When the morning star shines dead,
As on the jag of a mountain crag,

Which an earthquake rocks and swings,

An eagle alit one moment may sit

In the light of its golden wings.

And when sunset may breathe, from the lit sea beneath,

Its ardours of rest and of love,

And the crimson pall of eve may fall

From the depth of heaven above,

With wings folded I rest, on mine airy nest,

As still as a brooding dove.

That orbed maiden with white fire laden,
Whom mortals call the moon,

Glides glimmering o'er my fleece-like floor,
By the midnight breezes strewn ;

And wherever the beat of her unseen feet,
Which only the angels hear,

May have broken the woof of my tent's thin roof,
The stars peep behind her and peer;

And I laugh to see them whirl and flee,

Like a swarm of golden bees.

B

SHELLEY: The Cloud.

To every man there come noble thoughts that pass across his heart like great white birds.

MAETERLINCK.

Lily on lily that o'erlace the sea,

And laugh their pride when the light wave lisps' Greece.'

D

BROWNING: Cleon.

There was a flavor of good birth and training, - something long and lithe and courtly in the person; something aquiline and darkling in the face. STEVENSON: A Lodging for the Night.

E

The night was nearly come; the village smelt of trees and flowers, and the sea, and bread-fruit cooking; there came a fine roll of sea from the reef, and from a distance, among the woods and houses, many pretty sounds of men and children.

STEVENSON: The Beach of Falesa.

F

I saw enter, stand, and seat herself,

A lady, young, tall, beautiful, strange and sad.

BROWNING: The Ring and the Book.

G

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

WORDSWORTH: The Daffodils.

Brimming and bright, and large; then sands begin
To hem his watery march, and dam his streams,
And split his currents; that for many a league
The shorn and parcell'd Oxus strains along
Through beds of sand and matted rushy isles-
Oxus, forgetting the bright speed he had
In his high mountain-cradle in Pamere,
A foil'd circuitous wanderer till at last
The long'd-for dash of waves is heard, and wide

His luminous home of waters opens, bright

And tranquil, from whose floor the new-bathed stars.

Emerge, and shine upon the Aral Sea.

MATTHEW ARNOLD: Sohrab and Rustum.

Through the delicate, flush'd marble,

The red, creaming liquor,

Strown with dark seeds!

MATTHEW ARNOLD: The Strayed Reveller.

J

While Porphyro upon her face doth look,
Like puzzled urchin on an aged crone
Who keepeth closed a wondrous riddle-book,
As spectacled she sits in chimney nook.

KEATS: The Eve of St. Agnes.

K

Examine selections on pages 175 to 177; 179 to 181; 183 and 184; 185 to 187; 200 and 201.

Point out all words which are suggestive. Are they verbs? adjectives? Do they suggest motion? color? sound? odor? Are they action verbs? Could any words be cut out or changed for the better?

CHAPTER IX

NARRATION

Definition.

NARRATION includes all writing of which the main purpose is to tell what happens, such as journals, letters, memoirs, biography, much history, and all fiction. It differs from description in that it deals with events, and not with objects; it does not portray, it recounts. Therefore, unlike description, it takes into account the element of time.

Narration and description are mutually dependent upon each other, like the two sides of an arch. Description is really only an auxiliary of narra- Relation to tion, and yet, unless the description is potent, Description. the narration fails. It is through description that the writer presents his characters and his setting, and if these are not vividly portrayed, the narrative is fatally weakened. Not only are the two always together, but often they are inextricably combined; it is impossible to tell whether description or narration predominates. This is shown by the loose way in which the word 'description' is sometimes used. We say, "he described the events of the afternoon," meaning, "he narrated the events of the afternoon." In general, however, we can easily tell whether a paragraph is mainly descriptive or mainly narrative.

Narration may be divided into two classes, narration without plot, and narration with plot. Narration with

Kinds of

out plot is the simple recounting of a chain of Narration. events. Narration with plot is the recounting of a chain of events which are so arranged as to work towards a final outcome, arousing the reader's interest in that outcome. The difference between these two kinds of narration lies not so much in the material as in the manner of treatment. Narration without plot may contain striking incidents, but it can not be called narration with plot until all the incidents, striking or other, are so arranged and so treated that each bears towards some main incident near the end - that is, the outcome.

For example, compare the two following selections; the first is narration without plot, the second is narration with plot:·

(1) Ralph the Rover met his death on the Inchcape Rock. The Abbot had put a bell there to warn seamen of the danger. To spite the Abbot, Ralph sunk the bell. Afterwards he was driven on the rock in a storm and was drowned.

(2)

THE INCHCAPE ROCK.

No stir in the air, no stir in the sea,
The ship was as still as she could be,

Her sails from heaven received no motion,
Her keel was steady in the ocean.

Without either sign or sound of their shock
The waves flow'd over the Inchcape Rock;
So little they rose, so little they fell,
They did not move the Inchcape Bell.