The teacher should talk with the pupils about a journey through the darkness, over dangerous bogs, swollen streams, and beside precipices.
PRESENTATION
Read the poem. In what form is this lesson? A prayer.
What is the prayer? The traveller asks for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. See notes on this lesson in the Manual on The Ontario Readers, pp. 166-7.
Describe his journey. "The night is dark", he is "far from home", he trusts to the light shining through the darkness to keep his feet from stumbling; he does not trouble himself about what lies far before him, he attends only to his footsteps one by one. He feels he can pass safely over the "moor", the "fen", the "crag", and the "torrent", by trusting to the guidance of the light. With the dawning of the day will come the reunion with his loved ones from whom he has been separated.
Explain the symbolism employed here. The poet speaks of himself as going through life like a traveller on a long journey, wherein he is constantly met by trials and temptations and cannot always know what is the right course to take. He acknowledges that he needs some stronger power than his own to direct his life and asks for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, content to trust himself to His leading in any dangers and difficulties that may arise in this life, and secure in the knowledge that "with the morn" he shall see once more those whom he has "loved" and "lost awhile".
What is the main thought of the first stanza? The traveller prays for guidance.
Of the second stanza? He states that he has not always been willing to ask for guidance, but had relied on his own reason.
Of the third stanza? He expresses his belief in the power and willingness of God to guide him aright.
What is the relation of the second stanza to the first one? It contrasts the poet's earlier attitude of mind toward God with that of later years, thus emphasizing the change that has taken place in his life.