softened color and music of autumn. Then we may share the feelings of Byron, Shelley, and Keats.

The golden rule for the appreciation of poetry is try to put yourself in the poet's place. Try to see as he saw, feel as he felt, for appreciation is in a real sense creation. The 5 reader's feelings respond to the same suggestions and rise on the same flight as the poet's. Reading aloud is an aid to this appreciation; for poems are written to suit the music of the sympathetic voice. The proper rendering of the sound values of vowels and consonants and a full com-10 prehension of the meaning of the sentences are not more essential to good reading than a sympathy which is not afraid to express itself in tone. Read as if you were the poet speaking. Another way of increasing one's power of appreciation is by memorizing those poems that you like 15 best. As they come to dwell in your mind, their melody will ring in your memory, and their words will often rise unbidden to elevate your thoughts. Our group of poems includes many varieties of feeling and expression. Whoever really cares for any one of these poems has shown the 20 power to lift his feeling. Whoever loves them all has tuned his heart to poetry.

R

THREE SONNETS

5

10

A LOVER'S THOUGHTS

When, in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featur'd like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least ;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee; and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;

For thy sweet love rememb'red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.

15

20

MILTON ON HIS BLINDNESS

When I consider how my light is spent

Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent, which is death to hide,
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present

My true account, lest He, returning, chide;

"Doth God exact day labor, light denied?"

I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent

That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
Either man's work, or His own gifts; who best

Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state 5 Is kingly. Thousands at His bidding speed,

And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait."

JOHN MILTON.

COMPOSED UPON WESTMINSTER BRIDGE
Earth has not anything to show more fair:

Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty :
This city now doth like a garment wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,

Ships, towers, domes, theaters, and temples lie
Open unto the fields and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep

In his first splendor valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!

The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

HELPS TO STUDY

1. What state of mind is described in the first four lines of Shakespeare's sonnet? What is the meaning of " scope " in line 7, of state" in line 10. What thought banishes the lover's discontent? Why is the earth called "sullen" in line 12? Explain the metaphor in lines 10-12. What new metaphor appears in lines 13, 14?

2. Note in Milton's sonnet the first two sentences. The principal subject and verb of the first sentence are I ask. The principal subject and verb of the second are Patience replies. In line 3 to what parable is reference made? Who are said to serve God best?

3. Westminster Bridge is one of the London bridges over the Thames. At what time of day does the poet view the city? What is unusual about the city at this hour? What makes it beautiful?

How many lines are there in each sonnet? How are the rhymes arranged in the last two sonnets? What different arrangement in Shakespeare's sonnet ?

JOHN MILTON

When Charles II came to the throne of England in 1660, all of Milton's hopes and efforts seemed to be destroyed. He had been an active supporter of the Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell and had written defending the execu5 tion of Charles I. His books were ordered burnt by the common hangman and it was only by the intervention of powerful friends at court that he escaped with his life. Ten years before, he had lost his eyesight.

A man past fifty, poor, infirm, and blind, Milton returned 10 to the purpose of his youth. He had then resolved to write a great poem and had planned to devote all his energies to this purpose. The civil war and the Commonwealth had