‘The First Dandelion’ by Walt Whitman

Whitman’s poem featured in this post is a very short one, originally published in the Herald newspaper on 12th March 1888. It just so happened that immediately after its publication, a major blizzard hit the state of New York, which made the poet’s timing rather unfortunate, and the subject of many jokes.

It reminded me of a similar beginning of spring we’ve had over here in my neck of the woods this year: within days of the official arrival of spring, we suddenly had subzero temperatures and plenty of snow. It didn’t last long, though, and the meadows are already full of spring wildflowers—including dandelions!

Simple and fresh and fair from winter's close emerging, As if no artifice of fashion, business, politics, had ever been, Forth from its sunny nook of shelter'd grass— innocent, golden, calm as the dawn, The spring's first dandelion shows its trustful face.

How did you like this poem? Are there any other flowers that you associate with the arrival of spring? Tell us about it in the comments section below!

VOCABULARY EXERCISE

Match the following words with their definitions / synonyms:

CLOSE   |   EMERGE   |   ARTIFICE   |   FORTH   |   NOOK   |   DAWN 

• onward, forward
• to appear, become visible
• daybreak, sunrise
• an enclosed area; a narrow passage
• a trick or deception
• a small, hidden place; a corner

To check your answers, click here.

RELATED BLOG POSTS AND RESOURCES

‘A Glimpse’ by Walt Whitman

How to interpret a poem (with a little help from Walt Whitman)

Cover photo by Natalia Luchanko on Unsplash.

#AmericanLiterature #dandelions #EnglishLanguage #EnglishVocabulary #learningEnglish #poem #poetry #reading #readingComprehension #readingSkills #spring #vocabulary #WaltWhitman

‘Spring Storm’ by William Carlos Williams

William Carlos Williams (1883–1963) was one of the most important American poets of the 20th century: a modernist of the imagist kind, he was known for using simple and colloquial language to express his ideas—a feature many critics now consider typical of modern American poetry. This can be contrasted with the modernists such as T. S. Eliot, whose works, to the contrary, resort to complex vocabulary, imagery and symbolism, and which can give off a rather elitist vibe.

William Carlos Williams

The poem presented here, ‘Spring Storm’, serves as a good example of imagism: there are no complex, intertextual references or intellectual pretences. Instead, the poet shares an image coming straight from everyday life, one we are all familiar with. Of course, the image is not here for its own sake: it does stand for something.

After you read the poem, reflect on the symbolism of a spring storm and the change of seasons. There’s the literal change from winter to spring; what can it mean as a symbol? What does it mean to you?

The sky has given over its bitterness. Out of the dark change all day long rain falls and falls as if it would never end. Still the snow keeps its hold on the ground. But water, water from a thousand runnels! It collects swiftly, dappled with black cuts a way for itself through green ice in the gutters. Drop after drop it falls from the withered grass-stems of the overhanging embankment.

VOCABULARY EXERCISE

Find the words in the poem with the following meaning:

• an unpleasantly sharp taste; a feeling of anger and unhappiness
• the surface of the earth
• a very small stream
• quickly, with great speed
• marked with small spots or patches
• a trough or channel that carries off rainwater
• a tiny amount of liquid
• the main body of a plant, a stalk
• dry, shrivelled, decaying

To check you answers, click here for the answer key.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Free e-books by William Carlos William (via Project Gutenberg)

Image credit: cover photo by Pratik Gupta on Unsplash.

#AmericanLiterature #EnglishLiterature #EnglishVocabulary #imagism #learningEnglish #modernism #poem #poetry #reading #readingComprehension #spring #WilliamCarlosWilliams

Confusing verbs: lay & lie

In response to a recent question from several of my students, here’s a grammar post about two confusing verbs: lie and lay. (Actually, it’s three verbs, but we’ll come to that later.)

TO LAY

‘To lay’ means to put something down. It is followed by a direct object, i.e. it’s a transitive verb—after it we have to use a noun or a pronoun.

Take this blanket and lay it on the ground.

Its Simple Past and Past Participle form is LAID:

He laid the books on the table.

We have laid the foundation for our future cooperation.

The Present Participle, which we use to form all continuous tenses is LAYING:

We are laying down new rules.

This verb is often used with different prepositions, forming phrasal verbs with various meanings. Here are a few examples:

• to lay down: to define and implement a rule; to put something down
• to lay off: to make someone redundant
• to lay over: to stop somewhere for a short time during a journey
• to lay up: be / stay inactive due to illness or injury

TO LIE

‘To lie’ means to be in a horizontal position. It is not followed by a direct object, i.e. it’s an intransitive verb.

I feel very sleepy. I’m going to lie down. 

BE CAREFUL: the Simple Past form is LAY – same as the infinitive / present tense of ‘to lay’:

He lay in bed all day because he was unwell.

The Past Participle form is LAIN:

She had lain on the sofa for some time before she got up.

The Present Participle is LYING:

How long have you been lying in the sun? Your skin is so red!

This verb is also used to make a number of phrasal verbs, some of which are very frequent, such as:

• to lie around: to leave something out of place; spend time relaxing, not doing anything
• to lie ahead: to happen in the future
• to lie in: to stay in bed later than usual

TO LIE = to deceive

Finally, there’s the verb ‘to lie’, meaning to say something untrue in order to deceive. This verb is regular (just be careful with spelling): its Past Simple and Past Participle is LIED, and the Present Participle is LYING.

Stop lying to me!

I have never lied to anyone.

To recap, here’s the overview of the main forms of these three verbs:

You can now practise these verbs a bit using the online grammar exercise I’ve prepared on this topic.

#EnglishGrammar #EnglishLanguage #EnglishVocabulary #grammarPractice #grammarQuiz #learningEnglish #verbs

‘A Prayer in Spring’ by Robert Frost

Looking for some peace and quiet? Robert Frost’s poem ‘A Prayer in Spring’ just might give you some inspiration.

As I often mention in my poetry posts, try to read this poem out loud—it has a great rhythm that you might completely miss out on if you read it silently. And that would be unfortunate, because the rhythm is intentional: it contributes to the message of the poem. Its stable consistency adds to the sense of calm.

How did Frost create this effect? You will notice the steady AABB rhyme pattern, but there’s more. The poem is written in iambic pentameter, which is a five-set series of iambs (an iamb is a metrical unit consisting of two syllables, where the first one is unstressed and the second one stressed).

English language learners can do a simple vocabulary exercise found below the poem, and there’s also a selection of additional resources on Robert Frost and iambic pentameter.

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day; And give us not to think so far away As the uncertain harvest; keep us here All simply in the springing of the year. Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white, Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night; And make us happy in the happy bees, The swarm dilating round the perfect trees. And make us happy in the darting bird That suddenly above the bees is heard, The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill, And off a blossom in mid air stands still. For this is love and nothing else is love, The which it is reserved for God above To sanctify to what far ends He will, But which it only needs that we fulfil.

VOCABULARY EXERCISE FOR ESL LEARNERS

Match the following words found in the poem with their definitions:

ORCHARD (n.) | DILATE (v.) | THRUST (v.) | SWARM (n.) | SANCTIFY (v.) | DART (v.)

• to become wider or larger
• to move suddenly and quickly
• an area where fruit trees are grown 
• to make holy, consecrate
• a large group of insects
• to push suddenly and strongly

To check your answers, please click here.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

‘A Prayer in Spring’ read by Robert Frost

Iambic pentameter – an Encyclopedia Britannica entry

‘October’ by Robert Frost

#AmericanLiterature #English #EnglishLiterature #EnglishVocabulary #learningEnglish #poetry #readingSkills #RobertFrost

Grammar practice: the causative have

In this post we’ll do a bit of grammar practice on a special use of the verb ‘have’, namely the causative have.

This structure is used when you want to say that you didn’t do something by yourself, but they you’ve simply arranged (i.e. caused) for someone else to do it for you.

It always follows the following pattern: have + object + Past Participle

Compare these two examples:

I have washed my car. – This is Present Perfect, where ‘have’ is the auxiliary verb. The sentence says that I washed the car by myself – ‘I’ is the subject.

I had my car washed. – Look at the pattern, with the object between the causative have and the Past Participle. This sentence implies that I asked someone else to wash the car for me.

Here’s another typical example:

I have cut my hair. – I did it myself.

I had my hair cut. – Someone else did it, presumably a hairdresser.

You can use the causative have in different tenses. For example:

I‘m having my hair cut. (I’m at the hairdresser’s right now.)

I‘ve had my hair cut. (Someone’s done it for me at some point in the past.)

I’m going to have my hair cut. (I intend to ask someone to do it.)

I’m sure this wasn’t very difficult. You can now click here to complete a simple grammar quiz on this topic.

#EnglishGrammar #EnglishTeacher #grammarPractice #grammarQuiz #learningEnglish

Grammar practice: other, others, another

Three words that students often confuse: other, others, and another. What’s the difference between them and when to use which? Read on for a few basic explanations and some grammar practice suitable for students at A2 / B1 level.

OTHER

Other is a determiner – an adjective that stands before nouns. Since it’s an adjective, it never takes a plural form. It means ‘additional’ or ‘different’. It can be used with uncountable nouns or, much more commonly, with countable nouns in plural. You can also use it with the pronoun ‘one(s)’.

Let’s meet some other time.

Do you have any other books?

This book is so boring. That other one was much more interesting.

ANOTHER

When you look at this word, it’s clearly a combination of the indefinite article a(n) + other. It has the same meaning as OTHER above, but we use it before singular countable nouns, or the pronoun ‘one’:

Can I get you another cup of coffee? (i.e. an additional one)

I finished the book last night, so I started reading another one this morning.

OTHERS

This word is not an adjective / determiner, but a pronoun. It replaces a plural noun:

I don’t like these gloves. Are there any others? (i.e. any other gloves)

Go play with others. (i.e. with other children)

So, to repeat:

OTHER (adjective) + uncountable and plural countable nouns / pronoun ‘one(s)’

ANOTHER (adjective) + singular countable nouns / pronoun ‘one’

OTHERS (pronoun)

You can now do a simple grammar quiz and check your knowledge! To start, click here.

And if you are at a more advanced level, have a look at this selection of links for additional study:

Other, The Other and Another (a VOA Learning English feature)

Other, others, the other or another? (a Cambridge Dictionary page)

NOTES

I’m a freelance language tutor (English, Latin, Classical Greek), researcher, and a literary scholar currently based in Belgrade, Serbia.  

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To support my work, you can send me a donation via PayPal. It would be greatly appreciated!

#English #EnglishGrammar #grammar #grammarPractice #grammarQuiz #learningEnglish

“A Song for New Year’s Eve” by William Cullen Bryant

William Cullen Bryant was a 19th century American romanticist poet, abolitionist and civil right advocate. Originally a lawyer, he started publishing poems in the early 1820s. Later in the decade he became the editor of the New York Review and the New York Evening Post, solidifying his position as a prominent man of letters and progressive politics. 

William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878)

As a writer, he is often brought into connection with the famous Hudson River School of art. What the painters of that school did on their canvases, Bryant did on paper, painting wonderful landscapes and nature scenes with his pen. If you like nature writing, you will love Bryant’s poetry!

In this post, however, I’ll present a poem of his on a holiday theme. Entitled ‘A Song for New Year’s Eve’, this one is a bittersweet parting with the old year, and a hopeful plea for better things coming with the new year. (It’s a bit of a tradition here on Grammaticus to end the year with a poem on a New Year theme – check out the previous one, “Ring Out, Wild Bells” by Lord Alfred Tennyson).

As always, this poetry post contains a simple vocabulary exercise for English language learners.

Stay yet, my friends, a moment stay—
Stay till the good old year,
So long companion of our way,
Shakes hands, and leaves us here.
Oh stay, oh stay,
One little hour, and then away.

The year, whose hopes were high and strong,
Has now no hopes to wake;
Yet one hour more of jest and song
For his familiar sake.
Oh stay, oh stay,
One mirthful hour, and then away.

The kindly year, his liberal hands
Have lavished all his store.
And shall we turn from where he stands,
Because he gives no more?
Oh stay, oh stay,
One grateful hour, and then away.

Days brightly came and calmly went,
While yet he was our guest;
How cheerfully the week was spent!
How sweet the seventh day’s rest!
Oh stay, oh stay,
One golden hour, and then away.

Dear friends were with us, some who sleep
Beneath the coffin-lid:
What pleasant memories we keep
Of all they said and did!
Oh stay, oh stay,
One tender hour, and then away.

Even while we sing, he smiles his last,
And leaves our sphere behind.
The good old year is with the past;
Oh be the new as kind!
Oh stay, oh stay,
One parting strain, and then away.

VOCABULARY EXERCISE

Find the words in the poem with the following meaning:

• generous, openhanded (adj.)
• amusement; joke; prank (n.)
• gentle, kind and affectionate (adj.)
• cheerful, joyful, jolly (adj.)
• a point of separation or departing (n.)
• a narrow box in which a dead body is buried (n.)
• to give generously (v.)
• a person or animal one spends a lot of time together; comrade; associate (n.)

You can check your answers by clicking on this link.

ADDITIONAL READING

Books by William Cullen Bryant (available on Project Gutenberg)

William Cullen Bryant Homestead (a National Park Service webpage)

COVER IMAGE

Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash

#AmericanLiterature #EnglishVocabulary #learningEnglish #NewYear #poem #poetry #readingComprehension #readingSkills #vocabulary #WilliamCullenBryant

‘The Way through the Woods’ by Rudyard Kipling

Not long ago, on one of my nature walks I visited a small lake near the town of Barajevo, Serbia. Oddly enough, the lake happens to be called Deep Stream (‘Duboki potok’ in Serbian); it’s in a rather secluded location, and so out of the way that even the locals had trouble explaining the directions to it.

Surrounded by rolling hills typical of the area between the mountains of Avala and Kosmaj, it felt very charming and peaceful. What I liked best, though, was the country lane encircling the lake, meandering through the forest. There was nothing special or unique about it, but it was just lovely.

Once I got back home, I searched my library for a poem that would go well with my mental images of the place. And here it is – the subject of this blog post – Rudyard Kipling’s ‘The Way through the Woods’. 

While set in summer rather than late winter, it describes a location not unlike the one I visited. But it’s a lot more than a mere description of a nature spot. The poet reflects on the passing character of all man-made structures: where once there was a road, nature has taken over again. What made the place so beautiful and idyllic is the withdrawal of humans and their absence.

I hope you enjoy this poem! The links inserted throughout are intended primarily for English language learners – you can click on them to see the images illustrating some of the words, mainly the plants and animals mentioned in the poem.

They shut the road through the woods
      Seventy years ago.
Weather and rain have undone it again,
      And now you would never know
There was once a road through the woods
      Before they planted the trees.
It is underneath the coppice and heath,
      And the thin anemones.
      Only the keeper sees
That, where the ring-dove broods,
      And the badgers roll at ease,
There was once a road through the woods.

Yet, if you enter the woods
      Of a summer evening late,
When the night-air cools on the trout-ringed pools
      Where the otter whistles his mate,
(They fear not men in the woods,
      Because they see so few.)
You will hear the beat of a horse’s feet,
      And the swish of a skirt in the dew,
      Steadily cantering through
The misty solitudes,
      As though they perfectly knew
      The old lost road through the woods.
But there is no road through the woods.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

‘The Way through the Woods’ read by Ralph Fiennes

‘The Way through the Woods’ – a detailed poem analysis

#Barajevo #EnglishLiterature #EnglishVocabulary #lake #learningEnglish #nature #natureWalk #poem #poetry #pond #reading #readingComprehension #RudyardKipling #Serbia

English vocabulary: Bodies of stationary freshwater

I love spending a lot of time outdoors, visiting secluded, nature-rich, spots. Among my favourites are lakes, ponds, and marshes – which gave me the idea for this vocabulary post. 

There are many words in English referring to different (yet often very similar) bodies of stationary freshwater. Let’s go through the main ones. 

A ‘stationary’ body of water means that the water is static – there is no flow. Unlike rivers and streams, lakes are stationary, as are ponds, swamps, and marshes. How can you tell the difference between these stationary ones?

A LAKE is a body of water deep enough to have different layers. These layers differ in the amount of light, warmth, and nutrients they contain. Also, lakes are typically wide and open. 

A POND is just a small and more shallow lake, right? Well, not necessarily. While this is how dictionaries often define them, there are many ‘ponds’ that are quite large and deep! There is actually no official distinction between the two, and the words ‘pond’ and ‘lake’ are often used interchangeably. 

Marshes and swamps are recognizably different, though. Both are WETLANDS – wide areas of land covered with shallow water (fresh, salty or brackish). The difference between those two has to with the type of vegetation that grows there: typical for a MARSH are various grasses, shrubs and reeds, while a SWAMP has lots of trees growing there – it looks like a forest growing out of the water. 

Then there are bogs and fens. A BOG may appear a bit boring, as there is nothing much growing there apart from mosses and sturdy shrubs. The bottom of a bog consists of clay which prevents the water from flowing out. Low in nutrients, it doesn’t support the biological diversity seen in freshwater bodies we’ve covered earlier. However, bogs store a lot of carbon from the atmosphere, making them of utmost importance for the life on Earth. Also, when the nature is in bloom, bogs can be just magical!

Finally, FENS are similar to bogs, but even visually you can see much greater diversity in the plant and animal life. That’s because in fens there is a constant stream of fresh water coming from cracks in the clay bottom, bringing in a lot more nutrients. 

VOCABULARY EXERCISE 

Have a look at these photos. What types of stationary bodies of fresh water can you see? (Scroll down for the answer key.) 

Click here for the answer key.

COVER IMAGE CREDIT

Photo by Luke Hodde on Unsplash.

#biology #ecology #English #EnglishVocabulary #freshwater #learningEnglish

I’ll Fly Away

Some glad morning when this life is o'er
I'll fly away
To a home on God’s celestial shore
I'll fly away

You may have heard this song in the film O Brother, Where Art Thou, or in the popular late-1990s TV series 7th Heaven. Performed by numerous country, bluegrass, and pop music performers, I’ll Fly Away will soon mark its first centenary: originally written as a church hymn by Alfred E. Brumley in 1929, its folksy tune and the message of life eternal continues to inspire hope and faith. And it happens to be one of my all-time favourite songs!

In this post I’ll present an annotated version of the lyrics intended primarily for English language learners: below the lyrics you’ll find the vocabulary notes, along with the links to just a few of the renditions accessible on YouTube. Each one is different, so you can compare different styles.

Tell me how you like this song in the comments section at the bottom of the page!

Some glad morning when this life is o'er,
I'll fly away;
To a home on God's celestial shore,
I'll fly away

[Chorus]
I'll fly away, Oh Glory
I'll fly away; (in the morning)
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by,
I'll fly away.

When the shadows of this life have gone,
I'll fly away;
Like a bird from prison bars has flown,
I'll fly away (I'll fly away)

[Chorus]

Just a few more weary days and then,
I'll fly away;
To a land where joy shall never end,
I'll fly away (I'll fly away)

[Chorus]

VOCABULARY NOTES

GLAD (adj.) – causing happiness and satisfaction

CELESTIAL (adj.) – heavenly, in heaven

HALLELUJAH (n.) – expression of joy, happiness or thanks (the original meaning of this Hebrew expression is ‘praise the Lord’)

BY AND BY (adv.) – soon, after a short period of time, in a little while; eventually

BARS (n.) – long, thin pieces of wood or metal used to prevent someone from leaving a cage or a prison cell

WEARY (adj.) – very tired, with no energy or enthusiasm

RECOMMENDED VIDEOS

Joey+Rory (live version)

Cover by Megan Miller

Johnny Cash (from the My Mother’s Hymn Book album)

COVER IMAGE CREDIT

Photo by Pablo Heimplatz via Unsplash

#bluegrass #Christianity #church #churchMusic #EnglishVocabulary #faith #hymn #learningEnglish #lyrics #music #song