Journeys Through Bookland Volume Vii Part 2

The wide-spreading pond, and the mill[11-4] that stood by it; The bridge and the rock where the cataract fell; The cot of my father, the dairy house[11-5] nigh it, And e'en the rude bucket which hung in the well-- The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket which hung in the well.

That moss-covered bucket I hail as a treasure; For often at noon, when returned from the field, I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure, The purest and sweetest that nature can yield.

How ardent I seized it, with hands that were glowing, And quick to the white-pebbled bottom it fell[12-6]; Then soon with the emblem of truth[12-7] overflowing, And dripping with coolness it rose from the well-- The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket arose from the well.

[Ill.u.s.tration: INCLINED TO MY LIPS]

How sweet from the green mossy brim to receive it, As poised on the curb,[12-8] it inclined to my lips!

Not a full blushing goblet[13-9] could tempt me to leave it, Though filled with the nectar[13-10] that Jupiter sips.

And now, far removed from the loved situation,[13-11]

The tear of regret will oftentimes swell, As fancy returns to my father's plantation, And sighs for the bucket which hangs in the well-- The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket which hangs in the well.

If we compare _The Old Oaken Bucket_ with _The Daffodils_ (page 1), we will see that the lines of the former are longer, and when we read aloud a few lines from the one and compare the other, we see that the movement is very different. In _The Old Oaken Bucket_ the accents are farther apart, and the result is to make the movement long and smooth, like that of a swing with long ropes.

Let us examine more closely the lines of _The Old Oaken Bucket_ in a manner similar to that suggested on page 2, for _The Daffodils_.

If we place the accent on the proper syllables in the first four lines, they will read as follows:

How dear' to my heart' are the scenes' of my child' hood, When fond' rec-ol-lec' tion pre-sents' them to view'; The or' chard, the mead' ow, the deep' tan-gled wild' -wood, And ev' 'ry loved spot' that my in' fan-cy knew.'

The vertical lines above are drawn at the ends of the feet. How many feet are there in the first line; how many in the second; how many in the third; how many in the fourth? How many syllables in the first foot in the first line? How many other feet do you find containing the same number of syllables? How many syllables are there in the second foot in the first line? How many other feet are there containing the same number of syllables? Examine the feet that contain three syllables. On which syllable is the accent placed when there are three syllables in the foot? A poetic foot of three syllables which bears the accent on the third syllable is called an _anapestic_ foot. The meter of this poem, then is _anapestic tetrameter_, varied by an added syllable in most of the odd-numbered lines and by an iambic foot at the beginning of each line.

Can you find any other poem in this volume in which the meter is the same? Can you find such poems in other volumes?

FOOTNOTES:

[11-1] Samuel Woodworth, the author of this familiar song, was an American, the editor of many publications and the writer of a great many poems; but no one of the latter is now remembered, except _The Old Oaken Bucket_.

[11-2] This means that the author remembers fondly the scenes of his childhood, or remembers the things of which he was fond in his childhood.

[11-3] As the term is used in the law-books, a person is an _infant_ until he is twenty-one years of age; though, probably the word _infancy_ here means the same as _childhood_.

[11-4] Let us picture a large mill-pond with a race running out of one side of it past the old-fashioned mill, which has a big wooden water wheel on the outside of it.

[11-5] The dairy house was probably a low, broad building through which the water from the stream ran. The milkpans were set on low shelves or in a trough so that the water could run around them and keep the milk cool.

[12-6] If he could see the white-pebbled bottom of the well, it must have been a shallow one, or perhaps merely a square box built around a deep spring.

[12-7] Water is usually spoken of as an emblem of _purity_, not of _truth_; but sometimes truth is spoken of as hiding at the bottom of a well.

[12-8] The curb is the square box usually built around the mouth of the well to a height of a few feet, to protect the water from dirt.

Sometimes three of the sides are carried up to a height of six or eight feet, and a roof is built over the whole, making a little house of the curb. The fourth side is left open, except for two or three feet at the bottom. In these old wells two buckets were often used. They were attached to a rope which ran over a wheel suspended from the roof of the well house. When a bucket was drawn up it was often rested on the low curb in front, while people drank from it.

[13-9] _Blushing goblet_ alludes to wine or some other liquor that has a reddish color.

[13-10] Nectar was the drink of the old Greek G.o.ds, of whom Jupiter was the chief.

[13-11] _Situation_ and _plantation_ do not rhyme well, and _situation_ is scarcely the right word to use. _Location_ would be better, so far as the meaning is concerned.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

BANNOCKBURN

ROBERT BRUCE'S ADDRESS TO HIS ARMY

_By_ ROBERT BURNS

Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled; Scots, wham Bruce has aften led; Welcome to your gory bed, Or to glorious victorie!

Now's the day and now's the hour-- See the front o' battle lour; See approach proud Edward's power-- Edward! chains and slaverie!

Wha will be a traitor knave?

Wha can fill a coward's grave?

Wha sae base as be a slave?

Traitor! coward! turn and flee!

Wha for Scotland's king and law Freedom's sword will strongly draw!

Freeman stand or freeman fa', Caledonian! on wi' me!

By oppression's woes and pains!

By our sons in servile chains!

We will drain our dearest veins, But they shall be--shall be free!

Lay the proud usurpers low!

Tyrants fall in every foe!

Liberty's in every blow!

Forward! let us do or die!

On pages 2, and 13, of this volume we talked about the different meters in which poetry is written. In iambic poetry each foot contains two syllables, the second of which is accented. There is another kind of foot composed of two syllables. In this the accent falls on the first syllable. _Bannockburn_ gives examples of this.

To ill.u.s.trate, we will rewrite the first stanza, using the words in their English form, and mark off the feet and the accent:

Scots', who have' with Wal'-lace bled', Scots', whom Bruce' has of'-ten led'; Wel'-come to' your go'-ry bed', Or' to glo'rious vic'-to ry'.

Each one of these lines ends with an accented syllable, but that may be disregarded in studying the feet. This foot is called the _trochee_, and it will help you to remember it if you will think that the word _tro'chee_ has two syllables and is accented on the first. This poem, then, is in _trochaic trimeter_, with added accented syllables at the ends of the lines. Read the other stanzas carefully, throwing the accent prominently on the first syllable of each foot.

When you read to bring out the meter of a poem you are said to be _scanning_ it. When you are in the habit of scanning poetry you will find that you can do it very nicely and without spoiling the sound. At first you will probably accent the syllables too strongly, and then people will say that you are reading in a _sing-song_ way, a thing to be avoided. Of course you will understand that the only way to bring out the meter of a poem is to read it aloud, but after you have become familiar with the various meters and have read aloud a great deal, you will be conscious of the rhythm when you read to yourself. It is this consciousness of rhythm that gives much of the enjoyment to those who love poetry, even when they do not read it aloud.

BOAT SONG

_From_ LADY OF THE LAKE