Eulactic

Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes,
And pause awhile from letters to be wise;
There mark what ills the scholar's life assail,
Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail.
See nations, slowly wise, and meanly just,
To buried merit raise the tardy bust.
If dreams yet flatter, once again attend,
Hear Lydiat's life and Galileo's end.

JOHNSON.

The groves of Eden, vanished now so long,
Live in description, and look green in song:
These, were my breast inspired with equal flame,
Like them in beauty, should be like in fame.
Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain,
Here earth and water seem to strive again;
Not chaos-like together crushed and bruised,
But, as the world, harmoniously confused:
Where order in variety we see,

And where, though all things differ, all agree.
Here waving groves a chequered scene display,
And part admit, and part exclude the day;
As some coy nymph her lover's warm address
Nor quite indulges, nor can quite repress. - POPE.

Right against the eastern gate,

Where the great sun begins his state,
Robed in flames, and amber light,
The clouds in thousand liveries dight;
While the plowman, near at hand,
Whistles o'er the furrowed land,
And the milkmaid singeth blithe,
And the mower whets his sithe,

And every shepherd tells his tale

Under the hawthorn in the vale. MILTON.

In this, our happy and "progressive" age,
When all alike ambitious cares engage;

When beardless boys to sudden sages grow,
And "Miss" her nurse abandons for a beau;
When for their dogmas Non-Resistants fight,
When dunces lecture, and when dandies write;
When spinsters, trembling for the nation's fate,
Neglect their stockings to preserve the state;
When critic wits their brazen lustre shed
On golden authors whom they never read;
With parrot praise of "Roman grandeur" speak,
And in bad English eulogize the Greek;
When facts like these no reprehension bring,

May not, uncensured, an Attorney sing? - SAXE.

handwolve Stay & Busber!"k.

In the street I heard a thumping; and I knew it was the

stumping

Of the Corporal, our old neighbor, on that wooden leg he wore, With a knot of women round him, it was lucky I had found

him,

So I followed with the others, and the Corporal marched

Just across the narrow river O, so close it made me shiver !
Stood a fortress on the hill-top that but yesterday. was bare.

Jenny kissed me when we met,

Jumping from the chair she sat in.

Time, you thief! who love to get

Sweets into your list, put that in.

Say I'm weary, say I'm sad;

HOLMES.

Say that health and wealth have missed me;

Say I'm growing old, but add —

Jenny kissed me. - LEIGH HUNT.

Those evening bells! those evening bells!
How many a tale their music tells,

Of youth, and home, and that sweet time
When last I heard their soothing chime!

Those joyous hours are passed away;
And many a heart that then was gay,
Within the tomb now darkly dwells,

And hears no more those evening bells.

MOORE.

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,

To me did seem

Apparelled in celestial light,

The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;
Turn wheresoe'er I may,

By night or day,

The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

WORDSWORTH.

Abide with me! fast falls the even-tide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;
Earth's joys grow dim; its glories pass away;

Change and decay in all around I see;

O Thou who changest not, abide with me! - LYTE.

When I consider how my light is spent

Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,

And that one talent which is death to hide,
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
"Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?"
I fondly ask; but Patience, to prevent

That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts; who best

Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best; his state
Is kingly thousands at his bidding speed,

:

And post o'er land and ocean without rest;

They also serve who only stand and wait.” — MILTON.

NOTE

In addition to these selections the student might classify, as far as possible, the poetical extracts previously given. In some cases, owing to brevity, this classification will be difficult. Furthermore, the teacher might assign particular didactic, descriptive, satirical, or lyric poems for special study as to form, content, and mood. The special criteria of this chapter should be applied. A comparative study of Pope's "Windsor Forest," Goldsmith's "Deserted Village," and Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey" would be specially instructive, as showing the different ways of treating nature.

CHAPTER IX

EPIC AND DRAMATIC POETRY

59. The Epic. The epic is a long poem celebrating in stately verse some important and heroic event of the past. It may be based either on history or tradition, though in our greatest epics there is a commingling of the two. The method of the epic is chiefly narrative and descriptive. The theme is generally stated in the beginning, and the narrative, frequently interspersed with episodes, pursues an even course. Homer thus begins the "Iliad ”:

"Of Peleus' son Achilles, sing, O Muse,

The direful wrath, which sorrows numberless
Brought on the Greeks, and many mighty souls

Of youthful heroes, slain untimely, sent

To Pluto's dark abode, their bodies left

A prey to dogs and all the fowls of heaven."

Vergil begins the "Eneid" in a similar manner, and the opening lines of "Paradise Lost" follow classic models.

The structure of the epic may be determined from the fundamental conception of its nature. As a narrative of an important and heroic event, it should be simple, direct, and dignified in its treatment. The incidents should be introduced in a natural order, and their prominence should be regulated according to their