McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XLI · Part 5: Work, wonder and the world

45. The Fountain, by James Russell Lowell

Goal: Your child reads a short, quick-moving poem aloud and explains what the poet wishes his heart could be like.

⏱ About 20 minutes · 7 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 poem of very short lines describing a fountain leaping into sunshine, moonlight and starlight, always changing yet always the same. A note about Lowell and Definitions are included.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Words and meanings

    The new words are at the end of the lesson, under Definitions. The small number in front of each word is the paragraph or verse where it is used. Read them together before the lesson. A few of them:

    Blithesome, gay.

    Aspiring, ambitious.

    Constant, fixed, not to be changed.

    Ask your child to find two of these words in the lesson and read the sentence each one is in.

  2. About the author

    The book's note calls James Russell Lowell one of the most noted of American poets, also well known as an essayist and lecturer. He was born at Cambridge, Mass., in 1819.

  3. Read it aloud

    Read the poem aloud to your child first, then let your child read it. The lines are very short, so it runs and splashes like water. Keep it light and quick. Here are some lines describing the fountain:

    Full of a nature

    Nothing can tame,

    Changed every moment,

    Ever the same;

    Then have your child read it a second time, more smoothly: the first reading is for the meaning, the second for the sound and rhythm.

  4. Talk about it

    SayWhen does the fountain play: by day, by night, or both?

    SayHow can something be "changed every moment" and "ever the same"?

    SayWhat does the poet wish his heart could be like? Why?

    Let your child look back at the page to find answers.

  5. Tell it back

    Your child describes a fountain or a stream they have seen, using two or three words from the poem.

  6. Copywork

    These are the closing lines. Your child copies them as verse:

    Glorious fountain!

    Let my heart be

    Fresh, changeful, constant,

    Upward like thee!

  7. Words to learn

    Learn: blithesome, cheery, aweary, aspiring, element, constant. Spell each aloud, then write it with its meaning.

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