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WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (part 1)

A. Listen to the poem and read it.

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man:
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The child is father of the man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

B. Answer the questions.

What different emotions can make one's heart leap up?
The speaker doesn't say directly what feeling he experiences. What do you think he feels? Why do you think so?
Under what circumstances, says the speaker, would he wish for his own death?
What kind of person is the speaker of the poem?
A paradox is statement that initially appears to be contradictory but then, on closer inspection, turns out to make sense. To solve the paradox, it is necessary to discover the sense that underlies the statement.
Find a line in the poem which contains a paradox. How do you understand it?
The word "piety" means "showing and feeling of deep respect for God and religion." What do you think the poet means when he uses the words "natural piety"?
What is the main idea of the poem?

C. Listen to the poem and read it.

The Tables Turned

Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books;
Or surely you'll grow double:
Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?

The sun, above the mountain's head,
A freshening lustre mellow
Through all the long green fields has spread,
His first sweet evening yellow.

Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music! on my life,
There's more of wisdom in it.

And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
He, too, is no mean preacher:
Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.

She has a world of ready wealth,
Our minds and hearts to bless –
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by cheerfulness.

One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.

Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things: –
We murder to dissect.

Enough of Science and of Art;
Close up those barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.

quit: leave
grow double: you will not be able to stand up straight
clear your looks: give your eyes a rest
toil: hard work
lustre: light
mellow: soft and pleasant
strife: struggle
linnet: a small brown singing bird
hark: listen
throstle: a singing bird
blithe: cheerful
no mean: not bad
ready wealth: riches ready to be enjoyed
spontaneous: happening in a natural way
breathed: expressed
vernal: happening or appearing in spring
sages: wise people
lore: knowledge
meddling: interfering
mis-shapes: changes the natural form
dissect: analyse in detail
barren: not fertile
leaves: pages of a book

D. Answer the questions.

What time of the day is it? How has the poet's friend spent the day?
What negative effects of studying hard does the poet mention?
What adjectives does the poet use to describe the light of the sun? What is unusual in his choice of words?
How does he describe life spent studying books?
Find pronouns His, He and She in stanzas 2-5. Who do these words refer to?
What wealth can nature give us?
What is the effect of the human intellect on one's perception of nature?
What does man need in order to appreciate nature?
Find examples of personification in the poem.
The expression "to turn the tables" means to suddenly invert the situation, to change from being weaker than someone to being stronger. How do you understand the title of the poem?
What is the main idea of the poem?

What do the two poems have in common?

E. Learn the first poem by heart.

Скачать: Wordsworth's poems (part 1)

Скачать аудиозаписи: Rainbow, The Tables Turned (1), The Tables Turned (2)

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