_Above the vineyards_: In Europe, vineyards are often planted on the slopes of hills and mountains. What ancient country do you think of in connection with "the corn [grain], the oil, the wine"? Were the laborers happy in that country? What were the "creatures" of man's planting (second stanza)? What was the "ancient threat" of deserts? Of what kind of deserts, as described here? Of what deserts would this be true after the rainy season? _Laughed to scorn_: Does this mean "outdid"? Mentally insert the word _something_ after _still_ in the second line of the third stanza. If the laborer in times gone by did not sing for abundance, what did he sing for (stanza three)? The verses in italics are a kind of refrain, as if the laborer were singing to himself. _So is it said and sung_ refers to the fact that these lines are adapted from passages in the Bible. _This last ambush_: What does the author mean here by suggesting that the laborer has been entrapped? Who are "they" in the line "'Enough for him,' they said"? How did they take away "the corn, the oil, the wine"? How did they take away "the air and the sun"? Who now has the product of the workman's toil? What are "the eyes of Need"? Is it true that one may work hard and still be in need? If it is true, who is to blame? What are "dim" faces? Why does the author begin the word _Man_ with a capital? What effect does too much hard work have upon the laborer? What is "the crooked air"? Who is represented as saying _Why_? How does the world forbid the laborer to live? Why are there dotted lines before and after _Why_ and _What_ and _How long_? Who are meant by _Them_ in the line beginning "Only lets"? Why does the author say that the prisons are filled with ill-used laborers? What does she mean by saying that the prisoners are "bruised for our iniquities"? What is gained here by using the language of the Bible? _The all-but-human_ means "almost intelligent"--referring to machinery. Does the author mean to praise the "sovereign Few"? Who are these "Few magnificent"? Are they really to blame for the sufferings of the poor? _Himself_ in the line beginning "Of that lost," refers to God. What is meant here by "a new Heaven and a new Earth"? What is "this dishonored Star"? What conditions does the author think will bring back the singing man? Are they possible conditions? Re-read the poem, thinking of the author's protest against the sufferings of the poor and the selfishness of the rich. What do you think of the poem? COLLATERAL READINGS The Singing Man and Other Poems Josephine Preston Peabody The Piper " " " The Singing Leaves " " " Fortune and Men's Eyes " " " The Wolf of Gubbio " " " The Man with the Hoe Edwin Markham THE DANCE OF THE BON-ODORI LAFCADIO HEARN