And came not down, that Love might bring one piece of heaven the more?

Oh! pray believe that angels.

From those blue dominions

Brought us in their white laps down, 'twixt their golden pinions.

HELPS TO STUDY.

Biographical and Historical: Leigh Hunt, 1784-1859, was an English poet. His essays, also, are well known. The Nine" refers to the Muses, patronesses of poetry and music, whose lord is Apollo, and who assembled on Mount Parnassus, or Mount Helicon, to hold their learned discussions on poetry, science or music.

Notes and Questions.

Find the lines which rhyme in

each stanza?

Which is the odd line?
What does the first stanza tell
you? The second? The third?
Why does the poet say that flow-

ers are uselessness divinest''? Why does he say they are "Of a

use the finest ''?

For what purpose are flowers painted in "a thousand flashing hues'?

Why does the poet speak of trav

elers as "weary-eyed''? Why does the poet say travelers "Bless us far and wide''?

"'graces"

"pipe"

"bowers"

What things are compared in the last lines of stanza four?

What uses of flowers are pointed out in stanza five?

Point out the comparison in the
sixth stanza.

In stanza seven what is compared
with the "Nine" muses?
What lesson do the sea-weeds
teach? Read the lines that
tell you.

What possible source and use of
flowers are pointed out in
stanza ten?

Do you like this poem? Why?
Which stanza do you like best?

comes pell-mell'' " 'twixt their golden pinions''

On the naked woods and the blasted fields and the brown hill's

withered brow.

He has smitten the leaves of the gray old trees where their pleasant green came forth,

And the winds, which follow wherever he goes, have shaken them down to earth.

He comes,

- he comes,

2

the Frost Spirit comes! - from the frozen Labrador,

From the icy bridge of the Northern seas, which the white bear wanders o'er,

Where the fisherman's sail is stiff with ice, and the luckless forms below

In the sunless cold of the lingering night into marble statues

grow!

3

He comes, - he comes, the Frost Spirit comes!

rushing Northern blast,

on the

And the dark Norwegian pines have bowed as his fearful breath

went past.

With an unscorched wing he has hurried on, where the fires of

Hecla glow

On the darkly beautiful sky above and the ancient ice below.

The torpid touch of his glazing breath, and ring to the skater's

And the streams which danced on the broken rocks, or sang to the leaning grass,

Shall bow again to their winter chain, and in mournful silence

And turn with the light of the parlor-fire his evil power away; And gather closer the circle round, when that fire-light dances

And laugh at the shriek of the baffled Fiend as his sounding wing goes by!

THE FROST.

HANNAH F. GOULD.

1

The Frost looked forth on a still, clear night,
And whispered, "Now, I shall be out of sight;
So, through the valley, and over the height,
In silence I'll take my way.

I will not go on like that blustering train,
The wind and the snow, the hail and the rain,
That make such a bustle and noise in vain;
But I'll be as busy as they!"

2

So he flew to the mountain, and powdered its crest,
He lit on the trees, and their boughs he dressed
With diamonds and pearls; and over the breast
Of the quivering lake, he spread

A coat of mail, that it need not fear

The glittering point of many a spear

Which he hung on its margin, far and near,
Where a rock could rear its head.

3

He went to the window of those who slept,
And over each pane like a fairy crept:
Wherever he breathed, wherever he stepped,

By the morning light were seen

Most beautiful things! - there were flowers and trees, There were bevies of birds and swarms of bees;

There were cities and temples and towers; and these All pictured in silvery sheen!

4

But he did one thing that was hardly fair,-
He peeped in the cupboard, and finding there
That all had forgotten for him to prepare.

"Now, just to set them a-thinking,
I'll bite this basket of fruit," said he,
"And this costly pitcher I'll burst in three!
And the glass of water they've left for me,
Shall 'tchick' to tell them I'm drinking."

HELPS TO STUDY.

Biographical: Hannah F. Gould, 1789-1865, was an American poet, born at Lancaster, Massachusetts. In 1800 she went with her parents to Newburyport, Mass., where she lived the remainder of her life. She wrote "Hymns and Poems for Children,” which contain many beautiful selections.

Notes and Questions.

Why in this poem does the author personify "The Frost''?

What characteristic is ascribed to the Frost in the first stanza? To what does the second stanza relate? The third? The fourth?

Point out the meaning of the following:

"powdered its crest";

"their boughs he dressed
with diamonds and pearls'';
"spread a coat of mail'';
"point of many a spear

hung on its margin".
Read the line which tells what
kind of a night to expect frost?
Which stanza do you like best?
Why?

Words and Phrases for Discussion.

"blustering train’

9966

"bustle and noise in vain 'bevies of birds" "quivering lake''