Beside the pool sate Neckan Tears fill'd his mild blue eye. "Why sitt'st thou there, O Neckan, Sooner shall this my staff bear leaves, But, lo, the staff, it budded! 66 It green'd, it branch'd, it waved. "-O ruth of God," the priest cried out, The cassock'd priest rode onwards, He wept: "The earth hath kindness, Earth, sea, and sky, and God above- In summer, on the headlands, The Baltic Sea along, Sits Neckan with his harp of gold, MATTHEW ARNOLD. plain'tive, pitiful; stave, part of a song; sur'pliced, wearing the surplice, a loose linen garment worn by priests during service; cas'socked, the cassock is a long outer garment worn regularly by priests; ruth, pity. 1. Read the whole poem through. Where is the scene laid? Find the Baltic Sea on your maps. 2. Who was Neckan? 3. Substitute another word that means the same for plaintive. What are the “pale roses” of the sea? 4. What unusual word is used in the eleventh and again in the twelfth stanza? 5. Explain the meaning of the thirteenth and fourteenth stanzas. What miracle was performed? 6. Why ruth rather than "pity" in line 11, page 150? 7. Tell the story of the poem in your own words. Divided Quotations. -The following sentences are selected from The Neckan. Notice the use of the quotation marks. How do they differ from the other quotations that you have studied? 1. "And who art thou," the priest began, 2. "O ruth of God," the priest cried out, In the first sentence read all the words that the priest says. Which words in the sentence are not a part of the priest's question? How is it shown that these words are not a part of the quotation? Read the whole of the priest's exclamation in the second sentence. Which words does the priest not use? How are these words separated from the rest of the sentence? Rule. When a quotation is divided by other words, each part should be inclosed by quotation marks. The words that divide the quotation should be separated from it by commas. In the following sentences copy the quotations, omitting the words that divide them. Write them a second time and insert the words that divide the quotations. Be sure to use quotation marks and commas properly. 1. "Bless us," cried the mayor, "what's that?" 2. "When the steed is stolen," says an old French proverb, "it is time to shut the door." 3. "Truth," said Plato, "is the source of every good." 4. "The way to have a friend," wrote Emerson, "is to be one." 5. "Recollect that trifles make perfection," said a great man, "and that perfection is no trifle." "I was a Viking old! My deeds, though manifold, Else dread a dead man's curse: For this I sought thee. "Far in the Northern Land, And, with my skates fast bound, "Oft to his frozen lair While from my path the hare "But when I older grew, Joining a corsair's crew, O'er the dark sea I flew "Many a wassail bout "Once as I told in glee eyes did gaze on me, And as the white stars shine Our vows were plighted. |