Exercises

Exercise #1: Introduce and cite the following quotations properly. Follow the directions for each prompt, but follow the rules for italics, ellipses, and parentheses stated above.

1. Emphasize "if they were all"

Retard the sun with gentle mist;

Enchant the land with amethyst...

For the grape's sake, if they were all,

(Robert Frost's poem "October" lines 15-16,18)

1.

2. Emphasize "You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen"

omit "As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel."

Birches

When I see birches bend to left to right

Across the lines of straighter darker trees,

I like to think some boy's been swinging them.

But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay

As ice-storms do. Often you must have seen them

Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning

After a rain. They click upon themselves

As the breeze rises, and turn many-coloured

As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.

Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells

Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust

Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away

You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.

(Robert Frost's poem "Birches" lines 1-13)

2.

3. Omit the second line "There is a society where none intrudes"

There is a rapture on the lonely shore

There is a society where none intrudes

By the deep sea with music in its roar

I love not man the less, but nature more

(Lord Byron's poem "Childe Harolde's Pilgrimage lines 2-5)

3.

4. Substitute "We've" with "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern"

"We've traveled too far, and our momentum has taken over; we move idly towards eternity, without possibility of reprieve or hop of explanation." (Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead page 121)

4.

5. (emphasize Beguiling)

(omit lines 3-4)

Some say the early morning light of day

As it lends itself beyond the brink

And bends above what once held on to darkness

To send some intimations of false dawn yet to stay

Can blend anticipation with the sight of dreams fulfilled.

But it's not often in life you see this way

The morning sheen of sun and frost and mist

For as the heat of dawn must find the day

Beguiling dreams must lose their sway.

(Phil Huss's poem "Early Frost" lines 1-9)

5.

Answers:

1. Emphasize "if they were all" Retard the sun with gentle mist; Enchant the land with amethyst... For the grape's sake, if they were all, (Robert Frost's poem "October" lines 15-16,18) 1. In his poem "October" Robert Frost's speaker want to hold onto the beauty of late fall as long as possible. Commanding the season to slow down, he writes, "Retard the sun with gentle mist; / Enchant the land with amethyst... / For the grape's sake, if they were all" (my italics) (lines 15-16,18). 2. Emphasize "You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen" omit "As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel." 2. Robert Frost sees "heaven" in a forest in which birch trees are covered with ice and melting in the sun. Describing the sights and sounds of his walk through the birch forest, Frost's speaker states: When I see birches bend to left to right Across the lines of straighter darker trees, I like to think some boy's been swinging them. But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay As ice-storms do. Often you must have seen them Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning After a rain. They click upon themselves As the breeze rises, and turn many-coloured... Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen. (my italics) (lines 1-8, 10-13). 3. Omit the second line "There is a society where none intrudes" There is a rapture on the lonely shore There is a society where none intrudes By the deep sea with music in its roar I love not man the less, but nature more (Lord Byron's poem "Childe Harolde's Pilgrimage lines 2-5) 3. In his poem "Childe Harolde's Pilgrimage" Lord Byron celebrates the young man who shuns society and embraces wilderness travel. Describing his profound love of nature, the speaker states, "There is a rapture on the lonely shore... / By the deep sea with music in its roar / I love not man the less, but nature more." (lines 2, 4-5). 4. Substitute "We've" with "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern" In his play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Tom Stoppard exposes the deterministic factors in charaters' lives. Realizing death is imminent, Guildenstern says, "(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have) traveled too far, and our momentum has taken over; we move idly towards eternity, without possibility of reprieve or hop of explanation." (Stoppard 121). 5. (emphasize Beguiling) (omit lines 3-4) In his poem "Early Frost" Phil Huss pays tribute to his beloved mentor Robert Frost by lamenting the ephemeral nature of beauty. He writes: Some say the early morning light of day As it lends itself beyond the brink... Can blend anticipation with the sight of dreams fulfilled But it's not often in life you see this way The morning sheen of sun and frost and mist For as the heat of dawn must find the day Beguiling dreams must lose their sway (my itlalics) (lines 1-2,5-9).