Opening the text

Modern Prose And Poetry; For Secondary Schools: Edited With Notes, Study Helps, And Reading Lists

General

Modern Prose And Poetry; For Secondary Schools: Edited With Notes, Study Helps, And Reading Lists

American literature

Aged Folk (in _Letters from my Mill_)            Alphonse Daudet
Green Island (chapter 8 of
  _The Country of the Pointed Firs_)             Sarah Orne Jewett
Aunt Cynthy Dallett                                "    "     "
The Failure of David Berry                         "    "     "
A Church Mouse                                   Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman
A White Heron and Other Stories                  Sarah Orne Jewett
Tales of New England                               "    "     "
The Country of the Pointed Firs                    "    "     "
A Country Doctor                                   "    "     "
Deephaven                                          "    "     "
The Queen's Twin and Other Stories                 "    "     "
The King of Folly Island and Other People          "    "     "
A Marsh Island                                     "    "     "
The Tory Lover                                     "    "     "
A Native of Winby and Other Tales                  "    "     "
Betty Leicester's Christmas                        "    "     "
Betty Leicester                                    "    "     "
Country By-ways                                    "    "     "
Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett                     Mrs. James T. Fields (Ed.)

For Biographies and criticisms of Miss Jewett, see: Atlantic Monthly,
94:485; Critic, 39:292, October, 1901 (Portrait); New England Magazine,
22:737, August, 1900; Outlook, 69:423; Bookman, 34:221 (Portrait).




ON THE LIFE-MASK OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN

RICHARD WATSON GILDER


    This bronze doth keep the very form and mold
      Of our great martyr's face. Yes, this is he:
      That brow all wisdom, all benignity;
      That human, humorous mouth; those cheeks that hold
    Like some harsh landscape all the summer's gold;
      That spirit fit for sorrow, as the sea
      For storms to beat on; the lone agony
      Those silent, patient lips too well foretold.
    Yes, this is he who ruled a world of men
      As might some prophet of the elder day--
      Brooding above the tempest and the fray
    With deep-eyed thought and more than mortal ken.
      A power was his beyond the touch of art
      Or armèd strength--his pure and mighty heart.


NOTES

=the life-mask=:--The life-mask of Abraham Lincoln was made by Leonard
W. Volk, in Chicago, in April, 1860. A good picture of it is given as
the frontispiece to Volume 4 of Nicolay and Hay's _Abraham Lincoln, A
History_.

=this bronze=:--A life-mask is made of plaster first; then usually it is
cast in bronze.


SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY

This is not difficult to understand. Read it over slowly, trying first
to get the meaning of each sentence as if it were prose. You may have
to read it several times before you see the exact meaning of each part.
When you have mastered it, read it through consecutively, thinking of
what it tells about Lincoln.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

General

Modern Prose And Poetry; For Secondary Schools: Edited With Notes, Study Helps, And Reading Lists

American literature

Aged Folk (in _Letters from my Mill_)            Alphonse Daudet
Green Island (chapter 8 of
  _The Country of the Pointed Firs_)             Sarah Orne Jewett
Aunt Cynthy Dallett                                "    "     "
The Failure of David Berry                         "    "     "
A Church Mouse                                   Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman
A White Heron and Other Stories                  Sarah Orne Jewett
Tales of New England                               "    "     "
The Country of the Pointed Firs                    "    "     "
A Country Doctor                                   "    "     "
Deephaven                                          "    "     "
The Queen's Twin and Other Stories                 "    "     "
The King of Folly Island and Other People          "    "     "
A Marsh Island                                     "    "     "
The Tory Lover                                     "    "     "
A Native of Winby and Other Tales                  "    "     "
Betty Leicester's Christmas                        "    "     "
Betty Leicester                                    "    "     "
Country By-ways                                    "    "     "
Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett                     Mrs. James T. Fields (Ed.)

For Biographies and criticisms of Miss Jewett, see: Atlantic Monthly,
94:485; Critic, 39:292, October, 1901 (Portrait); New England Magazine,
22:737, August, 1900; Outlook, 69:423; Bookman, 34:221 (Portrait).




ON THE LIFE-MASK OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN

RICHARD WATSON GILDER


    This bronze doth keep the very form and mold
      Of our great martyr's face. Yes, this is he:
      That brow all wisdom, all benignity;
      That human, humorous mouth; those cheeks that hold
    Like some harsh landscape all the summer's gold;
      That spirit fit for sorrow, as the sea
      For storms to beat on; the lone agony
      Those silent, patient lips too well foretold.
    Yes, this is he who ruled a world of men
      As might some prophet of the elder day--
      Brooding above the tempest and the fray
    With deep-eyed thought and more than mortal ken.
      A power was his beyond the touch of art
      Or armèd strength--his pure and mighty heart.


NOTES

=the life-mask=:--The life-mask of Abraham Lincoln was made by Leonard
W. Volk, in Chicago, in April, 1860. A good picture of it is given as
the frontispiece to Volume 4 of Nicolay and Hay's _Abraham Lincoln, A
History_.

=this bronze=:--A life-mask is made of plaster first; then usually it is
cast in bronze.


SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY

This is not difficult to understand. Read it over slowly, trying first
to get the meaning of each sentence as if it were prose. You may have
to read it several times before you see the exact meaning of each part.
When you have mastered it, read it through consecutively, thinking of
what it tells about Lincoln.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Modern Prose And Poetry; For Secondary Schools: Edited With Notes, Study Helps, And Reading Lists

Modern Prose And Poetry; For Secondary Schools: Edited With Notes, Study Helps, And Reading Lists

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