But our flower was in flushing 5. Fleet foot on the correi, How sound is thy slumber! Like the foam on the river, Like the bubble on the fountain, Thou art gone-and forever! Walter Scott. FOR PREPARATION.-I. From the "Lady of the Lake," Canto III., The Gathering. Roderick Dhu summons his clansmen. He sends the fiery cross through the glens and moors as the signal for assembling upon Lanric Mead, where they waylay the huntsman who lost his gallant gray steed in the chase (Lessons XX. and XXII. of the Fourth Reader), on his return from the visit to the Lady of the Lake. The bearer of the fiery cross meets a sad assemblage singing the coronach, or funeral-song, over the bier of one of the warriors of his clan. II. Wō'-ful, fù'-ner-al, văl'-iant (-yant), war'-rior (wôr'yur), mōurn'ful, cor'-rei. III. "Torches' ray"-one torch, or more? Searest," nearest comparison between two or more objects? IV. Accents, wail, gallant, bier, scarest, blighting, foray, stripling, font, hoary, "in flushing," "red hand." V. "Fleet foot on the correi" (i. e., on the hollow side of the hill where the game lies). What similes are used to describe the loss the clan has met with? "Sage counsel in cumber" (i. e., in trouble). What rank had the deceased in his clan (line 6)? In what respect is a summer-dried fountain more to be dreaded than any other? Do the words "need was the sorest" seem to imply that the people were aware of the approaching war? XXXVIII.-HOW TO RENDER SAD IDEAS, Ideas represented by such words as pathetic, pensive, sorrowful, grievous, pitiful, painful, distressful, lamentable, etc., are included under this head. The "semitone" is the most characteristic element in the expression of pathos in reading, as it is in music. The "moderate slide," which expresses matter-of-fact ideas, when shortened by a "semitone," expresses pathetic ideas (see first and second examples below); and the "long slide," which expresses earnest ideas, when shortened by a semitone, expresses earnest pathos, or manly and womanly sorrow (see third and fourth examples below). As there is something painful in this sad spirit, the "stress" is more or less "abrupt," and on the last part of the emphatic syllable (often called "vanishing stress "). The "force" is "softer" than that of matter-of-fact or earnest ideas, and the "time is slower." EXAMPLES. I. "If you're waking, call me early-call me early, mother dear, For I would see the sun rise upon the glad New Year; It is the last New Year that I shall ever see Then you may lay me low i' the mould, and think no more of me. "To-night I saw the sun set; he set, and left behind The good old year-the dear old time-and all my peace of mind; And the New Year's coming up, mother, but I shall never see The May upon the blackthorn, the leaf upon the tree. "I have been wild and wayward, but ye'll forgive me now; You'll kiss me, my own mother, upon my cheek and brow? Nay, nay, you must not weep, nor let your grief be wild; You shall not fret for me, mother; you have another child. "If I can, I'll come again, mother, from out my restingplace; Though you'll not see me, mother, I shall look upon your face; Though I cannot speak a word, I shall hearken what you say, And be often and often with you, when you think I'm far away." (From "New-Year's Eve," by Tennyson.) II. "Then, with eyes that saw not, I kissed her; (From "The First Snow-Fall," by James R. Lowell.) III. "Dead!-one of them shot by the sea in the East, Dead!-both my boys! (From "Mother and Poet," by Mrs. Browning.) The following example requires the "longer minor slides," with "larger volume" and "louder force," and more marked "vanishing stress" (abruptness on the last part of the emphatic syllables): IV. Octavius-come! Cassius-Come, Antony, and young When thou didst hate him worst, thou lov'dst him better (From "The Quarrel Scene" in “Julius Cæsar," by Shakespeare.) XXXIX. THE PAUPER'S DEATH-BED. 1. Tread softly-bow the head In reverent silence bow! No passing bell doth toll, Yet an immortal soul Is passing now. 2. Stranger, however great, With lowly reverence bow; There's one in that poor shed- Greater than thou. 3. Beneath that beggar's roof, Lo! Death doth keep his state. 4. That pavement, damp and cold, One silent woman stands, 5. No mingling voices sound- A sob suppressed-again 6. O change! O wondrous change! This moment there so low, 7. O change-stupendous change! The sun eternal breaks, The new immortal wakes Wakes with his God! Caroline B. Southey. FOR PREPARATION.-I. Paupers live partly or wholly upon charity. In this case it would seem that he lived partly upon charity; for, though called a "beggar," it is his "roof," and he would seem to have a family. ("One silent woman " and an "infant wail.") Kinship of this author to the author of "Blenheim " and "Lodore"? |