Modern Prose And Poetry; For Secondary Schools Part 30

QUESTIONS FOR STUDY

Can you find out anything about Provence and its history? By means of what details does Mr. James give you an idea of the country? What is meant by _processional_? Why is the episode of the young man particularly pleasing at the point at which it is related? How does the author show the character of the aqueduct? What does _monumental rect.i.tude_ mean? Why is it a good term? What is meant here by "a certain stupidity, a vague brutality"? Can you think of any great Roman works of which Mr. James's statement is true? What did the Romans most commonly build? Can you find out something of their style of building? Are there any reasons why the arches at the top should be smaller and lighter than those below? What does this great aqueduct show of the Roman people and the Roman government? Notice what Mr. James says of the way in which we measure greatness: Is this a good way? Why would the Romans like the way in which the Pont du Gard speaks of them? Why is it not "discreet" to tell where the young man's chateau is? Why does the traveler feel so far from Paris? Why does the young man treat the traveler with such unnecessary friendliness? See how the author closes his chapter by bringing the description round to the Pont du Gard again and ending with the note struck in the first lines. Is this a good method?

THEME SUBJECTS

A Bridge Country Roads An Accident on the Road A Remote Dwelling The Stranger At a Country Hotel Roman Roads A Moonlight Scene A Picturesque Ravine What I should Like to See in Europe Traveling in Europe Reading a Guide Book The Baedeker A Ruin The Character of the Romans The Romans in France Level Country A Sunny Day The Parlor

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING

=At a Country Hotel=:--Tell how you happened to go to the hotel (this part may be true or merely imagined). Describe your approach, on foot or in some conveyance. Give your first general impression of the building and its surroundings. What persons were visible when you reached the entrance? What did they say and do? How did you feel? Describe the room that you entered, noting any striking or amusing things. Tell of any particularly interesting person, and what he (or she) said. Did you have something to eat? If so, describe the dining-room, and tell about the food. Perhaps you will have something to say about the waiter. How long did you stay at the hotel? What incident was connected with your departure? Were you glad or sorry to leave?

=The Bridge=:--Choose a large bridge that you have seen. Where is it, and what stream or ravine does it span? When was it built? Clearly indicate the point of view of your description. If you change the point of view, let the reader know of your doing so. Give a general idea of the size of the bridge: You need not give measurements; try rather to make the reader feel the size from the comparisons that you use.

Describe the banks at each end of the bridge, and the effect of the water or the abyss between. How is the bridge supported? Try to make the reader feel its solidity and safety. Is it clumsy or graceful? Why? Give any interesting details in its appearance. What conveyances or persons are pa.s.sing over it? How does the bridge make you feel?

COLLATERAL READINGS

A Little Tour in France Henry James A Small Boy and Others " "

Portraits of Places " "

Travels with a Donkey R.L. Stevenson An Inland Voyage " "

Along French Byways Clifton Johnson Seeing France with Uncle John Anne Warner The Story of France Mary Macgregor The Reds of the Midi Felix Gras A Wanderer in Paris E.V. Lucas An American in Europe (poem) Henry Van d.y.k.e Home Thoughts from Abroad Robert Browning In and Out of Three Normandy Inns Anna Bowman Dodd Cathedral Days " " "

From Ponkapog to Pesth T.B. Aldrich Our Hundred Days in Europe O.W. Holmes One Year Abroad Blanche Willis Howard Well-worn Roads F.H. Smith Gondola Days " "

Saunterings C.D. Warner By Oak and Thorn Alice Brown Fresh Fields John Burroughs Our Old Home Nathaniel Hawthorne Penelope's Progress Kate Douglas Wiggin Penelope's Experiences " " "

A Cathedral Courts.h.i.+p " " "

Ten Days in Spain Kate Fields Russian Rambles Isabel F. Hapgood

For biography and criticism of Mr. James, see: American Writers of To-day, pp. 68-86, H.C. Vedder; American Prose Masters, pp. 337-400, W.C. Brownell; and (for the teacher), Century, 84:108 (Portrait) and 87:150 (Portrait); Scribners, 48:670 (Portrait); Chautauquan, 64:146 (Portrait).

THE YOUNGEST SON OF HIS FATHER'S HOUSE

ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH

The eldest son of his father's house, His was the right to have and hold; He took the chair before the hearth, And he was master of all the gold.

The second son of his father's house, He took the wheatfields broad and fair, He took the meadows beside the brook, And the white flocks that pastured there.

"_Pipe high--pipe low! Along the way From dawn till eve I needs must sing!

Who has a song throughout the day, He has no need of anything!_"

The youngest son of his father's house Had neither gold nor flocks for meed.

He went to the brook at break of day, And made a pipe out of a reed.

"_Pipe high--pipe low! Each wind that blows Is comrade to my wandering.

Who has a song wherever he goes, He has no need of anything!_"

His brother's wife threw open the door.

"Piper, come in for a while," she said.

"Thou shalt sit at my hearth since thou art so poor And thou shalt give me a song instead!"

Pipe high--pipe low--all over the wold!

"Lad, wilt thou not come in?" asked she.

"Who has a song, he feels no cold!

My brother's hearth is mine own," quoth he.

"_Pipe high--pipe low! For what care I Though there be no hearth on the wide gray plain?

I have set my face to the open sky, And have cloaked myself in the thick gray rain._"

Over the hills where the white clouds are, He piped to the sheep till they needs must come.

They fed in pastures strange and far, But at fall of night he brought them home.

They followed him, bleating, wherever he led: He called his brother out to see.

"I have brought thee my flocks for a gift," he said, "For thou seest that they are mine," quoth he.

"_Pipe high--pipe low! wherever I go The wide grain presses to hear me sing.

Who has a song, though his state be low, He has no need of anything._"

"Ye have taken my house," he said, "and my sheep, But ye had no heart to take me in.

I will give ye my right for your own to keep, But ye be not my kin.

"To the kind fields my steps are led.

My people rush across the plain.

My bare feet shall not fear to tread With the cold white feet of the rain.

"My father's house is wherever I pa.s.s; My brothers are each stock and stone; My mother's bosom in the gra.s.s Yields a sweet slumber to her son.

"Ye are rich in house and flocks," said he, "Though ye have no heart to take me in.

There was only a reed that was left for me, And ye be not my kin."

"_Pipe high--pipe low! Though skies be gray, Who has a song, he needs must roam!

Even though ye call all day, all day, 'Brother, wilt thou come home?_'"

Over the meadows and over the wold, Up to the hills where the skies begin, The youngest son of his father's house Went forth to find his kin.

SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY

The stanzas in italic are a kind of refrain; they represent the music of the youngest son.

Why does the piper not go into the house when his brother's wife invites him? What does he mean when he says, "My brother's hearth is mine own"?

Why does he say that the sheep are his? What does he mean when he says, "I will give ye my right," etc.? Why are his brothers not his kin? Who are the people that "rush across the plain"? Explain the fourteenth stanza. Why did the piper go forth to find his kin? Whom would he claim as his kindred? Why? Does the poem have a deeper meaning than that which first appears? What kind of person is represented by the youngest son?

What are meant by his pipe and the music? Who are those who cast him out? Re-read the whole poem with the deeper meaning in mind.