using a church hymnal for reference if necessary, and observing in each whether the rhythm is rising or falling, as: Jerusalem the golden. Lead, Kindly Light, amid th' encircling gloom. Onward, Christian soldiers. Softly now the light of day. VI Suggested Mental and later Oral: An observation study of Sidney Lanier's "Song of the Chattahoochee." 1 a Count the whole number of different riming syllables in this song, and let a different letter stand for each one, as shown here in the first stanza: b Compare the rimes of the poem with the following rime schemes, and decide whether these answer to the syllables used in the five stanzas. Note the interior rimes also, that is, those in the middle of lines, which are shown by the letters in parentheses: 2 List the four syllables used for the rimes in the first stanza. What syllable is added to three of these in the second? What two new ones are used in the third? What two more in the fourth? What one new one in the fifth? What is the only differ ence in rimes between the first and the fifth? Does the following list show, for each stanza, all rimes used in the poem? 3 (a) What syllable occurs most often of all and runs thru the entire poem like a chain binding the whole together? (b) (b) Is all a liquid, or smooth, sound? How many times does it occur? 4 Does the repeating over and over thus of the same sounds make this poem more like the river's own song? 5 Does the use of only ten riming syllables show more, or less skill than if many had been used? 6 Consider whether a large number of the words contain the liquids 7, m, n, and r. Does this fact still further help the music of this song? 7 Which lines in each stanza save one have double, or interior, rimes? Find one other line that has an interior rime. Find in the first stanza the only imperfect rime in the poem. Find in the last stanza an archaic, or olden, idiomatic use of for. Observe by the deeper indention of the two first and the two last lines that they are shorter than the others; and note also that these lines have three wave-groups each, while all the others have four. 8 a NOTE: In rising rhythm, lines often end with an extra unstressed syllable, as in heav'en. Habersham has two such syllables. Be sure to pronounce Hablesham with but one accent. b Does the rhythm employed in this poem seem to you exceedingly musical, hence well suited to use in describing a river's course? 9 a Study each me to see how many examples you can find of alliteration, that is, of beginning words with the same or similar sounds; as, laving laurel. b Do you think that the frequent alliterations add to the ease of pronouncing the words and tend to make the song still more ripple-like? 10 a What do the following words mean: amain, thrall, wrought, brawl, luminous, lures, fain, the main, myriad, avail, mortally? b How was it that the poplar "wrought " her shadowy self? 11 After reading this poem aloud to yourself several times, do you begin to enjoy its wonderful music? 12 If you have faith to believe when I tell you that this poem is probably America's most perfect example of beautiful rhythm combined with noble poetic thought, will you not commit the whole to memory, and then repeat it so often when alone that it shall become your very own forever? the dove, Do you ask what the birds say? The sparrow, "Answer to a Child's Question," by Samuel Taylor CHAPTER XVII STORY IN SONG All the world loves a good story and a good story-teller. In the ages long ago before our remote forefathers so much as dreamed of the art of printing, or of possible story books, the human race heard the same first stories sung over and over and over again, until many of them became as familiar as our own national hymn, America," is today. 66 You can easily see that in order to be sung, stories would need first of all to have rhythm, and you can see also that stories sung over and over again would naturally tend to grow into forms more and more rhythmical. The art of story-telling in song was formerly practiced freely even by peasants; and the man who excelled in this art often became a professional singer, traveling from place to place, and, like Tommy Tucker of nursery rime, singing for his supper," and also for his clothes and lodging and all his livelihood. Had it not been for the early bards, we should not have today those most famous epics, or heroic poems, which are a most precious inheritance among almost every important race of men. History gives us no more picturesque figures than those of the ancient Greek bards, the Saxon gleemen, the Scottish minstrels or harpers, the French troubadours and trouveres, the German meistersingers and minnesingers. As soon as John Gutenberg's great invention of printing by means of movable types was completed, it became possible for people to read stories; hence the beautiful art of singing them was, of course, doomed to perish, because it was the less necessary art of the two. This is always the way of progress, which sacrifices lesser blessings for the sake of greater ones. complain, even tho we may fancy that we Hence we must not should vastly enjoy today the privilege of entertaining at our own firesides some of those same wandering harpers. Fortunately for us, there are still preserved for our enjoyment many of the old song-stories which were once the chief delight of unlettered audiences who never used a pen nor saw a book. You may be interested to learn that Samuel Pepys, of whom with his famous diary you heard some time ago, collected five thousand of these old ballads into two great folio volumes, which are still in the library of Cambridge, England. I hope that your school library includes "The Boy's Percy," which contains many of the best of these early English ballads. Sidney Lanier, one of America's noblest poets, gathered together into this book such early English ballads as he thought boys would especially like, selecting these from the large and famous collection made by Bishop Percy and called Percy's Reliques of English Poetry." Probably Lanier had the interests of his own four boys in mind when preparing this and three other volumes of adventure, battles, customs, ballads, and other tales. At all events, his work is full of value and most children would enjoy these books. Here are a few lines from the introduction to "The Boy's Percy," which deserve your careful reading and rereading. Lanier says: * I have wished that this present work should bring before young readers mostly the strong and idiomatic English ballads of earlier date. By the term ballad we now commonly understand a narrative poem couched in homely words, the narrative being mostly either of war or simple love-adventure; but if there were room here to trace its history, it would soon carry us among the most romantic adventures of great kings and illustrious lovers. It would be pleasant to show the relation of this poetic form to that long line of fervent musicians and poets which begins * Reprinted by permission of the publishers, Charles Scribner's Sons. |