voice everything Bryant intended his readers to think and feel.

A FOREST HYMN

I. This poem was Bryant's farewell to his country life, just before his departure to New York in 1825. See Godwin I, 214. Here he regards the forest as a place for the worship of its Creator. Read the poem carefully with the following outline:

1. Introduction: The forest worship of primitive man might well be practiced sometimes by civilized man. 2. The Creator is still in the forest he has made. 3. The forest is an expression of life triumphant

creative power of God still active.

of the

4. The poet finds it profitable there to meditate on the judgments and mercies of God.

II. The poem is serious, meditative, and dignified in thought, and the rhetorical devices should be such as will help to produce the effect of majesty and sublimity. Discuss the style under the following topics:

1. Diction: long words; archaic and poetic words; specific words; epithets; poetic compounds.

2. Sentences: length and form. Notice the effect produced by the periodic sentences. Contrast the difference in thought and effect shown by the loose sentence (lines 90-99) and the periodic (lines 101-111.) Suspended structure produces an effect similar to that of the periodic. What is the effect of the broken sentence in line 55?

3. Figures: apostrophe, personification, metaphor, sim- lists of each. Notice the continued metaphor in

ile

lines 1, 18, 24, 25, 33-35. Which of the personifications concern nature? Which concern abstract notions? 4. Meter and sound: effect of blank verse; use of paragraphs instead of stanzas; foot; length of line; run-on lines; retards and pauses (including spondaic feet); alliteration; harmony of sound and thought. III. Read the poem aloud. Try to express with your all its meaning, beauty, and majesty.

voice

Line 36 alludes to the "fantastic carvings" found in and on the mediaeval cathedrals. "The Imp of Lincoln" and "the Devil of Notre Dame" are well-known examples.

MONUMENT MOUNTAIN

I. Near Great Barrington, Massachusetts, rises a great precipice that overlooks the lovely valley of the Housatonic and the Berkshire Hills. At its southern extremity there was once a pile of stones, gathered, tradition says, in honor of an Indian woman who had thrown herself from the precipice. The legend is given in lines 49ff. of the poem. Is the story a painful one?

Relate the legend as you learn it from the poem. It is a simple tale your language should be as pure and simple as that of Bryant. Let your method of telling the story show your appreciation of Bryant's diction. If he has used any epithets or other adjectives, or any figures that seem to you particularly appropriate, you may use the same. Try to give to your legend the same note of patient, restrained pathos Bryant has given to his.

II. Lines 1-48 are introductory, describing the precipice and the view from its summit. Do you think the introduction is too long? Why does Bryant make it so long? The

UNIV. OF

author apostrophizes the visitor who would see, from the summit of the cliff, the "lovely" and the "wild." Go carefully through this introduction, dividing into these two classes the objects and scenes mentioned. Notice how your attention is directed to the various objects and in various directions by "here," "there," "to the north," "the western side," "to the east." Show particularly how the pictures of the lovely and the wild are made more vivid by the use of epithets. How much does evidence of human life and activity enter into Bryant's ideal of the "lovely"? Follow carefully the continued metaphor in which the poet uses terms of architecture for the cliffs and rocks (lines 21, 25, 27, 30, 31, 36, 48). Find examples of personification; what feeling for nature does the use of this figure show?

III. The poem is written in blank verse. Discuss its meter, the use of run-on lines, and the medial pauses. Do you find any places where the sound is particularly well suited to the thought?

IV. Read the introduction (lines 1-48) aloud. Try to make your auditors imagine the scene Bryant has described.

THE ANTIQUITY OF FREEDOM

I. Read the poem carefully with the following outline:1. Introduction, lines 1-12: the forest is the scene of the poet's meditation; its age and undisturbed growth suggest the age and nature of liberty.

2. Freedom is conceived under the metaphor of a warrior, assailed by his foe with force: lines 13-32.

3. Freedom is coeval with the human race: lines 33-47. 4. Though he will be ultimately victorious, Freedom must watch long against the cunning of his foe: lines 48-64.