Still threat’ning to devour me | opens wide |
To which the Hell I suffer | seems a Heav’n.
But say I could repent | and could obtain |
By act of grace | my former state, | how soon
Would height | recall high thoughts, | how soon unsay |
What feign’d submission | swore.
This | knows my punisher; therefore | as far
From granting | he, as I | from begging | peace.
The student should practice the following examples until he perceives clearly the force of the preceding principles. The group is the thought unit, and the proper rendition of the sentence depends upon our grasp of the units that compose it. Hence, a conscientious study of the phrasing will lead not only to careful grouping, but to a grasp of the thought in its entirety that cannot fail to affect for good the reading of the whole selection: