity, always clear and simple, and sometimes full of dignity. He died at Beaconsfield, October 21, 1687. 1. THE seas are quiet when the winds give o'er : 2. Clouds of affection from our younger eyes 3. Stronger by weakness, wiser men become As they draw near to their eternal home; Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view DEFINITION.—2. De series', perceives. 116. TO THE MEMORY OF SHAKESPEARE. BEN JONSON was born at Westminster in 1574. He received his education at Westminster School, and by some is said to have passed several months at St. John's College, Cambridge. He wrote numerous plays, the first which gained him any reputation was Every Man in his Humor. His writings are rather pedantic, yet they show great force and a humor which is thoroughly original and is full of sparkle. He was one of the most intimate friends of Shakespeare. He died in 1637, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. 1. To draw no envy, Shakespeare, on thy name, Am I thus ample to thy book and fame, 2. I therefore will begin : Soul of the age, The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage, 3. Yet must I not give nature all thy art, For, though the poet's matter nature be, And himself with it, that he thinks to frame, For a good poet's made as well as born. And such wert thou! Look how the father's face Of Shakespeare's mind and manners brightly shines In each of which he seems to shake a lance, 4. Sweet Swan of Avon, what a sight it were And make those flights upon the banks of Thames But stay! I see thee in the hemisphere Shine forth, thou Star of Poets, and with rage Which since thy flight from hence hath mourned like And despairs day but for thy volume's light. DEFINITIONS.-1. Suf'frage, opinion. 3. Laurel, an evergreen shrub used as a victor's crown. Issue, children. NOTES.-2. Spenser. Edmund Spenser, one of the great poets of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Beaumont. Francis Beaumont, a popular dramatist in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 4. Sweet Swan of Avon. This well-known title was first applied to Shakespeare by Ben Jonson in this poem. Eliza and our James. Queen Elizabeth and her successor, James I. |