190 195 200 205 210 And, a mirage of the brain, Flowed her childhood back again. Flashed the roof the sunshine through, Cool she felt the west wind blow, From the outward toil and din, To the freedom of the woods Called the birds, and winds, and floods. Well, O painful minister! Watch thy flock, but blame not her, If her ear grew sharp to hear All their voices whispering near. Blame her not, as to her soul When, that night, the Book was read, And a prayer for each loved name To the listening ear of Heaven, J. G. WHITTIER. QUESTIONS FOR STUDY The twenty-six introductory lines carry us back from the busy mill town on the river to the same scene before the white man had turned it to his use. What is meant by "mill monsters"? (Line 2.) What is the meaning of lines 4 and 5? Why unbridged? (Line 11.) Observe the picturesqueness of Squando's story. He talks as if in a reverie he sees the picture again. What is the meaning of lines 105-107? See Exodus, chapter xiv. What was Squando's story? Why had he taken the child? What did he ask? Who decided? What is the meaning of the last three stanzas ? 5 10 15 KATHLEEN Kathleen belongs to the general class of ballad poetry. It is a story so told that it could be sung. This ballad was originally published in Whittier's prose work Leaves from Margaret Smith's Journal, as the song of a wandering Milesian schoolmaster. O Norah, lay your basket down, And come and hear me sing a song There was a lord of Galaway, A mighty lord was he; And he did wed a second wife, But he was old, and she was young, And so, in evil spite, She baked the black bread for his kin, And fed her own with white. She whipped the maids and starved the kern,' "Ah, woe is me!" the old lord said, "I rue my bargain sore!" This lord he had a daughter fair, 1 Kern, tramps. And nightly round the shealing fires 1 2 "As sweet and good is young Kathleen As Eve before her fall;" So sang the harper at the fair, So harped he in the hall. 20 For looking in your face, Kathleen, “Oh, come to me, my daughter dear! Come sit upon my knee, 25 And sent her down to Limerick town, And to a seaman sold This daughter of an Irish lord The lord he smote upon his breast, But he was old, and she was young, Sure that same night the Banshee1 howled To fright the evil dame, And fairy folk, who loved Kathleen, With funeral torches came. She watched them glancing through the trees, And glimmering down the hill; They crept before the dead-vault door, And there they all stood still! "Get up, old man! the wake lights' shine!" "Oh, whoso brings my daughter back 1 Banshee, a warning spirit. 2 Wake lights, lights for the dead |