McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XLII · Part 5: Courage, kindness and the village smithy

48. Faithless Nelly Gray, by Hood optional

Goal: Your child enjoys Hood's comic ballad and finds the puns that make it funny.

⏱ About 30 minutes · 6 steps

Open it at the Internet Archive ↗

You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • A notebook and pencil

What's in the book

Thomas Hood's comic ballad about Ben Battle, a soldier who loses his legs and then his sweetheart, told almost entirely in puns. A note about Hood comes first.

The lesson, step by step

  1. About the author

    The book says Thomas Hood was the son of a London bookseller, learned engraving and then turned to writing, and became sub-editor of the "London Magazine" in 1821. It says:

    Hood is best known as a humorist; but some of his poems are full of the tenderest pathos;

    He was poor and often ill, and wrote some of his funniest pieces on a sick-bed.

  2. What is a pun?

    A pun is a joke that uses a word with two meanings. Read the first stanza:

    Ben Battle was a soldier bold,

    And used to war's alarms;

    But a cannon-ball took off his legs,

    So he laid down his arms!

    SayWhat are the two meanings of "laid down his arms"?

  3. Read aloud

    Read the ballad together, stanza by stanza. Pause after each one and let your child find the pun.

  4. Talk about it

    SayWhich pun is your favorite?

    SayThe story is sad (a man loses his legs and his love). Why does it still make us laugh?

    SayHow does a sad story told with jokes feel different from a sad story told seriously?

  5. Tell it back

    Your child tells what happens to Ben Battle in plain words, without puns. Then notice how much the puns added.

  6. Write (optional)

    Write two sentences, each with a pun of your own.

Tip

Some of Hood's puns depend on old words or on the soldier's death at the end. Read it first; it is marked optional.

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