1.-SONG-GEMS FROM THE PRINCESS. [Tennyson's Princess is "a medley," but a medley in which is a rare mingling of philosophic thought with sweetest interludes of song. The following four lyrics are from this poem.] 1. THE BUCLE-SONG. THE splendor falls on castle walls Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying, O hark, O hear! how thin and clear, The horns of Elf-land2 faintly blowing! O love, they die in yon rich sky, They faint on hill or field or river; Our echoes roll from soul to soul, And grow for ever and for ever. Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying; And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying. 1 Blow . . . dying. Point out examples of iteration. 2 Elf-land, the land of the elves, or fairies. 2. HOME THEY BROUGHT HER WARRIOR. Home they brought her warrior dead: "She must weep or she will die.” Then they praised him, soft and low, Yet she neither spoke nor moved. Stole a maiden from her place, Rose a nurse of ninety years, 3.- TEARS, IDLE TEARS, Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, 1 Stole ... stept. Change to the prose arrangement of words. 2 Like summer tempest. What is the figure of speech? Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail That brings our friends up from the under-world,1 Sad as the last which reddens over one That sinks with all we love below the verge; So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more. Ah! sad and strange as in dark summer dawns The casement slowly grows a glimmering square; Dear as remembered kisses after death, Sweet and low, sweet and low, Wind of the western sea, Low, low, breathe and blow, Wind of the western sea! Over the rolling waters go, Come from the dying moon, and blow, Blow him again to me; While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps. 1 up... under-world. Explain. | 2 pipe, note. Note 8 Sweet and low, etc. the musical effect of the repetition. Sleep and rest, sleep and rest, Father will come to thee soon; Under the silver moon: Sleep, my little one, sleep, my pretty one, sleep. [Ulysses was one of the principal Greek heroes of the Trojan war, and his exploits are celebrated by Homer in the Odyssey. In these noble lines, our poet represents Ulysses as the type of all aspiring souls.] IT little profits, that, an idle king, By this still hearth, among these barren crags,1 That hoard and sleep and feed, and know not me. 1 these barren crags. Meaning the Grecian island of Ithaca, of which Ulysses was king. 2 an aged wife, Penelope. 8 drink... lees. Explain. 4 Hyades, a cluster of five stars in the constellation Taurus. 5 vexed. What is the figure? And manners, climates, councils, governments 1 Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough Gleams that untraveled world whose margin fades For ever and for ever when I move. How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnished, not to shine in use! As though to breathe were life. Life piled on life Little remains; but every hour is saved 1 is an arch, etc. Observe this fine metaphor. 2 that eternal silence, death. 8 3 gray spirit. Explain. 4 by slow prudence, etc., is explanatory of "this labor." 5 centered... sphere, confined to, devoted to. |