CAUTIONS: a. The sense-accent or emphasis is on his; the verse-accent on steed must be avoided. b. The phrase drink one cup must be uttered with a certain quiet melancholy emphasis. c. A long, but not violent, emphasis on ne'er. MEANINGS: 1. Save, except. 2. Unarmed, without any armour. 3. Dauntless, fearless. 4. Brake, thicket. 5. Alighted, got off his horse. 6. Gallant, brave, spirited young fellow. 7. Laggard, slow-coach. Dastard, coward. 8. Craven, without any spirit. 9. Swells like the Solway, but ebbs like its tide, grows fast and dies away fast. The Solway has a wide estuary, up which the tide runs with great speed. 10. Lead but one measure, dance one dance. 11. Bar, prevent. 12. Galliard, brave, handsome, and sprightly young man. Fume, get in a rage. 14. Charger, war-horse. 15. Croup, the place behind the saddle. 16. Scaur, steep bank. 17. Forsters, Fenwicks, and Musgraves, names of families in the north of England. 13. THE DEATH OF THE OLD YEAR. This is a poem by Mr. TENNYSON. The idea of it is the ordinary one-that the year is a person, and that he dies on the 31st of December. The new year is represented as a young heir riding post-haste to see his father before he dies. The poem expresses the natural regret or sorrow we all have in seeing another year gone out of our lives, and what seemed like an old friend dead and beyond recall. FULL knee-deep lies the winter snow, And the winter winds are wearily sighing: Toll ye the church bells sad and slow, And tread softly and speak low, For the Old Year lies a-dying. Old Year, you must not die; You lived with us só Old Year, you shall steadily," not die. THE COLLIER'S DYING CHILD. Old Year, you shall not die. He was full of joke and jest, But all his merry quips are o'er; His son and heir doth ride post-haste, But he'll be dead before. Every one for his own. The night is starry and cold, my friend; 117 And the New Year blythe and bold, my friend, His face is growing sharp and thin, Alack! our friend is gòne: Close up his eyes; tie up his chin; Step from the corpse, and let him in That standeth there alone, And waiteth at the door. There's a new foot on the floor, my friend, And a new face at the door, my friend, A new face at the door. CAUTIONS: a. The change from the mere narrative in the first four lines to the conversational tone in the second four must be noted, and requires considerable care in the reading. b. Wearily has a pause after it in order to give it a long emphasis. c. The same is the case with so. d. He has no other life above, in contradistinction to human beings. e. The emphasis on him contradicts the verse-accent. MEANINGS: 1. True-love, sweetheart. 2. Frothed, filled and headed with froth. 3. Waxing, the Old English word for growing. 4: Quips, small jokes. It is a brother word to quibble. 0 THE COLLIER'S DYING CHILD. This is a short poem on the death of the only child of a poor collier. It should be read with great clearness and slowness. THE Cottage was a thatched one, its outside old and mean; Yet everything within that cot was wondrous neat and clean : 1 The night was dark and stormy,-the wind was blowing wild; "Mother! the angels do so smile, and beckon 'Little Jim'!” "I have no pain, dear mother, now; but, oh! I am so dry; 66 Tell father, when he comes from work, I said 'Good night' to him; And, mother, now I'll go to sleep.' Alas! poor "Little Jim!" The cottage door is opened the collier's step is heard; In heaven once more that they may meet their own poor "Little CAUTION: There is no instance in this poem of the verse-accent misleading. The lines are very easy to read, if the reader sympathises with the feeling in them. MEANINGS 1. Briny, salt. 2. Fain, like to. SOMEBODY'S SÓN. In the American War of 1861-5, many soldiers were killed whose_names were not known, and of whom no tidings ever went to their friends; and many families are still in mourning for sons of whom they have never since heard. To prevent this terrible evil, every German soldier in the Franco-German war of 1870-1, had his name and address written on leather and sewn inside his coat.. INTO a ward of the whitewashed halls, THE COMPLAINTS OF THE POOR. Wounded by bayonets, shells, and balls, Matted and damp are the curls of gold, Back from his beautiful blue-veined brow Somebody's Darling is still and cold. 119 CAUTION: The dactyls introduced have a tendency to make the reading of these verses too rapid, tripping, and (to coin a word) jumpy. Great care must be taken to avoid this; and the lines must be read with great slowness and solemnity. THE COMPLAINTS OF THE POOR. Two men are talking about the poor; and one of them says, "I don't see that the poor have much to grumble about." "Would you like to know," replies the other, "what the poor have to complain of? Then come with me." They go out; and the rich man gets his answer. "AND wherefore do the poor complain ?"" The rich man asked of me; b "Come walk abroad with me," I said, "And I will answer thee." We met a young bare-footed child, She said her father was at home, We saw a woman sitting down I asked her why she loitered there, She told us that her husband served, she CAUTIONS: This poem is easy enough to understand, but very difficult to read, as the verse accent and the sense-accent are constantly interfering with each other. The greatest care must therefore be taken to make the right pauses, and to group together the right words. a. The very first line contains this difficulty. The verse-accent is on do. It should be read thus: "And-wherefore do-the-poor-complain ?" b. The verse-accent on me must be carefully avoided, and the line read just as if it were prose. c. This line must also be read as if it were prose, and without any accent on thee. d. This line must be read with great slowness. e. Avoid the verse-accent on she. f. Avoid the verse-accent on had. g. Avoid the verseaccent on was. Make a short pause after wind, and dwell as long as you can upon so and chill. h. The pause after therefore will enable the reader to avoid the accent on to. i. This line must be read slowly and impressively, but just as if it were prose. MEANINGS: 1. Parish, the place where she had lived, and upon which she had a claim by law; she meant to live in the workhouse until her husband came back. |