LESSON 24
SHORT SELECTIONS IN PROSE

I. DRYDEN AND POPE.

Dryden knew more of man in his general nature, and Pope in his local manners. The notions of Dryden were formed by comprehensive speculation, those of Pope by minute attention. There is more dignity in the knowledge of Dryden, more certainty in that of Pope. The style of Dryden is capricious and varied, that of Pope cautious and uniform. Dryden obeys the motions of his own mind; Pope constrains his mind to his own rules of composition. Dryden's page is a natural field, rising into inequalities, and diversified by the varied exuberance of abundant vegetation;Pope's is the velvet lawn, shaven by the scythe, and leveled by the roller. If the flights of Dryden are higher, Pope continues longer on the wing. If, of Dryden's fire, the blaze is brighter, of Pope's the heat is more regular and constant. Dryden often surpasses expectation, and Pope never falls below it. Dryden is read with frequent astonishment, and Pope with perpetual delight.

—Samuel Johnson

II. LAS CASAS DISSUADING FROM BATTLE.

Is then the dreadful measure of your cruelty not yet complete? Battle! against whom? Against a king, in whose mild bosom your atrocious injuries, even yet, have not excited hate; but who, insulted or victorious, still sues for peace. Against a people, who never wronged the living being their Creator formed; a people, who received you as cherished guests, with eager hospitality and confiding kindness. Generously and freely did they share with you their comforts, their treasures, and their homes; you repaid them by fraud, oppression, and dishonor.

Pizarro, hear me! Hear me, chieftains! And thou, All-powerful! whose thunder can shiver into sand the adamantine rock, whose lightnings can pierce the core of the riven and quaking earth, oh let thy power give effect to thy servant's words, as thy Spirit gives courage to his will! Do not, I implore you, chieftains, —do not, I implore you, renew the foul barbarities your insatiate avarice has inflicted on this wretched, unoffending race. But hush, my sighs! fall not, ye drops of useless sorrow! heart-breaking anguish, choke not my utterance.

—E. B. Sheridan

III. ACTION AND REPOSE

John Ruskin, 1819-1900, is a distinguished English art critic and author. From 1869 to 1884, he was Professor of the Fine Arts at Oxford University. His writings are very numerous, and are noted for their eloquent and brilliant style.

About the river of human life there is a wintry wind, though a heavenly sunshine;the iris colors its agitation, the frost fixes upon its repose. Let us beware that our rest become not the rest of stones, which, so long as they are tempest-tossed and thunderstricken, maintain their majesty; but when the stream is silent and the storm passed, suffer the grass to cover them, and are plowed into the dust.

IV. TIME AND CHANGE

Sir Humphry Davy, 1778-1829, was an eminent chemist of England. He made many important chemical discoveries, and was the inventor of the miner's safety lamp.

Time is almost a human word, and Change entirely a human idea; in the system of nature, we should rather say progress than change. The sun appears to sink in the ocean in darkness, but it rises in another hemisphere; the ruins of a city fall, but they are often used to form more magnificent structures: even when they are destroyed so as to produce only dust, Nature asserts her empire over them; and the vegetable world rises in constant youth, in a period of annual successions, by the labors of man—providing food, vitality, and beauty—upon the wrecks of monuments which were raised for the purposes of glory, but which are now applied to objects of utility.

V. THE POET

William Ellery Channing, 1780-1842, was a distinguished clergyman and orator. He took a leading part in the public affairs of his day, and wrote and lectured eloquently on several topics.

It is not true that the poet paints a life which does not exist. He only extracts and concentrates, as it were, life's ethereal essence, arrests and condenses its volatile fragrance, brings together its scattered beauties, and prolongs its more refined but evanescent joys; and in this he does well, for it is good to feel that life is not wholly usurped by cares for subsistence and physical gratifications, but admits, in measures which may be indefinitely enlarged, sentiments and delights worthy of a higher being.

VI. MOUNTAINS

William Howitt, 1795-1879, was an English author. He published many books, and was associated with his wife, Mary Howitt, in the publication of many others.

There is a charm connected with mountains, so powerful that the merest mention of them, the merest sketch of their magnificent features, kindles the imagination, and carries the spirit at once into the bosom of their enchanted regions. How the mind is filled with their vast solitude! How the inward eye is fixed on their silent, their sublime, their everlasting peaks! How our hearts bound to the music of their solitary cries, to the tinkle of their gushing rills, to the sound of their cataracts! How inspiriting are the odors that breathe from the upland turf, from the rock-hung flower, from the hoary and solemn pine! How beautiful are those lights and shadows thrown abroad, and that fine, transparent haze which is diffused over the valleys and lower slopes, as over a vast, inimitable picture!

STUDY GUIDE

A. Vocabulary Usage—Read the definitions of vocabulary words from the prose pieces and make sentences of your own.

1. selection 1: speculation—(noun) This is a theory about something, without any factual basis.

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2. selection 1: capricious—(adjective) Someone who is capricious is irregular and unpredictable.

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3. selection 2: atrocious—(adjective) a situation that is very bad or unpleasant

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4. selection 3: repose—(noun or verb) a peaceful time of rest

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5. selection 4: monuments—(noun) very old buildings

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6. selection 5: ethereal—(adjective) heavenly, celestial

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7. selection 5: volatile—(adjective) changing very quickly

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8. selection 6: enchanted—(adjective) charming, delightful

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9. selection 6: sublime—(adjective) the best, the highest level

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10. selection 6: peaks—(noun) the tops of mountains

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B. Comprehension Questions—Answer the following questions with a partner.

1. In selection I, who does the writer like better, Dryden or Pope? Explain.

2. In selection II, how does the narrator tell the reader that fighting is wrong?

3. It says in selection III, “Let us beware that our rest become not the rest of stones”. What does this mean?

4. Is change a good thing or a bad thing in selection IV? Explain.

5. What is the job of the poet, according to the narrator in selection V?

6. What does the narrator say about why we love mountains so much in selection VI?

C. Reading response—Give your opinion and explain your answer.

1. Which of these prose selections is your favourite? Explain.

2. Which selection makes a comparison between two people? What qualities are compared?

3. Which two selections compare actions and things (not people)? How are they compared?

4. Which selection focuses on a feature of the natural world? What does it say about this feature?

5. How are selection I and selection V similar? Explain.

6. Selection III and selection VI have some similarities. What are they?