UDIES IN BRYANT 
 
 A TEXT -BOOK 
 
 Y<Y 
 
 JO:-FPff ALDEN, D.D, 
 
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 Ul 
 
 03^^ ~PS \\^2^ 
 
 Book 
 
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STUDIES IN BRTAXT: 
 
 A TEXT-BOOK. 
 
 K 
 
 BY 
 
 /i> JOSEPH ALDEX, D.D., 
 
 OF THE STATE >-OKMAL SCHOOL AT ALBAXT. 
 
 VriTH AX IXTRODUCTIOy 
 
 WILLIAM CDIJ^2J BRYANT. 
 
 KEW YORK: 
 
 D. APPLETOX AND COMPAXY, 
 
 1, 8, AKD 5 BOND STEEET. 
 
 1883. 
 
^ 
 
 \% 
 
 ^'-' 
 
 Enteeed. according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, 
 
 By D. APPLETON & CO., 
 
 In the Ofiice of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 To A Waterfowl 
 
 11 
 
 The West Wind .... 
 
 19 
 
 Green Riter .... 
 
 25 
 
 Autumn Woods .... 
 
 34 
 
 The Snow-Shower 
 
 42 
 
 March ..... 
 
 47 
 
 The Evening Wind 
 
 50 
 
 Waiting by the Gate 
 
 55 
 
 The Tides . 
 
 60 
 
 The Gladness op Nature . 
 
 65 
 
 The Third of November, 1861 
 
 . . 68 
 
 The Summer Wind 
 
 72 
 
 The Future Life 
 
 77 
 
 The Stream of Life 
 
 80 
 
 An Invitation to the Country 
 
 82 
 
 The Crowded Street 
 
 85 
 
 The Death of the Flowers . 
 
 89 
 
 The Return of Youth 
 
 93 
 
 The Hurricane . . . , 
 
 97 
 
 The Life that is . 
 
 . 102 
 
4 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A Hymn of the Sea ..... 106 
 
 Hymn to the North Star . . . Ill 
 
 The Cloud on the Way . . . . 115 
 
 "Innocent Child and Snow-white Flower" . . 121 
 
 The Planting of the Apple-Tree . . . 123 
 
Ustteoductiot^, 
 
 By WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. 
 
 I HAD learned from Dr. Alden, at whose 
 desire I write this, that he had been using my 
 poems as a text-book in the institution under his 
 charge, and that, in his judgment, the experiment 
 had not been without success. When he applied 
 to me for permission to print some of the poems, 
 accompanied with questions adapted to call into 
 exercise the critical faculty of the pupils, I con- 
 sented, but advised that they should form only a 
 part of the volume, and that selections should 
 also be made for the same purpose from a num- 
 ber of English and American poets. To this Dr. 
 Alden objected, that his plan was already formed 
 and executed ; that he wished to reproduce in 
 print what had been done in his class-room ; and 
 further, that the method set forth could be ap- 
 
6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 plied to the writings of any author which any 
 one might desire to study. 
 
 Though I still believe that my advice was ju- 
 dicious, I am not disposed to prevent the full 
 execution of the original plan, especially as my 
 verses, if printed by themselves, will escape the 
 disadvantage of a comparison with those of other 
 authors. It is well, perhaps, that a work like 
 this of Dr. Alden, designed to teach the readers 
 of poetry the art of forming a satisfactory judg- 
 ment of what they read, should concern itself 
 with compositions of the humbler sort. There is 
 an old Latin adage, the purport of which is, that 
 experiments should be made with cheap materials. 
 In learning the mechanism of timepieces by sepa- 
 rating and putting together again the different 
 parts which compose their machinery, we should 
 hardly think of using a watch the materials of 
 which were of the highest value, the structure the 
 most delicate, and the workmanship the most ex- 
 quisite ; but would rather choose one of less costly 
 make, which might be handled without ceremony, 
 and could not be much injured in the process, or, 
 if somewhat tarnished, the loss would yet be slight. 
 After the pupil has become familiar with the pro- 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 7 
 
 cess adopted in tliis work, and can readily analyze 
 the passages he reads with regard to the merit of 
 the thought, the aptness of the expression, and 
 the congriiity of the parts, he may proceed to the 
 eminent poets of our language, to whose writings 
 a higher veneration is due. Here he would find 
 it no longer necessary to follow step by step the 
 process to which he had been trained, but the 
 merit of the thought and the force of the expres- 
 sion would be perceived by him at a glance, just 
 as an eye accustomed to the machinery of watches 
 perceives the ingenious construction and the ex- 
 quisite workmanship of a chronometer, without 
 separating the parts. 
 
 I may be allowed to say for my friend who 
 has paid me the compliment of making this use 
 of my verses, and who has been for the greater 
 part of his life a successful instructor, that he is 
 fortunate in possessing an unusual facility in teach- 
 ing his pupils to think — to apply their faculties 
 vigorously to the subject in hand, to analyze and 
 point out the results of their analysis, to discrimi- 
 nate and give reasons for the discrimination. 
 The application of this system of instruction to 
 poetical composition forms the basis of the pres- 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ent work. As a mental exercise, it has the effect 
 of quickening the faculties in the province of 
 sesthetics, enabling the pupil to distinguish be- 
 tween false glitter and real splendor, between 
 what is superfluous and what is essential, between 
 what is frivolous and what is weighty and impor- 
 tant; in short, between sense and nonsense. As 
 has been well observed, in substance, there is in 
 all true poetry a reference to Keason in her higher 
 moods and nobler offices, so that her jurisdiction 
 is constantly acknowledged, and her laws kept 
 ever in sight, and the harmonious order of the 
 universe reflected, however feebly, in the works 
 of the poet. And although an ingenious caviller 
 may assail high poetry with ridicule, as has some- 
 times been done, yet the ridicule does not ad- 
 here, but slides off, and leaves the object of attack 
 unharmed. 
 
 In judging of poetry, the main office of criti- 
 cism is to discover beauties, for it is these only 
 which reward the search. In the process adopted 
 by the author of this work, the reader is made to 
 see how, in a poem, one thought grows out of 
 another, how kindred images shine by each other's 
 light, how. a single word sometimes sets a whole 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 picture before the imagination, and how the fancy 
 may tinge with prismatic hues a thought which, 
 in the utterance of any but one poetically en- 
 dowed, would attract no admiration. But, beyond 
 this, the process exposes whatever is faulty. If 
 the thought be obscurely and vaguely expressed, 
 the reader sees that it is but half a thought ; if it 
 be burdened with unimportant accessories, he sees 
 how they weaken its force ; in short, he perceives 
 how much the thought is dependent, for the im- 
 pression it makes, on the language in which it is 
 clothed. All idle repetitions, all ill-chosen terms, 
 all feeble concessions to the exigencies of versifi- 
 cation, are exposed in their naked deformity. 
 
 At this time, when material prosperity has so 
 strong a hold upon the minds of men, when the 
 complicated civilization of the age has so largely 
 multiplied our material wants, and turned our at- 
 tention to the enterprises by which those wants 
 are supplied ; when, in short, the pursuit of wealth 
 is so general and so engrossing. Dr. Alden may 
 justly claim the public favor in seeking to with- 
 draw those who are setting out in life, from mere- 
 ly selfish aims to the love of natural and moral 
 beauty, and to lead them from the scramble for 
 
10 INTR OB UCTION. 
 
 wealth to what has been aptly called " the still air 
 of delightful studies." If it be objected that, in 
 preparing this volume, he might have made a bet- 
 ter choice of a poet, I have no answer to make, 
 save that I cannot disagree with the objector. 
 
 I have already intimated that Dr. Alden's 
 work was completed before communicating with 
 me. Let me here add that it goes to press with- 
 out the slightest alteration, and that I have 
 simply looked over the questions on two of the 
 pieces chosen, in order to obtain a clear idea of 
 the plan of the work. 
 
■ij. 
 
TO A WATERFOWL. I3 
 
 2. What question does it ask ? 
 
 A. It asks where the waterfowl is going. 
 
 3. Give the question in the language of the text. 
 A. Whither dost thou pursue thy solitary icay ? 
 
 4. What offices do the remaining parts of the stanza 
 perform ? 
 
 A. They state attendant circumstances. 
 
 5. What is the office of the phrase in the first line? 
 A. To indicate the time — evening. 
 
 6. What is the office of the clause constituting the second 
 line ? 
 
 A. To describe the appearance of the heavens at the 
 close of day. 
 
 7. What does the phrase in the third line do ? 
 
 . A. It tells where the waterfowl pursued its way. 
 
 8. In the first line, why is whither better than icheref 
 A. Whither means "to what place;" where means "at 
 
 or in what place." Whither is more definite than where. 
 
 9. Why would not lalmy deics be better than falling 
 dews ? 
 
 A. The author wished to state the fact that the dew 
 was falling — ^not to describe the dew. 
 
 10. Why is ichile better than lohen? 
 A. While denotes continuance. 
 
 11. Why is gloiD better than shine? 
 
 A. Shine would not give the idea intended by the au- 
 thor. The first conception suggested by shine is that of 
 radiation. 
 
 12. What is meant by the heavens ? 
 A. The sky. 
 
 13. What is meant by the last steps of day? 
 A. The close of day. 
 
 14. What figure is here used ? 
 
 A. Personification: day is personified. 
 
14 STUDIES m BRYANT. 
 
 15. Do steps ever glow ? 
 
 A. Steps of men or of animals do not. Last steps of 
 day is a metaphorical expression for the close of day. The 
 western sky glows at the close of day. 
 
 16. "Why not azure instead of rosy depth? 
 
 A. Rosy describes the appearance of the heavens. The 
 glow of the heavens at the close of day is not an azure glow. 
 
 17. What does solitary mean? 
 A. Alone, unattended. 
 
 18. Why not say, thy unattended way? 
 
 A. Solitary is more expressive. It confines the attention 
 to the object. Unattended calls up the idea of attendants. 
 
 19. What is the ofBce of the first two lines of the sec- 
 ond stanza ? 
 
 A. To make a statement or affirmation. 
 
 20. Give the statement in prose. 
 
 A. It is useless for the fowler to watch its flight for the 
 purpose of shooting it. 
 
 21. Why \s fowler used instead of hunter or S2oortsman? 
 A. Fowler is a more special term. As a general rule, 
 
 the more special the term the greater the vivacity. Fowler 
 is more special than hunter^ and hunter is more special than 
 sportsman. 
 
 22. Is eye figurative or literal ? 
 
 A. Figurative. The instrument is put for the agent. 
 
 23. What is the figure called? 
 A. Synecdoche. 
 
 24. May not eye be said to be used metaphorically ? 
 
 A. Strictly speaking, there is but one figure, metaphor ; 
 that is to say, all figurative language may be resolved into 
 metaphor. Many forms of expression which rhetoricians 
 call figures are not figures. 
 
 25. Why is marh better than note or observe ? 
 A. It is more special. 
 
TO A WATERFOWL. 15 
 
 26. What is the office of the last two lines in this stanza ? 
 A. To describe the distant flight. 
 
 27. Why is darTcly limned better than darlcly painted? 
 
 A. Darkly limned is the exact description of the ap- 
 pearance presented to the beholder. Painted suggests the 
 idea of color. 
 
 28. Why crimson sky ? 
 
 A. Because the glow was a crimson glow. 
 
 29. Why not lody instead of figure ? 
 A. It was figure that the beholder saw. 
 
 30. Why not fiies instead oi fioats along? 
 
 A. Floats best describes the appearance presented. The 
 motion of the wings was not visible. 
 
 31. What is the third stanza? 
 A. It is a question. 
 
 32. How many places are mentioned in it? 
 A. Three. 
 
 33. Name them? 
 
 A. The lake, the river, the seashore. 
 
 34. Is seeFst thou authorized in prose ? 
 A. It is not. 
 
 35. Why is the word plashy used? 
 
 A. It describes the sounds made by small waves on the 
 shore. 
 
 36. What does wfl?'^e mean? 
 A. The bank of the river. 
 
 37. May it be used in prose ? 
 A. It may not. 
 
 38. Why not rolling instead of rocking billows? 
 
 A. RocUng describes more perfectly the motion of the 
 waters. 
 
 39. Which is chafed — the ocean or the shore? 
 A. The shore. 
 
 40. What is the fourth stanza? 
 
16 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 A. It is an aflSrmation. 
 
 41. What is meant by a Poicerf 
 A. The Supreme Being. 
 
 42. Why is teaches better than marks out? 
 
 A. Teaches increases the personification used. 
 
 43. What is meant by coast? 
 A. Region. 
 
 44. What relation has the third line of the stanza to 
 the second one? 
 
 A. It is explanatory of it. 
 
 45. What does lone wandering refer to? 
 A. The waterfowl. 
 
 46. Show the propriety of hut ? 
 
 A. It expresses the relation between lone wandering 
 and not lost. 
 
 47. What do the first two lines of the fifth stanza do? 
 A. They make a statement. 
 
 48. Why \s fanned the best word that could be chosen? 
 A. It describes the motion of the wings, and is asso- 
 ciated with a pleasant idea. 
 
 49. What does the phrase in the second line do? 
 A. It tells where the wings fanned. 
 
 50. Why are the words cold and thin used ? 
 
 A. The atmosphere at that height is cold, and less dense 
 than near the earth. 
 
 51. Is thy wings figurative or literal? 
 
 A. There is a slight degree of personification indicated 
 hj fanned, and it is increased by the words weary and stoop. 
 
 52. Between what does yet show the relation? 
 
 A. Between the statements that the waterfowl had 
 fanned the atmosphere all day, and that night was coming, 
 and the statement that he had not through weariness 
 stooped to visit the land. 
 
 53. Why is the adjective welcome used? 
 
STUDIES IN BEYANT. 
 
 TO A WATERFOWL.^ 
 
 1 "Whithek, midst falling dew, 
 
 While glow the heavens with the last steps of 
 day, 
 
 Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pur- 
 sue 
 Thy solitary way ? 
 
 2 Yainly the fowler's eye 
 
 Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, 
 As, darkly limned upon the crimson sky, 
 Thy figure floats along. 
 
 3 Seek'st thou the plashy brink 
 
 Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide. 
 Or where the rocking billows rise and sink 
 On the chafed ocean-side ? 
 
 ^ Answers are given to the questions at first, for the purpose 
 of showing the student what is expected of him. 
 
12 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 4 There is a Power whose care 
 Teaches thj way along that pathless coast — 
 The desert and illimitable air — 
 
 Lone wandering, bnt not lost. 
 
 5 All day thy wings have fanned, 
 
 At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere, 
 Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land. 
 Though the dark night is near. 
 
 6 And soon that toil shall end ; 
 
 Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest, 
 And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall 
 bend, 
 Soon, o'er thy sheltered nest. 
 
 Y Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heaven 
 
 Hath swallowed up thy form ; yet, on my heart 
 Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given. 
 And shall not soon depart. 
 
 8 He who, from zone to zone. 
 
 Guides through the boundless sky thy certain 
 
 flight. 
 In the long way that I must tread alone, 
 Will lead my steps aright. 
 
 1. What is the office of the first stanza— what does it 
 do? 
 
 A. It asks a question. 
 
TO A WATERFOWL. 17 
 
 A. To express tlie truth that the land is welcome as a 
 place of rest. 
 
 54. What is the first line of the sixth stanza ? 
 A, It is a statement. 
 
 55. What relation has the second line to the first? 
 
 A. It is explanatory of it — tells how the toil shall 
 end. 
 
 56. What circumstances are mentioned as connected 
 with the summer home? 
 
 A. Rest and screaming. 
 
 57. Why is scream used instead of sing? 
 A. Waterfowls do not sing. 
 
 58. What further statement do you find in this stanza? 
 A. That reeds will bend over his nest. 
 
 59. What connection has this with the second line? 
 A. It carries out the idea of home. 
 
 60. What does the next stanza do ? 
 
 A. It states a fact in relation to the waterfowl, and a 
 fact in relation to the author. 
 
 61. What is the relation of the second to the first clause 
 in the stanza ? 
 
 A. The second explains the first — tells how the event 
 stated took place. 
 
 62. What contrast is indicated by yet f 
 
 A. The contrast between the disappearance of the wa- 
 terfowl and the permanence of the lesson. 
 
 63. Is abyss figurative or literal ? 
 A. Figurative. 
 
 64. Indicated by what expression ? 
 A. Swallowed up. 
 
 65. Is the remainder of the stanza figurative or literal? 
 A. It is figurative, as are all terms describing mental 
 
 operations. 
 
 66. Is the word on in keeping with the word sunTc f 
 
18 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 A. It is not. TTe speak of impressions on the heart, 
 but not of sinkiDg on the heart. 
 
 67. "What is the office of the eighth stanza ? 
 
 A. To state the lesson mentioned in the seventh stanza. 
 
 68. "What analogy is implied ? 
 
 A. The analogy between the course of the waterfowl 
 and the course of a man's life. 
 
 69. In what sense is certain used? 
 A. In the sense of unerring. 
 
 70. What is meant by the long way ? 
 A. His lifetime. 
 
 71. What is meant by guiding his steps? 
 A, Guiding his course of life — his actions. 
 
THE WEST WIND. 
 
 1 Beneath the forest's skirt I rest, 
 
 Whose branching pines rise dark and high. 
 And hear the breezes of the West 
 Among the thread-like f oh age sigh. 
 
 2 Sweet Zephyr ! why that sound of woe ? 
 
 Is not thy home among the flowers ? 
 , Do not the bright June roses blow, 
 To meet thy kiss at morning hours ? 
 
 3 And lo ! thy glorious realm outspread — 
 
 Yon stretching valleys, green and gay. 
 And yon free hill-tops, o'er whose head 
 The loose white clouds are borne away. 
 
 4 And there the full broad river runs. 
 
 And many a fount wells fresh and sweet, 
 To cool thee when the mid-day suns 
 
 Have made thee faint beneath their heat. 
 
 5 Thou wind of joy, and youth, and love ; 
 
 Spirit of the new-wakened year ! 
 The sun in his blue realm above 
 
 Smooths a bright path when thou art here. 
 
20 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 6 In lawns the murmuring bee is heard, 
 
 The wooing ring-dove in the shade ; 
 
 On thy soft breath, the new-fledged bird 
 
 Takes wing, half happy, half afraid. 
 
 7 Ah ! thou art like our wayward race ; — 
 
 "When not a shade of pain or ill 
 Dims the bright smile of Nature's face, 
 Thou lov'st to sigh and murmur stilL 
 
 1. What does the first line of the first stanza do ? 
 A. It tells where the speaker rests. 
 
 2. What does the second line do ? 
 
 A. It describes the forest mentioned in the first line. 
 
 3. What do the third and fourth lines do ? 
 A. They tell what he heard. 
 
 4. What figure do you find in the first line? 
 A. Personification : forest is personified. 
 
 5. What word indicates the personification? 
 A. Skirt. 
 
 6. What mental image is produced by the first two 
 lines? 
 
 A. That of a person resting in a grove of pines. 
 
 7. Sitting, or reclining ? 
 A. Reclining. 
 
 8. Does the text say so ? 
 
 A. It does not, in so many words ; but he rested be- 
 neath the skirt of the forest. If one is beneath a skirt, it is 
 spread over him, and that implies a reclining posture. 
 
 9. Why is the term thread-like used ? 
 A. It describes the foliage of the pines. 
 
THE WEST WIND. 21 
 
 10. What figures do you find in the last two lines of the 
 stanza ? 
 
 A. Personification and simile. The breezes are repre- 
 sented as sighing, which is the act of a person, and the fila- 
 ments of the pine are compared to threads. 
 
 11. What do you find in the first line of the second 
 stanza? 
 
 A. An apostrophe and a question. 
 
 12. What is the question? 
 A. Why that sound of woe ? 
 
 13. What sound is referred to? 
 A. The sighing of the wind. 
 
 14. Is not woe too strong a w' ord to be used in connec- 
 tion with 8ighs ? 
 
 A. !N'ot if we allow a little poetic license. 
 
 15. What does the second line do? 
 
 A. It gives a reason why the zephyr should not sigh. 
 
 16. What is the reason ? 
 
 A, The fact that its home is among the fiowers — it has 
 a happy home. 
 
 17. In what form is this stated? 
 
 A. In that of an interrogative affirmation. 
 
 18. What do the two remaining lines of the stanza do? 
 A. They state another reason why the zephyr should 
 
 not sigh. 
 
 19. What personification runs through the stanza ? 
 A. That of the zephyr. 
 
 20. What words show the personification ! 
 A. Thy home and tJiy hiss. 
 
 21. How is home used ? 
 A. Metaphorically. 
 
 22. What does the third stanza do ? 
 A. It gives another reason. 
 
 23. What is that reason? 
 
22 STUDIES m BRYAN 2\ 
 
 A. The glorious realm that the zephyr possesses. 
 
 24. What is the office of lo ? 
 
 A. To call the zephyr's attention to his realm. 
 
 25. What relation do the remaining lines of the stanza 
 sustain to the first line ? 
 
 A. They describe the realm mentioned in it. 
 
 26. Why would not tserdant do as well as stretching? 
 A. Stretching is more in keeping with outspread. 
 
 27. Of what use is the last line? 
 
 A. It adds to the beauty of the mental image caused by 
 the preceding lines. 
 
 28. Why is head in the singular, while hill-tops is plural ? 
 A. Heads would not rhyme with outspread. 
 
 29. Has the poet a right to use a word inaccurately for 
 the sake of a rhyme? 
 
 A. He has not. 
 
 30. The question why head is used instead of heads re- 
 mains unanswered. 
 
 A. The hill-tops are taken collectively, and are thus 
 personified ; hence the plural is not required in the word 
 referring to them. 
 
 31. Is the last line of the stanza figurative or literal? 
 A. Literal. 
 
 32. Does it awaken a mental image ? 
 
 A. It does. Figures do not furnish all the imagery of 
 the poet. 
 
 33. What do you find in the fourth stanza ? 
 
 A. A continuation of the description of the landscape. 
 
 34. What is first mentioned ? 
 A. The full hroad river. 
 
 35. Why would not deep do as well as full? 
 
 A. It would not convey the idea the poet intended to 
 convey. The water of a stream may be deep without fill- 
 ing its banks. 
 
THE WEST WIND. 23 
 
 36. What are next mentioned? 
 
 A. The fresh and sweet fountains. 
 
 37. What is the meaning of sweet as here used ? 
 A. Pure. 
 
 38. What connection between the third and fourth lines 
 and the second line ? 
 
 A. Those lines state what the fountains are adapted to 
 do. 
 
 39. Why would not burning do as well as mid-day? 
 
 A. It is less special. Mid-day suggests the idea of time 
 as well as of heat. 
 
 40. Give an analysis of the fifth stanza ? 
 
 A. The first line is an apostrophe to the west wind ; the 
 second is a metaphorical description of it ; the third and 
 fourth lines contain a statement of what takes place when 
 the wind is in season. 
 
 41. Why is it called the wind of joy, and youth, and love ? 
 A. Because it prevails in the spring of the year, and 
 
 there is an analogy between the spring-time of life and the 
 spring-time of the year. 
 
 42. Why is the year said to be new-icalcened f 
 
 A. Because the death-like slumber of winter is over. 
 
 43. What statement do you find in the last two lines? 
 A. A statement of what the sun does. 
 
 44. Point out the figures in those two lines. 
 
 A. The sun is personified ; the blue realm above is meta- 
 phorical, it means the sky ; smooths a bright path is meta- 
 phorical ; there is personification in when thou art here. 
 
 45. What connection between a bright path and the 
 last clause of the stanza? 
 
 A. The sky is usually clear when the west wind blows. 
 
 46. What do you find in the sixth stanza ? 
 
 A. A continued statement of what takes place when 
 the west wind prevails — in spring-time. 
 
24 STUDIES IiV BRYANT. 
 
 47. What mental images are awakened by this stanza? 
 A. Images of the bee, the ring-dove, and the unfledged 
 
 bird. 
 
 48. Are these images poetical ? 
 A. They are. 
 
 49. What is a poetical image ? 
 A. A beautiful image. 
 
 50. What is a beautiful image ? 
 
 A. It is the image of a beautiful thing. 
 
 51. Why is in the shade found in the second line? 
 
 A. Because the sound alluded to is never uttered by the 
 dove except when it is in the shade. 
 
 52. What does the last stanza do? 
 
 A. It states an analogy between the west wind, as de- 
 scribed by the poet, and the human race. 
 
 53. What is the analogy — in what respect are they 
 alike? 
 
 A. The zephyr sighs and murmurs when it has no reason 
 for so doing, and men do the same. 
 
 54. What are personified in the stanza? 
 ^. The zephyr and Nature. 
 
 55. What words personify Nature? 
 A. Face and smile. 
 
 56. State the plan of the poem. 
 
 A. It opens by representing a person as listening to the 
 sighing of the zephyr ; he proceeds to remonstrate with 
 the zephyr for sighing, and to give the reasons why it should 
 not do so, and ends by comparing the conduct of the zephyr 
 to the conduct of men. 
 
 57. Which is the most beautiful stanza in the poem ? 
 
GREEN RIVER. 
 
 When breezes are soft and skies are fair 
 
 1 steal an hour from study and care, 
 And hie me away to the woodland scene, 
 Where wanders the stream with waters of 
 green, 
 5 As if the bright fringe of herbs on its brink 
 Had given their stain to the wave they drink ; 
 And they, whose meadows it murmurs through, 
 Have named the stream from its own fair hue. 
 
 Yet pure its waters — its shallows are bright 
 10 With colored pebbles and sparkles of light, 
 And clear the depths where its eddies play, 
 And dimples deepen and whirl away, 
 And the plane-tree's speckled arms o'ershoot 
 The swifter current that mines its root, 
 15 Through whose shifting leaves, as you walk 
 the hill, 
 The quivering glimmer of sun and rill 
 With a sudden flash on the eye is thrown. 
 Like the ray that streams from the diamond- 
 stone. 
 Oh) loveliest there the spring days come. 
 
26 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 20 With blossoms, and birds, and wild bees' bum ; 
 The flowers of smnmer are fairest there, 
 And freshest the breath of the summer air ; 
 And sweetest the golden autumn day 
 In silence and sunshine glides away. 
 
 25 Yet fair as thou art, thou shunnest to glide, 
 Beautiful stream ! by the village-side ; 
 But windest away from haunts of men. 
 To quiet valley and shaded glen ; 
 And forest, and meadow, and slope of hill, 
 
 30 Around thee, are lonely, lovely, and still. 
 Lonely — save when, by thy rippling tides. 
 From thicket to thicket the angler glides ; 
 Or the simpler comes, with basket ^and book. 
 For herbs of power on thy banks to look ; 
 
 35 Or haply, some idle dreamer, like me. 
 To wander, and muse, and gaze on thee. 
 Still — save the chirp of birds that feed 
 On the river cherry and seedy reed. 
 And thy own wild music gushing out 
 
 40 With mellow murmur or fairy shout. 
 From dawn to the blush of another day, 
 Like traveller singing along his way. 
 
 That fairy music I never hear, 
 Nor gaze on those waters so green and clear, 
 45 And mark them winding away from sight. 
 Darkened with shade or flashing with light, 
 
GREEN RIVER. 27 
 
 While o'er them the vine to its thicket clings, 
 And the zephyr stoops to freshen his wings, 
 But I wish that fate had left me free 
 50 To wander these quiet haunts with thee, 
 Till the eating cares of earth should depart. 
 And the peace of the scene pass into my heart ; 
 And I envy thy stream, as it glides along. 
 Through its beautiful banks in a trance of song. 
 
 55 Though forced to drudge for the dregs of 
 men, 
 And scrawl strange words with a barbarous pen, 
 And mingle among the jostling crowd. 
 Where the sons of strife are subtle and loud — 
 I often come to this quiet place, 
 
 60 To breathe the airs that ruffle thy face. 
 And gaze upon thee in silent dream. 
 For in thy lonely and lovely stream 
 An image of that calm life appears 
 
 65 That won my heart in my greener years. 
 
 1. What do the first two lines do ? 
 
 A. They tell what the poet does, and when he does it. 
 
 2. Why would not taTce do as well as steal? 
 
 A. It would not express the idea of the author. 
 
 3. What does the third line do? 
 A. It tells where he goes. 
 
 4. Would it be proper to use Me me in prose? 
 
28 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 A. It would not. It belongs to the poetical vocabulary 
 of the language. 
 
 5. What does the fourth line do ? 
 
 A. It describes the woodland scene mentioned in the 
 preceding line. 
 
 6. "What is the office of the phrase icith waters of green ? 
 A. To describe the color of the water. 
 
 Y. What do lines fifth and sixth contain? 
 A. A supposition respecting the cause of the color of 
 the water. 
 
 8. What figure do you find in these lines ? 
 A. Personification. 
 
 9. What do the seventh and eighth lines tell? 
 A. How the stream received its name. 
 
 10. What is the office of the clause in the seventh line? 
 A. To define they. 
 
 11. What is the meaning oi fair in the eighth line? 
 A. Beautiful. 
 
 12. What is the meaning oi fair in the first line of the 
 poem? 
 
 A. Clear or free from clouds. 
 
 13. As the same word has diff'erent meaniugs, how can 
 we tell what it means in- a particular case? 
 
 A. From the context. 
 
 14. What does the poet next proceed to do? 
 A. To describe the stream. 
 
 15. What is the office of the conjunction yet ? 
 
 A. To mark the supposed opposition between the color 
 and the purity of the waters. 
 
 16. What is first mentioned ? 
 
 A. The shallows, bright with colored pellles and spar- 
 kles of light. 
 
 17. What two ideas are given by that line? 
 
 A. The colored pebbles seen through the clear water, 
 
GREEN RIVER. 29 
 
 and the sparkles of light reflected from the irregular sur- 
 face caused by the shallo^v places. 
 
 18. What is the next thing mentioned? 
 A. The eddies with their dimples. 
 
 19. How are the dimples described? 
 A. As deepening and whirling away. 
 
 20. Why are they mentioned in connection with eddies? 
 A. Because they are seen in connection with eddies. 
 
 21. Is the use of dimples here literal or figurative ? 
 A. Figurative. 
 
 22. What is the literal meaning of dimple ? 
 
 A. A small cavity or depression on the cheek or some 
 part of the face. 
 
 23. What is next mentioned ? 
 
 •■ A. The plane-tree^ with its root undermined by the 
 stream. 
 
 24. Where did the poet get his ideas of the things above 
 mentioned ? 
 
 A. He saw the things. 
 
 25. Can we form distinct mental images of them all ? 
 A. We can, 
 
 26. What is a mental image ? 
 
 A. It is a certain state of mind which cannot be de- 
 scribed. 
 
 27. What is the next thing mentioned ? 
 
 A. The reflection, through the moving leaves, of the 
 light from the water. 
 
 28. What is it compared to ? 
 
 A. The light flashing from the diamond. 
 
 29. What follows the comparison ? 
 
 A. A statement that the spring days are loveliest there. 
 
 30. What is the relation of the twentieth line to the 
 preceding one ? 
 
 A. It mentions the adjuncts of the day. 
 
30 STUDIES m BRYANT. 
 
 31. What do the nex;t four lines contain ? 
 
 A. Statements respecting the summer flowers, and the 
 summer air, and the autumn day. 
 
 32. Which of these things is personified ? 
 A. The summer air. 
 
 33. What is the next statement? 
 
 A. That the stream shunned the village. 
 
 34. What does the adversative yet imply ? 
 
 A. That for a beautiful stream it pursued an unexpected 
 course. 
 
 35. What truth is suggested by the analogy ? 
 
 A. That beautiful persons do not hide their beauty. 
 
 36. Why is windest used ? 
 
 A. To describe the course of the stream. 
 
 37. Could you not say shaded valley and quiet glen f 
 A. Shaded belongs more properly to glen, because a 
 
 glen is a narrow valley, and more easily shaded. 
 
 38. How many mental images are awakened by the next 
 line? 
 
 A. Three. 
 
 39. What is affirmed of forest, meadoio, and slope of 
 hillf 
 
 A. That they are lonely, lovely, and still. 
 
 40. What is the office of the next six Mnes? 
 A. To state the exceptions to their loneliness. 
 
 41. What are the exceptions mentioned ? 
 
 A. Those of the angler, the simpler, and the dreamer. 
 
 42. Why does the angler glide from thicket to thicket? 
 A. Because the fish are found in the pools shaded by 
 
 the thickets. 
 
 43. Why is glides the best word in this place ? 
 
 A. Because it describes the cautious movements of the 
 angler. 
 
 44. What is a simpler? 
 
GREEN RIVER. 31 
 
 A. One who gathers medicinal herbs. 
 
 45. What is meant by herls of power ? 
 A. Herbs having power to cure diseases. 
 
 46. Is dreamer hteral or figurative ? 
 A. Figurative. 
 
 47. "What is literally a dreamer ? 
 A. One who dreams in his sleep. 
 
 48. What is meant by dreamer here ? 
 
 A. He is described in the thirty-sixth line. 
 
 49. Why is still used ? 
 
 A. It refers to the thirtieth line. 
 
 50. What is the office of the six lines beginning with 
 still. 
 
 A. To state the exceptions to the stillness of meadow, 
 forest, and slope of hill. 
 
 51. What exceptions are mentioned? 
 
 A. The chirp of birds, and the music of the stream. 
 
 52. Why is chirp used instead of song ? 
 
 A. To express the peculiar sound made by the birds 
 specified. 
 
 53. What two sounds are mentioned under the head of 
 the music of the stream ? 
 
 A. The mellow murmur, and fairy shout. 
 
 54. What is the difi'erence between them? 
 
 A. The mellow murmur is the continuous sound made 
 by the stream in passing over pebbles or obstructions. The 
 fairy shout is an occasional sound made by a peculiar ob- 
 struction that does not produce a continuous sound. Some- 
 times the water strikes an obstacle so as to produce a sud- 
 den and interrupted sound. 
 
 55. What is the office of the forty -first line ? 
 A. To express the continuity of the music ? 
 
 56. What does the next line do? 
 
 A. It compares the brook to a traveller singing on his way. 
 
32 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 57. Point out the words used metaphorically in the six 
 lines just examined. 
 
 A. Music, shout, Hush. 
 
 58. What does the writer next proceed to do? 
 A. To describe the effect of his visit to the river. 
 
 59. What is meant hj fairy music ? 
 A. The music of the stream. 
 
 60. In the renewed description, what two new ideas 
 are introduced ? 
 
 A. The overshadowing vine, and the zephyr stooping to 
 freshen his wings. 
 
 61. Is Mwe personified ? 
 
 A. Slightly by the word clings. 
 
 62. What mental image does the next line awaken? 
 A. That of a bird. 
 
 63. What allusion is found here? 
 
 A. An allusion to the fact that birds, especially swal- 
 lows, strike the water with their wings. 
 
 64. What desire was awakened by the sights and sounds 
 described ? 
 
 A. The desire to wander with the stream. 
 
 65. What effect did the writer think would follow? 
 A. Freedom from care, and peace of mind. 
 
 66. What other feeling was awakened? 
 A. That of envy. 
 
 67. Is envy used literally ? 
 
 A. It is not; \i\BwsQ6. poetically. 
 
 68. What is meant by a trance of song ? 
 A. A state of great enjoyment — ecstasy. 
 
 69. To what is allusion made in the next four lines ? 
 A. To the practice of law. 
 
 70. What is the office of the remaining lines of the 
 poem? 
 
 A. To tell what he did, and the reason for so doing. 
 
GREEN RIVER. 33 
 
 71. What was the reason for Tisiting the scene? 
 
 A. It recalled the conception of life formed in his 
 youth. 
 
 72. State the plan of the poem. 
 
 A. The poet designed to describe the river, presenting 
 beautiful mental images by so doing, and to state the im- 
 pressions made upon his own mind. 
 
 73. Which is the most beautiful line in the poem ? 
 
 bra:^ 
 
 ^ Of er 
 
AUTUMN WOODS. 
 
 1 Eke, in the northern gale, 
 
 The summer tresses of the trees are gone, 
 The woods of autumn, all around our vale, 
 Have put their glory on. 
 
 2 The mountains that infold. 
 
 In their wide sweep, the colored landscape 
 
 round. 
 Seem groups of giant kings, in purple and 
 
 gold. 
 That guard the enchanted ground. 
 
 3 I roam the woods that crown 
 
 The upland, where the mingled splendors glow, 
 Where the gay company of trees look down 
 On the green fields below. 
 
 4 My steps are not alone 
 
 In these bright walks; the sweet southwest 
 
 at play 
 Flies, rustling, where the painted leaves are 
 
 strown 
 Along the winding way. 
 
AUTUMN WOODS. 35 
 
 5 And far in heaven, the while, 
 
 The sun, that sends that gale to wander here, 
 Pours out on the fair earth his quiet smile — 
 The sweetest of the year. 
 
 6 Where now the solemn shade. 
 Verdure and gloom where many branches 
 
 meet ; 
 So grateful, when the noon of summer made 
 The valleys sick with heat ? 
 
 7 Let in through all the trees 
 
 Come the strange rays ; the forest depths are 
 
 bright, 
 Their sunny-colored foliage, in the breeze. 
 Twinkles, like beams of light. 
 
 8 The rivulet, late unseen, 
 
 Where bickering through the shrubs its waters 
 
 run. 
 Shines with the image of its golden screen 
 And glimmerings of the sun. 
 
 9 But 'neath yon crimson tree. 
 
 Lover to listening maid might breathe his 
 
 flame, 
 Nor mark, within its roseate canopy, 
 Her blush of maiden shame. 
 
36 STUDIES IN BRYANT, 
 
 10 O Autumn ! why so soon 
 
 Depart the hues that make thy forests glad, 
 Thy gentle wind and thy fair sunny noon, 
 And leave thee wild and sad ! 
 
 11 Ah ! 'twere a lot too blest 
 Forever in thy colored shades to stray ; 
 Amid the kisses of the soft south-west 
 
 To rove and dream for aye ; 
 
 12 And leave the vain low strife 
 
 That makes men mad — the tug for wealth and 
 
 power ; 
 The passions and the cares that wither life, 
 And waste its little hour. 
 
 1. What is the office of the first two lines of the first 
 stanza ? 
 
 A. To state a circumstance of time. 
 
 2. What is the office of the next two lines ? 
 A. To state what the woods did. 
 
 3. The stanza, then, tells what was done and when it 
 was done. When was it done ? 
 
 A. Before the summer tresses of the trees had gone. 
 
 4. What is meant by summer tresses ? 
 A. Leaves. 
 
 5. How is the word tresses used ? 
 A. Metaphorically. 
 
 6. What effect has this use of the word ? 
 A. It personifies trees. 
 
AUTU2IN WOODS. 37 
 
 7. How does it do it? 
 
 A. Bj ascribing to them something which belongs to a 
 living being. 
 
 8. Why is northern gale mentioned ? 
 
 A. Because the cold north wind usually takes the leaves 
 from the trees. 
 
 9. Where were the woods that had ^ut their glory on f 
 A. On the hills. 
 
 10. How does that appear ? 
 
 A. The woods were all around tlie vale. 
 
 11. What mental image is awakened? 
 A. That of a valley surrounded by hills. 
 
 12. What language is used in the last line? 
 A. Metaphorical language. 
 
 '13. When are words said to be metaphorical. 
 A. When they are used in a sense differing from the 
 literal or primary meaning. 
 
 14. Is woods personified ? 
 
 A. The woods are spoken of as performing the act of a 
 i^erson— putting on. 
 
 15. What is meant hj 2nttting their glory on f 
 
 A. Having their leaves take the brilliant hues of au- 
 tumn, 
 
 16. Is it implied that the leaves in the valley were still 
 green ? 
 
 A. It is, and with reason ; for the frost turns the leaves 
 on the hills before it turns those in the valleys. 
 
 17. What does the second stanza contain ? 
 A. A comparison. 
 
 18. What is the comparison? 
 
 A. The mountains are compared to giant kings. 
 
 19. What mountains are compared to kings? 
 
 A. The mountains that infold the colored landscape. 
 
 20. Why is infold better than surround? 
 
 4: 
 
38 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 A. Infold has a more specific and personal meaning 
 than surround. 
 
 21. Do not the words, colored landscape., imply that the 
 trees in the valley were colored? 
 
 A. The word round turns the attention to the hill-sides. 
 
 22. What is the oflBce of the phrase, In their wide 
 sweep f 
 
 A. It gives an idea of the extent of the valley. 
 
 23. Why is groups used ? 
 
 A. On account of the number of the mountain-peaks in 
 view. 
 
 ■24. "What figure m purple and gold ? 
 A. Metaphor. 
 
 25. What is the phrase used to describe? 
 A. The appearance of the leaves. 
 
 26. What does the third stanza contain? 
 A. A statement of what the winter did. 
 
 27. What is meant by the woods that crown the upland? 
 A. The trees on the summits of the mountains. 
 
 28. What is meant by mingled splendors? 
 A. The different hues of the leaves. 
 
 29. What in this stanza is in keeping with our concep- 
 tions formed above as to the appearance of the valley? 
 
 A. The fields in the valley are called green. 
 
 30. What is the most striking line in this stanza? 
 A. The third line. 
 
 31. What figure in that line? 
 A. Personification. 
 
 32. What is the leading statement in the next stanza ? 
 A. That the writer was not alone in his walk. 
 
 33. WhyisJWj/y^^used? 
 
 A. In view of the bright colors of the trees. 
 
 34. What does the remainder of the stanza do? 
 A. It describes his companion. 
 
AUTUMN WOODS. 39 
 
 35. Who was his companion ? 
 A. The south-west wind. 
 
 36. Why is it called sweet? 
 
 A. Because it is mild and pleasant. 
 
 37. How is it described ? 
 
 A. As at play with the leaves. 
 
 38. Why is rustling used ? 
 
 A. Because it made the leaves rustle. 
 
 39. What mental image is awakened by the last clause 
 of the stanza ? 
 
 A. Of a winding path in the woods strewed with colored 
 leaves. 
 
 40. Point out the figures found in the stanza. 
 
 A. In the case of steps., the act is put for the agent ; 
 this is termed metonymy. South-west is personified, iKiinted 
 leaves is a metaphor. 
 
 41. What is the office of the next stanza? 
 A. To make a statement. 
 
 42. What is the statement? 
 
 A. That the sun smiles on the earth. 
 
 43. What is the office of the first phrase in the stanza? 
 A. To tell where the sun is. 
 
 44. What does fhe while refer to ? 
 
 A. To the time when the writer was walking in the 
 woods. 
 
 45. What is the office of the parenthetical clause in the 
 second line ? 
 
 A. To state that the sun sent the south-west wind. 
 
 46. Why is pours used? 
 
 A. To express the abundant sunshine given. 
 
 47. What marks the personification of sun f 
 A. The parenthetical clause, and smile. 
 
 48. What relation has the fourth line of the stanza to 
 the third ? 
 
40 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 A, It describes the quiet smile. 
 
 49. What does the next stanza do ? 
 A. It asks a question. 
 
 50. What lines contain the question? 
 A. The first two. 
 
 51. What do tlie last two lines do? 
 
 A. They state facts in relation to the shade. 
 
 52. What relation has the second line to the first ? 
 A, It describes the shade mentioned in the first. 
 
 53. What figure in the stanza? 
 A. Personification. 
 
 54. What does the next stanza do ? 
 
 A. It describes the absence of the shade in the forest. 
 
 55. Why strange rays ? 
 
 A. Because they had not been accustomed to enter there. 
 
 56. What is meant by sunny -colored foliage f 
 A. The colored foliage in the sunlight. 
 
 57. What is meant by ticinUesf 
 
 A. The efi"ect of the light reflected from the leaves as 
 moved by the breeze. 
 
 58. What is meant by lilte learns of light? 
 A. As if they emitted rays. 
 
 59. What does the next stanza do? 
 
 A. It states another effect of the changed condition of 
 the woods. 
 
 60. What is the statement ? 
 
 A. That the rivulet reflects the image of the colored 
 trees, and glimmers in the sun's rays. 
 
 61. Why late unseen? 
 
 A. In consequence of tiie deep shade before the frost came. 
 
 62. What does the second line do? 
 
 A. It describes the course of the rivulet. 
 
 63. Why is bickering used? 
 
 A. To describe the sound made by the running stream. 
 
AUTUMN WOODS. 41 
 
 64. What is the office of the next stanza? 
 A. To state a supposition or a possibility. 
 
 65. What supposition ? 
 
 A. That the lover might tell his love to a maiden under 
 the tree, and not see her blushes. 
 
 06. Why not? 
 
 A. Because of the roseate hue reflected from the crim- 
 son leaves above. 
 
 67. What is the next stanza? 
 A. An address to Autumn. 
 
 68. What question is asked ? 
 
 A. Why the colored leaves, and gentle wind, and fair 
 sun, depart so soon. 
 
 69. Of what is the question an expression ? 
 
 • A. An expression of regret for their departure. 
 
 70. What relation has the next stanza to this ? 
 A. It suggests a reason for the departure. 
 
 71. What is the reason? 
 
 A. That one would be too happy if this were not the case. 
 
 72. What word in the third line indicates the personi- 
 fication of the south-west? 
 
 A. Kisses. 
 
 73. What does the last stanza do ? 
 
 A. It describes some of the consequences of a lot too 
 hlest. 
 
 74. What is meant by mad ? 
 A. Insane. 
 
 75. Why is tug used? 
 
 A. To express the lowness of the strife. 
 
 76. What is meant by withering life ? 
 
 A. Lessening its happiness, and making it what it 
 ought not to be. 
 
 77. Why is little Jiour used ? 
 
 A. To express the brevity of life. 
 
THE SNOW-SHOWER. 
 
 Stand here by my side and turn, I pray^ 
 On the lake below thy gentle eyes; 
 
 The clouds hang over it, heavy and gray. 
 And dark and silent the water lies ; 
 
 And out of that frozen mist the snow 
 
 In wavering flakes begins to flow ; 
 
 Flake after flake 
 
 They sink in the dark and silent lake. 
 
 See how in a living swarm they come 
 
 From the chambers beyond that misty veil ; 
 
 Some hover awhile in air, and some 
 
 Rush prone from the sky like summer hail. 
 
 All, dropping swiftly or setthng slow. 
 
 Meet, and are still m the depths below ; 
 
 Flake after flake 
 
 Dissolved in the dark and silent lake. 
 
 Here delicate snow-stars, out of the cloud. 
 Come floating downward in airy play. 
 
 Like spangles dropped from the glistening crowd 
 That whiten by night the milky-way ; 
 
THE SNOW-SHOWER. 43 
 
 There broader and burlier masses fall ; 
 The sullen water buries them all — 
 
 Flake after flake — 
 All drowned in the dark and silent lake. 
 
 And some, as on tender wings they glide 
 From their chilly birth-cloud, dim and gray. 
 
 Are joined in their fall, and, side by side, 
 Come clinging along their unsteady way ; 
 
 As friend with friend, or husband with wife, 
 
 Makes hand in hand the passage of life ; 
 
 Each mated flake 
 
 Soon sinks in the dark and silent lake. 
 
 Lo ! while we are gazing, in swifter haste 
 Stream down the snows, till the air is white, 
 
 As, myriads by myriads madly chased. 
 
 They fling themselves from their shadowy height. 
 
 The fair, frail creatures of middle sky, 
 
 What speed they make, with their grave so nigh ; 
 
 Flake after flake, 
 
 To lie in the dark and silent lake ! - 
 
 I see in thy gentle eyes a tear ; 
 
 They turn to me in sorrowful thought ; 
 Thou thinkest of friends, the good and dear, 
 
 "Who were for a time, and now are not ; 
 
44 S1UDIE8 IN BRYANT. 
 
 Like these fair children of cloud and frost, 
 That glisten a moment and then are lost, 
 
 Flake after flake- 
 All lost in the dark and silent lake. 
 
 Yet look again, for the clouds divide ; 
 
 A gleam of blue on the water lies ; 
 And far away, on the mountain-side, 
 
 A sunbeam falls from the opening skies. 
 But the hurrying host that flew between 
 The cloud and the water, no more is seen ; 
 
 Flake after flake, 
 At rest in the dark and silent lake. 
 
 1. What do the first two lines contain? 
 
 2. What is the office of the remaining hnes of the stanza? 
 
 3. State the mental image, or images, produced by the 
 stanza. 
 
 4. Are clouds ever gray ? 
 
 5. Is frozen to be understood literally? 
 
 6. Is there an instance of personification in the stanza? 
 
 7. What advantage in the repetition oi flake after flake? 
 
 8. Why would not fall do as well as sink — in the last 
 line ? 
 
 9. What do the first two lines of the second stanza con- 
 tain? 
 
 10. What is the office of the next two lines? 
 
 11. What do the last four lines do ? 
 
 12. What metaphor in the first line? 
 
 13. Why not say, like a living swarm? 
 
THE SNOW-SHOWER. 45 
 
 14. TVhat figures in the second line? 
 
 15. What figures in the third and fourth lines? 
 
 16. What is the ofiice of the phrase in the fifth line? 
 
 17. Is lalie personified? 
 
 18. What statement in the first two lines of the third 
 stanza ? 
 
 19. What is the ofiUce of the third line? 
 
 20. What is the office of the fourth line? 
 
 21. What does the fifth line do? 
 
 22. What do the remaining lines do? 
 
 23. What relation have the seventh and eighth lines to 
 the sixth ? 
 
 24. Point out all the words used figuratively in this 
 stanza. 
 
 25. Of what is the next stanza a continued description? 
 
 26. State the incident first mentioned. 
 
 27. What simile follows ? 
 
 28. What figurative language in the first line ? 
 
 29. Why iinsteady way ? 
 
 30. Is the sixth line literal or figurative? 
 
 31. What is the meaning of the line? 
 
 32. Why is the term mated used? 
 
 83. Would mated have been used, if the simile in the 
 lines before it had not been used ? 
 
 34. What is the office of the two phrases in the first line 
 in the fifth stanza? 
 
 35. Why would not rush do as well as stream ? 
 
 36. What relation have the third and fourth lines to the 
 first two lines? 
 
 37. What is the office of the fifth hne ? 
 88. What is the remainder of the stanza? 
 
 39. What relation has the sixth stanza to what goes be- 
 fore ? 
 
 A. It expresses an analogy suggested by the scene. 
 
46 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 40. What is the analogy ? 
 
 41. What figure in the fifth line? 
 
 42. What do the first two lines express? 
 
 A. The eff'ect of a perception of the analogy. 
 
 43. What is stated in the first line of the seventh stanza? 
 
 44. What relation has the second line to the first? 
 
 45. What caused the gleam of hlue ? 
 
 46. What is the next fact stated ? 
 
 47. And the next? 
 
 48. What is meant by the host ? 
 
 49. What relation have the last two lines to the pre- 
 ceding one ? 
 
 50. What is the plan or object of the poem ? 
 
MARCH. 
 
 1 The stormy Marcb. is come at last 
 
 With wind, and cloud, and changing skies ; 
 I hear the rushing of the blast. 
 
 That through the snowy valley flies. 
 
 2 Ah, passing few are they who speak, 
 
 Wild, stormy month ! in praise of thee ; 
 Tet, though thy winds are loud and bleak, 
 Thou art a welcome month to me. 
 
 3 For thou, to northern lands, again 
 
 The glad and glorious sun dost bring. 
 And thou hast joined the gentle train 
 And wear'st the gentle name of Spring. 
 
 4 And, in thy reign of blast and storm, 
 
 Smiles many a long, bright, sunny day, 
 When the changed winds are soft and warm, 
 And heaven puts on the blue of May. 
 
 5 Then sing aloud the gushing rills 
 
 From winter's durance just set free, 
 And, brightly leaping down the hills, 
 Begin their journey to the sea. 
 
48 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 6 The year's departing beauty hides 
 
 Of wintry storms the sullen threat ; 
 But in thy sternest frown abides 
 A look of kindly promise yet. 
 
 7 Thou bring'st the hope of those calm skies, 
 
 And that soft time of sunny showers, 
 
 When the wide bloom, on earth that lies. 
 
 Seems of a brighter world than ours. 
 
 1. What does the first line affirm ? 
 
 2. What is the ofiice of the second line ? 
 
 3. What is the third line ? 
 
 4. What connection has the fourth with the third line ? 
 
 5. What do the first two lines of the second stanza con- 
 tain ? 
 
 6. What is the meaning of jmssing ? 
 
 7. What figure in the second line ? 
 
 8. What is the oflSce of yet ? 
 
 9. What relation has the third stanza to the last line 
 of the second stanza ? 
 
 10. What two reasons are contained in the stanza? 
 
 11. What is meant by bringing the sun to northern 
 lands ? 
 
 12. What alliteration do you notice ? 
 
 13. Point out the words which are used figurativ^. 
 
 14. What is the office of the first two lines of the fourth 
 stanza ? 
 
 15. What relation have the last two to the first two 
 lines ? 
 
 16. Which is the most striking line in the stanza? 
 
MARCH. 49 
 
 17. Is lieaven personified ? 
 
 18. What relation does the fifth stanza sustain to the 
 fourth ? 
 
 A. The relation of consequence or of effect. 
 
 19. State the effect. 
 
 20. What figurative language do you find in the stanza ? 
 
 21. What is meant by the year's departing teauty ? 
 
 22. What does the next line mean? 
 
 23. What contrast expressed between the first two and 
 the last two lines ? State it in literal language. 
 
 A. The pleasant days of autumn give no intimation of 
 the coming storms of winter, but the roughest days of March 
 give intimation of pleasant days to come. 
 
 24. What connection between the seventh stanza and 
 the sixth ? 
 
 A. The seventh is a continuation of the thought ex- 
 pressed in the last line of the sixth stanza. 
 
 25. What simile do you find in this stanza? 
 
 26. Which is the finest stanza in the poem? 
 
THE EYENIING ^YIND. 
 
 Spirit that breatliest tlirougli my lattice, thou 
 That cool'st the twilight of the sultry day, 
 
 Gratefully flows thy freshness round my brow : 
 Thou hast been out upon the deep at play, 
 
 Riding all day the wild blue waves till now, 
 Koughening their crests, and scattering high 
 their spray 
 
 And swelling the white sail. I welcome thee 
 
 To the scorched land, thou wanderer of the 
 sea! 
 
 jSTor I aloue — a thousand bosoms round 
 Inhale thee in the fullness of delight ; 
 
 And languid forms rise up, and pulses bound 
 Livelier, at coming of the wind of night ; 
 
 And, languishing to hear thy grateful sound. 
 Lies the vast inland stretched beyond the 
 sight. 
 
 Go forth into the gathering shade ; go forth, 
 
 God's blessing breathed upon the fainting earth ! 
 
THE JEVENINQ WIND. 51 
 
 3 Go, rock the little wood-bird in liis nest, 
 
 Curl the still waters, bright with stars, and 
 rouse 
 The wide old wood from his majestic rest, 
 
 Summonino^ from the innumerable bouo:hs 
 The strange, deep harmonies that haunt his 
 breast : 
 Pleasant shall be thy way where meekly bows 
 The shutting ilower, and darkling waters pass. 
 And where the o'ershadowing branches sweep 
 the grass. 
 
 4 The faint old man shall lean his silver head 
 
 To feel thee ; thou shalt kiss the child asleep. 
 And dry the moistened curls that overspread 
 
 His temples, while his breathing grows more 
 deep: 
 And they who stand about the sick man's bed, 
 
 Shall joy to listen to thy distant sweep. 
 And softly part his curtains to allow 
 Thy visit, grateful to his burning brow. 
 
 5 Go — but the circle of eternal chanp^e. 
 
 Which is the life of ISTature, shall restore, 
 With sounds and scents from all thy mighty 
 range. 
 
 Thee to thy birthplace of the deep once more ; 
 Sweet odors in the sea-air, sweet and strange. 
 
 Shall tell the homesick mariner of the shore ; 
 
53 STUDIES m BRYANT. 
 
 And, listening to tliy murmur, lie shall deem 
 He hears the rustling leaf and running stream. 
 
 1. What figure in the first line? 
 
 2. What two defining statements are made ? 
 
 3. What is the third line ? 
 A. A statement. 
 
 4. What is the fourth line ? 
 
 5. What relation have the fifth, sixth, and seventh lines 
 to the fourth line ? 
 
 6. Mention the things specified. 
 
 7. How is the term riding used ? 
 
 8. How is roughening used ? 
 
 9. How is swelling used ? 
 
 10. Of what does the remaining part of the stanza con- 
 sist? 
 
 11. Why is scorched used? 
 
 12. Why would not parched do as well? 
 
 13. Of what verb is /the subject in the second stanza? 
 
 14. With what part of the preceding stanza is this 
 stanza connected ? 
 
 15. What does it proceed to mention? 
 
 16. What is first mentioned? 
 
 17. Is hosoms figurative or literal? 
 
 18. What is next mentioned? 
 
 19. What figure is used ? 
 
 20. What is the office of the phrase in the fourth line ? 
 
 21. To what does the phrase in the fifth line belong? 
 
 22. Is inland personified ? 
 
 23. What words show it? 
 
 24. Where is the poet supposed to be when he wel- 
 comes the wind ? 
 
THE EVENING WIND. 53 
 
 25. What is the oflSce of the seventh line ? 
 
 26. What is the relation of the eighth line to the 
 seventh ? 
 
 27. Why is fainting used ? 
 
 28. What connection between the third stanza and the 
 second? 
 
 29. What is the first thing the wind is told to do? 
 
 30. Why rock instead of sway ? 
 
 31. What analogy is suggested ? 
 
 32. What is the next thing it is told to do? 
 83. What is meant by curling the still icaters ? 
 
 34. How were they bright with stars ? 
 
 35. What is the next thing it is told to do? 
 
 36. What figure in the third line? 
 
 , 37. What relation have the fourth and fifth lines to 
 what goes before ? 
 
 38. What figures in the fourth line ? 
 
 39. What statement in the first part of the sixth line? 
 
 40. What does thy refer to ? 
 
 41. In how many places is it afiirmed that his way 
 should be pleasant ? 
 
 42. Mention the first ; the second ; the third. 
 
 43. Is flower personified? 
 
 44. What is meant by davMing ? 
 
 45. What does the fourth stanza consist of? 
 
 46. What is the first statement ? 
 
 47. How is siher used ? 
 
 48. What is the second statement? 
 
 49. What eff'ect is mentioned as following the kiss? 
 
 50. What further efiect is mentioned ? 
 
 51. What is the next statement? 
 
 52. What connection has the seventh line with the 
 sixth ? 
 
 53. What is the office of the last phrase of the stanza ? 
 
54 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 54. What assertion is made in the first four lines of the 
 fifth stanza ? 
 
 55. What is meant by restoration to his birthplace ? 
 
 56. What is mentioned as the cause of this restoration ? 
 
 57. What is the office of the second line ? 
 
 58. What is the oflSce of tlie third line? 
 
 59. What relation have the fifth and sixth lines to the 
 preceding lines ? 
 
 CO. Is odors personified ? 
 
 61. What word personifies it? 
 
 62. What do the last two lines state ? 
 
 A. The effect of the wind on the homesick mariner. 
 
WAITING BY THE GATE. 
 
 1 Beside a massive gateway built up in years 
 
 gone by, 
 Upon whose top the clouds in eternal shadow 
 
 lie, 
 While streams the evening sunshine on quiet 
 
 wood and lea, 
 I stand and calmly wait till the hinges turn 
 
 for me. 
 
 2 The tree-tops faintly rustle beneath the breeze's 
 
 flight, 
 
 A soft and soothing sound, yet it whispers of 
 the night; 
 
 I hear the w^ood-thrush piping one mellow des- 
 cant more, 
 
 And scent the flowers that blow when the heat 
 of day is o'er. 
 
 3 Behold the portals open, and o'er the threshold, 
 
 now. 
 There steps a weary one with a pale and fur- 
 rowed brow ; 
 
56 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 His count of years is full, liis allotted task is 
 
 wrought ; 
 He passes to his rest from a place that needs 
 
 him not. 
 
 4 In sadness then I ponder how quickly fleets 
 
 the hour 
 Of human strength and action, man's courage 
 
 and his power. 
 I muse while still the wood-thrush sings down 
 
 the golden day. 
 And as I look and listen the sadness wears 
 
 away. 
 
 5 Again the hinges turn, and a youth, departing, 
 
 throws 
 A look of longing backward, and sorrowfully 
 
 goes ; 
 A blooming maid, unbinding the roses from 
 
 her hair. 
 Moves mournfully away from amidst the young 
 
 and fair. 
 
 6 Oh glory of our race that so suddenly decays ! 
 Oh crimson flush of morning that darkens as 
 
 we gaze ! 
 Oh breath of summer blossoms that on the 
 
 restless air 
 Scatters a moment's sweetness, and flies we 
 
 know not where ! 
 
WAITma BY THE GATE. 57 
 
 7 I grieve for life's bright promise, just shown 
 
 and then withdrawn ; 
 But still the sun shines round me ; the evening 
 
 bird sings on, 
 And I again am soothed, and, beside the ancient 
 
 gate, 
 In this soft evening sunlight, I calmly stand 
 
 and wait. 
 
 8 Once more the gates are opened; an infant 
 
 group go out. 
 
 The sweet smile quenched forever, and stilled 
 the sprightly shout. 
 
 Oh frail, frail tree of Life, that upon the green- 
 sward strows 
 
 Its fair young buds unopened, with every wind 
 that blows ! 
 
 9 So come from every region, so enter, side by 
 
 side. 
 The strong and faint of spirit, the meek and 
 
 men of pride. 
 Steps of earth's great and mighty, between 
 
 those pillars gray. 
 And prints of little feet, mark the dust along 
 
 the way. 
 
 10 And some approach the threshold whose looks 
 are blank with fear. 
 And some whose temples brighten w^ith joy in 
 drav/ing near, 
 
58 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 As if they saw dear faces, and caught the gra- 
 cious eye 
 
 Of Him, the Sinless Teacher, who came for us 
 to die. 
 
 11 I mark the joy, the terror ; yet these, within 
 my heart. 
 Can neither wake the dread nor the longing to 
 
 depart ; 
 And, in the sunshine streaming on quiet wood 
 
 and lea, 
 I stand and calmly wait till the hinges turn 
 for me. 
 
 1. "What is meant by the gateicay f 
 
 2. What does the second line do ? 
 
 3. What is the thought expressed by this figurative lan- 
 guage ? 
 
 4. What does the third line express? 
 
 5. What is the thought in this line ? 
 
 6. What is the fourth line ? 
 
 7. What is meant by the hinges turning ? 
 
 8. Is the second stanza to be understood literally or 
 figuratively ? 
 
 9. What period of life is it intended to describe? 
 
 10. To what do all the images it contains relate ? 
 
 11. What does the third stanza describe ? 
 
 12. Point out the figurative portions of the stanza. 
 
 13. What connection has the fourth stanza with the 
 third? 
 
WAITING BY THE GATE. 59 
 
 14. What does the fifth stanza do ? 
 
 15. Point out the figurative expressions in the stanza. 
 
 16. What is meant by unlinding the roses ? 
 
 17. What relation has the next stanza to the fifth ? 
 
 18. What is the first line of the stanza? 
 
 19. Is it literal or figurative? 
 
 20. To what is life compared in the second line ? 
 
 21. To what in the third and fourth lines? 
 
 22. What statement in the first line of the seventh 
 stanza ? 
 
 23. Are the remaining lines figurative or literal ? 
 
 24. Point out the figurative expressions, and give the 
 thoughts in literal language. 
 
 25. What is the office of the first two lines of the eighth 
 stanza ? 
 
 26. What is the office of the last two ? 
 
 27. What figures in these lines? 
 
 28. What name do you give to the forms of expression 
 in the second line of the ninth stanza ? 
 
 29. Is the line figurative ? 
 
 30. What figures in the last two lines ? Change the 
 figurative into literal language. 
 
 31. What does the first line of the tenth stanza tell ? 
 
 32. What does the second line ? 
 
 33. What relation have the last two lines to the second 
 line? 
 
 34. What is the office of the first clause of the eleventh 
 stanza ? 
 
 35. What is the office of yet ? 
 
 36. What thought do the last two lines express? 
 
THE TIDES. 
 
 1 The moon is at her full, and, riding high, 
 
 Floods the cahn fields with light. 
 The airs that hover in the summer sky 
 Are all asleep to-night. 
 
 2 There comes no voice from the great woodlands 
 
 round 
 That murmured all the day ; 
 Beneath the shadow of their boughs the ground 
 Is not more still than they. 
 
 8 But ever heaves and moans the restless Deep ; 
 His rising tides I hear, 
 Afar I see the glimmering billows leap ; 
 I see them breaking near. 
 
 4 Each wave springs upvrard, climbing toward 
 the fair 
 Pure light that sits on high — 
 Springs eagerly, and faintly sinks, to where 
 The mother waters lie. 
 
THE TIDES. Gl 
 
 5 Upward again it swells ; the moonbeams show 
 Again its glimmering crest ; 
 Again it feels the fatal weight below, 
 And sinks, but not to rest. 
 
 6 Again and yet again ; until the Deep 
 Recalls his brood of waves ; 
 And, with a sullen moan, abashed, they creep 
 Back to his inner caves. 
 
 7 Brief respite ! they shall rush from that recess 
 
 With noise and tumult soon. 
 And fling themselves, with unavailing stress. 
 Up toward the placid moon. 
 
 8 O restless Sea, that, in thy prison here. 
 
 Dost struggle and complain ; 
 Through the slow centuries yearning to be 
 near 
 To that fair orb in vain ; 
 
 9 The glorious source of light and heat must 
 
 warm 
 Thy billows from on high. 
 And change them to the cloudy trains that 
 form 
 The curtains of the sky. 
 
62 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 10 Then only may tliey leave the waste of brine 
 In which they welter here, 
 And rise above the hills of earth, and shine 
 In a serener sphere. 
 
 1. What is the first statement ? 
 
 2. Is it literal, or figurative ? 
 
 3. Is riding figurative ? 
 
 4. What figure? 
 
 5. Is floods literal ? 
 
 6. What do the last two lines of the stanza contain? 
 
 7. What figures in these lines ? 
 
 8. What is the office of the first two lines of the second 
 stanza ? 
 
 9. What personification in these lines? 
 
 10. What comparison in the last two lines? 
 
 11. What connection has this stanza with the preceding 
 one? 
 
 12. What relation does the third stanza sustain to the 
 second? 
 
 A. The relation of contrast. 
 
 13. What was affirmed of the woods? 
 
 14. What is affirmed of the deep? 
 
 15. Is deep personified ? 
 
 16. What words indicate it? 
 
 17. What connection has the second line with the first? 
 
 18. What do the two remaining lines of the stanza con- 
 tain? 
 
 19. What does gUmmerinf/ express? 
 
 20. What personification do you find? 
 
 21. What does the fourth stanza do ? 
 
 A, It gives a continued description of the restless deep. 
 
THE TIDES. 63 
 
 22. What words are used metaphorically in the first 
 line? 
 
 23. "What is meant by ihQ fair pure light f 
 
 24. Why the repetition of springs in the third line ? 
 
 A. It aids us to form a more perfect mental image of 
 the scene described. 
 
 25. What is meant by tlie mother tcaters? 
 
 26. What does the next stanza contain ? 
 
 27. What does it refer to ? 
 
 28. Why swells instead of springs f 
 
 29. What is meant by crest ? 
 
 80. What was the fatal iceigUf 
 
 81. What is the connecting phrase between this and the 
 next stanza? 
 
 32. What ellipsis in connection with the first phrase? 
 
 33. What is the meaning of the next clause ? 
 
 34. Why is the word l)rood used ? 
 
 35. Of what are the last two lines a description ? 
 A. Of the falling of the tide. 
 
 86. What words indicate personification? 
 
 87. What does the next stanza describe ? 
 
 38. What does they refer to? 
 
 39. What does the second line tell ? 
 
 40. What terms have been used above to express the act 
 here expressed hj fling themselves f 
 
 41. Point out the expressions corresponding to unavail- 
 ing stress. 
 
 42. Are these different terms used merely for the sake 
 of variety ? 
 
 A. Each calls up a somewhat different mental image of 
 what actually takes place. 
 
 43. What does the next stanza contain ? 
 
 44. How is the sea represented ? 
 
 45. What does the next stanza tell ? 
 
G-t srrDiFS jy bryant. 
 
 A. IIow tho yeanling can be gratified. 
 
 40. What is the glorious source of light and heat? 
 
 47. AVhat must he do ? 
 
 48. How is the process of evaporation and cloud-form- 
 ing expressed by the poet ? 
 
 49. AVhat, in the last stanza, does they refer to? 
 
 50. AVhat is meant by the icaste ofhrine? 
 
 51. What distinction between the lilloic and the hrine? 
 
 52. What is meant by weltering? 
 
 53. What is meant by shining in a screner sphere? 
 
 ■ 54. Which is the most beautiful and original figure in 
 the poem? 
 
THE GLADNESS OF NATURE, 
 
 1 Is tills a time to be cloudy and sad, 
 
 When our mother Nature laughs around ; 
 When even the deep blue heavens look glad, 
 And gladness breathes ' from the blossoming 
 ground ? 
 
 2 There are notes of joy from the hang-bird and 
 
 wren. 
 And the gossip of swallows through all the 
 
 sky ; 
 The ground-squirrel gayly chii-ps by his den, 
 And the wilding bee hums merrily by. 
 
 3 The clouds are at play in the azure space, 
 
 And their shadows at play on the bright green 
 vale. 
 And here they stretch to the frolic chase, 
 And there they roll on the easy gale. 
 
66 STUDIES m BRYANT. 
 
 4 There's a dance of leaves in that aspen bower, 
 There's a titter of winds in that beechen tree, 
 There's a smile on the fruit, and a smile on the 
 flower, 
 And a huigh from the brook that runs to the 
 sea. 
 
 5 And look at the broad-faced sun, how he smiles 
 On the dewy earth that smiles in his ray, 
 On the leaping waters and gay young isles ; 
 Ay, look, and he'll smile thy gloom away. 
 
 1. What does tlie first line do ? 
 
 2. What kind of a question ? 
 
 A. It is an interrogative affirmation. It affirms that 
 it is not a time to be sad. 
 
 3. Why is it not a time to be sad ? What three reasons 
 are given in the stanza ? 
 
 4. What is the meaning of cloudy in the first line ? 
 
 5. What figure in the second line? 
 
 6. What figure in the third line ? 
 
 7. What figure in the fourth line ? 
 
 8. Which case of personification is the strongest ? 
 
 9. What does the poet proceed to do in the remaining 
 stanzas of the poem ? 
 
 10. How many mental images are awakened by the 
 second stanza ? 
 
 11. What is meant by gossip ? 
 
 12. Did you ever hear the ground squirrel chirp? 
 
 13. What is meant by wilding? 
 
THE GLADNESS OF NATURE. 67 
 
 14. Is it authorized, in prose ? 
 
 15. What does the next stanza describe? 
 
 16. What is mentioned in the first line? 
 
 17. What in the second ? 
 
 18. What relation have the third and fourth lines to the 
 first line? 
 
 19. What figure in the first line? 
 • 20. What in the second line ? 
 
 21. Whj is s?:r<?fcA used ? 
 
 22. What kind of wind is indicated in this line? 
 
 23. What kind is mentioned in the next line ? 
 
 24. What figure do you find in the first line of the 
 fourth stanza ? 
 
 . 25. What in the second ? 
 
 26. What in the third ? 
 
 27. What in the fourth ? 
 
 28. What is expressed bj dance f 
 
 29. What is expressed by titter? 
 80. What is expressed by laugh ? 
 
 31. What is the ofiice of the first line of the next stanza ? 
 
 32. What terms indicate the personification? 
 
 33. What is mentioned in the second line ? 
 
 34. What in the third line? 
 
 35. With what is the fourth line connected ? 
 
 36. By what relation ? 
 A. That of consequence. 
 
THE THIRD OF NOVEMBER, 1861. 
 
 1 Softly breathes the west-wind beside the ruddy 
 
 forest, 
 Taking leaf by leaf from the branches where 
 
 he flies. 
 Sweetly streams the sunshine, this third day of 
 
 November, 
 Through the golden haze of the quiet autumn 
 
 skies. 
 
 2 Tenderly the season has spared the grassy mead- 
 
 ows, 
 Spared the petted flowers that the old world 
 
 gave the new. 
 Spared the autumn-rose and the garden's group 
 
 of pansies. 
 Late-blown dandelions and periwinkles blue. 
 
 3 On my cornice linger the ripe black grapes un- 
 
 gathered ; 
 Children fill the groves with the echoes of 
 their glee, 
 
THE THIRD OF NOVEMBER, 1861. 69 
 
 Gathering tawny cliestniits, and shouting when 
 beside them 
 Droits the heavy fruit of the tall black-wal- 
 nnt tree. 
 
 4 Glorious are the woods in their latest gold and 
 
 crimson, 
 Yet our full-leaved willows are in their fresh- 
 est green. 
 Such a kindly autumn, so mercifully dealing 
 With the growths of summer, I never yet 
 have seen. 
 
 5 Like this kindly season, may life's decline come 
 
 o'er me ; 
 
 Past is manhood's summer, the frosty months 
 are here ; 
 Yet be genial airs and a pleasant sunshine left 
 me, 
 
 Leaf, and fruit, and blossom, to mark the clos- 
 ing year. 
 
 6 Dreary is the time when the flowers of earth 
 
 are withered ; 
 
 Dreary is the time when the woodland leaves 
 are cast, 
 Wlien, upon the hillside, all hardened into iron. 
 
 Howling, like a wolf, flies the famished north- 
 ern blast. 
 
70 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 7 Drearj are the years when the eye can look no 
 longer 
 With delight on natnre, or hope on human 
 kind ; 
 Oh, may those that whiten my temples, as they 
 pass me. 
 Leave the heart unfrozen, and spare the cheer- 
 ful mind ! 
 
 1. What statement is made in the first line ? 
 
 2. What is the relation of the second line to the first ? 
 
 3. What is asserted in the third and fourth lines of this 
 stanza? 
 
 4. Why not say talcing the leaves^ instead of leaf ly 
 leaf? 
 
 5. Is files in keeping with the conception awaked by 
 softly 'breathes ? 
 
 6. What figure in the first line ? 
 
 7. Is sunshine used figuratively ? 
 
 8. Why is sioeetly better than Irightly ? 
 
 9. What is the office of the first line of the second 
 stanza ? 
 
 10. What relation have the three following lines to the 
 first line ? 
 
 11. What is meant by sparing the grassy meadows? 
 
 12. What flowers are mentioned in the second line ? 
 
 13. How many mental images does the stanza awaken 
 in the mind ? 
 
 14. What is stated in the first line of the third stanza ? 
 
 15. What personification in the line? 
 
 16. What is stated in the second line? 
 
THE THIRD OF NOVEMBER, 1861. ^1 
 
 17. What connection have the third and fourth lines 
 with the second hne ? 
 
 18. Why is taicny used? 
 
 19. TransLate the first line of the fourth stanza into 
 literal language. 
 
 20. What is the ofiice of yet? 
 
 21. Why not use and ? 
 
 22. What do the last two lines do ? 
 
 23. What figure in the third line ? 
 
 24. What is meant by the growths of summer? 
 
 25. What is the office of the first line in the fifth stanza? 
 
 26. What simile does it contain ? 
 
 27. What does the second line do ? 
 
 28. Point out the figures in this line. 
 
 ■ 29. What do the last two lines express? 
 
 30. Are these two lines wholly figurative ? 
 
 81. Translate them into literal language. 
 
 32. What does the sixth stanza consist of? 
 
 33. What is the first statement? 
 84. What is the second? 
 
 35. What relation hare the last two linos of the stanza 
 to the preceding ones ? 
 
 86. Point out the figures in the third and fourth lines. 
 
 37. What relation have the first two lines of the seventh 
 stanza to the sixth ? 
 
 38. What do the last two hnes express ? 
 
 39. Translate them into literal language. 
 
SUMMER WIND. 
 
 It is a sultry day ; the sun has di'unk 
 The dew that lay upon the morning grass ; 
 There is no rustling in the lofty elm 
 That canopies my dwelling, and its shade 
 
 5 Scarce cools me. All is silent, save the faint 
 And interrupted murmur of the bee, 
 Settling on the sick flowers, and then again 
 Instantly on the wing. The plants around 
 Feel the too potent fervors : the tall maize 
 
 10 Rolls up its long green leaves; the clover 
 droops 
 Its tender foliage, and declines its blooms. 
 But far in the fierce sunshine tower the hills. 
 With all their growth of woods, silent and 
 
 stern, 
 As if the scorching heat and dazzling light 
 
 15 Were but an element they loved. Bright 
 clouds. 
 Motionless pillars of the brazen heaven, — 
 
SUMMER WIND. 73 
 
 Their bases on the moimtains — their white tops 
 Shining in the far ether — fire the air 
 "With a reflected radiance, and make turn 
 
 20 The gazer's eye away. For me, I lie 
 
 Languidly in the shade, where the thick turf, 
 Yet virgin from the kisses of the sun, 
 Ketains some freshness, and I woo the wind 
 That still delays his coming. Why so slow, 
 
 25 Gentle and voluble spirit of the air ? 
 
 Oh, come and breathe upon the fainting earth 
 Coolness and life. Is it that in his caves 
 He hears me ? See, on yonder woody ridge. 
 The pine is bending his proud top, and now 
 
 30 Among the nearer groves, chestnut and oak 
 Are tossing their green boughs about. He 
 
 comes, 
 Lo, where the grassy meadow runs in waves ! 
 The deep distressful silence of the scene 
 Breaks up with mingling of unnumbered 
 sounds 
 
 35 And universal motion. He is come, 
 
 Shaking a shower of blossoms from the shrubs, 
 And bearing on their fragrance; and he 
 
 brings 
 Music of birds, and rustling of young boughs, 
 And sound of swaying branches, and the 
 voice 
 
 40 Of distant waterfalls. All the green herbs 
 Are stirring in his breath ; a thousand flowers, 
 
74 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 By tlie road-side and the borders of the brook, 
 Kod gayly to each other ; glossy leaves 
 Are twinkling in the sun, as if the dew 
 45 Were on them yet, and silver waters break 
 Into small waves and sparkle as he comes. 
 
 1. What is the first clause ? 
 
 2. What relation has the remainder of the sentence to 
 this statement ? 
 
 3. What is the first thing mentioned as explanatory ? 
 
 4. What is the second thing mentioned 'i 
 
 5. What is the third thing? 
 
 6. Is the first clause figurative or literal ? 
 
 7. What figure in the next clause ? 
 
 8. What is meant by morning grass ? 
 
 9. Is the next clause figurative ? 
 
 10. What is meant by canopies? 
 
 11. How many mental images are produced by this 
 sentence? 
 
 12. What is the ofiice of the next sentence? 
 
 13. What is the statement? 
 
 14. What is the exception to it ? 
 
 15. Why interrupted murmur ? 
 
 16. Why are the flowers called sicTc flowers? 
 
 17. What is the oflSce of tlie first clause of the next 
 sentence ? 
 
 18. What relation to it have the two following clauses? 
 
 19. Are the statements about the maize and the clover 
 correct ? 
 
 20. What distinction is stated respecting the effect of 
 the heat on thoi foliage and the Mooms of the clover ? 
 
SUMMER WIND. 75 
 
 21. "Would it be proper to use, in prose, blooms for 
 Mossom ? 
 
 22. What is the oflBce of the adversative lut ? 
 
 23. What mental image is produced by the sentence ? 
 
 24. What effect do the words silent and stern have ? 
 
 25. What other word indicates personification ? 
 
 26. What is the subject, and what the predicate, of the 
 next sentence ? 
 
 27. What relation have motionless pillars to bright 
 clouds ? 
 
 28. Why is Irazen used ? 
 
 29. What is the oflSce of the next two phrases ? 
 
 30. What is meant hj firing the air? 
 
 31. How did they make the gazer turn away his 
 eye? 
 
 32. What mental image is produced by the next sen- 
 tence ? 
 
 33. What two statements are made ? 
 
 34. How is the first modified ? 
 
 35. What is meant by yet virgin from the Msses of the 
 sun? 
 
 36. How is the second statement modified ? 
 
 37. What is the next sentence ? 
 
 38. What connection has it with the preceding sen- 
 tence ? 
 
 39. What is the meaning of wluble ? 
 
 40. What figure in this line ? 
 
 41. What is the next sentence? 
 
 42. What two things are personified in the sentence ? 
 
 43. What is the next sentence ? 
 
 44. What relation to it has the succeeding sentence ? 
 
 45. Why does the writer speak of the pine as bending 
 its top ? 
 
 46. Why proud top ? 
 
76 STUDIES m BRYANT. 
 
 47. What is the next indication of the coming of the 
 wind? 
 
 48. What is the next ? 
 
 49. What is meant by the meadow's running in waves f 
 
 50. What is the next statement ? 
 
 51. What is the oflSce of the next sentence? 
 
 52. Mention in order the things he does. 
 
 53. Does the wind create the voice of the waterfalls f 
 
 ' 54. What relation has the next sentence to the pre- 
 ceding one ? 
 
 55. What personification in the first clause ? 
 
 56. What personification in the second clause ? 
 
 57. What comparison in the next clause ? 
 
 58. What word is used metaphorically in the last part 
 of the sentence ? 
 
THE FUTURE LIFE. 
 
 1 How sliall I know tliee in the sphere which keeps 
 
 The disembodied spirits of the dead, 
 When all of thee that time conld wither sleeps 
 And perishes among the dust we tread ? 
 
 2 For I shall feel the sting of ceaseless pain 
 
 If there I meet thy gentle presence not ; 
 Nor hear the voice I love, nor read again 
 In thy serenest eyes the tender thought. 
 
 3 Will not thy own meek heart demand me there? 
 
 That heart whose fondest throbs to me were 
 given ? 
 My name on earth was ever in thy prayer, 
 And wilt thou never utter it in heaven ? 
 
 4 In meadows fanned by heaven's life-breathing 
 
 wind. 
 In the resplendence of that glorious sphere, 
 And larger moA^ements of the unfettered mind. 
 Wilt thou forget the love that joined us here ? 
 
78 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 5 The love that Hved through all the stormy past, 
 
 And meekly with my harsher nature bore, 
 And deeper grew, and tenderer to the last. 
 Shall it expire with life, and be no more ? 
 
 6 A happier lot than mine, and larger light, 
 
 Await thee there ; for thou hast bowed thy will 
 In cheerful homage to the rule of right. 
 And lovest all, and renderest good for ill. 
 
 1 For me, the sordid cares in which I dwell. 
 
 Shrink and consume my heart, as heat the 
 scroll ; 
 And wrath has left its scar — that fire of hell 
 Has left its frightful scar upon my soul, 
 
 8 Yet though thou wear'st the glory of the sky. 
 
 Wilt thou not keep the same beloved name. 
 The same fair thoughtful brow, and gentle eye, 
 Lovelier in heaven's sweet climate, yet the 
 same ? 
 
 9 Shalt thou not teach me, in that calmer home. 
 
 The wisdom that I learned so ill in this — 
 The wisdom which is love — till I become 
 Thy fit companion in that land of bliss ? 
 
 1. "With what question does the poem open ? 
 
 2. What is mentioned as being in the way of recogni- 
 tion? 
 
THE FUTURE LIFE. 79 
 
 3. The second stanza contains a condition and a conse- 
 quence. "What is the condition? 
 
 4. "What the consequence ? 
 
 5. "What relation have the third and fourth lines to the 
 second line ? 
 
 6. What part of the stanza is figurative ? 
 
 7. What does the first line in the third stanza do ? 
 
 8. What connection has the second line with the first? 
 
 9. What do the third and fourth lines contain ? 
 
 10. What place is described in the first two lines of the 
 fourth stanza ? 
 
 11. What does the third line refer to ? 
 
 12. What question follows? 
 
 13. With what word in this stanza is the next stanza 
 connected ? 
 
 14. What does the stanza describe? 
 
 15. What question is asked ? 
 
 16. What personification in the stanza? 
 
 17. What statement is made at the beginning of the 
 sixth stanza ? 
 
 18. What reason is giv«n for the statement ? 
 
 19. What does the seventh stanza consist of? 
 
 20. What is the first statement ? 
 
 21. Are sJirinlc and consume figurative or literal? 
 
 22. What do they mean ? 
 
 23. What comparison is made? 
 
 24. What is the second statement ? 
 
 25. What figurative terms does it contain ? 
 
 26. What is meant by a sea?' upon the soulf 
 
 27. What is meant by wearing the glory of the sky f 
 
 28. What question in the second line? 
 
 29. What do you find in the third line ? 
 80. What is the ofiace of the fourth line ? 
 
 31. What is contained in the last stanza? 
 
 32. What is the poem characterized by? 
 
THE STREAM OF LIFE. 
 
 . Oh silvery streamlet of tlie fields, 
 
 That flowest full and free ! 
 For thee the rains of spring return. 
 
 The summer dews for thee ; 
 And when thy latest blossoms die 
 
 In autumn's chilly showers, 
 The winter fountains gush for thee, 
 
 Till May brings back the flowers. 
 
 2 Oh Stream of Life ! the violet springs 
 
 But once beside thy bed ; 
 But one brief summer, on thy path. 
 
 The dews of heaven are shed. 
 Thy parent fountains shrink away, 
 
 And close their crystal veins, 
 And where thy glittering current flowed 
 
 The dust alone remains. 
 
 1. What is addressed in the first line? 
 
 2. What is the office of tlie second line ? 
 
 3. What do the two following lines contain? 
 
THE STREA3I OF LIFE. 81 
 
 4. Tell what is the office of the four remaining lines of 
 the stanza. 
 
 5. Point out the figurative language of the stanza. 
 
 6. 'What do jou find at the beginning of the second 
 stanza ? 
 
 7. What assertion follows ? 
 
 8. Change the metaphorical into literal language. 
 
 9. Do the same with the next two lines. 
 
 10. Translate the remaining lines of the stanza into 
 literal language. 
 
 11. What is the plan of the poem? 
 
AN INVITATION TO THE COUNTRY. 
 
 1 Already, close by our summer dwelling, 
 
 The Easter sparrow repeats her song ; 
 A merry warbler, she chides the blossoms — 
 The idle blossoms that sleep so long. 
 
 2 The bluebird chants, from the elm's long 
 
 branches, 
 A hymn to welcome the budding year. 
 The south w^ind wanders from field to forest. 
 And softly whispers, " The Spring is here.*' 
 
 3 Come, daughter mine, from the gloomy city. 
 
 Before those lays from the elm have ceased ; 
 The violet breathes, by our door, as sweetly 
 As in the air of her native East. 
 
 4 Though many a flower in the wood is waking, 
 
 The daffodil is our doorside queen ; 
 She pushes upward the sward already. 
 To spot with sunshine the early green. 
 
AN INVITATION TO THE COUNTRY. 83 
 
 5 No lays so joyous as these are warbled 
 
 From wiry prison in maiden's bower ; 
 No pampered bloom of the greenhouse 
 chamber 
 Has half the charm of the lawn's first flower. 
 
 6 Yet these sweet sounds of the early season, 
 
 And these fair sights of its sunny days 
 Are only sweet when we fondly listen, 
 And only fair when we fondly gaze. 
 
 7 There is no glory in star or blossom 
 
 Till looked upon by a loving eye ; 
 There is no fragrance in April breezes 
 Till breathed with joy as they wander by. 
 
 8 Come, Julia dear, for the sprouting willows, 
 
 The opening flowers, and the gleaming 
 brooks, 
 And hollows, green in the sun, are waiting 
 Their dower of beauty from thy glad looks. 
 
 1. Of what does the first stanza consist ? 
 
 2. What does already express ? 
 
 3. What does the phrase in the first line express ? 
 
 4. Why is Easter used ? 
 
 5. Why is repeats used ? 
 
 6. What does the phrase beginning the third hne de- 
 scribe ? 
 
 7. What is she represented as doing ? 
 
84 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 8. What relation has the foiirth line to the third? 
 
 9. Of what does the second stanza consist? 
 
 10. What two statements are made? 
 
 11. Why are long branches mentioned? 
 
 12. Is hymn figurative or literal ? 
 
 13. What figure is in the second statement? 
 
 14. What words indicate the personification? 
 
 15. What does the first line of the third stanza contain ? 
 
 16. Why is gloomy used ? 
 
 17. What do the remaining three lines contain ? 
 A. Reasons for accepting the invitation. 
 
 18. Why is the expression native Fast used? 
 
 19. What is meant by a flower's waking? 
 
 20. What figure is used in the first line ? 
 
 21. What figure is used in the second line? 
 
 22. Why is the daffodil said to push up the sward? 
 
 23. What is the meaning of the fourth line ? 
 
 24. What does the fifth stanza aflSrm ? 
 
 25. What is meant by wiry prison f 
 
 26. What is meant hj pampered lloom f 
 
 27. What does the sixth stanza affirm ? 
 
 28. To what line in the stanza does the third line relate ? 
 
 29. To what the fourth ? 
 
 30. What is the condition of seeing glory in star or 
 blossom ? 
 
 31. What is the condition of perceiving tbe fragrance 
 of the breeze ? 
 
 32. What figure is in the fourth line ? 
 
 33. Of what does the last stanza consist ? 
 
 A. Of a request and the reason for complying with it. 
 
 34. What is the reason ? 
 
 35. What is meant by the last line ? 
 
 36. What is the connection between this stanza and the 
 seventh ? 
 
THE CROWDED STREET. 
 
 1 Let me move slowlj through the street, 
 
 Filled with an ever-shifting train, 
 Amid the sound of steps that beat 
 
 The murmuring walks like autumn rain. 
 
 2 How fast the flitting figures come ! 
 
 The mild, the fierce, the stony face ; 
 Some bright with thoughtless smiles, and some 
 "Where secret tears have left their trace. 
 
 3 They pass — to toil, to strife, to rest ; 
 
 To halls in which the feast is spread ; 
 To chambers where the funeral guest 
 In silence sits beside the dead. 
 
 4 And some to happy homes repair, 
 
 Where children, pressing cheek to cheek, 
 With mute caresses shall declare 
 The tenderness they cannot speak. 
 
 5 And some, who walk in calmness here. 
 
 Shall shudder as they reach the door 
 
 Where one who made their dwelling dear, 
 
 Its flower, its light, is seen no more. 
 8 
 
86 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 6 Youth, witli pale cheek and slender frame, 
 
 And dreams of greatness in thine eye 1 
 Go'st thou to build an early name, 
 Or early in the task to die ? 
 
 7 Keen son of trade, with eager brow ! 
 
 Who is now fluttering in thy snare 1 
 
 Thy golden fortunes, tow^er they now, 
 
 Or melt the glittering spires in air ? 
 
 8 "Who of this crowd to-night shall tread 
 
 The dance till daylight gleam again ? 
 Who sorrow o'er the untimely dead ? 
 Who writhe in throes of mortal pain ? 
 
 9 Some, famine-struck, shall think how long 
 
 The cold dark hours, how slow the light ; 
 And some, who flaunt amid the throng. 
 Shall hide in dens of shame to-night. 
 
 10 Each, where his tasks or pleasures call, 
 
 They pass, and heed each other not. 
 There is who heeds, who holds them all. 
 In his large love and boundless thought. 
 
 11 These struggling tides of life that seem 
 
 In wayward, aimless course to tend. 
 Are eddies of the mighty stream 
 That rolls to its appointed end. 
 
THE CROWDED STREET, 87 
 
 1. What remark is in the first line ? 
 
 2. What is the office of the second line? 
 
 8. Why is ever-shifting better than ever-2yassing ? 
 
 4. With what is the first part of the third line con- 
 nected in thought ? 
 
 5. What is the office of the remaining part of the 
 stanza? 
 
 6. Why does the poet describe the walks as mur- 
 muring ? 
 
 7. What is the first line of the second stanza? 
 
 8. What relation has the second line to the first ? 
 
 9. What is the oflBce of the next two lines ? 
 
 10. What does the third stanza do ? 
 
 11. What two mental images are produced? 
 
 12. What does the fourth stanza do ? or, of what is the 
 fourth stanza a continuation ? 
 
 13. What image does it awaken ? 
 
 14. What does the fifth stanza describe ? 
 
 15. Of what does the sixth stanza consist? 
 
 16. What do the first two lines describe? 
 
 17. What two questions are asked ? 
 
 18. Who is addressed in the next stanza ? 
 
 19. What is the office of the second phrase in the first 
 line? 
 
 20. What is the meaning of the first question ? 
 
 21. What two questions are asked in the last two lines? 
 
 22. Is the language figurative or literal? 
 
 23. What conception had the poet in his mind when he 
 spoke of a fortune's toicering ? 
 
 24. Why are glittering sjnres spoken of? 
 
 25. Of what does the eighth stanza consist? 
 
 26. What three classes of persons are alluded to? 
 
 27. What is the force of the word untimely ? 
 
 28. Of what is the ninth stanza composed ? 
 
STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 29. What is the first statement? 
 
 30. What is the second statement ? 
 
 31. "What is the t^vm flaunt used to express? 
 
 32. Of how many statements is the next stanza com- 
 
 33. What is the first ? 
 
 34. What is the second statement ? 
 
 35. Who is referred to in the second statement? 
 
 36. Of what does the last stanza consist ? 
 
 37. What is the meaning of the statement ? 
 
THE DEATH OF THE FLOWERS. 
 
 1 The melancholy days are come, tlie saddest of 
 
 the year, 
 
 Of wailing winds, and naked woods, and mead- 
 ows brown and sere. 
 
 Heaped in the hollows of the grove, the autumn 
 leaves lie dead ; 
 
 They rustle to the eddying gust, and to the rab- 
 bit's tread. 
 
 The robin and the wren are flown, and from the 
 shrubs the jay. 
 
 And from the wood-top calls the crow through 
 all the gloomy day. 
 
 2 Where are the flowers, the fair young flowers, 
 
 that lately sprang and stood 
 In brighter light, and softer airs, a beauteous 
 
 sisterhood ? 
 Alas ! they all are in their graves, the gentle 
 
 race of flowers 
 Are lying in their lowly beds, with the fair and 
 
 good of ours. 
 
90 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 Tlie rain is falling where tliey lie, but the cold 
 
 November rain 
 Calls not from out the gloomy earth the lovely 
 
 3 The wind-flower and the violet, they perished 
 
 long ago, 
 And the brier-rose and the orchis died amid the 
 
 summer glow ; 
 But on the hill the golden-rod, and the aster in 
 
 the wood. 
 And the yellow sunflower by the brook in 
 
 autumn beauty stood, 
 Till fell the frost from the clear, cold heaven, as 
 
 falls the plague on men, 
 And the brightness of their smile was gone, 
 
 from upland, glade, and glen. 
 
 4 And now, when comes tlie calm, mild day, as 
 
 still such days will come. 
 To call the squirrel and the bee from out their 
 
 winter home ; 
 "When the sound of dropping nuts is heard, 
 
 though all the trees are still. 
 And twinkle in the smoky light the waters of 
 
 the rill. 
 The south w^ind searches for {1\q flowers whose 
 
 fragrance late he bore. 
 And sighs to find them in the wood and by the 
 
 stream no more. 
 
THE DEATH OF THE FLOWERS. 91 
 
 5 And then I think of one ^vho in her youthf al 
 
 beauty died, 
 The fair, meek blossom that grew up and faded 
 
 by my side : 
 - In the cokl, moist earth we laid her, when the 
 
 forests cast the leaf. 
 And we wept that one so lovely should have a 
 
 life so brief: 
 Yet not unmeet it was that one, like that young 
 
 friend of ours. 
 So gentle and so beautiful, should perish with 
 
 the flowers. 
 
 1. "What do you first meet with in this poem ? 
 
 2. What relation has the last half of the first line to 
 the first half? 
 
 3. What is the office of the second line? 
 
 4. What relation has the third line to the first clause of 
 the stanza? 
 
 5. What relation has the fourth line to the thh*d? 
 
 6. Why is the word eddying used ? 
 
 7. What is the office of the fifth and sixth lines? 
 
 8. Why are slirubs mentioned in connection with the 
 
 .m ^ 
 
 9. What do the first two lines of the second stanza do? 
 
 10. With what are the phrases in the second line con- 
 nected ? 
 
 11. To what does a leauteous sisterhood relate? 
 
 12. What do the third and fourth lines do? 
 
 13. What relation has the second statement to the first? 
 
92 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 14. AYhat figure do you find in these lines ? 
 
 15. What is the office of the fifth and sixth lines? 
 
 16. ^yhat is the office of lut ? 
 
 17. Is rain personified ? 
 
 18. Is earth personified ? 
 
 19. Of what is the third stanza a continuation? 
 
 20. Which are the most striking lines in this stanza ? 
 
 21. What figure is in these fines ? 
 
 22. What is the difi'erence between glade and glen f 
 
 23. What does the fourth stanza do? 
 
 24. W^hat poetical incidents are mentioned? 
 
 25. What bold personification in this stanza? 
 
 26. What is the wind represented as doing? 
 
 27. What is the office of the sixth stanza? 
 
 28. What is the analogy? 
 
 29. What relation has the second fine to the first? 
 
 30. What relation has the last part of the third line to 
 the first part ? 
 
 31. What is the office of the fourth line? 
 
 32. What is the office of the last two lines? 
 
 83. Point out the most beautiful lines in the poem. 
 
THE RETURN OF YOUTH. 
 
 My friend, thou sorrowest for thy golden prime, 
 For thy fair youthful years too swift of flight ; 
 Thou musest, with wet eyes, npon the time 
 Of cheerful hopes that filled the world with 
 light,— 
 Years when thy heart was bold, thy hand was 
 strong, 
 And quick the thought that moved thy 
 tongue to speak. 
 And willing faith was thine, and scorn of wrong 
 Summoned the sudden crimson to thy cheek. 
 
 Thou lookest forward on the coming days, 
 Shuddering to feel their shadow o'er thee 
 creep ; 
 A path, thick-set with changes and decays. 
 Slopes downward to the place of common 
 sleep ; 
 
94 STUDIES m BRYANT. 
 
 And they who walked with thee in life- s first 
 stage, 
 
 Leave one by one thy side, and, waiting near, 
 Thou seest the sad companions of thy age — 
 
 Dull love of rest, and weariness and fear. 
 
 3 Yet grieve thou not, nor think thy youth is 
 gone. 
 Nor deem that glorious season e'er could die. 
 Thy pleasant youth, a little while withdrawn. 
 
 Waits on the horizon of a brighter sky ; 
 Waits, like the morn, that folds her wing and 
 hides. 
 Till the slow stars bring back her dawning 
 hour ; 
 Waits, like the vanished spring, that slumbering 
 bides 
 Her own sweet time to waken bud and 
 iiower. 
 
 4 There shall he welcome thee, when thou shalt 
 stand 
 On his bright morning hills, with smiles more 
 sweet 
 Than when at first he took thee by the hand. 
 Through the fair earth to lead thy tender 
 feet. 
 
THE RETURN OF YOUTH. 95 
 
 He shall bring back, but brighter, broader still, 
 
 Life's early glory to thine eyes again. 
 Shall clothe thy spirit with new strength, and 
 fill 
 Thy leaping heart with warmer love tha^ 
 then. 
 
 Hast thou not glimpses, in the twilight here. 
 
 Of mountains where immortal morn prevails? 
 Comes there not, through the silence, to thine 
 ear 
 
 A gentle rustling of the morning gales ; 
 A murmur, wafted from that glorious shore, 
 
 Of streams that water banks forever fair, 
 And voices of the loved ones gone before. 
 
 More musical in that celestial air ? 
 
 1. What is the first line ? 
 
 2. What relation has the second line to the first ? 
 
 3. What statement in the third and fourth lines ? 
 
 4. What is the ofiiee of the phrase in the third line? 
 
 5. What is the office of the clause in the latter part of 
 the fourth line ? 
 
 6. What is the office of the remaining lines of the 
 stanza ? 
 
 7. What facts are mentioned in the description of those 
 years ? 
 
 8. What is meant b}^ icilUng faith ? 
 
 9. What is the act described in the last line? 
 
96 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 10. "What is the meaning of the second line in the second 
 stanza ? 
 
 11. What is the office of the next two lines? 
 
 12. Is the language figurative, or literal? 
 
 13. What is meant by common sleep 1 
 
 14. Who are meant in the next line ? 
 
 15. What is meant by leaving thy side? 
 IG. To what does waiting near belong? 
 
 17. What are called companions of age ? and why ? 
 
 18. What is the office of the third stanza ? 
 
 19. Wliat reasons are given for not grieving? 
 
 20. What personification is in the third and fourth lines? 
 
 21. What implied comparison ? 
 
 22. What expressed comparison is there in the next 
 line? 
 
 23. Is morn personified ? 
 
 24. How does it appear ? 
 
 25. What implied comparison is there in folds Tier 
 tcing f 
 
 26. Point out the comparison in the seventh line. 
 
 27. What is the point of comparison ? 
 
 28. What word indicates personification ? 
 
 29. What is the office of the fourth stanza ? 
 
 30. What is the subject ? 
 
 31. What is meant by standing on his Iright hills ? 
 82. What is the force of the word morning ? 
 
 33. What is meant by the remaining parts of the sen- 
 tence ? 
 
 34. What is meant by the fifth and sixth lines? 
 
 35. What do the first two lines of the fifth stanza do? 
 
 36. What is the meaning of the question ? 
 
 37. What is the meaning of tJie ticilight here f 
 
 38. What other question is there in the stanza ? 
 
 39. What is the meaning of the question ? 
 
THE HURRICAXE. 
 
 1 LoED of the winds ! I feel thee nigh, 
 I kno^Y thy breath in the burning sky ! 
 And I wait, with a thrill in eveiy vein, 
 For the coming of the hurricane ! 
 
 2 And lo ! on the wing of the heavy gales, 
 Through the boundless arch of heaven he sails ; 
 Silent and slow, and terribly strong. 
 
 The mighty shadow is bonie along. 
 
 Like the dark eternity to come ; 
 
 THiile the world below, dismayed and dumb, 
 
 Through the calm of the thick hot atmosphere 
 
 Looks np at its gloomy folds with fear. 
 
 3 They darken fast ; and the golden blaze 
 Of the sun is quenched in the lurid haze, 
 And he sends throno-h the shade a funeral rav — • 
 A glare that is neither night nor day, 
 
 A beam that touches, with hues of death. 
 The clouds above and the earth beneath. 
 
98 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 To its covert glides tlie' silent bird, 
 AVliile tlie hurricane's distant voice is heard 
 Uplifted among the mountains round, 
 And the forests hear and answer the sound. 
 
 He is come ! he is come ! do ye not behold 
 His ample robes on the wind unrolled 1 
 Giant of air ! we bid thee hail ! — 
 How his gray skirts toss in the whirling gale ; 
 How his huge and writhing arms are bent, 
 To clasp the zone of the firmament. 
 And fold at length, in their dark embrace, 
 From mountain to mountain the visible space. 
 
 Darker — still darker ! the whirlwinds bear 
 The dust of the plains to the middle air : 
 And hark to the crashing, long and loud. 
 Of the chariot of God in the thunder-cloud ! 
 You may trace its path by the flashes that start 
 From the rapid wheels where'er they dart. 
 As the fire-bolts leap to the world below, 
 And flood the skies with a lurid £>;low. 
 
 6 What roar is that ?— 'tis the rain that breaks 
 In torrents away from the airy lakes, 
 Heavily poured on the shuddering ground, 
 And shedding a nameless horror round. 
 
THE HURRICANE. 99 
 
 Ah! well-known woods, and mountains, and 
 
 skies, 
 With the very clouds ! — je are lost to my eyes. 
 I seek ye vainly, and see in your place 
 The shadowy tempest that sweeps through 
 
 space, 
 A whirling ocean that fills the wall 
 Of the crystal heaven, and buries all. 
 And I, cut off from the world, remain 
 Alone with the terrible hurricane. 
 
 1. What is tlie first phrase? 
 
 2. What is the first statement in the first paragraph ? 
 
 3. What is the second ? 
 
 4. Whatis tlie third? 
 
 5. How is the third modified ? 
 
 6. What is the ofiice of the second paragraph ? 
 A. To describe the coming of the hurricane. 
 Y. What do the first and sec(md lines tell ? 
 
 8. What do the third and fourth lines tell? 
 
 9. What figure is in the fifth line ? 
 
 10. What is the ofiice of the next three lines? 
 A. To describe the eff'ect on the earth. 
 
 11. What figure is in the sixth line ? 
 
 12. What words show the personification? 
 
 13. Why does the writer say thiclc liot atmosphere ? 
 
 A. Because such an atmosphere precedes the hurricane. 
 
 14. To what does gloomy folds refer? 
 
 15. What is the office of the third paragraph ? 
 
100 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 A. To continue the description of the hurricane's ap- 
 proach. 
 
 16. To what does they refer ? 
 
 17. What relation has the second clause to the first ? 
 
 18. What figure is in the third line? 
 
 19. What relation have the fourth, fifth, and sixth lines 
 to the third ? 
 
 20. What is meant by the hues of death ? 
 
 21. What is the seventh line ? 
 
 22. What relation have the eightli and ninth lines to the 
 seventh ? 
 
 23. What figure in the tenth line? 
 
 24. What is the office of the fourth paragraph? 
 A. To describe the presence of the hurricane. 
 
 25. Under what form does the poet describe it ? 
 
 26. What is meant by robes? 
 
 27. What is meant by sMrts and arms ? 
 
 28. Why is writhing used ? 
 
 29. What personification is implied by the use of the 
 word zone ? 
 
 30. What is meant by the last two lines of the para- 
 graph ? 
 
 31. What is the office of the fifth paragraph ? 
 A. To continue the description. 
 
 32. What is the general eff'ect stated in the first 
 phrase ? 
 
 33. What is the first thing mentioned ? 
 
 34. What is the next? 
 
 35. How may the cJiariofs path be traced ? 
 
 36. What do the first three lines of the sixth paragraph 
 describe ? 
 
 37. What is meant by airy laJcesf 
 
 38. What relation has the fourth line to the preceding 
 lines ? 
 
THE HURRICANE. iQl 
 
 39. What is the next effect stated ? 
 
 40. What is seen in their place ? 
 
 41. "What relation has the ninth line to the eighth ? 
 
 42. What is meant hj Jills the loall of heaven ? 
 
 43. What was the effect on the poet ? 
 
THE LIFE THAT IS. 
 
 1 Thou, who so long liast pressed the couch of 
 
 pain, 
 Oh welcome, welcome back to life's free 
 breath — 
 To life's free breath and day's sweet light again, 
 ' From the chill shadows of the gate of death. 
 
 2 For thou hadst reached the twilight bound be- 
 
 tween 
 The world of spirits and this grosser sphere ; 
 Dimly by thee the things of earth were seen, 
 x\nd faintly fell earth's voices on thine ear. 
 
 3 And now, how gladly we behold, at last. 
 
 The wonted smile returning to thy brow ; 
 
 The very wind's low whisper, breathing past. 
 
 In the light leaves, is music to thee now. 
 
 4 Thou wert not weary of thy lot ; the earth 
 
 Was ever good and pleasant in thy sight ; 
 Still clung thy loves about the household hearth, 
 And sweet was every day's returning light. 
 
THE LIFE THAT IS. 103 
 
 5 Then welcome back to all tliou wouldst not 
 
 leave, 
 To this grand march of seasons, days, and 
 
 hours, 
 The glory of the morn, the glow of eve. 
 
 The beauty of the streams, and stars, and 
 
 flowers. 
 
 6 To eyes on which thine own delight to rest ; 
 
 To voices which it is thy joy to hear ; 
 To the kind toils that ever pleased thee best. 
 The willing tasks of love, that made life dear. 
 
 7 Welcome to grasp of friendly hands; to prayers 
 
 Offered where crowds in reverent worship 
 come. 
 Or softly breathed amid the tender cares 
 And loving inmates of thy quiet home. 
 
 8 Thou bring'st no tidings of the better land, 
 
 Even from its verge ; the mysteries opened 
 there 
 Are what the faithful heart may understand 
 In its still depths, yet words may not declare. 
 
 9 And well I deem, that, from the brighter side 
 
 Of life's dim border, some o'erflowing rays 
 Streamed from the inner glory, shall abide 
 Upon thy spirit through the coming days. 
 
104 STUDIES IJSr BRYANT. 
 
 10 Twice wert tliou given me ; once in thy fair 
 
 prime, 
 Fresh from the fields of youth, when first 
 
 we met, 
 And all the blossoms of that hopeful time 
 Clustered and glowed where'er thy steps 
 
 were set ; 
 
 11 And now, in thy ripe autumn, once again 
 
 Given back to fervent prayers and yearnings 
 
 strong, 
 From the drear realm of sickness and of pain. 
 When we had w^atched, and feared, and 
 
 trembled long. 
 
 12 Now may we keep thee from the balmy air 
 
 And radiant walks of heaven a little space. 
 Where He, who went before thee to prepare 
 For His meek followers, shall assign thy 
 place. 
 
 1. What does the first stanza do? 
 
 2. To whom, and from what, is the welcome given? 
 
 3. What relation has the second stanza to the first? 
 
 4. What is the meaning of the first two lines of this 
 stanza ? 
 
 5. What relation have the last two lines to the first two ? 
 
 6. What is the office of the third stanza? 
 
THE LIFE THAT IS. jqS 
 
 7. What is the first clause of the fourth stanza ? 
 
 8. What relation has the remainder of the stanza to 
 that clause ? 
 
 9. What is the ofl3ce of the fifth stanza? 
 
 10. What connection has it with the fourth? 
 
 11. How many poetic images are awakened by the 
 stanza ? 
 
 12. What connection has the sixth stanza with the fifth? 
 A. It is a continuation of the thought. 
 
 13. How many things are mentioned? 
 
 14. What relation has the fourth line to the third ? 
 
 15. To what is the person addressed loelcomed in the 
 seventh stanza ? 
 
 16. What two kinds of prayer are mentioned ? 
 
 17. What does the eighth stanza contain ? 
 
 18. What is said of the mysteries ? 
 
 \19. What statement does the ninth stanza contain? 
 
 20. Is it figurative ? 
 
 21. State the thoughts in literal language. 
 
 22. What statements does the tenth stanza contain ? 
 
 23. What is meant hj fresh from the fields of youth? 
 
 24. What is the office of the last two lines? 
 
 25. What is meant by hlossoms clustering ? 
 
 26. What is meant by ripe autumn ? 
 
 27. What is the office of the twelfth stanza? 
 
 28. What is the allusion in the last two lines ? 
 
A HYMN OF THE SEA. 
 
 The sea is mightyj but a mightier sways 
 His restless billows. Tliou, whose hands have 
 
 scooped 
 His boundless gulfs and built his shore, thy 
 
 breath, 
 That moved in the be^rinnino: o'er his face, 
 
 CD CD J 
 
 5 Moves o'er it evermore. The obedient waves 
 To its strong motion roll, and rise and fall. 
 Still from that realm of rain thy cloud goes up, 
 As at the first, to water the great earth. 
 And keep her valleys green. A hundred 
 realms 
 10 Watch its broad shadow warping on the wind, 
 And in the dropping shower, with gladness 
 
 hear 
 Thy promise of the harvest. I look forth 
 Over the boundless blue, where joyously 
 The bright crests of innumerable waves 
 15 Glance to the sun at once, as when the hands 
 Of a great multitude are upward flung 
 
A HYMN OF THE SEA. 107 
 
 In acclamation. I behold the ships 
 Gliding from cape to cape, from isle to isle, 
 Or stemming toward far lands, or hastening 
 home 
 20 From the old world. It is tliy friendly breeze 
 That bears them, with the riches of the land. 
 And treasure of dear lives, till, in the port, 
 The shouting seaman climbs and furls the sail. 
 
 But who shall bide thy tempest, who shall 
 face 
 25 The blast that wakes the fury of the sea ? 
 O God ! thy justice makes the world turn pale, 
 When on the armed fleet, that royally 
 Bears down the surges, carrying war, to smite 
 Some city, or invade some thonghtless realm, 
 30 Descends the fierce tornado. The vast hulks 
 Are whirled like chaif upon the waves ; the 
 
 sails 
 Fly, rent like webs of gossamer ; the masts 
 Are snapped asunder ; downward from the 
 
 decks, 
 Downward are slung, into the fathomless gulf, 
 35 Their cruel engines ; and their hosts, arrayed 
 In trappings of the battle-field, are whelmed 
 By whirlpools, or dashed dead upon the rocks. 
 Then stand the nations still with awe, and 
 
 pause, 
 A moment, from the bloody work of war. 
 
108 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 40 These restless surges eat away the shores 
 Of earth's old continents ; the fertile plain 
 "Welters in shallows, headlands crumble down, 
 And the tide drifts the sea-sand in the streets 
 Of the drowned city. Thou, meanwhile, afar 
 
 45 In the green chambers of the middle sea, 
 Where broadest spread the w^aters and the line 
 Sinks deepest, w^hile no eye beholds thy work. 
 Creator ! thou dost teach the coral worm 
 To lay his mighty reefs. From age to age, 
 
 50 He builds beneath the waters, till, at last. 
 His bulwarks overtop the brine, and check 
 The long wave rolling from the southern pole 
 To break upon Japan. Thou bidd'st the fires, 
 That smoulder under ocean, heave on high 
 
 55 The new-made mountains, and uplift their 
 peaks, 
 A place of refuge for the storm-driven bird. 
 The birds and wafting billows plant the rifts 
 With herb and tree ; sweet fountains gush ; 
 
 sweet airs 
 Kipple the living lakes that, fringed with 
 flowers, 
 
 60 Are gathered in the hollows. Thou dost look 
 On thy creation and pronounce it good. 
 Its valleys, glorious with their summer green, 
 Praise thee in silent beauty, and its woods, 
 Swept by the murmuring winds of ocean, join 
 
 65 The murmuring shores in a perpetual hynm. 
 
A HYMN OF THE SEA. 109 
 
 1. What is the first clause ? 
 
 2. "What is the use of lut ? 
 
 3. "What does tJiou^ in the second sentence, refer to? 
 
 4. What is the office of the clause following thou ? 
 
 5. Of what verb is Ireath the subject? 
 
 6. What is the office of the clause following dreath f 
 
 7. What does the succeeding sentence describe ? 
 
 8. What does the next sentence contain ? 
 
 9. What relation has the next sentence to this ? 
 
 10. What two things are stated in this sentence? 
 
 11. What is the office of the next sentence? 
 
 12. What personification and what comparison in the 
 sentence ? 
 
 13. What is the office of the succeeding sentence ? 
 
 14. What relation has the next sentence to this ? 
 
 15. What does the next sentence do ? 
 
 16. What is the following sentence? 
 
 17. What is meant by thoughtless realm ? 
 
 18. What is the office of the next sentence ? 
 
 19. What is meant by hulks f 
 
 20. What two comparisons in the first two clauses of 
 this sentence ? 
 
 21. State the objects mentioned in the description. 
 
 22. What is meant by cruel engines ? 
 
 28. What is meant by trapinngs of the lattle-Jield ? 
 
 24. What relation has the following sentence to this ? 
 
 25. What does the next sentence describe ? 
 
 26. What is the office of the next sentence ? 
 
 27. What does the next sentence describe ? 
 
 28. What is the office of the next sentence ? 
 
 29. What consequences are mentioned as following the 
 upheaval ? 
 
 30. What statement in the next sentence ? 
 
 31. What relation has the following sentence to it? 
 
 10 
 
110 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 82. What are i\iQ> valleys said to do? 
 
 33. What is the office of the phrase following 'calleys ? 
 
 34. What is the office of the phrase following woods ? 
 
 35. What union is spoken of? 
 
 36. Why is the hymn said to \)Q perpetual? 
 
 37. Do the winds always blow ? 
 
 38. To what must reference be had in the use of per 
 petual? 
 
HYMN TO THE NORTH STAR. 
 
 1 The sad and solemn niglit 
 
 Hath yet lier multitude of cheerful fires ; 
 
 The glorious host of light 
 Walk the dark hemisphere till she retires ; 
 All through her silent watches, gHding slow, 
 Her constellations come, and climb the heavens, 
 and go. 
 
 2 Day, too, hath many a star 
 
 To grace his gorgeous reign, as bright as they ; 
 Through the blue fields afar, 
 
 Unseen, they follow in his flaming way : 
 Many a bright lingerer, as the eve grows dim, 
 Tells what a radiant troop arose and set with him. 
 
 3 And thou dost see them rise. 
 
 Star of the Pole ! and thou dost see them seto 
 
 Alone, in thy cold skies. 
 Thou keep'st thy old unmoving station yet. 
 Nor join'st the dances of that glittering train, 
 Nor dipp'st thy virgin orb in the blue western 
 main. 
 
112 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 4 There, at morn's rosy birth, 
 
 Thou lookest meekly through the kindlmg air, 
 
 And eve, that round the earth 
 Chases the day, beholds thee watching there ; 
 There noontide finds thee, and the hour that calls 
 The shapes of polar flame to scale heaven's azure 
 walls. 
 
 5 Alike, beneath thine eye. 
 
 The deeds of darkness and of light are done ; 
 
 High towards \hQ starlit sky 
 Towns blaze, the smoke of battle blots the sun, 
 The night-storm on a thousand hills is loud. 
 And the strong wind of day doth mingle sea 
 and cloud. 
 
 6 On thy unalteriiig blaze 
 
 The half-wrecked mariner, his compass lost. 
 
 Fixes his steady gaze. 
 And steers, undoubting, to the friendly coast ; 
 And they who stray in perilous wastes, by night. 
 Are glad when thou dost shine to guide their 
 footsteps right. 
 
 7 And, therefore, bards of old. 
 Sages and hermits of the solemn wood, 
 
 , Did in thy beams behold 
 A beauteous type of that unchanging good, 
 That bright eternal beacon, by whose ray 
 The voyager of time should shape his heedful way. 
 
HYMN TO THE NORTH STAR. 113 
 
 1. "Why is the night called sad and solemn? 
 
 2. What is meant by \i%v fires? 
 
 3. What are personified in the third line ? 
 
 4. What relation have the third and fourth lines to the 
 first and second ? 
 
 5. What is meant by darlc TiemispTiere ? 
 
 6. What is meant by she retires ? 
 
 7. What relation have the fifth and sixth lines to the 
 fourth ? 
 
 8. Why is climd used ? 
 
 9. What is said in the first four lines of the second 
 stanza ? 
 
 10. Why 13 go7'ffeous used '^ 
 
 11. How do the stars follow ? 
 
 12. Why are the words fiaming way used? 
 
 13. What is asserted in the last two lines? 
 
 14. What is meant by eve grows dim ? 
 
 15. What figures are used in the last two lines ? 
 
 16. What is addressed in the third stanza? 
 
 17. Why is alone used ? 
 
 18. y^hj coldsMes? 
 
 19. What relation has the fifth to the fourth line? 
 
 20. What is meant by dipjnng thy orl ? 
 
 21. What does the fourth stanza describe? 
 
 22. What is the meaning of morri's rosy Mrth ? 
 
 23. Why is kindling air used ? 
 
 24. What striking figure in the third and fourth 
 lines ? 
 
 25. What time is mentioned besides morning, noon, and 
 eve? 
 
 26. To what is allusion made in the last line? 
 
 27. What assertion is in the first two lines of the fifth 
 stanza ? 
 
 28. What is meant by deeds of light ? 
 
114 STUDIES IN- BRYANT. 
 
 29. Which kind of deeds are mentioned in the remain- 
 ing lines of the stanza? 
 
 30. What is the office of the sixth stanza ? 
 
 31. What consequence is deduced from the facts stated 
 in this stanza ? 
 
 32. What is meant by hermits of the solemn wood? 
 
 33. What is meant by eternal heacon ? 
 
 34. What is a looyager of time ? 
 
 35. Why does the poet say heedful way ? 
 
THE CLOUD ON THE WAY. 
 
 See before us, in our journey, broods a mist 
 upon the ground ; 
 
 Thither leads the path we walk in, blending- 
 with that gloomy bound. 
 
 Never eye hath pierced its shadows to the 
 mystery they screen ; 
 
 Those who once have passed within it never 
 more on earth are seen. 
 5 Now it seems to stoop beside us, now at seem- 
 ing distance lowers, 
 
 Leaving banks that tempt us onward bright 
 with summer-green and flowers. 
 
 Yet it blots the way forever ; there our jour- 
 ney ends at last ; 
 
 Into that dark cloud we enter, and are gath- 
 ered to the past. 
 
 Thou who, in this flinty pathway, leading 
 through a stranger land, 
 10 Passest down the rocky valley, walking with 
 me hand in hand. 
 
116 STUDIES m BRYANT. 
 
 "Whicli of us shall be the soonest folded to that 
 
 dim Unknown ? 
 Which shall leave the other walking in this 
 
 flinty path alone ? 
 Even now I see thee shudder, and thy cheek 
 
 is white with fear, 
 And thou clingest to my side as comes that 
 
 darkness sweej)ing near. 
 15 '' Here," thou sayst, " the path is rugged, sown 
 
 with thorns that wound the feet ; 
 But the sheltered glens are lovely, and the 
 
 rivulet's song is sweet ; 
 Roses breathe from tangled thickets; lilies 
 
 bend from ledges brown ; 
 ^ Pleasantly between the pelting showers the 
 
 sunshine gushes dow^n ; 
 Dear are those who walk beside us, they whose 
 
 looks and voices make 
 20 All this rugged region cheerful, till I love it 
 
 for their sake. 
 Far be yet the hour that takes me where that 
 
 chilly shadow lies, 
 From the things I know and love and from 
 
 the sight of loving eyes." 
 So thou murmurest, fearful one ; but see, we 
 
 tread a rougher way ; 
 Fainter glow the gleams of sunshine that upon 
 
 the dark rocks play ; 
 
THE CLOUD OX THE WAY. II7 
 
 25 Eude winds strew the faded flowers upon the 
 
 crags o'er which we pass ; 
 Banks of verdure, w^hen we reach them, hiss 
 
 with tufts of withered grass. 
 One by one we miss the voices which we loved 
 
 so well to hear ; 
 One by one the kindly faces in that shadow 
 
 disappear. 
 Yet upon the mist before us fix thine eyes with 
 
 closer view ; 
 30 See, beneath its sullen skirts, the rosy morning 
 
 glimmers through. 
 One whose feet the thorns have wounded 
 
 passed that barrier and came back. 
 With a glory on His footsteps lighting yet the 
 
 dreary track. 
 Boldly enter where He entered ; all that seems 
 
 but darkness here. 
 When once thou hast passed beyond it, haply 
 
 shall be crystal-clear. 
 35 Yiewed from that serener realm, the walks of 
 
 human life may lie, 
 Like the page of some familiar volume, open 
 
 to thine eye ; 
 Haply, from the overhanging shadow, thou 
 
 mayst stretch an unseen hand. 
 To support the wavering steps that print with 
 
 blood the rugged land. 
 
118 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 Haply, leaning o'er the pilgrim, all unweeting 
 
 tlion art near, 
 40 Thou mayst whisper words of warning or of 
 
 comfort in his ear. 
 Till, beyond the border where that brooding 
 
 mystery bars the sight. 
 Those whom thou hast fondly cherished stand 
 
 with thee in peace and light. 
 
 1. What is the first clause in the first line ? 
 A. An address to a person. 
 
 2. Is the remainder of the line figurative? 
 8. "What is meant \>j our journey ? 
 
 4. What is meant hy the mist h^oodingf 
 
 5. What figures do you find in this line ? 
 
 6. Where is it affirmed that our path leads ? 
 
 7. What else is affirmed of the path f 
 
 8. What is asserted in the third line ? 
 
 9. What does its refer to ? 
 
 10. Translate the line into literal language. 
 
 11. What is meant by passing within it f 
 
 12. What is asserted in the fifth line? 
 
 13. What does i^ refer to ? 
 
 14. Express literally the thought of the line. 
 
 A. Sometimes death seems near, and sometimes it seems 
 distant. 
 
 15. With what part of this line is the next line con- 
 nected ? 
 
 16. What is the meaning of the line ? 
 A. Affording a bright life in prospect. 
 
 17. What is affirmed in the seventh line ? 
 
THE CLOUD ON THE WAY. 119 
 
 18. What does it refer to ? 
 
 19. Give the thought in literal language. 
 
 20. What is meant by entering into the darh cloud ? 
 
 21. Wherein does the latter part of this line differ from 
 the first part ? 
 
 22. What do you find in the ninth and tenth lines ? 
 
 A. An address to the person who was walking with 
 the poet. 
 
 23. What figure is Jiinti/ patlmay ? 
 
 24. What does it mean ? 
 
 25. What is meant by stranger land ? 
 
 26. Is rocky talley figurative ? 
 
 27. What does it mean ? 
 
 28. What does the next phrase tell ? 
 
 29. Is it to be understood literally ? 
 80. Explain it. 
 
 31. What does the next line do ? 
 
 32. What is the question ? 
 
 33. Give the idea in literal language. 
 
 34. Why is/oZfZdfZused? 
 
 35. What figure in the twelfth line ? 
 
 36. Is the next line figurative or literal ? 
 
 37. What do you say of the following line ? 
 
 38. What does that darhiess refer to ? 
 
 39. What is meant by nigged jJCith f 
 
 40. What is figuratively described in the next three 
 lines ? 
 
 41. What is asserted in the nineteenth and twentieth 
 lines ? 
 
 42. What wish is expressed in the next two lines ? 
 
 43. To what is the attention of the speaker called ? 
 
 44. What is meant by a rougher loay ? 
 
 45. Give in literal language the thoughts of the next 
 three lines. 
 
120 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 46. "What is asserted in the next two lines ? 
 
 47. To what is attention next called ? 
 
 48. "What personification in the thirtieth line ? 
 
 49. "What is the meaning of sullen, as here used? 
 
 50. "What allusion in the next two lines ? 
 
 51. "What exhortation follows? 
 
 52. "What reason is given ? 
 
 53. What is the relation between the thirty-fifth and 
 thirty-sixth lines and the thirty-fourth line? 
 
 54. "What suggestion is made in the thirty-seventh and 
 thirty-eighth lines? What in the thirty-ninth and fortieth 
 lines ? 
 
 55. Translate the last two lines into literal language. 
 
 56. What is characteristic of this poem ? 
 
"INNOCENT CHILD AND SNOW-WHITE 
 FLOWER." 
 
 1 Innocent child and snow-white flower ! 
 Well are ye paired in your opening hour. 
 Thus should the pure and the lovely meet, 
 Stainless with stainless, and sweet with sweet. 
 
 2 White as those leaves, just blown apart, 
 Are the folds of thy own young heart ; 
 Guilty passion and cankering care 
 Never have left their traces there. 
 
 3 Artless one ! though thou gazest now 
 O'er the white blossom with earnest brow, 
 Soon will it tire thy childish eye ; 
 
 Fair as it is, thou wilt throw it by. 
 
 'J: Throw it aside in thy weary hour. 
 
 Throw to the ground the fair white flower; 
 Yet, as thy tender years depart. 
 Keep that white and innocent heart, 
 11 
 
122 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 1. "What statement is there in the first two Imes? 
 
 2. "What statement follows ? 
 
 3. What relation has the fourth line to the third? 
 
 4. "What comparison do you find in the first two lines 
 of the second stanza ? 
 
 5. Translate the second line into literal language. 
 
 6. "What relation have the third and fourth lines to the 
 first and second lines ? 
 
 7. Are they in keeping with those lines? 
 
 8. What does the third stanza contain ? 
 
 9. Is it figurative or literal? 
 
 10. What is the first line of the fourth stanza? 
 
 11. What relation has the second line to the first? 
 
 12. What is the office of yet? 
 
 13. What relation has the exhortation in the last line 
 to that contained in the first two lines ? 
 
 14. Can any criticism be made on the last line ? 
 
THE PLANTING OF THE APPLE-TREE. 
 
 1 Come, let us pLant the apple-tree. 
 
 Cleave the tough greensward with the spade •, 
 Wide let its hollow bed be made ; 
 There gently lay the roots, and there 
 Sift the dark mould with kindly care, 
 
 And press it o'er them tenderly, 
 As round the sleeping infant's feet 
 We softly fold the cradle-sheet ; 
 
 So plant we the apple-tree. 
 
 2 What plant we in this apple-tree ? 
 Buds, which the breath of summer days 
 Shall lengthen into leafy sprays ; 
 
 Boughs where the thrush, with crimson breast, 
 Shall haunt and sing and hide her nest ; 
 
 We plant, upon the sunny lea, 
 A shadow for the noontide hour, 
 A shelter from the summer shower, 
 
 When we plant the apple-tree. 
 
 3 What plant we in this apple-tree ? 
 Sweets for a hundred flowery springs 
 To load the May-wind's restless wings, 
 
124 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 When, from the orchard row, he pours 
 Its fragrance through our open doors ; 
 
 A world of blossoms for the bee, 
 Flowers for the sick girl's silent room, 
 For the glad infant sprigs of bloom, 
 
 We plant with the apj^le-tree. 
 
 4 What plant we in this apple-tree ? 
 Fruits that shall swell in sunny June, 
 And redden in the August noon. 
 And drop, when gentle airs come by. 
 That fan the blue September sky, 
 
 While children come, with cries of glee, 
 And seek them where the fragrant grass 
 Betrays their bed to those who pass, 
 
 At the foot of the apple-tree. 
 
 5 And when, above this apple-tree. 
 The winter stars are quivering bright. 
 And winds go howling through the night. 
 Girls, whose young eyes o'erflow with mirth, 
 Shall peel its fruit by cottage hearth. 
 
 And guests in prouder homes shall see. 
 Heaped with the grape of Cintra's vine, 
 And golden orange of the line, 
 
 The fruit of the apple-tree. 
 
 6 The fruitage of this apple-tree 
 Winds, and our flag of stripe and star. 
 Shall bear to coasts that lie afar, 
 
THE PLANTING OF THE APPLE-TREE. 125 
 
 "Where men shall wonder at the view, 
 And ask in what fair groves they grew ; 
 
 And sojourners beyond the sea 
 Shall think of childhood's careless day, 
 And long, long hours of summer play, 
 
 In the shade of the apple-tree. 
 
 7 Each year shall give this apple-tree 
 A broader flush of roseate bloom, 
 
 A deeper maze of verdurous gloom. 
 And loosen, when the frost-clouds lower. 
 The crisp brown leaves in thicker shower. 
 
 The years shall come and pass, but we 
 Shall hear no longer, where we lie. 
 The summer's songs, the autumn's sigh, 
 
 In the boughs of the apple-tree. 
 
 8 And time shall waste this apple-tree. 
 Oh, when its aged branches throw 
 Thin shadows on the ground below. 
 Shall fraud and force and iron will 
 Oppress the weak and helpless still ? 
 
 What shall the tasks of mercy be. 
 Amid the toils, the strifes, the tears 
 Of those who live when length of years 
 
 Is wasting this apple-tree ? 
 
 9 " Who planted this old apple-tree % " 
 The children of that distant day 
 Thus to some aged man shall say ,* 
 
126 STUDIES IN BRYANT. 
 
 And, gazing on its mossy stem, 
 The gray-haired man shall answer them : 
 " A poet of the land was he, 
 Born in the rude but good old times ; 
 'Tis said he made some quaint old rhymes 
 On planting the apple-tree." 
 
 1. With what proposal does the poem open? 
 
 2. What does the rest of the stanza describe? 
 
 3. State the successive acts to be performed. 
 
 4. What is the first Hne of the second stanza? 
 
 5. Eepeat in their order the things mentioned in the 
 answer. 
 
 6. Repeat, in like manner, the answer in the third 
 stanza. 
 
 7. What is meant bj sprm^.s? 
 
 8. What personification in the third line ? 
 
 9. To what does world of hlossoms refer ? 
 
 10. What relation have the seventh and eighth lines to 
 the second line ? 
 
 11. To what does the answer in the fourth stanza refer? 
 
 12. Trace the/nn^ through the stanza. 
 
 13. What is said in the fifth stanza? 
 
 14. Why is quivering used? 
 
 15. What figure is in the third line? 
 
 16. What cottage scene is described? 
 
 17. What statement in the last four lines? 
 
 18. What is said in the sixth stanza? 
 
 ■ 19. What will awaken the thoughts expressed in the 
 last four lines ? 
 
 20. What figure is in this stanza? . 
 
THE PLANTING OF THE APPLE-TREE. 127 
 
 21. What statements are there in the first part of the 
 seventh stanza? 
 
 22. What is the meaning of the second line ? 
 
 23. What of the third ? 
 
 24. What is said in the last four lines? 
 
 25. What is tlie first line of the eighth stanza? 
 
 26. What two questions are asked in this stanza? 
 
 27. What is meant by throwing thin shadows? 
 
 28. How is iron used in the fourth line ? 
 
 29. What is the first line of the ninth stanza? 
 80. Who shall ask the question ? 
 
 31. Who shall answer it? 
 
 32. What answer will be given ? 
 
 THE END, 
 
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