McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson CXIII · Part 11: Franklin, the sea, India and The Raven

119. The Downfall of Poland (Thomas Campbell)

Goal: Your student can tell what happened to Poland in the poem and explain the famous line about Kosciusko.

⏱ About 35 minutes · 6 steps

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You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • A notebook and pen
  • A dictionary

What's in the book

From Campbell's Pleasures of Hope: the defeat of the Poles at Warsaw in 1794 and their leader Kosciusko. The heading is at the bottom of the page; a note explains Sarmatia.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Words and meanings

    Read the notes printed at the end of the lesson together before reading. The book explains, among others:

    Sarmatia: an ancient name for a region of Europe which embraced Poland, but was of greater extent

    Find out who Kosciusko was: a Polish patriot who also fought for America in the Revolution.

    Ask your student to find two other hard words in the lesson, guess their meaning from the sentence, then check a dictionary.

  2. About the author

    This lesson has no new author note. Thomas Campbell, the Scottish poet, appears earlier in the book.

  3. Read aloud

    Read it with feeling; it is a lament.

    Listen for these lines:

    O sacred Truth! thy triumph ceased a while,

    And Hope, thy sister, ceased with thee to smile,

  4. Talk about it

    SayWhat happened at Warsaw? Who won, and who lost?

    SayWhy does the poet speak to Truth and Hope as if they were people?

    SayWhat do you think 'Freedom shrieked' means?

    SayWhy might an American school book include a poem about Poland?

  5. Narration

    Your student retells the event of the poem in plain prose.

  6. Memorize or copy

    Learn the famous couplet:

    Hope, for a season, bade the world farewell,

    And Freedom shrieked as Kosciusko fell!

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