And up to heav'n, like a joyous lark, "And now that bold and hardy few Are a nation wide and strong; And danger and doubt I have led them through. And they worship me in song; And over their bright and glancing arms, On field, and lake, and sea, With an eye that fires, and a spell that charms, SPRING.-N. P. WILLis. THE spring is here, the delicate-footed Máy, Wasting in wood-paths its voluptuous hours We pass out from the city's feverish húm, And nature, that is beautiful and dumb, Like a cool sleep up the pulses broods; Yet, even there, a restless thought will steal, To teach the indolent heart it still must feel ; Strange that the audible stillness of the noon, There is no contentment in a world like this, THE CLIME OF THE EAST.-BYRON. KNOW ye the land where the cypress and myrtle Where the flowers ever blossom, the leaves ever shine; * Gul, the Rose. And the voice of the nightingale never is mute; Where the tints of the earth and the hues of the sky, And the purple of Ocean is deepest in dye; Where the virgins are 'Tis the clíme of the East,-'tis the land of the sun! Are the hearts which they bear, and the tales which they tell. The exercise in Intonation serves also for an exercise in Blank Verse; and the next Exercise contains some other varieties of metrical arrangement. 3. EXERCISE IN EXPRESSION. I have chosen the following well-known and beautiful ode, as the vehicle of instruction, and as a particular Exercise in Expression, although quite familiar to the reader, as a composition, because it affords great scope for transition of pitch, variation of force, and change of time, in accordance with the varied action and quality of the personification of each individual passion. It is in these transitions and variations that the main beauty of the ode lies; and on the marking of them distinctly, depends the effect in delivery. The ode is also a good practice in rhythmical reading, from the variety as well as polish of the versification. The pupil will carefully note the short analysis of the expression of each passion, and the marginal directions as to tone and time due to each particular passage. THE PASSIONS-AN ODE.-COLlins. INTRODUCTION, OR PRELUde. When Music, heavenly maid, was young The Passions oft, to hear her shell, Throng'd around her magic cell; f. a Fear deprives the voice of its power; the tone becomes thin and feeble, and the utterance (when the passion is highly-wrought) tremulous, indistinct, and broken. P. Slowly, & with First Fear, his hand, its skill to try, hesitation. Anger is high in pitch, loud, and quick in the time of its utterance; and the words do not flow, but burst out in sudden starts, indicative of the rashness of passion. This is distinct from the expression of dignified anger, just severity, and reproof, which is solemn and measured in its delivery, and low in pitch. Despair vents itself in a low, moaning tone; till it reaches its wildest paroxysm, when it is cracked and shrieking. Both shades of expression are beautifully and distinctly individualized by the poet in the des criptive verses. |