McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson CXIV · Part 11: Country, sea and the great classics

120. A Summer Longing (George Arnold)

Goal: Your child reads a summer poem with feeling and names the country sights and sounds the poet longs for.

⏱ About 20 minutes · 5 steps

Open it at the Internet Archive ↗

You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • A notebook or lined paper and a pencil

What's in the book

A short poem by George Arnold in which the speaker longs to leave for the wooded hills, slow streams, birds and herds of summer. Each stanza ends with a line about the green fields waiting.

The lesson, step by step

  1. About the author

    The book says George Arnold (b. 1834, d. 1865) was born in New York, was taught at home by his parents, studied painting, then turned to writing and journalism in New York City. Two volumes of his poems were published after his death.

  2. Read aloud

    Read the poem aloud. Here is the second stanza:

    I long for shadowy founts, where the birds

    Twitter and chirp at noon from every tree;

    I long for blossomed leaves and lowing herds;

    And Nature's voices say in mystic words,

    The green fields wait for thee.

  3. Talk about it

    SayWhat does the poet long for? Make a list of sights and sounds.

    SayWhy does each stanza end with the green fields "waiting"?

    SayThe poet was a city journalist. Why might summer make him long for the country?

  4. Picture it

    Your child picks one stanza and draws or describes the scene in it.

  5. Memorize

    Learn the second stanza (above) by heart.

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