CHAPTER EIGHTEEN POEMS; COMPOSITIONS; VERBS AND ADVERBS Note to the teacher: Your Manual will be found useful in this chapter as in all preceding ones. I. A POEM TO STUDY In the last chapter you studied the first stanza of The Flag Goes By. Here is the whole poem, a poem every American should know. Along the street there comes A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums, The flag is passing by! (2) Blue and crimson and white it shines, Over the steel-tipped, ordered lines. Hats off! The colors before us fly! But more than the flag is passing by: (3) Sea fights and land fights, grim and great, Fought to make and to save the State: Weary marches and sinking ships; Cheers of victory on dying lips; (4) Days of plenty and years of peace; March of a strong land's swift increase; Stately honor and reverend awe; (5) Sign of a nation, great and strong, To ward her people from foreign wrong: Live in the colors to stand or fall. (6) Hats off! Along the street there comes A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums; The flag is passing by! Second Stanza HENRY HOLCOMB BENNETT How Reread the second stanza. Usually we speak of the flag's colors as red, white, and blue. has the poet named them? Why do you think he has changed the usual order? Imagine you are standing on the sidewalk watching the advance of the flag, blown in the wind — what color would strike the eye first? Read the line, saying red for crimson. Do you like it as well? Perhaps the poet gave the colors as they really met his eye. Perhaps he just liked the sound of the words as he used them. A POEM TO STUDY 253 In the second line, what is meant by the "steel-tipped, ordered lines"? Can you see and hear the regular march, march, of the soldiers? If so, you will read it so that those who listen can see and hear it also. The rest of the stanza tells us that in taking off their hats the onlookers do more than show reverence to the flag itself for "more than the flag is passing by." By "more" is meant the things for which the flag stands, the things that make the flag to be cherished and loved. Some of these things are mentioned in the three following stanzas. Read the stanzas and tell what these things are. Third Stanza In the third stanza is painted the dark and the bright side of war. In the first line, "Sea fights and land fights, grim and great," the two words "grim" and "great" bring out the thought: grim because of the horror and sufferings wrought; great because of the courage, the high spirit of the men. In the third and fourth lines we read of weary marches and sinking ships," surely a sad picture! Old soldiers will tell you that the long, weary marches are harder and try the souls of men more than the active fighting. In the fourth line comes the glory "cheers of victory on dying lips." Can you imagine the hundreds of brave soldiers who have fallen, turning their dying eyes to see if the "colors" are still flying, and cheering their comrades on to full victory? If you can, you will never look at the flag without feeling your heart stir within you. Fourth and Fifth Stanzas The fourth and fifth stanzas tell of days of peace and plenty, of justice and of progress and safety because we live under the flag. Are the peoples of all lands enjoying such safety and prosperity? Sixth Stanza In the last stanza we read "And loyal hearts are beating high." Do you know why? Is it not because they see, not only the flashing colors, but all that the flag really stands for; because they see and feel as the writer of this poem sees and feels? Now read the poem again and show by your manner of reading it that you understand the meaning of the words and the meaning of the flag. WRITING COMPOSITIONS 255 II. SPEAKING CLEARLY AND DISTINCTLY Read the following groups of words from The Flag Goes By, speaking every word clearly and distinctly. Be especially careful about the final sounds of words. (a) Along the street there comes (c) The flag is passing by (d) Blue and crimson and white (e) Steel-tipped, ordered lines (g) Weary marches and sinking ships (h) Cheers of victory (i) Years of peace (j) Equal justice, right, and law (k) Reverend awe (1) Great and strong (m) To ward her people (n) Live in the colors (0) Loyal hearts are beating high Reread the poem, speaking every word correctly, clearly, and distinctly. III. WRITING COMPOSITIONS Write a short composition on one of the following subjects: |