Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

the robin ("meteor") is an "orbit" (line 12). What trail does he leave behind him, as he flies about in the tree?

Line 13: The leafless trees of the North are as bare and unattractive as "gibbets." "Grave" harmonizes in tone with "gibbet," and so do "slave" and "tyranny." In line 18 the robin again defies the stormy North. The color contrast between the sunny South (stanza 2) and the cold, desolate, gray-white North (stanza 3) is effective.

Line 20: "King" contrasts with "slave" above.

Line 21: The "torch" (metaphor) of the robin's breast is a reflection of sun-light.

Line 22: "Green" and "gold" of what?

Line 23: See line 5 above.

III. The poem consists of four six-line stanzas, riming aabbcc. There are four accents in each line, and one or two unaccented syllables in a foot. The movement is iambic. The many liquids and sibilants make a smooth melody. Find examples of alliteration. Find one example of internal rime. The poem is animated and gay, except lines 13 to 16, which are cold and sombre. Line 15 particularly, by spondee, cross-assonance of long vowels, and alliteration of gutturals, harmonizes the movement to the thought.

IV. Throw yourself into the gay, saucy, defiant spirit of the robin, and read the poem aloud. Bring out clearly all the sound effects you have studied under III.

THE MARSHES OF GLYNN

I. The poet is describing the salt marshes of Glynn County, Georgia, on the coast near the city of Brunswick.

He has spent the day in the live-oak forest, and has been refreshed in the noon-tide heat by its shade (lines 12, 19-21,

25). As twilight comes on (lines 21, 22) he steps out into the open marshes (lines 22-25, 35-47), and faces eastward (lines 55, 56), toward a world of marsh, and sea, and sky. For some reason his heart is troubled (lines 15, 17, 26-28, 63, 69, 70); he needs the comfort and the inspiration that Nature can give those who truly love her. And Nature teaches him her lesson and offers him her consolation. From "the length and the breadth and the sweep" of the marsh and the sea, there comes to him a sense of infinity (lines 71-78). Their beauty, their vastness, "nothing-withholding and free," speak to him of the omnipresence, the omnipotence, and the benevolence the "greatness" of the Infinite Spirit that pervades the universe. The tide comes in;

The sea and the marshes are one. (Line 94.)

The poet feels and believes in (line 29) the harmony and the perfect oneness of the universe and its Creator. The tide reaches its height (line 95); night falls (line 98). Peace has flowed into and over the troubled soul, as the sea has covered the Marshes of Glynn; and the poet goes home (line 100) to rest and sleep.

II. Make a statement about the character of the thought in this poem. Then show how the style harmonizes with the thought in the following particulars:

1. Diction: choice of nouns; of verbs; of adjectives; epithets, poetic-compounds, color-words, words indicating light and shade; contrast of the dusky forest, the green marshes, and the silvery beach; other methods of description.

2. Sentences: structure; length.

3. Figures: simile; metaphor; apostrophe; personification. 4. Versification: stanza or paragraph; rime; meter, use of spondee; effect of long and short lines; pauses; run-on lines.

5. Melody: use of liquids and spirants; alliteration; assonance; internal rime.

6. Harmony: repetition; onomatopoea; other harmonic effects.

III. With lines 30-34 compare Lanier's From the Flats. Evidently the low coast did not always inspire poetic exaltation in Lanier's soul. For the influence of the marshes on Lanier, one should read also Marsh Song — at Sunset, and Sunrise. The sunrise brings the poet strength and courage, as the sunset brings him peace.

Is the last paragraph of the poem in perfect harmony with the rest? Should you prefer to close with the line

[ocr errors]

And it is night?

[ocr errors]

Does the poet do well to remind us that his peace is, after all not too profound; that underneath it lie the uncertainties that belong to all discussion of and meditation on the problems of life? Should he show us that he has attained peace and selfcontrol while facing with courage and strength the fact that he does not cannot - know below the surface? Or would it be better here to end with the peace, and ignore the ignorance he could not enlighten? Which method would end the poem most effectively? There would have been nothing false to life in the omission of the last paragraph, for there occasionally come to men moods in which faith is, for the time, absolute, and doubt and uncertainty are forgotten. Such a mood Wordsworth has expressed in Tintern Abbey:

that blesséd mood,

In which the burden of the mystery,

In which the heavy and the weary weight

Of all this unintelligible world,

Is lightened: that serene and blessed mood,

In which the affections gently lead us on,
Until, the breath of this corporeal frame
And even the motion of our human blood
Almost suspended, we are laid asleep
In body and become a living soul:

While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things.

Was Lanier's such a mood? Has he used in the course of the poem expressions that would lead you to suppose it was? Is there any suggestion of the grotesque in the last lines? Do you feel that they are in any way out of harmony with the rest of the poem?

IV. Do you consider this poem strong in rhetorical effects? Do these devices distract you from the thought? Do you think a simpler style would be better for the expression of a thought so vast and sublime? Would you prefer a different meter? Bryant has expressed sublime thoughts in simpler and more stately verse; do you think he has suited his expression to his thought better than Lanier? As well?

V. Read the poem aloud. Make the thought as forcible as possible. Bring out the music of the lines.

CHAPTER XX

WALT WHITMAN

REFERENCE BIOGRAPHIES

Whitman, 2 Vol., by Horace Traubel; Boston, 1905.
Walt Whitman, by Thos. Donaldson; New York, 1896.
Reminiscences, by W. S. Kennedy; Philadelphia, 1896.
Life, by R. M. Bucke; Philadelphia, 1883.

Walt Whitman, by Wm. Clarke; New York, 1892.

A Study of Whitman, by John Burroughs; Boston, 1896.
Whitman, A Study, by John Addington Symonds; London, 1893.
An Approach to Walt Whitman, by Carleton Noyes; Boston, 1910.
Life, by Bliss Perry; Boston, 1906.

Life, by George Rice Carpenter; New York, 1909.

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

A careful selection of Whitman's poems should be made for young people. There is a volume by Oscar L. Triggs (Boston, 1898), another by E. Holmes (London and New York, 1902), and yet another by Wm. M. Rossetti (London, 1895).

O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!

I. Whitman was a nurse and attendant in the hospitals of the Civil War. His best work for the sick and wounded soldiers is said to have been his ministration to their lonely hearts. He had the tenderness and thoughtfulness of a woman. The chronicle of his life from 1862 to the end of the War is one of great and unselfish devotion. Whitman, therefore, though not a soldier himself, had a right to feel toward

« AnteriorContinuar »