English Grammar in Familiar Lectures Part 37

O how shall I, with heart prepared, Those terrors learn to meet?

How, from the thousand snares to guard My unexperienced feet?

TRANSPOSED.

For see thou, ah! see thou a hostile world _to_ raise its terrors, and see thou a hostile world _to_ spread its delusive snares, while I yet tread her (_virtue's_) ways with doubtful steps.

O how shall I learn to meet those terrors with a prepared heart? How shall I learn to guard my unexperienced feet from the thousand snares of the world?

THE MORNING IN SUMMER.--THOMPSON.

Short is the doubtful empire of the night; And soon, observant of approaching day, The meek-eyed morn appears, mother of dews, At first, faint gleaming in the dappled east, Till far o'er ether spreads the wid'ning glow, And from before the l.u.s.tre of her face White break the clouds away.

TRANSPOSED.

The doubtful empire of the night is short; and the meek-eyed morn, (_which is the_) mother of dews, observant of approaching day, soon appears, gleaming faintly, at first, in the dappled east, till the widening glow spreads far over ether, and the white clouds break away from before the l.u.s.tre of her face.

NATURE BOUNTIFUL.--AKENSIDE.

--Nature's care, to all her children just, With richest treasures, and an ample state, Endows at large whatever happy man Will deign to use them.

TRANSPOSED.

Nature's care, which is just to all her children, largely endows, with richest treasures and an ample state, that happy man who will deign to use them.

NOTE. _What_, in the second example, is a comp. rel. The antecedent part is gov. by _teach_ understood; and the relative part by _to feel_ expressed. _To shun_ and _to pursue_, in the third example, are in the infinitive mood, gov. by _than_, according to a NOTE under Rule 23. _Faint_ and _from_, in the 5th example, are adverbs.

An adverb, in poetry, is often written in the form of an adjective.

_Whatever_, in the last sentence, is a compound p.r.o.noun, and is equivalent to _that_ and _who. That_ is an adj. p.r.o.n. belonging to "man;" _who_ is nom. to "will deign;" and _ever_ is excluded from the sentence in sense. See page 113. Pa.r.s.e these examples as they are transposed, and you will find the a.n.a.lysis very easy.

ADDITIONAL EXERCISES IN PARSING.

GOLD, NOT GENUINE WEALTH.

Where, thy true treasure? Gold says, "not in me;"

And, "not in me," the Diamond. Gold is poor.

TRANSPOSED.

Where is thy true treasure? Gold says, "It is not in me;" and the Diamond says, "It is not in me." Gold is poor.

SOURCE OF FRIENDSHIP.--DR. YOUNG.

Lorenzo, pride repress; nor hope to find A friend, but what has found a friend in thee.

TRANSPOSED.

Lorenzo, repress thou pride; nor hope thou to find a friend, only in him who has already found a friend in thee.

TRUE GREATNESS.--POPE.

Who n.o.ble ends by n.o.ble means obtains, Or, failing, smiles in exile or in chains, Like good Aurelius let him reign, or bleed Like Socrates, that man is great indeed.

TRANSPOSED.

That man is great indeed, let him _to_ reign like unto good Aurelius, or let him _to_ bleed like unto Socrates, who obtains n.o.ble ends by n.o.ble means; or that man is great indeed, who, failing to obtain n.o.ble ends by n.o.ble means, smiles in exile or in chains.

INVOCATION.--POLLOK.

Eternal Spirit! G.o.d of truth! to whom All things seem as they are, inspire my song; My eye unscale: me what is substance teach; And shadow what, while I of things to come, As past rehearsing, sing. Me thought and phrase Severely sifting out the whole idea, grant.

TRANSPOSED.

Eternal Spirit! G.o.d of truth! to whom all things seem to be as they really are, inspire thou my song; and unscale thou my eyes: teach thou _to_ me the thing which is substance; and teach thou _to_ me the thing which is shadow, while I sing of things which are to come, as one sings of things which are past rehearsing. Grant thou _to_ me thought and phraseology which shall severely sift out the whole idea.

THE VOYAGE OF LIFE.

How few, favored by ev'ry element, With swelling sails make good the promised port, With all their wishes freighted! Yet ev'n these, Freighted with all their wishes, soon complain.

Free from misfortune, not from nature free, They still are men; and when is man secure?

As fatal time, as storm. The rush of years Beats down their strength; their numberless escapes In ruin end: and, now, their proud success But plants new terrors on the victor's brow.

What pain, to quit the world just made their own!

Their nests so deeply downed and built so high!-- Too low they build, who build beneath the stars.

TRANSPOSED.

How few persons, favored by every element, safely make the promised port with swelling sails, and with all their wishes freighted! Yet even these few persons who do safely make the promised port with all their wishes freighted, soon complain. Though they are free from misfortunes, yet (_though_ and _yet_, corresponding conjunctions, form only _one_ connexion) they are not free from the course of nature, for they still are men; and when is man secure? Time is as fatal to him, as a storm is to the mariner.--The rush of years beats down their strength; (_that is, the strength of these few_;) and their numberless escapes end in ruin: and then their proud success only plants new terrors on the victor's brow. What pain it is to them to quit the world, just as they have made it to be their own world; when their nests are built so high, and when they are downed so deeply!--They who build beneath the stars, build too low for their own safety.

REFLECTIONS ON A SCULL.--LORD BYRON.

Remove yon scull from out the scattered heaps.

Is that a temple, where a G.o.d may dwell?

Why, ev'n the worm at last disdains her shattered cell!

Look on its broken arch, its ruined wall, Its chambers desolate, and portals foul; Yes, this was once ambition's airy hall, The dome of thought, the palace of the soul.

Behold, through each lack-l.u.s.tre, eyeless hole, The gay recess of wisdom and of wit, And pa.s.sion's host, that never brooked control.

Can all, saint, sage, or sophist ever writ, People this lonely tower, this tenement refit?

TRANSPOSED.

Remove thou yonder scull out from the scattered heaps. Is that a temple, where a G.o.d may dwell? Why, even the worm at last disdains her shattered cell! Look thou on its broken arch, and look thou on its ruined wall, and on its desolate chambers, and on its foul portals:--yes, this scull was once ambition's airy hall; (_it was_) the dome of thought, the palace of the soul. Behold thou, through each lack-l.u.s.tre, eyeless hole, the gay recess of wisdom and of wit, and pa.s.sion's host, which never brooked control. Can all the works which saints, or sages, or sophists have ever written, repeople this lonely tower, or can they refit this tenement?

For your future exercises in parsing, you may select pieces from the English Reader, or any other grammatical work. I have already hinted, that parsing in poetry, as it brings more immediately into requisition the reasoning faculties, than parsing in prose, will necessarily tend more rapidly to facilitate your progress: therefore it is advisable that your future exercises in this way, be chiefly confined to the a.n.a.lysis of poetry. Previous to your attempting to pa.r.s.e a piece of poetry, you ought always to transpose it, in a manner similar to the examples just presented; and then it can be as easily a.n.a.lyzed as prose.

Before you proceed to correct the following exercises in false syntax, you may turn back and read over the whole thirteen lectures, unless you have the subject-matter already stored in your mind.

LECTURE XIV.