Chapter 33

whirling clouds; misty moonbeam; floating foam; sweeping inundation; breezes (breezy letters).

e. Rock material: Quicksilver; red sand; gray mud.

f. Natural products: Crops; apples; hay; grapes; wine; honey; corn; mutton; cork; cattle.

g. Figures of speech: (In studying figures of speech, make three points in each, viz.: _First_, the basis of the figure; _second_, the translation of the figure into literal English; _third_, the force and beauty of the figure and its effect on the meaning of the sentence. With older children the names of the figures may be given. Illustrations of these directions will follow.)

(1) Like a beaten puppy's tail. (A beaten puppy drops his tail and drags it weakly behind him. The feather drooped down behind him and dragged limply along. The figure gives a vivid picture of the wet feather, limp and unhandsome. The figure is a comparison in the form of a _simile_.)

(2) Like a mill stream. (Rushing, roaring, fast and furious.)

(3) Licking its chops. (_First_, a dog runs out his tongue and licks his lips and the outside of his face [cheeks--chops] when he sees food brought to him. A red flame twists and waves around like the tongue of a dog. We speak of "tongues of flame" and "hungry flames devouring." _Second_, long streams of flame waved around and curled about the wood as they burned it. _Third_, how much more vivid is the picture we see of the beautiful fire. The words "rustling" and "roaring" help to strengthen the figure. This is a fine comparison, but as it is not directly expressed by the use of the words "like" or "as" we call it a _metaphor_.)

(4) Quicksilver-like streams. (Bright, shining, smoothly running, with metallic luster.)

(5) Like a straw in the high wind. (Rapid, uncertain, irregular motion.)

(6) A wreath of ragged cloud. (Notice the metaphor in _wreath_--also in _ragged_.)

(7) Howling wind. (A wolf howls. The figure which raises an inanimate object to the level of animate beings, or raises an animate being [a dog, for instance] to the level of a human being, is called _personification_.)

(8) Like a cork.

(9) _Swept_ away.

(10) _Breezy_ letters. (The words _swept_ and _breezy_ are somewhat metaphorical, though their frequent use in this manner makes the meaning almost literal.)

(11) Southwest Wind, Esquire. (Personification.)

B. A second lesson may confine itself more closely to the figures of speech. Naturally this study of figures belongs with language and literature, but the point we wish to make is one of correlation. There is a literary side to nature study, and a natural history side to literature. Many of the greatest authors have been ardent lovers of nature, and have drawn liberally on their knowledge of nature in beautifying what they have written. Many a reader, from lack of knowledge or from careless habits, passes over the most delightful things, as blind and deaf as he who sees no beauty in the wild flowers and hears no melody in the songs of birds.

For the second lesson of this character we will take the second and third chapters of _The King of the Golden River_, hoping to find an abundance of figures based on nature in some of its forms. We may not find many. Some writers use few. We suspect that Ruskin used them freely; as a matter of fact he was one of the greatest lovers of nature, a man who labored hard to bring art and nature together and to find a place for them in the lives of all.

We find in the second chapter the following nature figures:

a. Southwest Wind, Esquire, page 418. b. His relations, the West Winds, page 418. c. It looks more like silk, page 419. d. The hot breath of the furnace, page 420. e. Bright tongues of fiery cloud burning and quivering about them, page 420. f. A clear _metallic_ voice, page 420. g. Like that of a kettle on the boil, page 421. h. As smooth and polished as a river, page 421.