Biography. John Townsend Trowbridge (1827-1916) was an AmericaL author. His home was in Cambridge, Mass., within the shadow of Harvard College. At one time he was one of the editors of Our Young Folks' Magazine. "Midwinter" and "Darius Green and His Flying Machine" are two of his poems most widely known. Discussion. 1. Compare the picture that the first stanza gives you with that given you in the first stanza of "Snow-Flakes" and that given you by the first ten lines of "The Snow Storm." 2. Compare the picture that the fourth stanza gives you with that given by lines 17-22 of "The Snow Storm." 3. In the fourth stanza, what does the poet say the snowstorm does? 4. What does the poet mean by "muffled wizard of the wood"? 5. What pictures does the sixth stanza give you? 6. Which of these descriptions seems nost apt? 7. What does the poet mean by "inmost ear"? 8. Com s meaning with that of "inward eye" in Wordsworth's "The Daffo d with "eyes in the heart" in Lowell's "To the Dandelion." 9. What heavenly thoughts" suggested by the scene do for the poet? BLOW, BLOW, THOU WINTER WIND Blow, blow, thou winter wind, Thou art not so unkind As man's ingratitude; Thy tooth is not so keen Because thou art not seen, Although thy breath be rude. Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly; This life is most jolly. Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky, Thou dost not bite so nigh. As benefits forgot; NOTES AND QUESTIONS Biography. William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was the greatest English poet, and was one of the greatest poets the world has ever known. He wrote for all times and all peoples. He was born at Stratford-on-Avon, where fifty-two years later he died. At the age of twenty-two he removed to London, where for twenty years he wrote poems and plays, was an actor, and later a shareholder in the theater. The last six years of his life he spent quietly at Stratford. This song is from the comedy As You Like It, a story of the adventures of a group of courtiers and rustics in the forest of Arden. A charming element in Shakespeare's romantic comedies is the introduction of songpoems or lyrics. All the writers of those days, the days of Good Queen Bess, wrote songs. England was "a nest of singing birds." They were real songs, too, filled with joy and musical language, and all the people sang them to the accompaniment of the quaint musical instruments of the time. And all the people took part in games and pageants in "Merrie England," and listened to the strange tales of seafarers, and went to the playhouse to see Shakespeare's As You Like It. Discussion. 1. Why is the thought of green holly appropriate in connection with the winter wind? 2. What feeling does ingratitude arouse? 3. Why does the poet say the "tooth" of the wind is not so keen as man's ingratitude? · 4. What change of feeling do you notice after line 6? 5. What do you think caused the change? 6. In the second stanza read lines that show the poet did not really think that "life is most jolly." 7. Which lines explain the poet's distrust of friendship? 8. Which word in stanza 1 is explained by line 3 of stanza 2? 9. Find a word in stanza 1 that gives the same thought as the second line of the second stanza. 10. Give the meaning of "warp" in stanza 2 (an old Saxon proverb said, "Winter shall warp water"). benefits forgot, 84, 13 Phrases friendship is feigning, 84, 18 WHEN ICICLES HANG BY THE WALL WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE When icicles hang by the wall, And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, And Tom bears logs into the hall, And milk comes frozen home in pail, When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul, This is the second part of a song of four stanzas, found in the comedy Love's Labor's Lost. The first two stanzas are descriptive of spring, and introduce the song of the cuckoo. The last two stanzas are given here. Discussion. 1. Do these lines describe life, in the city or in the country? 2. What does the use of names, Dick, Tom, Joan, and Marian, add to the poem? 3. For what use were logs brought into the hall? 4. Can you see fitness in the use of the word “greasy”? 5. What is the song of the owl? 6. Explain the second line of stanza 2. 7. Why is the owl called “staring”? blows his nail, 85, 2 ways be foul, 85, 5 staring owl, 86, 1 Phrases keel the pot, 86, 4 parson's saw, 86, 6 brooding in the snow, 86, 7 |