NOTES AND QUESTIONS

1. What other poems by Shelley have you read? What does the first stanza of this poem tell you that the cloud brings?

2. What do the first two lines of the second stanza tell? In the fourth stanza, to what is the leap of the sunrise on the cloud compared? What is the poet's idea of the cloud at sunset? 3. In his "Ode to the West Wind," Shelley says that the clouds are shaken like dead leaves from the "tangled boughs of heaven and ocean"; how does he describe the origin of the cloud in the last stanza of "The Cloud"? Which image do you prefer? Show that Shelley expresses scientific truth about cloud formation under the poetical imagery of the closing stanza. Explain the line "I change, but I cannot die.”

4. This poem is remarkable for the beauty of its imagery; point out the comparisons that seem to you most beautiful. See how many words indicating light and color you can find.

Class Reading. Bring to class and read "My Heart Leaps Up," Wordsworth; "The Spacious Firmament," Addison; "The Cloud," Peabody.

HARK TO THE SHOUTING_WIND* HENRY TIMROD

Hark to the shouting Wind!

Hark to the flying Rain!

And I care not though I never see

A bright blue sky again.

*This selection from Timrod is reprinted from the Memorial Edition, through the courtesy of the holder of the copyright, the Johnson Publishing Company, Richmond, Virginia.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

1. What do you think was the inspiration for this poem, the use of trees or the beauty of trees? Why do you think so? Has the poet named any uses or purposes of trees which you might have omitted?

2. Let some good reader in the class read the poem aloud to bring out the beauty of the lines. Compare this poem with Joyce Kilmer's "Trees"; which of the two poems do you like the better?

Class Reading. "Loveliest of Trees," Housman; "Shade," Garrison; "A Lady of the Snows," Monroe (all in The Melody of Earth, Richards).

Suggested Problems. Plan an Arbor Day program to be given by your class. Plan for your class to take trips to parks or woods near by for the purpose of noting down and learning the characteristics of the different trees. Learn to know all the various kinds of trees in your neighborhood.

these beauties of spring? In the last stanza how does the poet express her own feeling for the lilac?

4. The poet, at the beginning of each stanza, names four colors of lilacs; have you noticed all four? What do you think is meant by "false blue"? Find as many other instances as you can in which the poet has seen more accurately and describes more exactly than most people do. Has this poem opened your eyes to any details of beauty that you had not noticed before?

5. Can you tell what it is that makes the lines of "Lilacs" flow with such an easy rhythm, even though this rhythm is not regular in its accent? What is the effect of the very short lines? Do you like this "vers libre," or "free verse," as well as you like poetry with regular rhythm and rime?

Library Reading. "A Tulip Garden" and "July Midnight," Lowell (in The Melody of Earth, Richards).

101

And I speak to it of itself

And sing of it with my own voice, Since certainly it is mine.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

1. What setting does the poet give the lilacs in the first stanza? In what kinds of places do the lilacs grow? What is their effect upon the Custom House clerks? Have you ever been affected in the same way?

2. Beginning with line 46 how does the poem tell that lilacs are of all times and all places? Why is this more interesting than to say merely "Lilacs are everywhere"?

3. How does the poet describe the month of May? What part does the lilac play in

he build it? Explain the meaning of the last stanza. This is a poem of Nature; what else is it?

Library Reading. “The Plougher," Colum (in Wild Earth and Other Poems); "Earth," Wheelock (in New Voices); "Transformations," Hardy (in New Voices); "Nature's Friend," Davies (in New Voices); "The Last Days," Sterling (in New Voices); "The Pasture," Frost (in The Melody of Earth).