The Land of Song.
Book II.
by Various.
PREFACE.
The inestimable value of literature in supplying healthful recreation, in opening the mind to larger views of life, and in creating ideals that shall mold the spiritual nature, is conceded now by every one who has intelligently considered the problems of education. But the basis upon which literature shall be selected and arranged is still a matter of discussion.
Chronology, race-correspondence, correlation, and ethical training should all be recognized incidentally; but the main purpose of the teacher of literature is to send children on into life with a genuine love for good reading. To accomplish this, three things should be true of the reading offered: first, it should be _literature_; second, it should be literature of some scope, not merely some small phase of literature, such as the fables or the poetry of one of the less eminent poets; and third, it should appeal to children"s natural interests.
Children"s interests, varied as they seem, center in the marvelous and the preternatural; in the natural world; and in human life, especially child life and the romantic and heroic aspects of mature life. In the selections made for each grade, we have recognized these different interests.
To grade poetry perfectly for different ages is an impossibility; much of the greatest verse is for all ages--that is one reason why it _is_ great. A child of five will lisp the numbers of Horatius with delight; and Scott"s _Lullaby of an Infant Chief_, with its romantic color and its exquisite human tenderness, is dear to childhood, to manhood, and to old age. But the Land of Song is a great undiscovered country to the little child; by some road or other he must find his way into it; and these volumes simply attempt to point out a path through which he may be led into its happy fields.
Our earnest thanks are due to the following publishers for permission to use copyrighted poems: to Houghton, Mifflin & Co. for poems by Longfellow, Whittier, Emerson, Holmes, Lowell, Aldrich, Bayard Taylor, James T. Fields, Phoebe Cary, Lucy Larcom, Celia Thaxter, and Sarah Orne Jewett; to D. Appleton & Co. for a large number of Bryant"s poems; to Charles Scribner"s Sons for two poems by Stevenson, from _Underwoods_, and _A Child"s Garden of Verse_; to J. B. Lippincott & Co. for two poems by Thomas Buchanan Read; and to Henry T. Coates & Co. for a poem by Charles Fenno Hoffman.
The present volume is intended for the fourth, fifth, and sixth school years, or lower grammar grades. It is the second of three books prepared for use in the grades below the high school. As no collection of this size can supply as much poetry as may be used to advantage, and as many desirable poems by American writers have necessarily been omitted, we have noted at the end of this volume lists of poems which it would be well to add to the material given here, that our children may realize the scope and beauty of the poetry of their own land.
PART ONE.
THE DAFFODILS.
I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o"er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they Outdid the sparkling waves in glee; A poet could not but be gay In such a jocund company; I gazed--and gazed--but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.
TO DAFFODILS.
Fair Daffodils, we weep to see You haste away so soon; As yet the early-rising Sun Has not attained his noon; Stay, stay, Until the hasting day Has run But to the evensong; And, having prayed together, we Will go with you along.
We have short time to stay, as you; We have as short a spring; As quick a growth to meet decay As you, or anything: We die, As your hours do, and dry Away Like to the summer"s rain; Or as the pearls of morning"s dew, Ne"er to be found again.
ROBERT HERRICK.
DAFFODILS.
Daffodils That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty.
"_A Winter"s Tale._"
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.
THE HONEY-BEE.
For so work the honey-bees, Creatures that by a rule in nature teach The act of order to a peopled kingdom.
They have a king and officers of sorts; Where some, like magistrates, correct at home, Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad, Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings, Make boot upon the summer"s velvet buds, Which pillage they with merry march bring home To the tent-royal of their emperor; Who, busied in his majesty, surveys The singing masons building roofs of gold, The civil citizens, kneading up the honey, The poor mechanic porters crowding in Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate.
"_King Henry V._"
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
UPON THE MOUNTAIN"S DISTANT HEAD.
Upon the mountain"s distant head, With trackless snows forever white, Where all is still, and cold, and dead, Late shines the day"s departing light.
But far below those icy rocks, The vales in summer bloom arrayed, Woods full of birds, and fields of flocks, Are dim with mist and dark with shade.
"Tis thus, from warm and kindly hearts, And eyes whose generous meanings burn, Earliest the light of life departs, But lingers with the cold and stern.
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.
[Ill.u.s.tration: LORD BYRON.]
OH! WEEP FOR THOSE.