This child I to myself will take: She shall be mine, and I will make 66 'Myself will to my darling be Both law and impulse; and with me The girl, in rock and plain, In earth and heaven, in glade and bower, Shall feel an overseeing power To kindle or restrain. "She shall be sportive as the fawn, And hers shall be the breathing balm, Of mute insensate things. "The floating clouds their state shall lend To her; for her the willow bend; Nor shall she fail to see E'en in the motions of the storm Grace that shall mould the maiden's form By silent sympathy. "The stars of midnight shall be dear To her; and she shall lean her ear In many a secret place Where rivulets dance their wayward round, And beauty born of murmuring sound Shall pass into her face. "And vital feelings of delight Shall rear her form to stately height, Her virgin bosom swell; Such thoughts to Lucy I will give Here in this happy dell." Thus Nature spake. The work was done How soon my Lucy's race was run! She died, and left to me This heath, this calm and quiet scene; The memory of what has been And never more will be. WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. TO A SKYLARK I. Hail to thee, blithe spirit! Bird thou never wert, That from heaven, or near it In profuse strains of unpremeditated art. II. Higher still, and higher, From the earth thou springest Like a cloud of fire; The blue deep thou wingest, And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever, singest. III. In the golden lightning Of the sunken sun, O'er which clouds are brightening, Thou dost float and run, Like an embodied joy whose race is just begun. IV. The pale purple even Melts around thy flight; Like a star of heaven, In the broad daylight Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight. VII. What thou art we know not; What is most like thee? From rainbow clouds there flow not Drops so bright to see, As from thy presence showers a rain of melody. VIII. Like a poet hidden In the light of thought, Singing hymns unbidden, Till the world is wrought To sympathy with hopes and fears it heedeth not; XIII. Teach us, sprite or bird, What sweet thoughts are thine: I have never heard Praise of love or wine That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine. XIV. Chorus hymeneal, Or triumphal chant, Matched with thine would be all But an empty vaunt— A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want. XV. What objects are the fountains Of thy happy strain? What fields, or waves, or mountains? What shapes of sky or plain? What love of thine own kind? What ignorance of pain? Waking or asleep, XVII. Thou of death must deem Things more true and deep. Than we mortals dream, Or how could thy notes flow in such a crystal stream? XVIII. We look before and after, And pine for what is not: Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught; Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. XIX. Yet if we could scorn Hate, and pride, and fear; If we were things born Not to shed a tear, I know not how thy joy we ever should come near. XX. Better than all measures Of delightful sound, Better than all treasures, That in books are found, Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground! PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. DIVISION II CHAPTER V Personation Personation is the interpretation of character. x The study of personation should begin with life study. Study some person, noting his voice, manner of speech, gestures, vocabulary, habits of thought, etc. Try to represent or interpret this character for several minutes, preserving the character assumed until a class has time to analyze it. Study a character in literature. Study it from every point of view. Memorize the lines that the character speaks, imagine yourself the character, then act and speak as you think he would. Interpretation of the great drama calls for creative power. SELECTIONS THE RIVALS ACT II., SCENE I. Captain Absolute. Now for a parental lecture. (Enter Sir Anthony Absolute.) Sir, I am delighted to see you here, and looking so well! Your sudden arrival at Bath made me apprehensive for your health. Sir Anth. Very apprehensive, I dare say, Jack. What, you are recruiting here, hey? Abs. Yes, sir, I am on duty. Sir Anth. Well, Jack, I am glad to see you, though I |