The Vision of Sir Launfal

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Title: The Vision of Sir Launfal
And Other Poems
Author: James Russell Lowell
Release Date: March 8, 2006 [EBook #17948]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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Merrill's English Texts
THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL
AND OTHER POEMS
BY
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY
JULIAN W. ABERNETHY, PH.D., PRINCIPAL OF
THE BERKELEY INSTITUTE, BROOKLYN, N.Y.
NEW YORK
CHARLES E. MERRILL CO.
44-60 EAST TWENTY-THIRD STREET
COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY CHARLES E. MERRILL CO.
PREFACE
The aim of this edition of the Vision of Sir Launfal is to furnish the material that must be used in any adequate treatment of the poem in the class room, and to suggest other material that may be used in the more leisurely and fruitful method of study that is sometimes possible in spite of the restrictions of arbitrary courses of study.
In interpreting the poem with young students, special emphasis should be given to the ethical significance, the broad appeal to human sympathy and the sense of a common brotherhood of men, an appeal that is in accord with the altruistic tendencies of the present time; to the intimate appreciation and love of nature expressed in the poem, feelings also in accord with the present movement of cultured minds toward the natural world; to the lofty and inspiring idealism of Lowell, as revealed in the poems included in this volume and in his biography, and also as contrasted with current materialism; and, finally, to the romantic sources of the story in the legends of King Arthur and his table round, a region of literary delight too generally unknown to present-day students.
After these general topics, it is assumed that such matters as literary structure and poetic beauty will receive due attention. If the technical faults of the poem, which critics are at much pains to point out, are not discovered by the student, his knowledge will be quite as profitable. Additional reading in Lowell's works should be secured, and can be through the sympathetic interest and enthusiasm of the instructor. The following selections may be used for rapid examination and discussion: _Under the Willows, The First Snow-Fall, Under the Old Elm, Auf Wiedersehen, Sunthin' in the Pastoral Line, Jonathan to John, Mr. Hosea Biglow to the Editor of the Atlantic Monthly_, and the prose essays My Garden Acquaintance_ and A Good Word for Winter_. The opportunity should not be lost for making the students forever and interestedly acquainted with Lowell, with the poet and the man.
The editor naturally does not assume responsibility for the character of the examination questions given, at the end of this volume. They are questions that have been used in recent years in college entrance papers by two eminent examination boards.
J.W.A.
October 1, 1908.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION:
Life of Lowell
Critical Appreciations
The Vision of Sir Launfal
The Commemoration Ode
Bibliography
Poets' Tributes to Lowell
POEMS:
The Vision of Sir Launfal
The Shepherd of King Admetus
An Incident in a Railroad Car
Hebe
To the Dandelion
My Love
The Changeling
An Indian-Summer Reverie
The Oak
Beaver Brook
The Present Crisis
The Courtin'
The Commemoration Ode
NOTES:
The Vision of Sir Launfal
The Shepherd of King Admetus
Hebe
To the Dandelion
My Love
The Changeling
An Indian-Summer Reverie
The Oak
Beaver Brook
The Present Crisis
The Courtin'
The Commemoration Ode
EXAMINATION QUESTIONS
INTRODUCTION
LIFE OF LOWELL
In Cambridge there are two literary shrines to which visitors are sure to find their way soon after passing the Harvard gates, "Craigie House," the home of Longfellow and "Elmwood," the home of Lowell. Though their hallowed retirement has been profaned by the?encroachments of the growing city, yet in their simple dignity these fine old colonial mansions still bespeak the noble associations of the past, and stand as memorials of the finest products of American culture.
Elmwood was built before the Revolution by Thomas Oliver, the Tory governor, who signed his abdication at the invitation of a committee of "about four thousand people" who surrounded his house at Cambridge. The property was confiscated by the Commonwealth and used by the American army during the war. In 1818 it was purchased by the Rev. Charles Lowell, pastor of the West Congregational Church in Boston, and after ninety years it is still the family home. Here was born, February 22, 1819, James Russell Lowell, with surroundings most propitious for the nurturing of a poet-soul. Within the stately