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show study of nature? How does it show imagination? What expressions show that Emerson knew country life. Does he show knowledge of architecture? What contrast does he suggest at the end of the poem ?

Comparing Longfellow's Rain in Summer with the Snow-Storm, which shows closer observation of details? Comparing Whittier's Snowbound with the Snow-Storm, which has more of the human element? Which shows the more sympathetic thought of the animals? In these last two poems, which description of the coming of the storm do you prefer? Why? Which description of the scene in the morning is the more simple and natural? Why? Which description of the fireside do you prefer? Why? Is Emerson's poem simply a picture of a snow-storm, or has it a moral ?

HYMN:

SUNG AT THE COMPLETION OF THE CONCORD MONUMENT.

Emerson's grandfather, Rev. William Emerson, watched the Concord fight from his own doorstep, and would have taken part in it, if his parishioners had not prevented. His account of it may be found in Emerson's works (Vol. XI., Riverside edition).

William Emerson's sermon of March 13, 1775, on 2 Chronicles xiii. 12, did much to arouse and encourage the brave men of Concord. A few days before the fight he preached even more boldly on "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God."

That the monument should have been placed where the British stood was a great grievance to one of the Concord farmers, and he left money to mark the position occupied by the colonists, and to build a footbridge where the old bridge had stood at the time of the battle. April 19, 1875, the well-known statue of the Minute-man was unveiled. On this occasion Emerson delivered a short address, which is given in full in G. W. Cooke's Ralph Waldo Emerson, page 182.

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8. "The Concord River is a languid, shallow stream that loiters through broad meadows, which fringe it with rushes and long grasses.' (G. W. Curtis.)

Describe the Concord fight. What was its value to the colonists ? What is the highest motive with which a Concord farmer might have fought? a British soldier? What does embattled mean as used here ? Explain line 11? What Spirit is meant in line 13? What lines are

figurative? What is the best line in the poem? Why? Is it literal or figurative?

THE HUMBLE-BEE.

16. Emerson's son calls attention to the fact that his father's early verses scan and rhyme perfectly, but lack the originality of his later work. Emerson himself writes (The Poet) that what makes a poem is not metres, but "a thought so passionate and alive that . . . it has an architecture of its own, and adorns nature with a new thing." 57. Cf. Emerson's lines To J. W.:

"Life is too short to waste

In critic peep or cynic bark."

Why would Emerson be more inclined to write on a bee than on a nightingale or a skylark? How is imagination shown in line 2? Why does Emerson connect the bee with the torrid zone? In stanza 3, which is the most poetical line? How is green applicable to silence? Why had the bee seen no evil? Would lines 54-55 be a good motto? Which adjectives or epithets applied to the bee show observation, and which show imagination? What words show that Emerson noticed color, light, sound, motion, fragrance? Judging from this poem, which of these seemed to give him most pleasure? Where is the most beautiful description? Which lines would make the best pictures? Why does Emerson call the bee wise? What lines of the poem are apart from his personal experience? Explain the last two lines. Why would the metre of the Snow-Storm have been inappropriate to this subject?

FORBEARANCE.

Emerson had little sympathy with a purely scientific knowledge of nature. He says, in Blight:

"But these young scholars who invade our hills,

Bold as the engineer who fells the wood,

And traveling often in the cut he makes,

Love not the flower they pluck, and know it not,
And all their botany is Latin names.'

3. Daniel i. 8-14.

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Is a man likely to be a better naturalist because he is a good sportsman? What pleasures has the one addressed in the poem given up?

Does he receive any compensation? What is "high behavior"? What kind of ideals lead to it? What kind of speech is meant in line 6? Does Emerson mean that he would not express his appreciation ? What qualities does he desire in a friend?

THE RHODORA.

Describe the home of the rhodora. Why does Emerson describe the place before the flower? Which seems to have been first in his mind, the picture or the moral? Is the moral contained in lines 9-12, or 13-16? Why is beauty "its own excuse for being"? Does Emerson suggest that the rhodora's beauty is of any use? Can beauty of any kind be wasted? What do you mean by a thing's being wasted?

EACH AND ALL.

Emerson's belief that "all are needed by each one," he carried into the world of human beings as well as that of nature. He himself said that much of the best society he had ever known was in a club at Concord called the Social Circle, consisting always of twenty-five citizens, doctor, lawyer, farmer, trader, miller, mechanic, etc., solidest of men, who yielded the solidest of gospel. His son says that Emerson always liked to speak with the fishermen, wood-choppers, and drivers of cattle whom he met on his walks. He never took an attitude of superiority. The story is told of a working woman who admitted that she did not understand his lectures. "But," she said, "I like to go and see him stand up there and look as if he thought every one was as good as he was. In this Emerson is like Whittier, who, Mrs. Field says, liked nothing better than going into "the store" at Amesbury, and sitting on a barrel to hear "folks talk."

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32. Choir: a company moving rhythmically.

In what part of a poem is the main thought usually placed? Is Emerson careful to follow the custom? Which two lines give the main thought of this poem? Which of these two do lines 1-10 illustrate? In how many ways? Is there any climax in these illustrations? What are Emerson's three illustrations of the second line of the main thought? Is there any special arrangement of the objects enumerated in lines 40-47 ? In lines 1-36, why has he found beauty deceptive? In lines 37-39, does he mean that truth is opposed to beauty? (Cf. line 12.) Is it beauty, or his interpretation of beauty, that has

deceived him? Can one person see all the beauty in a landscape? Why? Can one person see all the truth on any subject? Would Emerson's reasoning in line 12 apply to truth? What happens if we give up trying to see more truth? (Cf. Self-Reliance, 26, sentence 2; also Matthew xxv. 29.) What lines seem to you best worth remembering?

FORERUNNERS.

An exquisite little poem, expressing metaphorically the thought that even if perfection is unattainable, the nearer one comes to it, the more perfect is one's possession of the " peace that hallows rudest ways." Do not try to interpret the metaphors literally.

4. Leaguer: camp.

36. Laughter: here, as also in the World-Soul, 102, Emerson thinks of laughter as a mark of joy, rather than of amusement. He says in his journal, "The wise are always cheerful"; but he had no sympathy with the "loud laugh that shows the vacant mind."

Note the words used in an unusual manner; the comparisons; the musical lines; the delicacy of the traces left by the "happy guides." Comparing this poem with the Humble-Bee, in which are color, sound, fragrance, more distinct? Why? In line 3, what is the subject of breaks? What are the associations with the harp (line 36)? Why compare this laughter to the harp, rather than to the flute or the piano? Is any part of this poem literal?

WOODNOTES.

This description of the "forest seer" applies so well to Emerson's friend Thoreau that it has often, but erroneously, been thought to picture him. Much of it was written before Emerson knew Thoreau, and seems to be a kind of presaging of the friend to come. See biographical sketch of Thoreau in Emerson's works (Riverside edition, Vol. X., page 421).

1-12. Even this slight and almost conventional touch of repining is omitted in later editions.

30. Fantastic: unreal.

35. Thoreau talks of the "mysteries of the number six."

63. Haps happening upon what he most wished to see. 101. Event: result.

130. Public: belonging to all nature.

1.

Lines 13-16: cf. Forbearance, lines 1-2. Line 22: is the poet glad because of this, or does he repine? Line 35: illustrate nature's use of the number five and the star-form. Lines 40-42: how does Emerson's thought suddenly broaden ? Cf. Each and All, lines 9-10.

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How was this lover of nature a "seer"? What is the "natural year"? What is the derivation of harbinger? What "spheres are meant? Why are they coupled with tides in Emerson's thought? Can one know nature if he does not love her? Can you understand a person whom you dislike? Why? In line 58, what does and connect? What is meant by "its long-descended race"?

3.

Line 82 from whom does the Linnæa take its name? Who is the 66 man of flowers"? Lines 89-93: explain plant, living towers, green tents. How were the tents "by eldest Nature dressed"? Line 97: how could his "great heart" make him a hermit? Why did he not need to ask his way? Cf. line 105; also Self-Reliance, 39, "The wise man," etc.

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From the change of metre do you expect a lighter or a more serious theme? Line 117: why is the peasant lowly great"? Line 123: why does Emerson call the shadows "proud"? How has he shown his knowledge of nature and his sympathy with her? What irregularities of metre do you notice? Are they a blemish? What is the moral of this poem ?

THE WORLD-SOUL.

Emerson thinks of the world as possessing a soul, and as being capable of good and of evil. Over the world is its guardian spirit, or dæmon, that will lead it to final good. In the first stanza, Emerson hopes for good from the analogy of nature; in the second and third, he pictures the evil in the world; in stanzas 4-8, the nearness of good; in 6-10, the certainty that good will triumph.

3. Emerson makes many references to New Hampshire. He liked to use tools that lay at hand, and he valued especially the view of

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