Full of a nature Nothing can tame, Changed every moment, Ceaseless aspiring, Ceaseless content, Darkness or sunshine Glorious fountain, Let my heart be Fresh, changeful, constant. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. aspiring (a spīr'ing): reaching up blithesome (blith'sum): gay, happy ward HELPS TO STUDY Read this poem carefully to yourself; then read it aloud in a lively way, that shows that you feel the rush and dash of the water as it leaps and plays. 1. How does the fountain look in the sunlight? 2. In the moonlight? 3. In the fifth stanza, explain the last line. 4. In the sixth stanza, what is said about the nature of the fountain? 5. What lesson does the poet wish to learn from the fountain? 5 10 Wav ing so flow'r like- When the winds blow. THE NEW YEAR Who comes dancing over the snow, He is the wonderful glad New Year. DINAH M. CRAIK. THE BROWN THRUSH "There's a merry brown thrush sitting up in a tree, He's singing to me! He's singing to me!" And what does he say, little girl, little boy? "Oh, the world's running over with joy! Don't you hear? Don't you see? Hush! Look! In my tree I'm as happy as happy can be!'" And the brown thrush keeps singing: "A nest do you see, 5 And five eggs, hid by me in the juniper-tree? Don't meddle! don't touch! little girl, little boy, 10 Or the world will lose some of its joy. H 5 10 Now I'm glad! Now I'm free! And I always shall be, If you never bring sorrow to me." So the merry brown thrush sings away in the tree, To you and to me, to you and to me; And he sings all the day, little girl, little boy, O, the world's running over with joy! But long it won't be, Don't you know? Don't you see? LUCY LARCOM. juniper (jū'ni per): an evergreen tree lose (looz): to be deprived of HELPS TO STUDY 1. The first stanza of the poem seems to be a conversation. Who are talking? 2. What is the spirit of the thrush's song, gay or sad? 3. Of what does he sing? 4. Read the poem freely and easily, and give the right feeling to it. Notice that if you read it quickly and freely, it is more like the song of the bird. 5. Stevenson has a poem called "Singing." Do you know it? In my tree, I'm as hap ру as happy can be! 1. From what book is the story of "Tom and the Lobster" taken? Who wrote it? Who was Tom? What funny habits and ideas had he? 2. What lines can you recite from "The Sandpiper "? Describe the scene of the poem. 3. Of what things does the fountain make Lowell think? Find some lines in the poem that remind you of the motion of the fountain. |