NOTES AND QUESTIONS

1. What does the poet describe in the first stanza? Point out words used in unusual or especially vivid ways, in this stanza.

2. What are the "songs" of autumn? Read aloud the lines that tell this. Can you think of other autumn songs not mentioned in the poem? How do the songs of autumn differ from the songs of spring? How can you train your ear to hear the songs of autumn?

Theme Topic. Write an account of a modern "winnowing" (threshing) scene; a reaping scene; or a harvest-home festival. Make it as vivid as you can by mentioning details of sound, color, etc.

says

2. What do the first two lines of the second stanza tell? In the fourth stanza, to what is the leap of the sunrise on the cloud compared? What is the poet's idea of the cloud at sunset? 3. In his "Ode to the West Wind," Shelley that the clouds are shaken like dead leaves from the "tangled boughs of heaven and ocean"; how does he describe the origin of the cloud in the last stanza of "The Cloud"? Which image do you prefer? Show that Shelley expresses scientific truth about cloud formation under the poetical imagery of the closing stanza. Explain the line "I change, but I cannot die."

4. This poem is remarkable for the beauty of its imagery; point out the comparisons that seem to you most beautiful. See how many words indicating light and color you can find.

Class Reading. Bring to class and read "My Heart Leaps Up," Wordsworth; "The Spacious Firmament," Addison; "The Cloud," Peabody.

HARK TO THE SHOUTING WIND* HENRY TIMROD

Hark to the shouting Wind!

Hark to the flying Rain!

And I care not though I never see

A bright blue sky again.

*This selection from Timrod is reprinted from the Memorial Edition, through the courtesy of the holder of the copyright, the Johnson, Publishing Company, Richmond, Virginia.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

1. What do you think was the inspiration for this poem, the use of trees or the beauty of trees? Why do you think so? Has the poet named any uses or purposes of trees which you might have omitted?

2. Let some good reader in the class read the poem aloud to bring out the beauty of the lines. Compare this poem with Joyce Kilmer's "Trees"; which of the two poems do you like the better?

Class Reading. "Loveliest of Trees," Housman; "Shade," Garrison; "A Lady of the Snows," Monroe (all in The Melody of Earth, Richards).

Suggested Problems. Plan an Arbor Day program to be given by your class. Plan for your class to take trips to parks or woods near by for the purpose of noting down and learning the characteristics of the different trees. Learn to know all the various kinds of trees in your neighborhood.

these beauties of spring? In the last stanza how does the poet express her own feeling for the lilac?

4. The poet, at the beginning of each stanza, names four colors of lilacs; have you noticed all four? What do you think is meant by "false blue"? Find as many other instances as you can in which the poet has seen more accurately and describes more exactly than most people do. Has this poem opened your eyes to any details of beauty that you had not noticed before?

5. Can you tell what it is that makes the lines of "Lilacs" flow with such an easy rhythm, even though this rhythm is not regular in its accent? What is the effect of the very short lines? Do you like this "vers libre," or "free verse," as well as you like poetry with regular rhythm and rime?

Library Reading. "A Tulip Garden" and "July Midnight," Lowell (in The Melody of Earth, Richards).

I

Up to the sky-ridge,

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

1. What setting does the poet give the lilacs in the first stanza? In what kinds of places do the lilacs grow? What is their effect upon the Custom House clerks? Have you ever been affected in the same way?

2. Beginning with line 46 how does the poem tell that lilacs are of all times and all places? Why is this more interesting than to say merely "Lilacs are everywhere"?

3. How does the poet describe the month of May? What part does the lilac play in

THE FURROW AND THE HEARTH* PADRAIC COLUM

Stride the hill, sower,

Flinging the seed, Scattering, exultant! Mouthing great rhythms To the long sea-beats

On the wide shore, behind The ridge of the hillside.

*From Wild Earth and Other Poems, by Padraic Colum. Used by special arrangement with The Macmillan Company, Publishers.