This is the second part of a song of four stanzas, found in the comedy Love’s Labor’s Lost. The first two stanzas are descriptive of spring, and introduce the song of the cuckoo. The last two stanzas are given here.
Discussion. 1. Do these lines describe life in the city or in the country? 2. What does the use of names, Dick, Tom, Joan, and Marian, add to the poem? 3. For what use were logs brought into the hall? 4. Can you see fitness in the use of the word “greasy”? 5. What is the song of the owl? 6. Explain the second line of stanza 2. 7. Why is the owl called “staring”?
Phrases
- [blows his nail, 85, 2]
- [ways be foul, 85, 5]
- [staring owl, 86, 1]
- [keel the pot, 86, 4]
- [parson’s saw, 86, 6]
- [brooding in the snow, 86, 7]
PART II
ADVENTURES OLD AND NEW
“Some say that the age of chivalry is past. The age of chivalry is never past, so long as there is a wrong left unredressed on earth, or a man or woman left to say, ‘I will redress that wrong or spend my life in the attempt.’”
—Charles Kingsley.