Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Julia Miller, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Transcriber's Note
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. A list of changes is
found at the end of the book. Oe ligatures have been expanded.
[Illustration: THE CANOE RACE]
Journeys
Through Bookland
A NEW AND ORIGINAL
PLAN FOR READING APPLIED TO THE
WORLD'S BEST LITERATURE
FOR CHILDREN
_BY_
CHARLES H. SYLVESTER
_Author of English and American Literature_
VOLUME SEVEN
_New Edition_
[Illustration]
Chicago
BELLOWS-REEVE COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1922
BELLOWS-REEVE COMPANY
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE DAFFODILS _William Wordsworth_ 1
TO THE FRINGED GENTIAN _William Cullen Bryant_ 4
TO A MOUSE _Robert Burns_ 5
TO A MOUNTAIN DAISY _Robert Burns_ 8
THE OLD OAKEN BUCKET _Samuel Wordsworth_ 11
BANNOCKBURN _Robert Burns_ 15
BOAT SONG _Sir Walter Scott_ 17
THE GOVERNOR AND THE NOTARY _Washington Irving_ 20
THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER _Samuel T. Coleridge_ 29
THE BLACK HAWK TRAGEDY _Edwin D. Coe_ 58
THE PETRIFIED FERN _Mary Bolles Branch_ 77
AN EXCITING CANOE RACE _J. Fenimore Cooper_ 79
THE BUFFALO _Francis Parkman_ 96
THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE _Alfred Tennyson_ 147
FOR A' THAT AND A' THAT _Robert Burns_ 149
BREATHES THERE THE MAN _Sir Walter Scott_ 151
HOW SLEEP THE BRAVE _William Collins_ 151
QUEEN VICTORIA _Anna McCaleb_ 152
THE RECESSIONAL _Rudyard Kipling_ 164
THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER _Francis Scott Key_ 167
HOW'S MY BOY? _Sydney Dobell_ 169
THE SOLDIER'S DREAM _Thomas Campbell_ 170
MAKE WAY FOR LIBERTY _James Montgomery_ 172
THE OLD CONTINENTALS _Guy Humphreys McMaster_ 175
THE PICKET-GUARD _Mrs. Ethel Lynn Beers_ 177
MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME _Stephen Collins Foster_ 179
THE FORSAKEN MERMAN _Matthew Arnold_ 180
TOM AND MAGGIE TULLIVER _George Eliot_ 186
A GORILLA HUNT _Paul du Chaillu_ 247
THE CLOUD _Percy Bysshe Shelley_ 257
BRUTE NEIGHBORS _Henry David Thoreau_ 260
ODE TO A SKYLARK _Percy Bysshe Shelley_ 275
THE POND IN WINTER _Henry David Thoreau_ 280
SALMON FISHING _Rudyard Kipling_ 285
WINTER ANIMALS _Henry David Thoreau_ 293
TREES AND ANTS THAT HELP EACH OTHER _Thomas Belt_ 306
THE FAMILY OF MICHAEL AROUT _Emile Souvestre_ 314
ON THE RECEIPT OF MY MOTHER'S PICTURE _William Cowper_ 331
THOSE EVENING BELLS _Thomas Moore_ 340
ANNABEL LEE _Edgar Allan Poe_ 341
THE THREE FISHERS _Charles Kingsley_ 343
THE REAPER'S DREAM _Thomas Buchanan Read_ 345
THE RECOVERY OF THE HISPANIOLA _Robert Louis Stevenson_ 352
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER _Grace E. Sellon_ 381
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT 391
TO A WATERFOWL _William Cullen Bryant_ 395
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES _Grace E. Sellon_ 398
THE CUBES OF TRUTH _Oliver Wendell Holmes_ 406
THE LOST CHILD _James Russell Lowell_ 409
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL _Grace E. Sellon_ 411
A CHILD'S THOUGHT OF GOD _Elizabeth Barrett Browning_ 418
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING 419
DON QUIXOTE _Cervantes_ 431
PRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES 487
For Classification of Selections, see General Index, at end of Volume X
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
THE CANOE RACE (Color Plate) _R. F. Babcock_ FRONTISPIECE
A HOST OF GOLDEN DAFFODILS _Albert H. Winkler_ 2
THE FRINGED GENTIAN _G. H. Mitchell_ 4
THOU NEED NA START AWA _Albert H. Winkler_ 6
ROBERT BURNS (Halftone) 8
THOU BONNY GEM _Albert H. Winkler_ 9
INCLINED TO MY LIPS _Herbert N. Rudeen_ 12
THE NOTARY ENTERS THE CARRIAGE _R. F. Babcock_ 26
HE CANNOT CHOOSE BUT HEAR (Heading) _Donn P. Crane_ 29
I SHOT THE ALBATROSS _Donn P. Crane_ 33
AND STRAIGHT THE SUN WAS FLECKED WITH BARS _Donn P. Crane_ 38
I WATCHED THE WATER-SNAKES _Donn P. Crane_ 42
THEY GROANED, THEY STIRRED, THEY ALL UPROSE _Donn P. Crane_ 45
SLOWLY AND SMOOTHLY WENT THE SKIP (Color Plate) _Donn P. Crane_ 48
"O SHRIEVE ME, SHRIEVE ME, HOLY MAN" _Donn P. Crane_ 55
I PASS FROM LAND TO LAND (Ending) _Donn P. Crane_ 57
BLACK HAWK AND THE TWO RUFFIANS _R. F. Babcock_ 63
THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN CROSSED THE RIVER _R. F. Babcock_ 71
HAWKEYE ON THE TRAIL _R. F. Babcock_ 80
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER (Halftone) 82
HAWKEYE _R. F. Babcock_ 85
GRADUALLY I CAME ABREAST OF HIM _R. F. Babcock_ 106
ONE VAST HOST OF BUFFALO _R. F. Babcock_ 125
ON DUNE AND HEADLAND _G. H. Mitchell_ 165
THE LITTLE GRAY CHURCH ON THE WINDY HILL _Walter O. Reese_ 181
"TOM'S COMING HOME!" _Herbert N. Rudeen_ 188
"OH, HE IS CRUEL" _Herbert N. Rudeen_ 199
"IS IT THE TIPSY CAKE, THEN?" _Herbert N. Rudeen_ 206
"HERE, LUCY!" _Herbert N. Rudeen_ 224
"AH, YOU'RE FONDEST O' ME, AREN'T YOU?" _Herbert N. Rudeen_ 243
GORILLA WITH HER YOUNG _Herbert N. Rudeen_ 251
THE BATTLE OF THE ANTS _Herbert N. Rudeen_ 265
WATCHING FOR THE LOON _R. F. Babcock_ 272
THE SKYLARK _R. F. Babcock_ 276
KNEELING TO DRINK _R. F. Babcock_ 281
SALMON FISHING (Color Plate) _R. F. Babcock_ 286
THE RED SQUIRREL STEALING CORN _R. F. Babcock_ 296
"HOW MUCH DO WE OWE YOU?" _Herbert N. Rudeen_ 320
MICHAEL IS COME BACK _Herbert N. Rudeen_ 326
"MY MOTHER!" _Iris Weddell White_ 336
IN HER SEPULCHRE THERE BY THE SEA _Donn P. Crane_ 342
THE NIGHT RACK CAME ROLLING UP _G. H. Mitchell_ 344
THE CRESCENT MOON WENT BY _G. H. Mitchell_ 347
I LOOKED INTO THE CABIN _R. F. Babcock_ 354
WHITTIER'S BIRTHPLACE (Color Plate) 382
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER (Halftone) 386
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT (Halftone) 392
THY FIGURE FLOATS ALONG _Jerome Rozen_ 396
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES (Halftone) 398
DOWN THE SUNNY GLADE _Walter O. Reese_ 409
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL (Halftone) 412
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING (Halftone) 420
DON QUIXOTE (Heading) _Donn P. Crane_ 431
DON QUIXOTE TILTS WITH THE WINDMILLS _Donn P. Crane_ 439
"DEFEND THYSELF, MISERABLE BEING!" _Donn P. Crane_ 444
THE LION PUT HIS HEAD OUT OF THE CAGE _Donn P. Crane_ 455
SANCHO FELL ON HIS KNEES _Donn P. Crane_ 464
THE HORSE BLEW UP, WITH A PRODIGIOUS NOISE _Donn P. Crane_ 475
THE DAFFODILS
_By_ WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,--
A host of golden daffodils
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I, at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee;
A poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company;
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.
For oft, when on my couch I lie,
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
[Illustration: A HOST OF GOLDEN DAFFODILS]
When we look at this little poem we see at a glance that the
stanzas are all the same length, that the rhyme scheme is _ababcc_
(see "To My Infant Son," Vol. VI), and that the indentation at the
beginning of the lines corresponds with the rhymes. This poem,
then, is perfectly regular in form.
There are other things, however, which go to make up perfect
structure in a poem. First and foremost, the words are so arranged
that the accented syllables in any given line come at regular
intervals. Take, for instance, the first two lines of this poem.
Each line contains eight syllables. If you number these syllables
1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, you will see that it is the second one each
time that bears the accent, thus:
I wan'dered lone'ly as' a cloud'
That floats' on high' o'er vales' and hills'.
Now, if you read the four remaining lines of the stanza you will
see that in each one of these the second syllable bears the
accent, until you come to the last line, where in the word
_fluttering_, which, by the way, you pronounce _flutt'ring_, the
accent is on the first syllable. If the poet did not now and then
change the accent a little it would become tedious and monotonous.
It is a very simple matter, you see, to separate every line of
poetry into groups of syllables, and in every group to place one
accented syllable and one or more syllables that are not accented.
Such a group is called a _foot_. Thus in each of the first two
lines in this poem there are four _feet_. Each _foot_ contains an
accented and an unaccented syllable.
If you examine _To the Fringed Gentian_, _To a Mouse_, and _To a
Mountain Daisy_, the three poems which follow this, you will see
the same structure, except that in _To a Mouse_ and in _To A
Mountain Daisy_ there are some short lines and some double rhymes,
making the last foot a little different in character from the
others.
When a line of poetry is composed of two-syllable feet in which the
second syllable bears the accent we call that meter _iambic_. It is
the prevalent foot in English poetry, and if you examine the
different poems in these volumes you will be surprised to find out
how many of them are written substantially on the plan of _The
Daffodils_.
In naming the meter of a poem two things are considered: First the
_character_ of the feet, and second, the _number_ of feet. In this
poem the feet are iambic and there are four of them, consequently
we name the meter of this poem _iambic tetrameter_. Whenever you
hear those words you think of a poem whose meter is exactly like
that of _The Daffodils_.
These words seem long and hard to remember. It may help you to
remember them if you think that the word _iam'bic_ contains an
iambic foot.
In naming the meter we use the Greek numerals--_mono_ (one), _di_
(two), _tri_ (three), _tetra_ (four), _penta_ (five), _hexa_ (six),
_hepta_ (seven), and _octa_ (eight), and add to them the word
_meter_, thus: _Mo-nom'e-ter_, a line containing one foot,
_dim'e-ter_, _trim'e-ter_, _te-tram'e-ter_, _pen-tam'e-ter_,
_hex-am'e-ter_, _hep-tam'e-ter_, _and oc-tam'e-ter_.
TO THE FRINGED GENTIAN
_By_ WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT
Thou blossom, bright with autumn dew,
And colored with the heaven's own blue,
That openest when the quiet light
Succeeds the keen and frosty night;
[Illustration]
Thou comest not when violets lean
O'er wandering brooks and springs unseen,
Or columbines, in purple dressed,
Nod o'er the ground-bird's hidden nest.
Thou waitest late, and com'st alone,
When woods are bare and birds are flown,
And frosts and shortening days portend
The aged Year is near his end.
Then doth thy sweet and quiet eye
Look through its fringes to the sky,
Blue--blue--as if that sky let fall
A flower from its cerulean wall.
I would that thus, when I shall see
The hour of death draw near to me,
Hope, blossoming within my heart,
May look to heaven as I depart.
TO A MOUSE
ON TURNING HER UP IN HER NEST WITH THE PLOW, NOVEMBER, 1785
_By_ ROBERT BURNS
Wee, sleekit,[5-1] cow'rin', tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi' bickering brattle![5-2]
I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murdering pattle![5-3]
I'm truly sorry man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union,
An' justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor earth-born companion,
An' fellow-mortal!
I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen-icker[6-4] in a thrave[6-5]
'S a sma' request:
I'll get a blessin' wi' the lave[6-6]
And never miss't!
[Illustration: THOU NEED NA START AWA]
Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin!
Its silly wa's the win's are strewin'!
An' naething, now, to big a new ane,
O' foggage[7-7] green!
An' bleak December's winds ensuin',
Baith snell[7-8] and keen!
Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste,
And weary winter comin' fast,
And cozie, here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter[7-9] past
Out thro' thy cell.
That wee bit heap o' leaves an' stibble,
Has cost thee mony a weary nibble!
Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble,
But house or hald,[7-10]
To thole[7-11] the winter's sleety dribble,
An' cranreuch[7-12] cauld!
But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,[7-13]
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men,
Gang aft a-gley,[7-14]
An' lea'e us nought but grief and pain,
For promis'd joy.
Still them are blest, compar'd wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But, Och! I backward cast my e'e
On prospects drear;
An' forward, tho' I canna see,[8-15]
I guess an' fear.
FOOTNOTES:
[5-1] _Sleekit_ means _sly_.
[5-2] _Brattle_ means a short race.
[5-3] A _pattle_ is a scraper for cleaning a plow.
[6-4] _Daimen-icker_ means an ear of corn occasionally.
[6-5] A _thrave_ is twenty-four sheaves.
[6-6] _Lave_ is the Scotch word for _remainder_.
[7-7] _Foggage_ is coarse uncut grass.
[7-8] _Snell_ means _sharp_.
[7-9] The coulter is the sharp iron which cuts the sod before the plow.
[7-10] _Hald_ means a resting place. _But_ here means _without_.
[7-11] _Thole_ is the Scotch word for _endure_.
[7-12] _Cranreuch_ is hoar-frost.
[7-13] _No thy lane_ means _not alone_.
[7-14] _Gang aft a-gley_ means _often go wrong_.
[8-15] In this poem and the one _To a Mountain Daisy_, does the allusion
to the poet's own hard fate add to or detract from the beauty of the
composition? Do these allusions give any insight into his character?
What was always uppermost in his mind?
[Illustration: ROBERT BURNS
1759-1796]
TO A MOUNTAIN DAISY
ON TURNING ONE DOWN WITH THE PLOUGH IN APRIL, 1786
_By_ ROBERT BURNS
Wee, modest, crimson-tipped flower,
Thou's met me in an evil hour,
For I maun[8-1] crush amang the stoure[8-2]
Thy slender stem;
To spare thee now is past my power,
Thou bonny gem.
Alas! it's no thy neibor sweet,
The bonny lark, companion meet,
Bending thee' mang the dewy weet,
Wi' spreckled[8-3] breast,
When upward springing, blithe, to greet
The purpling east.
Cauld blew the bitter biting north
Upon thy early, humble birth;
Yet cheerfully thou glinted forth
Amid the storm,
Scarce reared above the parent earth
Thy tender form.
[Illustration: THOU BONNY GEM]
The flaunting flowers our gardens yield,
High sheltering woods and wa's maun shield.
But thou beneath the random bield[9-4]
O' clod or stane,
Adorns the histie[9-5] stibble-field,
Unseen, alane.
There, in thy scanty mantle clad,
Thy snawie bosom sunward spread,
Thou lifts thy unassuming head
In humble guise;
But now the share uptears thy bed,
And low thou lies!
Such is the fate of artless maid,
Sweet floweret of the rural shade!
By love's simplicity betrayed,
And guileless trust,
Till she, like thee, all soiled, is laid
Low i' the dust.
Such is the fate of simple bard,
On life's rough ocean luckless starred!
Unskilful he to note the card
Of prudent lore,
Till billows rage, and gales blow hard
And whelm him o'er!
Such fate to suffering worth is given,
Who long with wants and woes has striven,
By human pride or cunning driven
To misery's brink,
Till wrenched of every stay but Heaven,
He, ruined, sink!
Even thou who mourn'st the daisy's fate,
That fate is thine,--no distant date:
Stern Ruin's ploughshare drives, elate,
Full on thy bloom,
Till crushed beneath the furrow's weight,
Shall be thy doom!
FOOTNOTES:
[8-1] _Maun_ is the Scotch word for _must_.
[8-2] _Stoure_ is the Scotch name for dust.
[8-3] _Spreckled_ is the Scotch and provincial English form of
_speckled_.
[9-4] _Bield_ means _shelter_.
[9-5] _Histie_ means _dry_ or _barren_.
THE OLD OAKEN BUCKET[11-1]
_By_ SAMUEL WOODWORTH
How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood,
When fond[11-2] recollection presents them to view;
The orchard, the meadow, the deep, tangled wild-wood,
And every loved spot that my infancy[11-3] knew.
The wide-spreading pond, and the mill[11-4] that stood by it;
The bridge and the rock where the cataract fell;
The cot of my father, the dairy house[11-5] nigh it,
And e'en the rude bucket which hung in the well--
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket which hung in the well.
That moss-covered bucket I hail as a treasure;
For often at noon, when returned from the field,
I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure,
The purest and sweetest that nature can yield.
How ardent I seized it, with hands that were glowing,
And quick to the white-pebbled bottom it fell[12-6];
Then soon with the emblem of truth[12-7] overflowing,
And dripping with coolness it rose from the well--
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket arose from the well.
[Illustration: INCLINED TO MY LIPS]
How sweet from the green mossy brim to receive it,
As poised on the curb,[12-8] it inclined to my lips!
Not a full blushing goblet[13-9] could tempt me to leave it,
Though filled with the nectar[13-10] that Jupiter sips.
And now, far removed from the loved situation,[13-11]
The tear of regret will oftentimes swell,
As fancy returns to my father's plantation,
And sighs for the bucket which hangs in the well--
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket which hangs in the well.
If we compare _The Old Oaken Bucket_ with _The Daffodils_ (page 1),
we will see that the lines of the former are longer, and when we
read aloud a few lines from the one and compare the other, we see
that the movement is very different. In _The Old Oaken Bucket_ the
accents are farther apart, and the result is to make the movement
long and smooth, like that of a swing with long ropes.
Let us examine more closely the lines of _The Old Oaken Bucket_ in
a manner similar to that suggested on page 2, for _The Daffodils_.
If we place the accent on the proper syllables in the first four
lines, they will read as follows:
How dear'| to my heart'| are the scenes'| of my child'|hood,
When fond'| rec-ol-lec'|tion pre-sents'| them to view';
The or'|chard, the mead'|ow, the deep'| tan-gled wild'|-wood,
And ev'|'ry loved spot'| that my in'|fan-cy knew.'
The vertical lines above are drawn at the ends of the feet. How
many feet are there in the first line; how many in the second; how
many in the third; how many in the fourth? How many syllables in
the first foot in the first line? How many other feet do you find
containing the same number of syllables? How many syllables are
there in the second foot in the first line? How many other feet are
there containing the same number of syllables? Examine the feet
that contain three syllables. On which syllable is the accent
placed when there are three syllables in the foot? A poetic foot of
three syllables which bears the accent on the third syllable is
called an _anapestic_ foot. The meter of this poem, then is
_anapestic tetrameter_, varied by an added syllable in most of the
odd-numbered lines and by an iambic foot at the beginning of each
line.
Can you find any other poem in this volume in which the meter is
the same? Can you find such poems in other volumes?
FOOTNOTES:
[11-1] Samuel Woodworth, the author of this familiar song, was an
American, the editor of many publications and the writer of a great many
poems; but no one of the latter is now remembered, except _The Old Oaken
Bucket_.
[11-2] This means that the author remembers fondly the scenes of his
childhood, or remembers the things of which he was fond in his
childhood.
[11-3] As the term is used in the law-books, a person is an _infant_
until he is twenty-one years of age; though, probably the word _infancy_
here means the same as _childhood_.
[11-4] Let us picture a large mill-pond with a race running out of one
side of it past the old-fashioned mill, which has a big wooden water
wheel on the outside of it.
[11-5] The dairy house was probably a low, broad building through which
the water from the stream ran. The milkpans were set on low shelves or
in a trough so that the water could run around them and keep the milk
cool.
[12-6] If he could see the white-pebbled bottom of the well, it must
have been a shallow one, or perhaps merely a square box built around a
deep spring.
[12-7] Water is usually spoken of as an emblem of _purity_, not of
_truth_; but sometimes truth is spoken of as hiding at the bottom of a
well.
[12-8] The curb is the square box usually built around the mouth of the
well to a height of a few feet, to protect the water from dirt.
Sometimes three of the sides are carried up to a height of six or eight
feet, and a roof is built over the whole, making a little house of the
curb. The fourth side is left open, except for two or three feet at the
bottom. In these old wells two buckets were often used. They were
attached to a rope which ran over a wheel suspended from the roof of the
well house. When a bucket was drawn up it was often rested on the low
curb in front, while people drank from it.
[13-9] _Blushing goblet_ alludes to wine or some other liquor that has a
reddish color.
[13-10] Nectar was the drink of the old Greek gods, of whom Jupiter was
the chief.
[13-11] _Situation_ and _plantation_ do not rhyme well, and _situation_
is scarcely the right word to use. _Location_ would be better, so far as
the meaning is concerned.
[Illustration]
BANNOCKBURN
ROBERT BRUCE'S ADDRESS TO HIS ARMY
_By_ ROBERT BURNS
Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled;
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led;
Welcome to your gory bed,
Or to glorious victorie!
Now's the day and now's the hour--
See the front o' battle lour;
See approach proud Edward's power--
Edward! chains and slaverie!
Wha will be a traitor knave?
Wha can fill a coward's grave?
Wha sae base as be a slave?
Traitor! coward! turn and flee!
Wha for Scotland's king and law
Freedom's sword will strongly draw!
Freeman stand or freeman fa',
Caledonian! on wi' me!
By oppression's woes and pains!
By our sons in servile chains!
We will drain our dearest veins,
But they shall be--shall be free!
Lay the proud usurpers low!
Tyrants fall in every foe!
Liberty's in every blow!
Forward! let us do or die!
On pages 2, and 13, of this volume we talked about the different
meters in which poetry is written. In iambic poetry each foot
contains two syllables, the second of which is accented. There is
another kind of foot composed of two syllables. In this the accent
falls on the first syllable. _Bannockburn_ gives examples of this.
To illustrate, we will rewrite the first stanza, using the words in
their English form, and mark off the feet and the accent:
Scots', who | have' with | Wal'-lace | bled',
Scots', whom | Bruce' has | of'-ten | led';
Wel'-come | to' your | go'-ry | bed',
Or' to | glo'rious | vic'-to | ry'.
Each one of these lines ends with an accented syllable, but that
may be disregarded in studying the feet. This foot is called the
_trochee_, and it will help you to remember it if you will think
that the word _tro'chee_ has two syllables and is accented on the
first. This poem, then, is in _trochaic trimeter_, with added
accented syllables at the ends of the lines. Read the other stanzas
carefully, throwing the accent prominently on the first syllable of
each foot.
When you read to bring out the meter of a poem you are said to be
_scanning_ it. When you are in the habit of scanning poetry you
will find that you can do it very nicely and without spoiling the
sound. At first you will probably accent the syllables too
strongly, and then people will say that you are reading in a
_sing-song_ way, a thing to be avoided. Of course you will
understand that the only way to bring out the meter of a poem is to
read it aloud, but after you have become familiar with the various
meters and have read aloud a great deal, you will be conscious of
the rhythm when you read to yourself. It is this consciousness of
rhythm that gives much of the enjoyment to those who love poetry,
even when they do not read it aloud.
BOAT SONG
_From_ LADY OF THE LAKE
_By_ SIR WALTER SCOTT
Hail to the Chief who in triumph advances!
Honored and blest be the evergreen pine!
Long may the tree, in his banner that glances,
Flourish, the shelter and grace of our line!
Heaven send it happy dew,
Earth lend it sap anew,
Gayly to bourgeon, and broadly to grow,
While every Highland glen
Sends our shout back again,
"Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho! ieroe!"
Ours is no sapling, chance sown by the fountain,
Blooming at Beltane, in winter to fade;
When the whirlwind has stripped every leaf on the mountain
The more shall Clan Alpine exult in her shade.
Moored in the rifted rock,
Proof to the tempest's shock,
Firmer he roots him the ruder it blow:
Menteith and Breadalbane, then
Echo his praise again,
"Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho! ieroe!"
Proudly our pibroch has thrilled in Glen Fruin,
And Bannochar's groans to our slogan replied;
Glen Luss and Ross-dhu, they are smoking in ruin,
And the best of Loch-Lomond lie dead on her side.
Widow and Saxon maid
Long shall lament our raid,
Think of Clan Alpine with fear and with woe;
Lennox and Leven-glen
Shake when they hear again,
"Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho! ieroe!"
Row, vassals, row for the pride of the Highlands!
Stretch to your oars for the evergreen pine!
O that the rosebud that graces yon islands
Were wreathed in a garland around him to twine!
O that some seedling gem,
Worthy such noble stem,
Honored and blessed in their shadow might grow!
Loud should Clan Alpine then
Ring from her deepmost glen,
"Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho! ieroe!"
The last of the common feet which we shall have to consider in
reading English poetry is called _dactyl_. This foot consists of
three syllables, the first of which is accented. Scott's _Boat
Song_ is a very fine example of _dactylic tetrameter_, in which the
last foot consists either of a _trochee_ (see page 16) or of a
single accented syllable. In every stanza there are four short
lines of _dactylic dimeter_. Study the four lines which we have
divided for you below:
Hail' to the | chief' who in | tri'umph ad|van'ces!
Hon'ored and | blest' be the | ev'er green | pine!'
Long' may the | tree', in his | ban'ner that | glan'ces,
Flou'rish, the | shel'ter and | grace' of our | line.'
This is one of the finest meters in which poetry may be written,
and one which you will learn to recognize and like whenever you see
it.
To assist you in remembering what we have said on this subject in
the four poems we have studied, we will give this brief outline:
Poetic feet
1. Consisting of two syllables:
_Iambic_, when the second syllable is accented.
Example: I wan'|dered lone|ly as'| a cloud'.
_Trochaic_, when the first syllable is accented.
Example: Scots', who | have' with | Wal'lace | bled'.
2. Consisting of three syllables:
_Anapestic_, when the third syllable is accented.
Example: How dear' | to my heart' | are the scenes' | of my
child'|hood.
_Dactylic_, when the first syllable is accented.
Example: Hail' to the | chief' who in | tri'umph ad|van'ces.
There are two other feet which are found occasionally in English
poetry, namely the _spondee_, which has two accented syllables, and
the _amphilbrach_, which consists of three syllables with the
accent on the middle one.
Of course it is not necessary for you to know the names of these
different feet in order to enjoy poetry, but it is interesting
information. What you must do is to notice whenever you read poetry
the kind of feet that compose the lines and how many there are in
the line. After a while this becomes second nature to you, and
while you may not really pause to think about it at any time, yet
you are always conscious of the rhythm and remember that it is
produced by a fixed arrangement of the accented syllables. If you
would look over the poems in these volumes, beginning even with the
nursery rhymes, it would not take you long to become familiar with
all the different forms.
While study of this kind may seem tiresome at first, you will soon
find that you are making progress and will really enjoy it, and you
will never be sorry that you took the time when you were young to
learn to understand the structure of poetry.
THE GOVERNOR AND THE NOTARY
_By_ WASHINGTON IRVING
In former times there ruled, as governor of the Alhambra[20-1], a
doughty old cavalier, who, from having lost one arm in the wars, was
commonly known by the name of El Gobernador Manco, or the one-armed
governor. He in fact prided himself upon being an old soldier, wore his
mustachios curled up to his eyes, a pair of campaigning boots, and a
toledo[20-2] as long as a spit, with his pocket handkerchief in the
basket-hilt.
He was, moreover, exceedingly proud and punctilious, and tenacious of
all his privileges and dignities. Under his sway, the immunities of the
Alhambra, as a royal residence and domain, were rigidly exacted. No one
was permitted to enter the fortress with firearms, or even with a sword
or staff, unless he were of a certain rank, and every horseman was
obliged to dismount at the gate and lead his horse by the bridle. Now,
as the hill of the Alhambra rises from the very midst of the city of
Granada, being, as it were, an excrescence of the capital, it must at
all times be somewhat irksome to the captain-general, who commands the
province, to have thus an _imperium in imperio_,[21-3] a petty,
independent post in the very core of his domains. It was rendered the
more galling in the present instance, from the irritable jealousy of the
old governor, that took fire on the least question of authority and
jurisdiction, and from the loose, vagrant character of the people that
had gradually nestled themselves within the fortress as in a sanctuary,
and from thence carried on a system of roguery and depredation at the
expense of the honest inhabitants of the city. Thus there was a
perpetual feud and heart-burning between the captain-general and the
governor; the more virulent on the part of the latter, inasmuch as the
smallest of two neighboring potentates is always the most captious about
his dignity. The stately palace of the captain-general stood in the
Plaza Nueva, immediately at the foot of the hill of the Alhambra, and
here was always a bustle and parade of guards, and domestics, and city
functionaries. A beetling bastion of the fortress overlooked the palace
and the public square in front of it; and on this bastion the old
governor would occasionally strut backward and forward, with his toledo
girded by his side, keeping a wary eye down upon his rival, like a hawk
reconnoitering his quarry from his nest in a dry tree.
Whenever he descended into the city it was in grand parade, on
horseback, surrounded by his guards, or in his state coach, an ancient
and unwieldy Spanish edifice of carved timber and gilt leather, drawn
by eight mules, with running footmen, outriders, and lackeys, on which
occasions he flattered himself he impressed every beholder with awe and
admiration as vicegerent of the king, though the wits of Granada were
apt to sneer at his petty parade, and, in allusion to the vagrant
character of his subjects, to greet him with the appellation of "the
king of the beggars."
One of the most fruitful sources of dispute between these two doughty
rivals was the right claimed by the governor to have all things passed
free of duty through the city, that were intended for the use of himself
or his garrison. By degrees, this privilege had given rise to extensive
smuggling. A nest of contrabandistas[22-4] took up their abode in the
hovels of the fortress and the numerous caves in its vicinity, and drove
a thriving business under the connivance of the soldiers of the
garrison.
The vigilance of the captain-general was aroused. He consulted his legal
adviser and factotum, a shrewd, meddlesome Escribano or notary, who
rejoiced in an opportunity of perplexing the old potentate of the
Alhambra, and involving him in a maze of legal subtilities. He advised
the captain-general to insist upon the right of examining every convoy
passing through the gates of his city, and he penned a long letter for
him, in vindication of the right. Governor Manco was a straightforward,
cut-and-thrust old soldier, who hated an Escribano worse than the devil,
and this one in particular, worse than all other Escribanoes.
"What!" said he, curling up his mustachios fiercely, "does the
captain-general set this man of the pen to practice confusions upon me?
I'll let him see that an old soldier is not to be baffled by
schoolcraft."
He seized his pen, and scrawled a short letter in a crabbed hand, in
which he insisted on the right of transit free of search, and denounced
vengeance on any custom-house officer who should lay his unhallowed hand
on any convoy protected by the flag of the Alhambra.
While this question was agitated between the two pragmatical potentates,
it so happened that a mule laden with supplies for the fortress arrived
one day at the gate of Xenil, by which it was to traverse a suburb of
the city on its way to the Alhambra. The convoy was headed by a testy
old corporal, who had long served under the governor, and was a man
after his own heart--as trusty and stanch as an old Toledo blade. As
they approached the gate of the city, the corporal placed the banner of
the Alhambra on the pack saddle of the mule, and drawing himself up to a
perfect perpendicular, advanced with his head dressed to the front, but
with the wary side glance of a cur passing through hostile grounds, and
ready for a snap and a snarl.
"Who goes there?" said the sentinel at the gate.
"Soldier of the Alhambra," said the corporal, without turning his head.
"What have you in charge?"
"Provisions for the garrison."
"Proceed."
The corporal marched straight forward, followed by the convoy, but had
not advanced many paces before a posse of custom-house officers rushed
out of a small toll-house.
"Halloo there!" cried the leader. "Muleteer, halt and open those
packages."
The corporal wheeled round, and drew himself up in battle array.
"Respect the flag of the Alhambra," said he; "these things are for the
governor."
"A fig for the governor, and a fig for his flag. Muleteer, halt, I say."
"Stop the convoy at your peril!" cried the corporal, cocking his musket.
"Muleteer, proceed."
The muleteer gave his beast a hearty thwack, the custom-house officer
sprang forward and seized the halter; whereupon the corporal leveled his
piece and shot him dead.
The street was immediately in an uproar. The old corporal was seized,
and after undergoing sundry kicks and cuffs, and cudgelings, which are
generally given impromptu by the mob in Spain, as a foretaste of the
after penalties of the law, he was loaded with irons, and conducted to
the city prison; while his comrades were permitted to proceed with the
convoy, after it had been well rummaged, to the Alhambra.
The old governor was in a towering passion, when he heard of this insult
to his flag and capture of his corporal. For a time he stormed about the
Moorish halls, and vapored about the bastions, and looked down fire and
sword upon the palace of the captain-general. Having vented the first
ebullition of his wrath, he dispatched a message demanding the surrender
of the corporal, as to him alone belonged the right of sitting in
judgment on the offenses of those under his command. The
captain-general, aided by the pen of the delighted Escribano, replied at
great length, arguing that as the offense had been committed within the
walls of his city, and against one of his civil officers, it was clearly
within his proper jurisdiction. The governor rejoined by a repetition of
his demand; the captain-general gave a surrejoinder of still greater
length, and legal acumen; the governor became hotter and more peremptory
in his demands, and the captain-general cooler and more copious in his
replies; until the old lion-hearted soldier absolutely roared with fury
at being thus entangled in the meshes of legal controversy.
While the subtle Escribano was thus amusing himself at the expense of
the governor, he was conducting the trial of the corporal; who, mewed up
in a narrow dungeon of the prison, had merely a small grated window at
which to show his iron-bound visage, and receive the consolations of his
friends; a mountain of written testimony was diligently heaped up,
according to Spanish form, by the indefatigable Escribano; the corporal
was completely overwhelmed by it. He was convicted of murder, and
sentenced to be hanged.
It was in vain the governor sent down remonstrance and menace from the
Alhambra. The fatal day was at hand, and the corporal was put _in
capilla_, that is to say, in the chapel of the prison; as is always done
with culprits the day before execution, that they may meditate on their
approaching end and repent them of their sins.
Seeing things drawing to an extremity, the old governor determined to
attend to the affair in person. He ordered out his carriage of state
and, surrounded by his guards, rumbled down the avenue of the Alhambra
into the city. Driving to the house of the Escribano, he summoned him to
the portal.
The eye of the old governor gleamed like a coal at beholding the
smirking man of the law advancing with an air of exultation.
[Illustration: THE NOTARY ENTERS THE CARRIAGE]
"What is this I hear," cried he, "that you are about to put to death one
of my soldiers?"
"All according to law--all in strict form of justice," said the
self-sufficient Escribano, chuckling and rubbing his hands. "I can show
your excellency the written testimony in the case."
"Fetch it hither," said the governor.
The Escribano bustled into his office, delighted with having another
opportunity of displaying his ingenuity at the expense of the
hard-headed veteran. He returned with a satchel full of papers, and
began to read a long deposition with professional volubility. By this
time a crowd had collected, listening with outstretched necks and gaping
mouths.
"Prithee man, get into the carriage out of this pestilent throng, that I
may the better hear thee," said the governor. The Escribano entered the
carriage, when in a twinkling the door was closed, the coachman smacked
his whip, mules, carriage, guards, and all dashed off at a thundering
rate, leaving the crowd in gaping wonderment, nor did the governor pause
until he had lodged his prey in one of the strongest dungeons of the
Alhambra.
He then sent down a flag of truce in military style, proposing a cartel
or exchange of prisoners, the corporal for the notary. The pride of the
captain-general was piqued, he returned a contemptuous refusal, and
forthwith caused a gallows, tall and strong, to be erected in the center
of the Plaza Nueva, for the execution of the corporal.
"Oho! is that the game?" said Governor Manco; he gave orders, and
immediately a gibbet was reared on the verge of the great beetling
bastion that overlooked the Plaza. "Now," said he, in a message to the
captain-general, "hang my soldier when you please; but at the same time
that he is swung off in the square, look up to see your Escribano
dangling against the sky."
The captain-general was inflexible; troops were paraded in the square;
the drums beat; the bell tolled; an immense multitude of amateurs had
collected to behold the execution; on the other hand, the governor
paraded his garrison on the bastion, and tolled the funeral dirge of the
notary from the Torre de la Campana, or tower of the bell.
The notary's wife pressed through the crowd with a whole progeny of
little embryo Escribanoes at her heels, and throwing herself at the feet
of the captain-general implored him not to sacrifice the life of her
husband and the welfare of herself and her numerous little ones to a
point of pride.
The captain-general was overpowered by her tears and lamentations, and
the clamors of her callow brood. The corporal was sent up to the
Alhambra under a guard, in his gallows garb, like a hooded friar; but
with head erect and a face of iron. The Escribano was demanded in
exchange, according to the cartel. The once bustling and self-sufficient
man of the law was drawn forth from his dungeon, more dead than alive.
All his flippancy and conceit had evaporated; his hair, it is said, had
nearly turned gray with fright, and he had a downcast, dogged look, as
if he still felt the halter round his neck.
The old governor stuck his one arm akimbo, and for a moment surveyed him
with an iron smile. "Henceforth, my friend," said he, "moderate your
zeal in hurrying others to the gallows; be not too certain of your own
safety, even though you should have the law on your side; and, above
all, take care how you play off your schoolcraft another time upon an
old soldier."
FOOTNOTES:
[20-1] The Alhambra was the fortified palace, or citadel, of the Moorish
kings when they reigned over Granada, in Spain. It was built in the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and is one of the most beautiful
examples of Moorish architecture.
[20-2] A toledo is a sword having a blade made at Toledo, in Spain, a
place famous for blades of remarkably fine temper and great elasticity.
[21-3] _Imperium in imperio_ is a Latin phrase meaning a _government
within a government_.
[22-4] _Contrabandista_ is a Spanish name for a smuggler.
[Illustration]
THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER[29-*]
_By_ SAMUEL T. COLERIDGE
PART I
It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
"By thy long gray beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?
"The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide,
And I am next of kin;
The guests are met, the feast is set:
May'st hear the merry din."
He holds him with a skinny hand.
"There was a ship," quoth he.
"Hold off! unhand me, gray-beard loon!"
Eftsoons[30-1] his hand dropt he.
He holds him with his glittering eye--
The Wedding-guest stood still,
And listens like a three years' child:
The Mariner hath his will.
The Wedding-guest sat on a stone:
He cannot choose but hear;
And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner:[30-2]--
"The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,
Merrily did we drop
Below the kirk, below the hill,
Below the lighthouse top.
"The sun came up upon the left,[30-3]
Out of the sea came he!
And he shone bright, and on the right
Went down into the sea.
"Higher and higher every day,
Till over the mast at noon--"[30-4]
The Wedding-guest here beat his breast,
For he heard the loud bassoon.
The bride hath paced into the hall,
Red as a rose is she;
Nodding their heads before her goes
The merry minstrelsy.
The Wedding-guest he beat his breast,
Yet he cannot choose but hear;
And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner:--
"And now the storm-blast came, and he
Was tyrannous and strong;
He struck with his o'ertaking wings,
And chased us south along.
"With sloping masts and dipping prow,
As who[31-5] pursued with yell and blow
Still treads the shadow of his foe[31-6],
And forward bends his head,
The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast,
And southward aye we fled.
"And now there came both mist and snow,
And it grew wondrous cold:
And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald.[32-7]
"And through the drifts, the snowy clifts[32-8]
Did send a dismal sheen:
Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken--
The ice was all between.
"The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around:
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in a swound![32-9]
"At length did cross an Albatross,
Thorough[32-10] the fog it came;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God's name.[32-11]
"It ate the food it ne'er had eat,
And round and round it flew.
The ice did split with a thunder-fit;
The helmsman steered us through.
[Illustration: I SHOT THE ALBATROSS]
"And a good south wind sprung up behind;[34-12]
The Albatross did follow,
And every day, for food or play,
Came to the mariner's hollo!
"In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
It perched for vespers nine;
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white moonshine."
"God save thee, ancient Mariner,
From the fiends that plague thee thus!--
Why look'st thou so?"--"With my cross-bow
I shot the Albatross."