I love thee with a love I seemed to lose NATURE 1 Longfellow As a fond mother, when the day is o'er Half willing, half reluctant to be led, And leave his broken playthings on the floor; By promises of others in their stead, Which, though more splendid, may not please him more; Our playthings one by one, and by the hand Leads us to rest so gently, that we go Scarce knowing if we wish to go or stay, Being too full of sleep to understand How far the unknown transcends the what we know. WORK 2 Henry Van Dyke Let me but do my work from day to day, In field or forest, at the desk or loom, Let me but find it in my heart to say, When flagrant wishes beckon me astray, "This is my work; my blessing, not my doom; This work can best be done in the right way." Then shall I see it not too great, nor small, To suit my spirit and to prove my powers; Then shall I cheerful greet the labouring hours, And cheerful turn, when the long shadows fall Because I know for me my work is best. 1 Used by permission of the Houghton Mifflin Company. 2 From Music and Other Poems by Henry Van Dyke. Copyright, 1904, Charles Scribner's Sons. Used by special arrangement with the publishers. VOICES 1 Louis Untermeyer All day with anxious heart and wondering ear Shouted and sang until the world was drowned All day it surged-but nothing could I hear. That night the country never seemed so still; 10 To stars that brushed them with their silver wings. Together with the moon I climbed the hill, And, in the very heart of Silence, heard The speech and music of immortal things. SUGGESTIONS TO STUDENTS The following sonnets, written by high school seniors, are placed here with the hope that they may inspire other students to try the sonnet form. OUR STAR OF GOLD A golden star upon the field of white, With crosses red, and living stars of blue. A hero-boy upon the field of fight, His life has gone protecting honor, right. His soul was large; his heart beat strong and true; He gave his all in just defence of you. What means it all-these golden stars tonight? 10 Which sees no more the battle, death, and tears, To add to ours their hopes and aims and cares; (V. C. '20.) 1 Used by special arrangement with the publishers, The Century Co. 5 5 TO OUR SERVICE FLAG You youthful flag with stars of deepest blue, You seem to breathe of youthful heroes' deeds In France there where the poppy blows its seeds. Oh see that star of shining golden hue! It speaks of death-death for all nations' needs. (C. K. 20.) SOME SONNETS FOR OPTIONAL READING Note. Read at least eight sonnets. For each give the two waves of thought and the rhyming scheme. Is it .a perfect sonnet? If not, why? Which ones did you like best? Sonnets XII, XVIII, XXXIII, CXVI...... "On His Having Arrived at the Age of Twenty Three" "On the Late Massacre in Piedmont". To Cyriac Skinner". "The World Is Too Much With Us". . Milton Milton "Scorn Not the Sonnet" (Notice in what three ways this differs from the others)........ Wordsworth "On the Extinction of the Venetian Repub lic" Wordsworth .Byron Shelley Keats .Keats Keats . Dante Rossetti The Sonnet". "Sonnets from the Portuguese," I, XIV, XX. .Mrs. Browning 'Patria" 'Love's Reason". "The Child in the Garden". "On the Life Mask of Abraham Lincoln". "What is a Sonnet?".... "Sonnets Written in the Fall of 1914". .Henry Van Dyke .R. W. Gilder .R. W. Gilder .George Edward Woodberry CHAPTER III THE ELEGY Characteristics of the Elegy. The elegy is a lyric poem which expresses grief for a personal or public loss, or gives reflections on death in general. Although it is a poem of lamentation, there usually are suggestions of hope and faith which tend to allay and soothe the sorrow. The Great English Elegies.-The greatest elegies in the English language are Milton's "Lycidas," in memory of his college friend, Edward King; Shelley's "Adonaïs," a tribute to Keats; Matthew Arnold's "Thyrsis," a lament on the death of his friend Clough; and In Memoriam," Tennyson's expression of grief for his dearest friend, Arthur Hallam. Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" is also one of the great English elegies, although here there is no expression of personal grief, but solemn reflections called forth by the turf-covered graves in the lonely churchyard. The Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington" is both an elegy and an ode. Milton's "Lycidas," and "Uriel," by Percy MacKaye, may also be classed as odes. LYCIDAS John Milton Yet once more, O ye laurels, and once more, I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude, Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year. 10 5 Without the meed of some melodious tear. That from beneath the seat of Jove doth spring; With lucky words favour my destined urn, And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud! For we were nursed upon the self-same hill, Oft till the star that rose, at evening bright Toward heaven's descent had sloped his westering wheel. Tempered to the oaten flute, Rough Satyrs danced, and Fauns with cloven heel But, oh! the heavy change, now thou art gone, The willows, and the hazel copses green, Shall now no more be scen Fanning their joyous leaves to thy soft lays. As killing as the canker to the rose, Or taint-worm to the weanling herds that graze, Or frost to flowers, that their gay wardrobe wear When first the white-thorn blows; Where were ye, Nymphs, when the remorseless deep Such, Lycidas, thy loss to shepherd's ear. Closed o'er the head of your loved Lycidas? For neither were ye playing on the steep, Where your old bards, the famous Druids, lie, Nor on the shaggy top of Mona high, Nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream. Ay me! I fondly dream "Had ye been there," for what could that have done? What could the Muse herself that Orpheus bore, 20 155 |