Graybeard and Goldhair
Before beginning the poem carefully read the Introduction.
PAGE [1]
In the study of this poem it is necessary to learn the geography and topography of the country. Define “topography.” Tell about Leavenworth Campaign; Major Henry.
The story of Hugh Glass is historical and may be found in the following works: Chittenden’s History of the American Fur Trade, New York, 1902; Sage’s Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, Boston, 1857; Ruxton’s Adventures in Mexico, London, 1847; Howe’s Historical Collections of the Great West, Cincinnati, 1857; Cooke’s Scenes and Adventures in the U. S. Army, Philadelphia, 1857; The Missouri Intelligencer for June 18, 1825. Accounts of the death of Hugh Glass, in 1832, are given in The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth, London, 1892, and in Maximilian’s Travels, London, 1843.
2. ‘Twas when the guns that blustered at the Ree
Ree—Aricara or Rickaree Indians. Locate them in 1823.
Where are they now?
3. Had ceased to brag, and ten score martial clowns
Why “clowns”? See Introduction.
6. A withering blast the arid South still blew,
What is “South”? Why capitalized? Did Homer and Vergil personify the winds?
9. Southward before the Great White Hunter’s face:
Who is the Great White Hunter? What is the time of year?
13. With eighty trappers up the dwindling Grand,
Why “dwindling”?
14. Bound through the weird, unfriending barren-land
“Unfriending” whom?
15. For where the Big Horn meets the Yellowstone;
Locate the junction of the streams.
PAGE [2]
1. Deep-chested, that his great heart might have play,
Describe Hugh Glass. Hugh’s physical characteristics are drawn in large lines. Compare this with the more elaborate descriptions of persons in other books. Which is more effective?
2. Gray-bearded, gray of eye and crowned with gray
Our author’s descriptions leave much room for the play of the reader’s imagination. Is this method effective with you?
4. And, for the grudging habit of his tongue,
“For”—by reason of.
8. And hate in him was like a still, white hell,
Why “white”?
9. A thing of doom not lightly reconciled.
What does “reconciled” modify? What is this figure called?
14. Old Hugh stared long upon the pictured blaze,
What were the pictures Hugh saw in the blaze? Would you like to know more of Hugh’s past? Why does not the author tell us more concerning it?
17. The veil was rent, and briefly men discerned
What “veil”?
19. Beneath the still gray smoldering of him.
What figure in “still gray smoldering”? Was Hugh a good fighter? A man whose anger was to be feared?
PAGE [3]
2. So, tardily, outflowered the wild blond strain
Whence the “wild blond strain”?
4. A Ganymedes haunted by a Goth
Who was Ganymedes? The Goths?
5. When the restive ghost was laid,
What was the “restive ghost”? How old was Jamie?
17. When Ashley stormed a bluff town of the Ree,
Who was Ashley? See Introduction.
20. Yet, hardly courage, but blind rage agrope
What is courage?
23. Tore off the gray mask, and the heart shone through.
What was the “gray mask”?
24. For, halting in a dry, flood-guttered draw,
Define “draw” as here used. How does it differ from “ravine”? from “gully”?
PAGE [4]
24. As though spring-fire should waken out of snow.
Explain the figure.
PAGE [5]
4. So with their sons are women brought to bed,
Of whom is Hugh thinking when he uses these words?
13. Nor could these know what mocking ghost of Spring
Express in other words the idea contained in “mocking ghost of Spring.”
16. So might a dawn-struck digit of the moon
Explain the figure and interpret it in terms of Hugh’s feelings for Jamie.
18. And ache through all its craters to be green.
What is the present condition of the surface of the moon?
21. Pang dwelling in a puckered cicatrice
Define “cicatrice.” Explain the figure.
23. Yet very precious was the hurt thereof,
24. Grievous to bear, too dear to cast away.
These lines constitute a paradox. Define “paradox.” Explain the meaning of the lines. Can pain be “precious”?
PAGE [6]
What lines in this page forecast an approaching disaster? Can you recall such forecasts in other pieces of literature?
10. A phantom April over melting snow,
Why “phantom” April?
11. Deep in the North some new white wrath is brewed.
Express the meaning of this line in other language. How does it apply to the story?
16. Tales jaggéd with the bleak unstudied word,
Was the language of Hugh’s stories polished? Effective? Are men natural story tellers? Answer from your own experience.
What does the life of primitive man tell us with regard to the matter?
17. Stark saga-stuff.
Define “saga.” What is meant by the words: “stark saga-stuff”?
19. A mere pelt merchant, as it seemed to him;
Define: pelt, epic, whist. Is “Hugh Glass” epic in material and form?
PAGE [7]
Which of these men loves the other more? In case of severe trial will each be true to the other? Is either likely to be vengeful? unforgiving? fickle?
3. That myth that somehow had to be the truth,
What is “that myth”? What feeling is expressed in “had to be the truth”?
4. Yet could not be convincing any more.
Why could it not “be convincing any more”?
17. And so with merry jest the old man went;
Note in the passage the second forecast of disaster.
PAGE [8]
9. The dusty progress of the cavalcade
10. The journey of a snail flock to the moon;
What feeling in Jamie is made clear in this figure?
11. Until the shadow-weaving afternoon
Explain the figure “shadow-weaving afternoon,” etc.
17. Hoofbeats of ghostly steeds on every hill,
18. Mysterious, muffled hoofs on every bluff!
19. Spurred echo horses clattering up the rough, etc.
Explain “hoofbeats of ghostly steeds,” “muffled hoofs,” “echo horses.”
21. The lagging air droned like the drowsy word
Why “drowsy” word? The transfer of an epithet is called a “trope,” from a Greek word meaning to turn.
PAGE [9]
1. Lean galloper in a wind of splendid deeds,
Note the vivid imagery and the effect of the broken meter.
4. The horse stopped short—then Jamie was aware, etc.
What gives the effect of loneliness in these lines?
Note the effect of vast stretches of space in the use of the names of heavenly bodies to denote the points of the compass. A sense of the infinity of space arises often in the reader of this poem.
Any imaginative person feels this sense ever deepening upon him on looking long at the prairies.
11. Save for a welter of cawing crows,
What is the effect of the cawing of the crows in the general stillness?
Note that the meter is intentionally changed. What effect?
13. One faint star, set above the fading blush, etc.
What is the effect of the mention of the star and its growing from faint to clear?
16. For answer, the horse neighed.
What is the effect of the neighing of the horse?
17. Some vague mistrust now made him half afraid, etc.
Mistrust of what? Is disaster near?
PAGE [10]
1. “Somewhere about the forks as like as not;
2. And there’ll be hunks of fresh meat steaming hot,
3. And fighting stories by a dying fire!”
Why does Jamie talk to himself?
4. The sunset reared a luminous phantom spire
5. That, crumbling, sifted ashes down the sky.
What is the effect of these two lines?
8. And in the vast denial of the hush
9. The champing of the snaffled horse seemed loud.
What is the effect of these two lines? What is the “vast denial”?
Why mention “the champing of the horse”? Pages [9] and [10] are used to induce in the reader a sense of extreme loneliness.
Where is the climax? What devices have been employed for the purpose?
17. The laggard air was like a voice that sang,
Why is the air now as a voice that sings rather than drowsy and weird?
18. And Jamie half believed he sniffed the tang
19. Of woodsmoke and the smell of flesh a-roast;
These lines indicate the lad’s eagerness.
PAGE [11]
2. And in the whirlwind of a moment there, etc.
Could Jamie perceive so much in so brief a time under such circumstances? Does the picture in “huddled, broken thing” seem realistic?
11. A landscape stares with every circumstance etc.
Jamie’s experience in the preceding lines is here explained. Did you ever notice how plainly things stand out in a flare of lightning?
14. Then before his eyes, etc.
Is this consistent with the part of Jamie in the fight with the Rees?
22. Heard the brush crash etc.
Onomatopœia. Define “rubble.”
PAGE [12]
1. A swift thought swept the mind of Jamie clear, etc.
Is the change in Jamie from anger to coolness good psychology?
Why?
8. Swerved sharply streamward. Sliddering in the sand,
Note onomatopœia. How did Jamie elude the bear?
17. Like some vague shape of fury in a dream,
Why did the sight of the bear seem thus to Jamie?
PAGE [13]
4. Would think of such a “trick of getting game”!
For a moment Jamie feels as if Hugh were still living and he can now triumph in his skill. Was that natural in a boy?
6. Like a dull blade thrust back into a wound.
Memory of sorrow “like a dull blade,” etc. Is that true to life?
10. Like some familiar face gone strange at last.
Meaning of “gone strange at last”?
In this and the next three pages note the sincerity and the boyishness of Jamie’s affection and grief. It is necessary to understand Jamie now that the reader may interpret his later conduct.
Define: eld, blear.
PAGE [14]
6. Had wiped the pictured features from a slate! etc.
Note two powerful similes in these lines. Do they convey adequately the horror of the spectator? This “ruined face” of Hugh’s has much in the remainder of the story. The lines are not pleasant to read, but life is not always pleasant. Homer and Shakespeare often wrote lines that shock by their naked truth.
15. Still painted upon black that alien stare
Why “alien stare”?
16. To make the lad more terribly alone.
Why “more terribly alone”?
21. Pale vagrants from the legendry of death
Pale vagrants, i.e. ghosts.
Define: funereal, alien, legendry, potential.
PAGE [17]
6. For, though the graybeard fought with sobbing breath, etc.
A wrestling match in which death has a “strangling grip” on Hugh. Note the vividness of physical imagery, “neck veins like a purple thong tangled with knots.” What biblical allusion in “break upon the hip”?
11. There where the trail forked outward far and dim;
What “trail forked outward”?
13. His moan went treble like a song of pain,
Does the voice become like a shrill song under such circumstances?
20. For dying is a game of solitaire, etc.
A grim epigram.
Define: treble, solitaire.
PAGE [18]
The rest of this division of the poem develops the catastrophe of cowardice and treachery. The elements of it are (1) Jamie’s youthfulness and unsettled character, (2) Le Bon’s ability to play upon his weakness, (3) the actual nearness of the Rees, (4) the apparently hopeless condition of Hugh prolonged over several days.
12. That mercenary motives prompted him.
Do you believe the protestations of Jules that mercenary motives do not prompt him? Does he “protest too much”?
16. The Rickarees were scattered to the West:
Why mention the Indians so early?
19. Three days a southwest wind may blow
A southwest wind on the plains is always warm, and seldom carries rain.
Explain the application.
PAGE [19]
Why does Jules talk always as though the death of Hugh were certain?
10. Unnumbered tales accordant with the case,
Do you think Le Bon knew these tales?
18. A bear’s hug—ugh!’ And Jamie winced etc.
What was the effect on Jamie?
Define: dialectic, colophon.
PAGE [20]
8. So summoning a mood etc.
How do Le Bon’s stories change as night comes on? Is his psychology effective? Note the increase in the fears of Jamie.
11. Of men outnumbered: and like him of old, etc.
“Him of old”—Æneas in Æneid, Book II.
23. Gray-souled, he wakened to a dawn of gray,
“Gray-souled”—meaning? “A poet is known by his epithets.”
Define: lugubriously, garrulous.
PAGE [21]
1. And felt that something strong had gone away.
What strong thing had gone away?
5. Jules, snug and snoring in his blanket there, etc.
Is it natural that the conscious living Jules should seem more real to the boy than his unconscious friend?
6. Just so, pain etc.
Note the epigram. Is it a true one?
14. But grappled with the angel.
Jacob in Genesis.
18. Many men May tower, etc.
Would such a statement be peculiarly true of a boy like Jamie?
Recall his conduct in the Ree fight.
24. Nor might a fire be lit,
Note the shrewdness of Jules in failing to light a fire.
PAGE [22]
What shows that Jamie is at the breaking point?
4. And with it lulled the fight, as on a field, etc.
The crisis of the disease.
9. It would soon be o’er, etc.
Jules talks in sentimental vein. Sentimental people are very often cruel.
17. To dig a hole that might conceal a man;
Would Jamie have resented the digging of a grave four days earlier?
Jules easily weeps. So do many insincere people.
Define: beleaguered, mutability, immemorial, funerary.
PAGES [23]–[25]
The last stage of Jamie’s breakdown.
Had you any doubt that Jules would beget panic in Jamie? How much do you blame Jamie? Why did Le Bon take Hugh’s gun, blanket, and knife?