McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson LXXVII · Part 8: Dickens, Irving and poems of the heart
83. Snow Falling (John James Piatt)
Goal: Your child reads a short winter poem aloud, explains its picture of snow as flowers, and learns it by heart.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- A notebook or lined paper and a pencil
What's in the book
A two-stanza poem by John James Piatt: snow falls over river and woodland, the trees bear "spectral blossom," and the snowflakes are the banished flowers of a garden in Heaven.
The lesson, step by step
About the author
The book says John James Piatt was born in 1835 in Dearborn County, Indiana, is of French descent, began writing verse at fourteen, and worked on several newspapers. His books include "Western Windows" and "Poems of House and Home."
Words and meanings
The words and meanings are printed at the end of the lesson. Read a few together before the reading, so they don't trip your child up:
Wold, a plain or open country, a country without wood whether hilly or not.
Spectral, ghostly.
Banished, condemned to exile, driven away.
Your child reads each meaning aloud, then uses the word in a sentence of their own.
Read aloud
Read the whole poem aloud twice. It begins:
The wonderful snow is falling
Over river and woodland and wold;
The trees bear spectral blossom
In the moonshine blurr'd and cold.
Talk about it
SayWhy does the poet call the snow on the trees "spectral blossom"?
SayIn the second stanza, where does he say the snowflakes come from?
SayThe poet never says "snow looks like flowers." He just shows it. How is that different?
Memorize
This poem is short enough to learn this week. Start with the first stanza (above), then add the second:
There's a beautiful garden in Heaven;
And these are the banished flowers,
...and the rest from the book.
Optional writing
Your child writes four lines (rhyming or not) that compare snow, rain or leaves to something else.