The Elson Readers Part 40

He wrote also of legends of Europe, and was well acquainted with stories and romances of older civilizations than ours. Equally well-known poems, of a different type, are those in which household joys and sorrows give the theme. Longfellow is the poet of the home-life, of simple hopes, of true religious faith. His spirit was the Spirit of a child, affectionate, loyal, eager for romance and knightly adventure. He is the "Children's Poet," as the poem "The Children's Hour" helps to show. There were sorrows as well as joys in his life, and this is why we go to him in trouble and why so many people know his poems by heart. Sorrow never took away his faith or made him bitter. He is genial and kindly, the friend--of all Americans everywhere.

THE ARROW AND THE SONG

I shot an arrow into the air; It Fell to earth, I knew not where; For, so swiftly it flew, the sight Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a Song into the air; It fell to earth, I knew not where; For who has sight so keen and strong That it can follow the flight of Song?

Long, long afterwards, in an oak I found the arrow, still unbroke; And the song, from beginning to end, I found again in the heart of a friend.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Discussion: 1. What became of the arrow? Of the song? 2. Where was the arrow found? When? 3. Where was the Song found? 4. Point out lines that rime. 5. What is Longfellow's purpose in this poem? 6. Why is the poet's song compared to the flight of an arrow? 7. A poet once said, "Let me make the Songs of a nation, and I care not who makes the laws." What did he mean? 8. What was the Song doing "in the heart of a friend"?

Phrases for Study

breathed a song, flight of Song.

THE CHILDREN'S HOUR

Between the dark and the daylight, When the night is beginning to lower, Comes a pause in the day's occupations, That is known as the Children's Hour.

I hear in the chamber above me The patter of little feet, The Sound of a door that is opened, And voices soft and sweet.

From my study I See in the lamplight, Descending the broad hall stair, Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra.

And Edith with golden hair.

A whisper, and then a silence; Yet I know by their merry eyes They are plotting and planning together To take me by surprise.

A sudden rush from the stairway, A sudden raid from the hall!

By three doors left unguarded They enter my castle wall!

They climb up into my turret O'er the arms and back of my chair; If I try to escape, they surround me; They seem to be everywhere.

They almost devour me with kisses; Their arms about me entwine; Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine!

Do you think, O blue-eyed banditti, Because you have scaled the wall, Such an old mustache as I am Is not a match for you all?

I have you fast in my fortress, And will not let you depart, gut put you down into the dungeon in the round-tower of my heart.

And there will I keep you forever, Yes, forever and a day, Till the walls shall crumble to ruin, And molder in dust away!

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Discussion. 1. What is the time "Between the dark and the daylight"

usually called? 2. What do you suppose Longfellow had been doing in his study before the children came down to him? 3. What reasons can you give for the "pause in the day's occupations"? 4. Who were the children whom the poet saw "Descending the broad hall stair" to enter his "castle wall"? 5. What were these children whispering about? 6.

What does Longfellow mean by his "turret"? 7. To what does he compare the rush made by the children? 8. What wall did they scale in order to reach him? 9. Where does Longfellow say he will put the children now that he has captured them? 10. Which stanza of this poem do you like best? 11. Tell what you know about the life of Longfellow. 12. Find in the Glossary the meaning of: raid; match. 13. p.r.o.nounce: lower; banditti; dungeon.

Phrases for Study

Bishop of Bingen, round-tower of my heart, scaled the wall, forever and a day, such an old mustache, molder in dust away, fast in my fortress.

THE SONG OF HIAWATHA

INTRODUCTION

Should you ask me, whence these stories, Whence these legends and traditions, With the odors of the forest, With the dew and damp of meadows, With the curling smoke of wigwams, With the rushing of great rivers, With their frequent repet.i.tions, And their wild reverberations, As of thunder in the mountains.

I should answer, I should tell you: "From the forests and the prairies, From the great lakes of the Northland, From the land of the Ojibways, From the land of the Dacotahs, From the mountains, moors, and fenlands, Where the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah, Feeds among the reeds and rushes.

I repeat them as I heard them From the lips Of Nawadaha The musician, the sweet singer."

Should you ask where Nawadaha Found these songs, so wild and wayward, Found these legends and traditions,

I should answer, I should tell you: "In the birds'-nests of the forests, In the lodges of the beaver, In the hoof-prints of the bison, In the aerie of the eagle!"

If still further you should ask me, Saying, "Who was Nawadaha?

Tell us of this Nawadaha,"

I should answer your inquiries Straightway in such words as follow:

"In the Vale of Tawasentha, In the green and silent valley, By the pleasant water-courses.

Dwelt the singer Nawadaha.

Round about the Indian village Spread the meadows and the cornfields, And beyond them stood the forest, Stood the groves of singing pine-trees, Green in summer, white in winter, Ever sighing, ever singing.

"There he sang of Hiawatha, Sang the Song of Hiawatha, Sang his wondrous birth and being, How he prayed and how he fasted, How he lived, and toiled, and suffered, That the tribes of men might prosper, That he might advance his people!"

Ye who love the haunts of Nature, Love the sunshine of the meadow, Love the shadow of the forest, Love the wind among the branches, And the rain-shower and the snowstorm, And the rushing of great rivers Through their palisades of pine-trees, And the thunder in the mountains, Listen to this Indian Legend, To this Song of Hiawatha!

Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple, Who have faith in G.o.d and Nature,

Listen to this simple story, To this Song of Hiawatha!

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

You have now begun to read parts of a long poem about Indian life and tradition. The Indians, like all other races of men, have such songs.

Longfellow studied the Indian legends and put them into English verse so that all of us may enjoy them. Such a poem, which is really a collection of ballads or songs about heroes and about the beliefs and superst.i.tions of a race, is often called an epic. Notice that the poet tells you that these stories in verse have the odors of the forest, the curling smoke of wigwams; the rushing of great rivers, and the roar of mountain thunder. This means that such stories are very closely connected with the simple life of a simple people--there is much of their thought about Nature, much of their love of the land where they live. Next, notice that he got his knowledge of these songs from a "sweet singer," a minstrel. All simple tribes have had such singers, who went about from place to place telling in verse what the people wanted to hear. There were no books, both boys and girls learned their stories from older people, or from wandering singers.

Next, you observe that the theme of the stories is the life of Hiawatha, their great hero. So the Greeks had stories about their hero Ulysses, the early English about Beowulf and King Arthur, the French about Roland. Every great race honors the memory of a hero who lived when the race was young. Many stories cl.u.s.ter about the name of this hero, and poets and minstrels love to sing, and the people to hear, about these great characters. Finally, notice at the end of the poet's Introduction, two things: First, Hiawatha lived and toiled and suffered that the tribes might prosper, that he might advance his people-thus an epic poem deals with the founding of a people or race.

Second, you notice that there is much about G.o.d and Nature in the poem-the simple religious faith of the people. The hero, his deeds that helped his people, the religion of the tribes-these are the subjects. Find ill.u.s.trations of these things as you read.

Discussion. 1. Where did these stories come from? Read lines which tell. 2. Name the Great Lakes. 3. Who was Nawadaha? 4. What word tells the sound of the pine-trees? 5. Read five lines that tell what the singer sang of Hiawatha. 6. Find in the Glossary the meaning of: reverberations. 7. p.r.o.nounce: legends; wigwams; aerie.

Phrases for Study

singing pine-trees, advance his people, wondrous birth and being, haunts of Nature, tribes of men might prosper, palisades of pine-trees.

HIAWATHA'S CHILDHOOD