Journeys Through Bookland Volume X Part 34

"Babes in the Wood"; an allusion to the old story of the children who were lost in the woods, and whom the robins covered with leaves to protect them.

"All-father"; G.o.d, the Father of all.

"Leaden"; gray and heavy, lead-colored.

"Arched"; curved.

"Deep-plunged woe"; a sorrow that plunged us deep in misery.

"Eyes that saw not." His eyes were so filled with tears that he could not see "Mabel," who is really his daughter Rose.

"_My_ kiss was given to her sister." He was thinking so deeply of his lost daughter, that it seemed almost as though he kissed the dead lips.

"Folded close." The soft, downy snow made him think of a soft, warm covering for the form of his little one.

C. _Form and Structure._

There are ten stanzas of four verses (lines) each, with the rhymes at the ends of the second and fourth verses only. The word _snow_ is used four times in rhymes; the words rhyming with it are _crow_, _below_, _woe_ and _know_. All the rhymes in the poem are perfect.

The meter is varied iambic trimeter. The first and third lines of each stanza have an added unaccented syllable, while the second and fourth have just three full feet. Anapestic feet are used freely to improve the music; in fact, they are nearly as numerous as the iambic feet.

The scansion of the first stanza may be indicated thus:

The-snow' had-be-gun' in-the-gloam' ing And-bus' i-ly-all' the-night'

Had-been-heap' ing-field' and-high' way With-a-si' lence-deep' and-white'

The scansion of the sixth stanza may be shown as follows:

Up-spoke' our-own' lit-tle-Ma' bel Say-ing-Fa' ther-who-makes' it-snow'

And-I-told'of-the-good' All-Fa' ther Who cares' for-us-here' be-low'

They are musical stanzas, and the finely chosen words add much to the melody.

D. _Sentiment._ Lowell had a little daughter, Blanche, who died shortly before this poem was composed, so we may be sure that it was written from a full heart. He begins by giving us one of the most beautiful pictures of a snow-storm and of a snow-covered world that was ever written.

(Compare Lowell's other description of winter to be found in the second part of _The Vision of Sir Launfal_ and Whittier's description in _Snow-Bound_.)

When he has made us feel the softness, gentleness and beauty of the snow and caused us to forget that it is cold and damp, he speaks of himself.

We can see him sitting by the window looking out upon the beautiful pearl-clad world. He brings us right into his own presence and we can almost see the flocks of startled brown s...o...b..rds whirling by. Not till now, when we are fully in sympathy with him, does he let us know that he has met with a deep, heart-breaking loss. Now we know what the soft flakes are hiding from sight, and our hearts go out with his.

Then his innocent little daughter comes in with the simple, commonplace question which he answers so touchingly. Can you not see him with his arm around the child, telling her of the care of the Father who loves little children so dearly? Yet his mind cannot free itself wholly from his first great sorrow, though he remembers that calmness, resignation, and gentle patience fell over his heart as the soft snow falls flake by flake from the leaden sky.

To the child, however, he speaks words that she will not fully understand until she, too, is grown and has met with sorrow: "It is only the merciful Father, darling, who can make fall that gentle comfort that heals and hides all suffering."

Once more our hearts are wrung with sympathy when with tear-filled eyes he gives the little maiden by his side the kiss that was for the silent lips in sweet Auburn. The little one, kissing back, could not know the grief of her father's heart or realize that another form than hers was clasped in his embrace.

How much better we know the great poet when he tells us his personal griefs in so touching a manner! How sweet is the lesson of patience and resignation when communicated in such a beautiful poem!

E. _Beauty and Effectiveness in Phrasing._ Where in literature will you find more beautiful phrases, more effective figures, than abound in this poem? Notice particularly the following, and try to determine why each is remarkable:

"With a silence deep and white."

"Ermine too dear for an earl."

"Stiff rails softened to swan's down."

"The noiseless work of the sky."

"the leaden sky That arched o'er our first great sorrow."

"The scar of our deep-plunged woe."

"Folded close in deepening snow."

F. _Conclusion._ _The First Snowfall_ is one of the most perfect poems in our language. In beauty of composition, of music, of sentiment, and in deep religious feeling it can scarcely be excelled. Be guarded how you teach it; treat it reverently. Try to cause the children to love it, to wish to memorize it. If you see that you are not securing these results, leave the poem and take up something else. It is almost a sin to spoil it for any person.

_The Potato_

(Volume II, page 467)

Thomas Moore's amusing stanza may seem silly to some people, but those who have a sense of humor will be delighted with the whimsical conception of a potato with so independent a spirit. It usually spoils humor to comment upon it. To explain a joke is to kill it. The sense of humor is contagious. Children will laugh when older people smile just from sympathy. When they ask "what's the joke?" it is time to explain.

Even then it is best to give merely facts and let the joke make its own way. Laughter lightens many a heavy burden, and a sense of humor is a saving grace. Cultivate it by indirection.

_Origin of the Opal_

(Volume II, page 480)

The opal is a beautiful stone which seen at different angles and in different lights seems to glow with various colors. The polished surface may seem, as you first look at it, to be only a milky white.

Turn it a little and it glows a bright flame color with green lights round the margin. Turned a little more it shows violet and silver. Other shades mingle with these, all coming and going as light and position vary. A fine opal is a wonderfully brilliant precious stone.

The idea of the poem, too, is beautiful. Here is a transparent dewdrop; in it is the flame of the last ray of sun. As the drop lies in the violet it takes that color, and steals from the rose her delicate shades. From the sky it draws the blue, from a leaf its green and silver. When all these colors have been taken in, the drop is congealed, and imprisoned in its heart are the fiery flame, the rich violet, the rose tints, the skyey blue, the delicate green and the gleaming silver.

This is the opal.

_The Barefoot Boy_

(Volume IV, page 3)

On page 5 occur the lines,

"Mine, on bended orchard trees, Apples of Hesperides!"

According to the old Greeks, there lay far to the west, in the ocean, a wonderful island where were kept, under the guard of a gruesome dragon, the beautiful golden apples which Gaea gave as a wedding present to Zeus. The Hesperides were the three daughters of Night, who ruled the guardian dragon. These golden apples, then, came to be known as the apples of Hesperides. When Hercules in his madness had slain his three children he was condemned to do whatever his cousin Eurystheus demanded for his purification. His tasks came to be known as the Twelve Labors of Hercules, and the eleventh was to obtain the golden apples from the Hesperides. He accomplished this task among the others, but the apples were subsequently restored. To the barefoot boy the apples of his New England tree were as choice as the golden ones of the Greek myth.

Do not fail to see the exquisite picture painted by these beautiful descriptive lines on pages 5 and 6.