Elson Grammar School Literature Part 13

Keen as are the arrows Of that silver sphere, Whose intense lamp narrows In the white dawn clear Until we hardly see--we feel that it is there.

All the earth and air With thy voice is loud, As, when Night is bare, From one lonely cloud The moon rains out her beams, and Heaven is overflowed.

What thou art we know not; What is most like thee?

From rainbow clouds there flow not Drops so bright to see As from thy presence showers a rain of melody.

Like a Poet hidden In the light of thought, Singing hymns unbidden Till the world is wrought To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not:

Like a high-born maiden In a palace tower, Soothing her love-laden Soul in secret hour With music sweet as love,--which overflows her bower:

Like a glow-worm golden In a dell of dew, Scattering unbeholden Its aerial hue Among the flowers and gra.s.s which screen it from the view:

Like a rose embowered In its own green leaves, By warm winds deflowered, Till the scent it give Makes faint with too much sweet those heavy-winged thieves:

Sound of vernal showers On the twinkling gra.s.s, Bain-awakened flowers, All that ever was Joyous and clear and fresh, thy music doth surpa.s.s,

Teach us, Sprite or Bird, What sweet thoughts are thine; I have never heard Praise of love or wine That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine.

Chorus Hymeneal, Or triumphal chaunt, Matched with thine, would be all But an empty vaunt, A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want.

What objects are the fountains Of thy happy strain?

What fields or waves or mountains?

What shapes of sky or plain?

What love of thine own kind? what ignorance of pain?

With thy clear keen joyance Languor cannot be; Shadow of annoyance Never came near thee; Thou lovest--but ne'er knew love's sad satiety.

Waking or asleep Thou of death must deem Things more true and deep Than we mortals dream-- Or how could thy notes flow in such a crystal stream?

We look before and after, And pine for what is not; Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught; Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.

Yet if we could scorn Hate and pride and fear; If we were things born Not to shed a tear, I know not how thy joy we ever should come near.

Better than all measures Of delightful sound, Better than all treasures That in books are found, Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground!

Teach me half the gladness That thy brain must know, Such harmonious madness From my lips would flow, The world should listen then--as I am listening now.

HELPS TO STUDY.

Biographical and Historical: Percy Bysshe Sh.e.l.ley was born in 1792. He was an English poet who traveled much in Europe, and found Italy especially to his liking. His life was short and full of storm and stress, although he never allowed his personal sufferings to embitter his spirit. While only thirty, on a pleasure cruise off the coast of Italy, he was drowned.

"To a Skylark" and "The Cloud" are rare poems because of their wonderful harmony of sound.

The skylark is found in northern Europe. It is noted for its lofty flights and wonderful song. Note that Sh.e.l.ley, Wordsworth, and James Hogg have all written poems about the skylark.

Notes and Questions.

What country is the home of these poets? What does this fact suggest to you?

Explain the simile in the fifth stanza. In the sixth.

In the seventh stanza what two words are contrasted?

Note the four comparisons--stanzas eight, nine, ten and eleven. Which do you like best? Why?

In line 86 emphasize the first word and explain the stanza.

In line 95 emphasize the fifth word and explain the stanza.

In line 96 to end, what does Sh.e.l.ley say would be the result if a poet could feel such joy as the little bird seems to feel?

If we had no dark days do you think we could appreciate the bright days?

If we had no sadness could we appreciate the songs of gladness?

If Sh.e.l.ley had never experienced sadness could he have written this beautiful poem of gladness?

Explain the following:

"There is no music in the life That sounds with empty laughter wholly; There's not a string attuned to mirth But has its chord in melancholy."

What does the skylark mean to Sh.e.l.ley?

If we think only of being happy shall we be very helpful to others?

Make a list of all the names he gives the skylark.

Enumerate the expressions Sh.e.l.ley uses in characterizing the song.

Which stanza do you like best? Why?

"wert" rhymes with heart. (In England the sound is broad, er=ar).

"even"--a contraction of evening.

Words and Phrases for Discussion.

"profuse strains"

"panted forth"

"heavy-winged thieves"

"unpremeditated art"

"rain of melody"

"harmonious madness"