40 45 50 I steal by lawns and grassy plots, I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance, I murmur under moon and stars And out again I curve and flow HELPS TO STUDY 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 sung No songs are so sweet As the songs with refrains Which 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 *From "Poems of Sidney Lanier"; copyright 1884, 1891, Lanier; published by Charles Scribner's Sons. D. The ferns and the fondling grass said, "Stay," Here in the valleys of Hall. High o'er the hills of Habersham, Veiling the valleys of Hall, The hickory told me manifold Wrought me her shadowy self to hold; Said: "Pass not so cold, these manifold And oft in the hills of Habersham, And oft in the valleys of Hall, The white quartz shone, and the smooth brook stone And many a luminous jewel lone (Crystals clear or a-cloud with mist, Ruby, garnet, or amethyst) Made lures with the lights of streaming stone In the beds of the valleys of Hall. But oh! not the hills of Habersham, Downward to toil and be mixed with the main. And the lordly main from beyond the plain 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. THE CATARACT OF LODORE ROBERT SOUTHEY "How does the water Come down at Lodore?" Thus, once on a time; There first came one daughter, And then came another, To second and third The request of their brother, As many a time They had seen it before. So I told them in rhyme- That so I should sing; From its sources, which well From its fountains Through moss and through brake, It runs and it creeps For a while, till it sleeps In its own little lake. And thence, at departing, |