Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

Pleasantly murmured the brook, as they crossed the ford in

the forest,

Pleased with the image that passed, like a dream of love through its bosom,

Tremulous, floating in air, o'er the depths of the azure abysses.

Down through the golden leaves the sun was pouring his

splendors,

1010

Gleaming on purple grapes, that, from branches above them

suspended,

Mingled their odorous breath with the balm of the pine and the fir-tree,

Wild and sweet as the clusters that grew in the valley of Eshcol.1

Like a picture it seemed of the primitive, pastoral ages,2 Fresh with the youth of the world, and recalling Rebecca

and Isaac,3

1015

Old and yet ever new, and simple and beautiful always, Love immortal and young in the endless succession of

lovers.

So through the Plymouth woods passed onward the bridal procession.

1 Compare Numbers, xiii. 23 and 24. According to the Bible story, Moses sent spies to view the Promised Land (Canaan) and bring back an account of it. From a grapevine near a brook, they cut off a branch bearing a cluster of grapes so enormous that two men carried it on a staff. They named the brook Eshcol, a Hebrew word meaning cluster of grapes.

2 In early times, people lived more in the open. Their flocks and herds were their livelihood, and many used tents instead of houses.

3 The story of Rebecca and Isaac is related in the twenty-fourth chapter of Genesis.

TWENTY SPECIAL LESSONS

TWENTY SPECIAL LESSONS

Historical information

Quotations from Historical Sources

Comments-Words to be Defined-Phrases to be Explained— Excerpts for Scansion - Figures of Speech to be InterpretedQuestions forming a Study of the Poem - Excerpts to be Memorized

TWENTY SPECIAL LESSONS

LESSON 1

Comments

The Courtship of Miles Standish was published in 1858. Longfellow was then fifty-one years of age, and at the best of his literary power.

A pilgrim is one who travels, usually on a religious errand. The Pilgrims in our story were the one hundred and two religious pioneers who came to America in the Mayflower.

Topics for Conversation

1. Longfellow - his life and works.
2. The poem in what year written
the poet's career.

-

at what part of

or narrative. See How many forms Name two cele

3. Form of the poem- dramatic, lyric, if you can still further classify it. of narrative poem do you know? brated narrative poems and give the author of each. 4. What constitutes a plot? Is there a plot in The Courtship?

5. The climax of a story is usually the turning-point of the plot. In which chapter of The Courtship is the climax reached?

6. The dénouement is the unraveling of the plot. What is the dénouement in The Courtship?

7. What do we call the ending of a tragedy? Is it a happy ending?

« ПредишнаНапред »