下载掌阅APP，畅读海量书库
立即打开
Bird of the wilderness,
Blithesome and cumberless,
Sweet be thy matin o’er moorland and lea!
Emblem of happiness,
Blest is thy dwelling place —
O to abide in the desert with thee!
Wild is thy lay and loud,
Far in the downy cloud;
Love gives it energy, love gave it birth.
Where on thy dewy wing,
Where art thou journeying?
Thy lay is in heaven, thy love is on earth,
O’er. fell and fountain sheen,
O’er moor and mountain green,
O’er the red streamer that heralds the day,
Over the cloudlet dim,
Over the rainbow’s rim,
Musical cherub, soar, singing, away!
Then, when the gloaming comes,
Low in the heather blooms.
Sweet will thy welcome and bed of love be!
( James Hogg )
James Hogg (1770-1835) was born in Ettrick, Scotland. He is called “The Ettrick Shepherd” because he came from a family of shepherds and worked in his youth as a cowherd and sheep-tender. He spent many of his evening hours listening to old ballads and legends which his mother recited to him. By the time he was twenty, Hogg was known as a song-writer. Ten years later he assisted Walter Scott in the collection of old ballads for the Border Minstrelsy and shortly afterwards published a small volume of his own poetry. The publication of The Queen’s Wake in 1831, a collection of tales and ballads supposed to have been sung to Mary, Queen of Scots, by native bards of Scotland, established his reputation as an author.
lay : song
fell : marsh, fierc
heather : small blossoming evergreen shrubs
Answer the following questions.
1) Who is the poem addressed to?
2) What different names does the poet give to the bird?
3) How do we know that it is early morning?
4) Where does the lark make its nest?
5) What must you have in order to enjoy the song of a bird?