Elson Grammar School Literature Part 8

And out again I curve and flow To join the br.i.m.m.i.n.g river, For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever.

HELPS TO STUDY.

Notes and Questions.

These stanzas are part of a longer poem called "The Brook."

In this poem Tennyson personifies the brook. Why?

In what lines do the words and the rhythm suggest the sound of the brook?

Which lines do this most successfully?

Point out words that seem to you especially appropriate in giving the thought.

Where in the poem do we find a meaning for the following lines: "Oh! of all the songs sung No songs are so sweet As the songs with refrains Which repeat and repeat."

How does the repet.i.tion of "chatter" influence the melody of the first line in the sixth stanza?

How does it affect the thought?

Find another place in the poem where an expression is repeated.

Was this done for the sake of the rhythm, or the thought, or for both?

Alliteration is the repet.i.tion of the same letter or sound at the beginning of two or more words in close succession.

Find lines in which alliteration is used e. g. "sudden sally," "field and fallow," etc. What does this add to the poem?

Indicate the rhythm of the first four lines by placing them in these curves: ________ ________ ________ ________ / / / /

Words and Phrases for Discussion.

"coot and hern" (heron) "bicker"

"thorps"

"fairy foreland"

"willow weed and mallow"

"grayling"

"water-break"

"covers"

"brambly"

"s.h.i.+ngly bars"

"eddying"

"fallow"

"babble"

"cresses"

"br.i.m.m.i.n.g"

"sharps and trebles"

"skimming swallows"

"netted sunbeams"

SONG OF THE CHATTAHOOCHEE

SIDNEY LANIER

Out of the hills of Habersham, Down the valleys of Hall, I hurry amain to reach the plain, Run the rapid and leap the fall; Split at the rock and together again, Accept my bed, or narrow or wide, And flee from folly on every side With a lover's pain to attain the plain Far from the hills of Habersham, Far from the valleys of Hall.

All down the hills of Habersham, All through the valleys of Hall, The rushes cried, "Abide, abide,"

The wilful water-weeds held me thrall, The laving laurel turned my tide, The ferns and the fondling gra.s.s said, "Stay,"

The dewberry dipped for to work delay, And the little reeds sighed, "Abide, abide,"

Here in the hills of Habersham, Here in the valleys of Hall.

High o'er the hills of Habersham, Veiling the valleys of Hall, The hickory told me manifold Fair tales of shade; the poplar tall Wrought me her shadowy self to hold; The chestnut, the oak, the walnut, the pine, Overleaning, with flickering meaning and sign, Said: "Pa.s.s not so cold, these manifold Deep shades of the hills of Habersham, These glades in the valleys of Hall."

And oft in the hills of Habersham, And oft in the valleys of Hall, The white quartz shone, and the smooth brook stone Did bar me of pa.s.sage with friendly brawl; And many a luminous jewel lone (Crystals clear or a-cloud with mist, Ruby, garnet, or amethyst) Made lures with the lights of streaming stone In the clefts of the hills of Habersham, In the beds of the valleys of Hall.

But oh! not the hills of Habersham, And oh! not the valleys of Hall Avail; I am fain for to water the plain.

Downward the voices of Duty call; Downward to toil and be mixed with the main.

The dry fields burn and the mills are to turn, And a myriad flowers mortally yearn, And the lordly main from beyond the plain Calls o'er the hills of Habersham, Calls through the valleys of Hall.

HELPS TO STUDY.

Biographical and Historical: The South has given us two most melodious singers, Poe and Lanier. When only nineteen Sidney Lanier enlisted in the Confederate army, and the close of the war found him broken in health, with little else in the world than a brave wife and a brave heart. When his health permitted he played the flute in an orchestra in Baltimore. The rhythm, the rhyme and the melodious words of his poetry all show him the pa.s.sionate lover of music that he was. Among his prose writings, "The Boy's Froissart" and "The Boy's King Arthur" are of especial interest to young readers.

Notes and Questions.

Find the Chattahoochee river on your map with its source in the "hills of Habersham" and its course through the "valleys of Hall."

Compare this poem with Tennyson's "The Brook."

What is peculiar in the phrases: "run the rapid," "flee from folly,"

"wilful waterweeds," "loving laurel," etc.

Find alliteration in other lines.

What is added to the poem by alliteration?