12 10 15 20 25 THE FROST HANNAH F. GOULD The Frost looked forth on a still, clear night, I will not go on like that blustering train, So he flew to the mountain, and powdered its crest; A coat of mail, that it need not fear The glittering point of many a spear Which he hung on its margin, far and near, He went to the window of those who slept, By the morning light were seen Most beautiful things!-there were flowers and trees, But he did one thing that was hardly fair- 5 "Now, just to set them a-thinking, I'll bite this basket of fruit," said he, "And this costly pitcher I'll burst in three! Biography. NOTES AND QUESTIONS Hannah F. Gould (1789-1865) was an American poet, born at Lancaster, Mass. At the age of eleven she removed with her parents to Newburyport, Mass., where she lived the rest of her life. A collection of her poems, entitled Hymns and Poems for Children, contains many beautiful selections. Discussion. 1. Why does the poet personify "The Frost"? 2. What pictures do the following give you: "powdered its crest"; "their boughs he dressed"? 3. What picture of the window pane does stanza 3 give you? 4. Which line tells you on what kind of night to expect frost? blustering train, 75, 5 in vain, 75, 7 Phrases hung on its margin, 75, 15 THE FROST SPIRIT JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER He comes he comes-the Frost Spirit comes! You may trace his footsteps now On the naked woods and the blasted fields and the brown hill's withered brow. He has smitten the leaves of the gray old trees where their pleasant green came forth, And the winds, which follow wherever he goes, have shaken them down to earth. 5 He comes—he comes-the Frost Spirit comes!—from the frozen Labrador From the icy bridge of the Northern seas, which the white bear wanders o'er Where the fisherman's sail is stiff with ice, and the luckless forms below In the sunless cold of the lingering night into marble statues grow! He comes he comes-the Frost Spirit comes!-on the rushing Northern blast, And the dark Norwegian pines have bowed as his fearful breath went past. 5 With an unscorched wing he has hurried on, where the fires of Hecla glow On the darkly beautiful sky above and the ancient ice below. He comes he comes-the Frost Spirit comes!-and the quiet lake shall feel The torpid touch of his glazing breath, and ring to the skater's heel; And the streams which danced on the broken rocks, or sang to the leaning grass, 10 Shall bow again to their winter chain, and in mournful silence pass. He comes he comes-the Frost Spirit comes!-let us meet him as we may, And turn with the light of the parlor-fire his evil power away; And gather closer the circle round, when that fire-light dances high, And laugh at the shriek of the baffled Fiend as his sounding wing goes by! NOTES AND QUESTIONS For Biography, see page 60. Discussion. 1. Why does the poet personify "The Frost Spirit”? 2. Why is "Fiend" personified? 3. How can one "trace his footsteps" on woods and fields? 4. Locate on a map Labrador, the pine region of Norway, and the volcano of Hecla. 5. What is "the icy bridge of the northern seas"? 6. What are "the luckless forms below"? 7. Why does the poet say "In the sunless cold of the lingering night"? 8. What does the poet mean by "the shriek of the baffled Fiend"? blasted fields, 76, 2 luckless forms, 77, 1 sunless cold, 77, 2 fearful breath, 77, 4 Phrases unscorched wing, 77, 5 torpid touch, 77, 8 THE SNOW STORM RALPH WALDO EMERSON Announced by all the trumpets of the sky In a tumultuous privacy of storm. Come, see the north wind's masonry. Out of an unseen quarry evermore And when his hours are numbered, and the world Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art NOTES AND QUESTIONS Biography. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was a native of Boston, born not far from Franklin's birthplace. He was the oldest among chat brilliant group of New England scholars and writers that developed under the influence of Harvard College. Emerson was a quiet boy, but that he had high ambitions and sturdy determination is shown by the fact that he worked his own way through college. He is best known for his essays, tull of noble ideas and wise philosophy, but he also wrote poetry. As a poet he was careless of his meter, making his lines often purposely rugged, out they are always charged and bristling with thoughts that shock and thrill like electric batteries. In 1836 he wrote the "Concord Hymn" containing the famous lines: "Here once the embattled farmers stood And fired the shot heard round the world!" His poems of nature are clear-cut and vivid as snapshots. "The Humble Bee," as a critic puts it, "seems almost to shine with the heat and light of summer." Discussion. 1. Picture the scene described in the first five lines. 2. Compare with the picture given you in the first stanza of "Snow-Flakes," page 80. 3. Read in a way to bring out the contrast between the wild storm and the scene within the "farmhouse at the garden's end." 4. What is meant by "fierce artificer"? 5. What is the "tile" with which the poet imagines the "unseen quarry" is furnished? 6. Of what are the “white bastions" made? 7. Does the use of the word "windward" add to the picture and does such detail add to the beauty of the poem or detract from it? 8. Who is described as "myriad-handed"? 9. What is the mockery in hanging "Parian wreaths" on a coop or kennel? 10. What picture do lines 20, 21, and 22 give you? 11. What does the "mad wind's night-work" do for Art? courier's feet delayed, 78, 6 radiant fireplace, 78, 8 tumultuous privacy, 78, 9 north wind's masonry, 78, 10 myriad-handed, 78, 15 Phrases Parian wreaths, 78, 18 |