ee old forms of speech? 13. What is a "friendly brawl"? a luminous jewel"? 14. Put into simpler words "Made lures with the lights of streaming stone." (The lights streaming from the stone are meant - lights so brilliant that the stone itself seems to stream out with them.) 15. Rewrite the last stanza in simple prose, explaining "be mixed with the main," "mortally yearn." 16. Name all the different things that tried to stop the stream. 17. Think of yourself as having a duty to do, and mention some things that might try to call you from it. 18. Memorize the poem. 19. Compare with Tennyson's "The Song of the Brook" (Book Five, page 212). How are the two poems alike and how different? Notice how Tennyson also uses alliteration. Songs of other poets addressed to streams are Burns's "Flow Gently, Sweet Afton," Bryant's "The Rivulet," Southey's "The Cataract of Lodore," Longfellow's "To the River Charles," Hayne's "The River," and Father Ryan's "A Song of the River" (for the last, see Advanced Literary Reader, Part I). Lanier's "Tampa Robins" may be read in this grade, but will be better a year later (see Advanced Literary Reader, Part I). Chattahoochee (Chăt ́tà hōo'chêe). laurel, a shrub with glossy leaves. fondling (fŏnd' ́líng): caressing. dewberry: a kind of blackberry borne on long trailing vines. manifold (măn ́i fōld): many and different. wrought (wrought): made. brawl (brawl): here, a confused noise the main the sea. : myriad (myr'i ăd): a great number. mortally yearn: are filled with eager longing, as if life depended upon having their desire. PIPPA'S SONG ROBERT BROWNING [Pippa worked in the silk mills of Asolo. She was a girl who loved a holiday as only a child can, but she was poor and could spend no time in play. She had but one holiday in all the year. 5 This holiday dawned bright and beautiful. Pippa leaped from her bed, dressed quickly, and set out, up the hillside, through the dewy grass, singing as she went. She was so happy she could not help singing, and the first words that she sang were: 10 15 20 "All service ranks the same with God; .. there is no last nor first." On she went, over the hill, and passed a house where a man had done wrong; and he heard her singing: १९ God's in his heaven!" cried the man, and at once he felt the deepest sorrow for what he had done. Pippa went on singing. She passed another house where a man was quarreling with his young wife and was about to leave her. He heard the song and kissed 5 his wife, and they were both happy again. Toward evening Pippa passed a ruined tower, and as she went she sang another song, and a young man heard it who was hiding there. His life was in danger, for men were seeking him to do him harm, and he did 10 not know whether to stay or to go boldly out. Something in the song inspired him to go, and he was saved. As Pippa was coming home at night, tired but happy, she passed a great castle where a nobleman was being tempted to do a sinful deed. He was almost ready to 15 yield, when he heard the sweet girlish song and put away the temptation and was kept from sin. When Pippa went to bed that night, she did not know how much good she had done. It had been only a holiday.] QUESTIONS AND HELPS 1. Tell what happened on Pippa's holiday. 2. Why do you think Pippa was so happy? 3. Memorize the lines "All service ranks the same with God; . . . there is no last nor first." This means that in God's sight little deeds are as important as great ones; that no one deed should be called first in importance, and another last. What little deed of Pippa's had a great effect on other people? 4. Memorize the song beginning "The year's at the spring.' 5. What is meant by the first line of it? the second? 6. Shut your eyes and try to see the picture of the hillside "dewpearled." Then describe it. 7. Tell what you can about a lark; a snail. 8. What does the word "his" before heaven add to the force of line 20? 9. Why is it all right with the world? 10. What lesson do you think Browning meant to teach in the story of Pippa? Think of the song as bubbling over with joy, and express this in reading or reciting it. Asolo (Â ́şʊ lō) : on the thorn: on the hawthorn. |