Each ounce of dross costs its ounce of gold; And what is so rare as a day in June? An instinct within it that reaches and towers, Thrilling back over hills and valleys; The buttercup catches the sun in its chalice,5 And there's never a leaf nor a blade too mean To be some happy creature's palace. 1 cap and bells, the emblems of a court jester or fool. 2 Then Heaven tries. . . lays. Express in your own words the thought in this fine metaphor. 8 life murmur... glisten. What objects do you suppose the poet had in his mind? 4 Every clod feels, etc. What is the figure of speech? 5 chalice, derived through French calice, from Latin calix, a cup or bowl. Calyx is from the same root. 6 To be... palace State in plain language what is here expressed in metaphor. The little bird sits at his door in the sun, 3 With the deluge of summer it receives; His mate feels the eggs beneath her wings, And the heart in her dumb breast flutters and sings; 4 Now is the high tide of the year, And whatever of life hath ebbed away Into every bare inlet and creek and bay; No matter how barren the past may have been, The breeze comes whispering 5 in our ear 6 That dandelions are blossoming near, That maize has sprouted, that streams are flowing, 1 Atilt. What is the application of this word here? 2 illumined being. Explain. 3 deluge. Note, in connection with the metaphorical use of this word, that we speak of a flood of light, as well as of water. 4 high tide. What is meant? How is the metaphor subsequently carried out? 5 comes whispering, etc. What is the figure of speech? 6 dandelions. See Webster for an interesting derivation. That the river is bluer than the sky, That the robin is plastering his house hard by. We could guess it all by yon heifer's lowing — Joy comes, grief goes, we know not how; Every thing is upward striving; 'Tis as easy now for the heart to be true Who knows whither the clouds have fled? In the unscarred heaven they leave no wake; 5 The soul partakes the season's youth, Remembered the keeping of his vow? 1 chanticleer (from French chan- 5 wake, the track left by a vester, to sing): literally, the clear-sel in the water. singing one. 2 new wine of the year. plain the metaphor. 3 lusty, vigorous. 4 unscarred heaven. the epithet. 6 sulphurous rifts: that is, Ex- opening through which exhale sulphur fumes. The metaphor which is carried out in the expresExplain sion "burned-out craters," is very powerful. PART FIRST. I. "My golden spurs now bring to me, Shall never a bed for me be spread, And perchance there may come a vision true Slowly Sir Launfal's eyes grew dim, And into his soul the vision flew. II. The crows flapped over by twos and threes, The one day of summer in all the year, And the very leaves seemed to sing on the trees; Like an outpost 2 of winter, dull and gray; 1 mail coat of mail. castle stood in contrast with the thing of winter in the landscape. 2 Like an outpost. An "out-singing birds and leaves - the only post" in an army is far beyond the lines of the army itself. So, when all nature proclaimed that winter was far away, the "dull and gray" 8 Countree. This form of the word is used in imitation of the style of the old English ballads. And never its gates might opened be, But the churlish stone1 her assaults defied; 2 Though round it for leagues her pavilions tall 2 Stretched left and right, Over the hills and out of sight; Green and broad was every tent, III. The drawbridge dropped with a surly clang, |