Take them, O great Eternity! Our little life is but a gust 1 Used by permission of the Macmillan Company. 2 Used by permission of the Houghton Mifflin Company. 5 10 THE DEAD 1 I Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead! There's none of these so lonely and poor of old, Blow, bugles, blow! They brought us, for our dearth, 10 Honour has come back, as a king, to earth, And paid his subjects with a royal wage; II These hearts were woven of human joys and cares Washed marvellously with sorrow, swift to mirth. The years had given them kindness. Dawn was theirs, And sunset, and the colours of the earth. These had seen movement and heard music; known Slumber and waking; loved; gone proudly friended; 15 5 20 Touched flowers and furs and cheeks. All this is ended. A width, a shining peace, under the night. 25 1 Used by special arrangement with the John Lane Company. From Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke. 1. Who was William Vaughn Moody? 2. How was he a "bringer of fire down from the star"? 3. What is meant by "A wreath of worlds and wings"? 4. What is the force of the word "Promethean” in the next to the last stanza? Who was Prometheus in Greek mythology? 5. What is the "fire" brought by the "fire-bringer" of this poem? 6. What is meant by "star-wrestling spirit"? 7. Why cannot Death follow? (See last stanza.) 8. What work by William Vaughn Moody suggested this title? ELEGIES FOR OPTIONAL READINGS Note. Read at least seven elegies. Which did you like the best? Who is mourned in each case? "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"......Gray "The Loss of the Royal George". "Highland Mary". ....Cowper 1 From Uriel and Other Poems, by Percy MacKaye, Copyright, 1912, by Percy MacKaye. Used by special permission of the author. 30 25 15 20 "The Grandsire"..... "In Memoriam F. A. S.". "Requiem" Bryant Holmes ..Poe .Poe Whitman "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd". . . .Whitman "Bereaved" "On a Soldier Fallen in the Philippines". "Tennyson" "For the Fallen". "The Island of Skyros". "Requiescant" Field Stevenson Stevenson James Whitcomb Riley William Vaughn Moody ..Henry Van Dyke Laurence Binyon John Masefield Frederick George Scott "On an American Soldier Fallen in France". . . . Clinton Scollard "The Vale of Shadows". "Kitchener" "Lord Kitchener". Clinton Scollard .John Helston ..Robert Bridges "Uriel" (In memory of William Vaughn Moody). Percy MacKaye "Kitchener of Khartoum". "The Fallen Subaltern". "How Sleep the Brave". "The City". "To Our Fallen". "Rupert Brooke”. Robert Stead Lieut. Herbert Asquith Walter de la Mare ..Richard Burton Robert E. Vernede W. W. Gibson CHAPTER IV THE SONG: SACRED AND SECULAR The song is a short lyric poem which differs from the other forms in that it is intended, primarily, to be sung. It has that particular melodious quality required by the singing voice. Songs are either sacred or secular. The sacred songs include hymns, anthems, and oratorios. The secular songs may have any theme or emotion. Burns is called the greatest song-writer of the world because of the number, variety, and quality of his songs. Some of the finest songs that we have are strewn through Shakespeare's plays. Thomas Moore, Tennyson, Longfellow, and Eugene Field are also noted song-writers. Although our song-writers are not, as a general thing, poets, yet many of our poets have written songs.1 The best songs were composed to music instead of adapted to it. SOME SONGS FROM SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS From A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (Puck's Song) Over hill, over dale, Thorough bush, thorough brier, Those be rubies, fairy favours, In those freckles live their savours. I must go seek some dewdrop here, And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear. 5 10 1 Since there are few school buildings now that do not include at least one phonograph in their equipment, it is suggested that a musical program be given in place of the regular English lesson. Songs should be felt, not studied. |