PRESENTATION
I
Yes, this story is often called "The Rescue". Let us note how the author helps us to see the picture. Where does he place the spectator? On a "thread-like road" running between the rocky bank of the Inn River and the foot of the precipice of the Solstein.
What does the author ask you, as the imaginary spectator, to do? To throw your head back and look upward.
Why? The precipice towers perpendicularly many hundred feet above you. He wishes you to imagine you are standing on this road and the scene is taking place before your eyes.
What do you see? A hunter in pursuit of a chamois.
Describe this hunter. He is lofty and chivalrous in his bearing.
What happens? He is bounding on after a chamois toward the edge of a precipice, when he loses his footing and falls.
How does the author make you see this plainly? He uses the present tense, as if the scene were happening now—"is bounding", "loses his footing", "rolls helplessly".
Any other way? Yes, he utters exclamations, "Mark!" "Ah!" Every act is told in the form of an exclamation.
"What is it that arrests him?" This is a question. Does the author expect an answer? No, he asks the question as I would ask it of myself if I saw the hunter stopped in his descent.
Why does he not tell you who this hunter is? I see now for the first time that it is the great Emperor Maximilian who is in such peril.
Does any one else see him? Yes, the Abbot, or head of a neighbouring monastery.
Why does the author mention him? To indicate that, apparently, human aid could not save the Emperor.
What has been told us in this first paragraph? The peril of the Emperor.
What is told us in the next? His rescue.
Who else sees the danger? Zyps of Zirl.
Who is he? A famous hunter and outlaw.
Do you see him at first? No, I hear his cry. The author says "Hark! there is a wild cry!" Then I recognize the outlaw.
Why does he utter the cry? To encourage the Emperor and let him know there is some one coming to his rescue.
Again how does the author make the picture vivid? By the use of the present tense, by commands, questions, and exclamations, and by making the spectator, in his excitement, address the mountaineer directly; for example, "thou hunted and hunting outlaw, art thou out upon the heights?" etc.
By what means does the author show how the outlaw comes to the Emperor's aid? By comparing him with the chamois, the insect, and the squirrel. This man combines in himself all their powers of movement.
What does the spectator now do? He fears that all may yet be lost, so he shouts to the Emperor to have courage, that the hunter is coming.
How does the author show his relief from the strain of the last few moments? His sentences are now longer and smoother.
How was this event afterwards regarded? The peasants maintained that an angel came down to their master's rescue.
What does the author seem to think? That his rescue was due to the interposition of Providence.
What is told in the next paragraph? Zyps' reward.
What did he receive? He was created a Count and received a pension from the Emperor.
What was his title? "Count Hallooer von Hohenfeldsen."
To what does this refer? To his "wild cry" from the high peaks, when he saw the Emperor in danger.
How can you prove that this story is true? By inspecting the pension list of the Royal House of Hapsburg and by looking at a cross in the mountains that has been erected on the very spot where Maximilian was rescued.
II
Whom do you see in the second vision? The Emperor Charles V. pursued by his enemies.
Who was he? One of the greatest monarchs in Europe, greater even than his grandfather, Maximilian I. In this scene he is ill; his army has met with reverses; he has made his escape from Innsbruck, the capital of the Tyrol, and is being conveyed through the mountains to a place of safety, closely pursued by Maurice of Saxony.
Describe the scene. It is at night, the wind is high, and is driving the rain against the Emperor's litter, which is borne by mountaineers and surrounded by his faithful officers.
What is given in the first paragraph? A description of the storm.
How does the author prepare you for the scene? The night suggests danger and mystery, and the moon looks out from a cloud, as though at something taking place in the gorge. The spectator hears something besides the roar of the wind.
Select all the words that show what a fearful night it is. "Night", "dark", "wild", "gusty winds", "howling", "sheets of blinding rain", "whirling", "hissing eddies", "rent asunder", "ravings of the tempest".
Notice all the details the author has made use of to convey the idea of terror and danger.
What is described in the next paragraph? The passage of the litter through the dark gorge.
Is the spectator forgotten in this scene? No, he first hears the "tramp of feet", then he sees the torches, and, lastly, the Emperor's litter surrounded by his attendants.
What words show you the difficulty of their situation? "Hurried", "crowding", "crushing", "steep and narrow gorge", "suppressed voices", "fitful glancing of torches", "anxiously shielded", "melée", "struggle onward".
Why are their voices suppressed? As a natural result of their perilous position.
Why do they keep their torches burning? To find their way through the enemy's country amid the dangers by which they are surrounded.
What do the lamps look like? A "constellation" of stars moving on in the same relative position.
Does the author still refer to the storm? Yes, in "derisive laughter", "rude wrath of the tempest", and "plumes streaming on the wind". The author wishes to picture continuously the fitting surroundings for this adventure, and so emphasizes these details.
Why does he speak of the "derisive laughter of the storm"? He compares it to a fiend who mocks the attempts of man to battle against his power.
Who is described in the third paragraph of this vision? The Emperor himself.
Why is he not described before, as he is more important than either the storm or his comrades? The story runs in a natural order. First are seen the figures surrounding the litter, and, as it approaches, the Emperor's face is distinguishable.
What is first mentioned in connection with him? His firmly set teeth.
What does this indicate? His great physical pain, and his determination of character.
What is mentioned next? His age; he is but fifty-three, but his wrinkles are deep and his hair turning gray.
What are next described? His forehead, his nose, his eye, his underlip.
Why does the author picture these features in such detail? To show the character of the Emperor.
What are we led to infer are some of his characteristics? A strong intellect, imperious manner, cruelty, and stubborn pride.
What strong contrast is drawn? The fugitive invalid is the great Emperor. The author first discusses his illness, his flight, his suffering in the storm, his adverse fortune, and then gives him his full titles—"Emperor of Germany, King of Spain, Lord of the Netherlands, of Naples, of Lombardy, and the proud chief of the golden Western World".
Where does the author place the blame for his present sufferings? On Charles himself, whose sufferings, humiliation, and ultimate deliverance were perhaps intended as a discipline to lead him to repent for past cruelties.
What is described in the last paragraph of this scene? The escape.
Who is first mentioned? The pursuer, Maurice of Saxony.
Describe him. He is first compared to an "avenger of blood" in pursuit of a man fleeing to the cities of refuge referred to in Joshua xx. 3. He is next compared to the hound relentlessly following his prey.
Who wins in this race? Charles eludes his pursuer.
To whom should he show gratitude for his escape? To Providence.
Does he acknowledge God's protection? No, he gives all the credit to his "lucky star".
Explain this. Astrologers had said that the "Star of Austria" was always at the highest point in the heavens; and of this favoured House of Austria, Charles was Archduke.
III
The first scene is called "The Rescue"; the second, "The Run"; and the last, "The Ruin". What is described in the last scene? The destruction of the French Army.
Where is the scene laid? In the Tyrol, beside the River Inn.
What is described in the first paragraph? Bonaparte's decree that the strongholds of his enemies—the Tyrolese warrior hunters—shall be destroyed.
Why should he wish to do this? The Tyrolese were an independent people, who would not submit to conscription and taxation at the hands of the Bavarians.
By what names does the author call Napoleon? "Bonaparte." That was his surname. The French Emperor had no hereditary right to the throne, but he wished to be called Napoleon, instead of Bonaparte, just as we speak of our King as George V. and rarely refer to his surname of Guelph.
Who advised Napoleon? "His own will is his sole adviser." He ruled arbitrarily, consulting no one.
What does he do in this case? He sends ten thousand French and Bavarian soldiers to crush the Tyrolese.
Why were the Bavarians taking part in the struggle? They were at this time allies of France, and Napoleon had given to their Elector possession of this new but hostile province.
What does the second paragraph describe? The army entering the narrow gorge in the mountains.
How does the author give vividness to this picture? He endows inanimate things such as the "gorge" and the "river" with human attributes. The "gorge" looks gloomy, forbidding, and unfriendly, and the "river" seems to roar indignantly, as though at the attempt of "the mountain walls" to impede its progress.
The next sentence is in the form of a question and its answer. Who is supposed to ask this question? This is the question the leader of the army would ask and the answer he would make when he discovered the narrow road. The construction of the sentence suggests the idea of danger.
Why does the next sentence begin with "But"? "But the glittering array winds on." It suggests that some precautions for the safety of the army should have been observed; but it may have been impossible to take these precautions, and the orders of Bonaparte had to be obeyed at all hazards.
What is described in the next sentence? The author gives full details of the progress of this imposing army. The River Inn seems to share the feelings of the Tyrolese themselves and protest angrily against this invasion by a foreign power.
How is the next sentence related to the preceding? "But" marks a contrast. The noise of the army and the river is contrasted with the silence on the heights.
Why are the "eagles" mentioned? The silence is rendered more impressive by the occasional "shrill cry" of the eagles, and the "wings" of the eagles hovering above are an omen of the coming disaster which is to overtake "the gilded eagles of France" below.
What is described in the next paragraph? The "voice" from the "heights".
How does the author make this paragraph impressive? As he wishes to indicate the critical moment, he still uses the present tense, direct narration, short sentences, exclamation, and interrogation; he suggests, through a mysterious voice far up the heights, that supernatural agents are at work. The army, in its helpless length, is compared to an "uncoiled serpent".
What is the subject of the next paragraph? The destruction of the entire army.
How is this ruin accomplished? Unseen in the heights above, the Tyrolese peasantry hurl down rocks, roots, and trunks of pine trees, as well as sending a "deadly hail" from their rifles along the "whole line" of the defenceless army below.
Notice the richness of detail. What words help to make the description of their destruction more vivid? "Bounding", "thundering", "gathering speed", "headlong way", "launched down", "powerless foe", "deadly hail", "fearful storm", "crushed to death", "tumbled, horse and man, into the choked and swollen river".
Notice the contrast of this paragraph with the picture in the second paragraph of this vision of the gallant invading army.
What is the subject of the last paragraph? The reflections of the author.
Of what does he speak? Of the wonders and beauties of creation and the sad power that man possesses of spoiling and staining these wonders by giving rein to his own "evil ambitions and fierce revenges".
How has he emphasized this? By the use of exclamation, question, ellipses, and the mention of the "serpent" as the symbol of evil.
How does the interrogative form of the sentence give it vividness? Contrast the effect of saying, "Who would willingly linger on the hideous details?" with "No one would willingly linger", etc. The author does not expect an answer, he throws the sentence into the question form for the rhetorical effect. The reader pays more attention to the thought by trying to find an answer to the question.
What is the value of the ellipses in "Sorrowful that man ... should come"? It is stronger than saying, "It is sorrowful that man ... should come". The subject and verb are omitted, as they are not strong words, and "Sorrowful" is placed in the most prominent position on account of its importance.