With students in the upper grammar or lower high school grades there is much difficulty in grasping the meaning of inverted sentences. So daily drill is useful at the beginning in changing the verses into prose order, and in substituting prose synonyms. One should decide whether any other expression would answer the purpose equally well. Scott is no such word artist as Keats or Tennyson, still his choice is usually apt. Allusions may be looked up and some attention paid to figures of speech. Yet Scott's imagery is too clear and straightforward to require much analysis, and we may agree that to most students no allusion or figure of speech is of any value except as it illuminates the thought. After the student has done all these things and formed his own interpretation, let him study the notes for correction and for further information. And then let him read the assigned portion aloud once more thoughtfully, trying to see the picture through the author's eyes. When a canto has been gone over in the manner extensively and intensively, the topic of each stanza may be ascertained and the story of the whole canto reduced to a scale. This last is most desirable because untrained writers have so little sense of proportion, and put so much timber into their underpinning that often none is left for the roof. The above are general hints. Others will appear among the notes. Two more we will offer now. Commit to memory from time to time as much as can be done without its becoming a burdensome task. Finally, complete the study by writing compositions to be illustrated by water-color sketches or pen and ink drawings. A list of themes for oral and written composition is given here, and the instructor will think of others. And let the results be the pupils' very best attainment. Outside Reading. It is well to read either The Lay of the Last Minstrel or Marmion at home after this poem has been completed and then let the two be compared. We hope also that the student will not rest until he has come under the spell of Scott's prose romances. The Abbot is a natural sequel to The Lady of the Lake, but probably Ivanhoe, The Talisman, or Kenilworth would be a more attractive introduction.. THEMES FOR ORAL AND WRITTEN COMPOSITION Suggested by The Lady of the Lake 1. BIOGRAPHICAL. 1. A Day at Abbotsford with Scott. II. HISTORICAL. 1. James V. and his Daughter Mary. 3. Monarchs who travelled in Disguise. 5. Medieval Minstrelsy. 6. Robin Hood and his Merry Men. III. DESCRIPTIVE. 1. Some Familiar Bit of Mountain Scenery. 2. A Field-day, a Boat Race, etc. 3. Based on the Games in Canto V. 4. Loch Katrine and its Environs. 5. Sunrise on Loch Katrine. 7. Moonlight on Loch Katrine. 8. The Goblin Cave and its Inmates. 9. The Meetings of James and Ellen. 10. The Departure of James from the Island. 12. The Wedding at Saint Bride's. 13. Clan Alpine's Men in Martial Array. 14. Death of Murdoch. 15. Meeting of James with Blanche. 16. Roderick Dhu and his Stranger-guest at Supper. 18. Morning in the Court of Guard. 19. Ellen at the Court of the King. IV. NARRATIVE. 1. The Chase. 2. Abstracts of Cantos. 3. The Path of the Fiery Cross. 4. The Combat. 5. The Battle. 6. Abstract of Entire Poem. V. CRITICAL. 1. Character Sketches of the Chief Personages. 3. James and the Black Knight. (Ivanhoe.) 4. Songs in The Lady of the Lake. 5. Scott's Use of Natural Scenery compared with Ten nyson's (or Longfellow's, or Milton's). 6. Explanation of Selected Figures of Speech. 7. Scott as a Story-teller. 8. Scott's Use of Color. 9. Are we Less Courteous than the Highlanders? VI. IMAGINATIVE. 1. Preparing for the Chase. 2. Ellen's Life Previous to her Father's Exile. 3. Other Adventures of James in Disguise. 4. An Evening at Ellen's Isle. 5. The Life of Allan-bane. 6. Lufra's Account of the Games. 7. A Glimpse of Ellen at Holyrood after her Marriage. 8. An Original Ballad. 9. "And thoughts on thoughts, a countless throng, Rushed, chasing countless thoughts along." |