IT THE RAINY DAY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW T is a cold day in autumn, with the rain falling and the wind sighing dismally. Outside the poet's window is only a moldering wall, ivy-covered, with dead leaves falling continuously. The picture is a symbol of misery and despair, made more hopeless by reference to the poet's life, which, like the day, is dark and dreary his past crumbling like the ivy-grown wall, desolate with the hopes of youth falling unrealized. The reader's heart is touched with sadness in sympathy with the experience of the poet. But the poet's heart is touched with hope born of the consolation that his is a universal experience; and his vision of sunshine behind the clouds and drear shadows becomes one of triumphant beauty and cheer for the race. No preaching — just a vision all of us insist on sharing. Read the poem thoughtfully. THE RAINY DAY The day is cold, and dark, and dreary; My life is cold, and dark, and dreary; My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past, Be still, sad heart! and cease repining; SUGGESTIVE EXERCISES 1. What scene does the poet observe? 2. What in the scene tells of dreariness? 3. Why does it remind the poet of his own past life? 4. In what sense did he mean the first line of stanza 2? 5. Explain the third line of the stanza? 6. What is the meaning of the fourth line? 7. Does it seem that he could easily recover from such dark discouragement? 8. Yet how do you account for the first line in the last stanza? 9. What element in his nature comes uppermost? 10. What note of hope and comfort is sounded for the entire race? REFERENCES BRYANT: The Gladness of Nature. March. MRS. BROWNING: The Little Cares that Fretted Me. COATES KENNEY: The Rain on the Roof. JOHN DAVIDSON: Rain in the New Forest. TENNYSON: Tears, Idle Tears. RILEY: The Shower. A Song. STEVENSON: Tropic Rain. LONGFELLOw: Rain in Summer. LOWELL: Summer Storm. WILLIAM C. BENNETT: Invocation to Rain in Summer. T THE RECESSIONAL RUDYARD KIPLING HIS poem came at the close of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, the great national demonstration which marked the sixtieth year of the prosperous reign of England's great Christian Queen. Of The Recessional, Kipling himself says: "That poem gave me more trouble than anything I ever wrote. I had promised the London Times a poem on the Jubilee, and when it became due, I had written nothing that had satisfied me. The Times began to want the poem badly, and sent letter after letter asking for it. I made many more attempts, but no further progress. Finally the Times began sending telegrams. So I shut myself in a room with a determination to stay there until I had written a Jubilee poem. Sitting down with all my previous attempts before me, I searched through those dozens of sketches till at last I found just one line I liked. That was 'Lest we forget.' Round these words The Recessional was written." Picture the pomp and pageantry of the Great Jubilee. Native princes from the Far East, ambassadors from the royal houses of Europe, the vast military and naval displays, the magnificent civic celebration by procession, public services, and bonfires—all united to pour out a nation's adulation and praise to England's greatest Queen. A great empire, in its dream of pride and power, had seemed to lose sight of the great King of Kings, and as the armies returned to their posts, the navies departed for far-away island possessions, the kings and oriental chiefs returned, and the bonfires of jubilee died away, The Recessional recalled the nation from its dream of pride and power, and the refrain of the poet became the prayer of the people. Within a few months after its publication this poem became one of the most widely known and admired poems in the language. THE RECESSIONAL God of our fathers, known of old- The tumult and the shouting dies- An humble and a contrite heart. Far-called, our navies melt away On dune and headland sinks the fire; Lo! all our pomp of yesterday Is one with Nineveh and Tyre! If, drunk with sight of power, we loose Or lesser breeds without the law- THE RECESSIONAL For heathen heart that puts her trust And guarding, calls not Thee to guard— Amen. 193 SUGGESTIVE EXERCISES 1. What is a recessional? Why, then, is the title so appropriate? 2. Select and explain the expressions which show the vastness of the British Empire. 3. What is the meaning of the refrain at the close of each stanza? 4. Why call a contrite heart an ancient sacrifice? 5. Explain the allusion to Nineveh and Tyre. 6. Who are the Gentiles? The "lesser breeds without the law"? 7. Who, then, are regarded as a chosen people? 8. Explain clearly, reeking tube, iron shard, valiant dust, frantic boast. 9. What is meant by dust building on dust? 10. Why should this poem be as popular in America as in England? 11. What message for the whole race made this poem at once one of the most widely known and admired poems in the language? REFERENCES POPE: Universal Prayer. Psalms 29 and 68. J. B. GILDER: The Parting of the Ways. WHITTIER: Centennial Hymn. King Solomon and the Ants. |