3. THE ANTIQUITY OF FREEDOM. [In this lofty hymn we find the poet in still another mood, striking his lyre to the high theme of Liberty. The poem is written in blank verse. Define.] HERE are1 old trees, tall oaks and gnarléd2 pines, That stream with gray-green mosses; here the ground Was never trenched 3 by spade, and flowers spring up Unsown, and die ungathered. It is sweet To linger here, among the flitting birds And leaping squirrels, wandering brooks, and winds That shake the leaves, and scatter, as they pass, A fragrance from the cedars thickly set With pale-blue berries. In these peaceful shades, - O Freedom! thou art not, as poets dream, 6 With which the Roman master crowned his slave7 1 Here are, etc. In this intro- 4 Freedom. What is the figure ductory stanza the poet outlines a of speech? sweet bit of still life in the "peace- 5 fair young girl, etc. The charful shades" of the forest, as a back-acter in which the Goddess of Libground from which the moving and erty is usually represented in art. wrestling forms he introduces stand 6 gushing, etc. Substitute a prose out with admirable distinctness. expression. When he took off the gyves. A bearded man, Armed to the teeth,2 art thou: one mailéd hand Grasps the broad shield, and one the sword; thy brow, Glorious in beauty though it be, is scarred With tokens of old wars; thy massive limbs Are strong with struggling. launched Power at thee has His bolts, and with his lightnings smitten thee: They could not quench the life thou hast from heaven.5 Merciless Power has dug thy dungeon deep, And his swart 6 armorers, by a thousand fires, The links are shivered, and the prison-walls Thy birthright was not given by human hands: Thou wert twin-born with man. In pleasant fields, While yet our race was few, thou sat'st with him 1 gyves, fetters. 5 heaven, that which is heaven 2 Armed to the teeth. Explain or heaved up over our heads. this expression. 6 swart swarth and swarthy (An 8 qld wars, the struggles for lib-glo-Saxon sweart, German schwarz, erty which history records. 4 launched his bolts: i.e., put forth all his efforts to crush. What is the figure? black) of a dark or blackish hue. 7 Thy birthright: that is, the quality that makes freedom what it is. To tend the quiet flock, and watch the stars, - Thou shalt wax stronger with the lapse of years; But he shall fade into a feebler age, Feebler, yet subtler. He shall weave his snares, And spring them on thy careless steps, and clap His withered hands, and from their ambush call His hordes to fall upon thee. He shall send Quaint maskers, wearing fair and gallant forms To catch thy gaze, and uttering graceful words To charm thy car; while his sly imps, by stealth, Twine round thee threads of steel, light thread on thread That grow to fetters; or bind down thy arms 1 reed, a pastoral pipe or mu- + Quaint maskers. By the sical instrument made of the hol-"quaint maskers" and "sly imps" low joint of some plant. are meant the wiles, snares, and 2 Tyranny himself. What is the subtleties used by despots in the figure of speech? more advanced stages of civiliza 8 Is later born than thou. Ex- tion, to deprive the people of their plain. political rights. With chains concealed in chaplets.1 O! not yet And thou must watch and combat till the day rest A while from tumult and the frauds of men, 4. HYMN TO THE NORTH STAR. THE sad and solemn night Hath yet her multitude of cheerful fires: Walk the dark hemisphere till she retires; All through her silent watches, gliding slow, go.5 4 1 chaplets. See Webster for the 4 constellation (from Latin stella, interesting derivation of this word. | a star), a cluster or group of fixed stars, situated near each other in the heavens. 2 corselet. See Glossary. 8 solitudes invite, etc. By a skillful return the poet brings us back again to the opening scene of the poem. 5 The sad. . . go. Express in your own words the meaning of this stanza. Day, too, hath many a star To grace his gorgeous reign, as bright as they; Unseen, they follow in his flaming way:1 Many a bright lingerer, as the eve grows dim, Tells what a radiant troop arose and set with him. And thou dost see them rise, Star of the Pole! and thou dost see them set. Thou keep'st thy old unmoving station yet, There, at morn's rosy birth, Thou lookest meekly through the kindling air; Chases the day, beholds thee watching there; There noontide finds thee, and the hour that calls The shapes of polar flame to scale heaven's azure walls. Alike, beneath thine eye, The deeds of darkness and of light are done: Towns blaze, the smoke of battle blots the sun,5 1 in his flaming way. Whose? 2 bright lingerer. Explain. 8 Nor join'st the dances, etc. Explain the metaphor. 4 shapes of polar flame, the aurora borealis. 5 blots the sun. Change this poetical into a prose expression. |