Composition in the School-room |
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Common terms and phrases
A. B. Rich abbreviation Abel Rich adjectives adverb anapest antecedent apostrophe attention begin brother capital Chaucer child common nouns composition conjunction dash dear Dependent clauses doctor of divinity English essay exclamatory expression expressman fact feeling figure following examples Franconia Notch G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS hyphen Iambic pentameter idea implies Incorrect intended interjection look marks of parenthesis meaning metre mistake Mode to denote narrative never nominative Notice object omitted paper parenthetic past person phrase plural poet poetic preceded prefixed preposition pronoun proper nouns proposition pupil reader referred relation relative clause restrictive clause rhyme Rule of syntax sentence by commas similar construction small letter statement story syllable teacher tell tenses Tetrameter theme thou thought tion Trimeter true truth unless verb should agree verse words write written
Popular passages
Page 144 - Soft yielding minds to Water glide away, And sip, with Nymphs, their elemental Tea. The graver Prude sinks downward to a Gnome, In search of mischief still on Earth to roam. The light Coquettes in Sylphs aloft repair, And sport and flutter in the fields of Air.
Page 96 - I find this conclusion more impressed upon me, — that the greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way. Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly, is poetry, prophecy, and religion, — all in one.
Page 108 - ETHEREAL minstrel! pilgrim of the sky! Dost thou despise the earth where cares abound? Or, while the wings aspire, are heart and eye Both with thy nest upon the dewy ground? Thy nest which thou canst drop into at will, Those quivering wings composed, that music still! To the last point of vision, and beyond, Mount, daring warbler! — that love-prompted strain — 'Twixt thee and thine a never-failing bond — Thrills not the less the bosom of the plain: Yet might'st thou seem, proud privilege! to...
Page 45 - ... me. He and his mate will scurry up and down the great black-walnut for my diversion, chattering like monkeys. Can I sign his deathwarrant who has tolerated me about his grounds so long? Not I. Let them steal, and welcome. I am sure I should, had I had the same bringing up and the same temptation. As for the birds, I do not believe there is one of them but does more good than harm ; and of how many featherless bipeds can this be said? A GOOD WORD FOR WINTER. EN scarcely know how beautiful fire...
Page 121 - I think he tried one now and then, like " eyeu columbine." so deftly. Gower has positively raised tediousness to the precision of science, he has made dulness an heirloom for the students of our literary history. As you slip to and fro on the frozen levels of his verse, which give no foothold to the mind, as your nervous ear awaits the inevitable recurrence of his rhyme, regularly pertinacious as the tick of an eight-day clock and reminding you of Wordsworth's " Once more the ass did lengthen out...
Page 138 - The sun through dazzling snow-mist shone. No church-bell lent its Christian tone To the savage air, no social smoke Curled over woods of snow-hung oak. A solitude made more intense By dreary-voiced elements, The shrieking of the mindless wind, The moaning tree-boughs swaying blind, And on the glass the unmeaning beat Of ghostly finger-tips of sleet.
Page 57 - Eske river where ford there was none; But, ere he alighted at Netherby gate, The bride had consented, the gallant came late; For a laggard in love, and a dastard in war, Was to wed the fair Ellen of brave Lochinvar.
Page 142 - Boon nature scattered, free and wild, Each plant or flower, the mountain's child. Here eglantine embalmed the air, Hawthorn and hazel mingled there...
Page 145 - There are to whom the garden, grove, and field, Perpetual lessons of forbearance yield ; Who would not lightly violate the grace The lowliest flower possesses in its place ; Nor shorten the sweet life, too fugitive, WORDS*** Which nothing less than Infinite Power can give.
Page 131 - Grand masses of cloud were hurried across the blue sky, and the great round hills behind the Chase seemed alive with their flying shadows ; the sun was hidden for a moment, and then shone out warm again like a recovered joy ; the leaves, still green, were tossed off...