HELPS TO STUDY.
Notes and Questions.
What does "snow-bound" mean?
Find a line in the poem which explains the t.i.tle.
Where is the scene of the poem laid? Find lines in the poem that tell you this.
Of whom did the circle gathered around the fire consist?
What members of the family are not described in the poem? Why?
Which one of the group can you see most plainly? Why?
Select the lines which please you most in the description of each.
Read four lines which show that the evening"s pleasure was not disturbed by the storm.
In what respects does the room described differ from one in your home?
How long was the family "snow-bound"?
Of what did their library consist?
What does Whittier tell us about the brook?
What other poem have you read which describes a brook in Winter? By whom was it written?
What messenger put the household again in touch with the outside world?
What did he bring?
Explain, what Whittier means by saying the family looked on nothing they could call their own after the heavy snow?
What is the meaning of the reference to "Pisa"s leaning miracle"?
Who was Aladdin?
What were his "lamp"s supernal powers"?
What effect did the moonlight have upon the night?
Of what are cypress trees a symbol?
What do the stars shining through the cypress trees symbolize?
What is the voice which Whittier says bids the dreamer leave his dream!
What lines do you think best show the poet"s appreciation of beauty in nature?
Choose the lines which you like best as showing his deep affections.
Read lines which show his faith.
Of what is the poet thinking when he speaks of the "restless sands"
incessant fall"?
To what mythological characters does he refer when he speaks of the "threads the fatal sisters spun"?
What mythological characters are meant by "the heathen Nine"?
Words and Phrases for Discussion.
"Apollonius"
"Hermes"
"Egypt"s Amun"
"Surrey hills"
"silhouette"
"White of Selborne"
"clean-winged hearth."
"Petruchio"a Kate"
"Siena"s saint"
"cranes of Nilua"
THE SHIP-BUILDERS
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER
The sky is ruddy in the east, The earth is gray below, And, spectral in the river-mist, The ship"s white timbers show.
Then let the sounds of measured stroke And grating saw begin; The broad-axe to the gnarled oak, The mallet to the pin!
Hark!--roars the bellows, blast on blast, The sooty smithy jars, And fire-sparks, rising far and fast, Are fading with the stars.
All day for us the smith shall stand Beside that flashing forge; All day for us his heavy hand The groaning anvil scourge.
From far-off hills, the panting team For us is toiling near; For us the raftsmen down the stream Their island barges steer.
Rings out for us the axe-man"s stroke In forests old and still,-- For us the century-circled oak Falls crashing down his hill.
Up!--up!--in n.o.bler toil than ours No craftsmen bear a part: We make of Nature"s giant powers The slaves of human Art.
Lay rib to rib and beam to beam, And drive the treenails free; Nor faithless joint nor yawning seam Shall tempt the searching sea!
Where"er the keel of our good ship The sea"s rough field shall plough,-- Where"er her tossing spars shall drip With salt-spray caught below-- That ship must heed her master"s beck, Her helm obey his hand, And seamen tread her reeling deck As if they trod the land.