McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson CXVII · Part 12: Herculaneum, Waterloo and A Psalm of Life

123. Thunder-storm on the Alps (Lord Byron)

Goal: Your student can describe the night storm over Lake Leman and the feelings it stirs in the poet.

⏱ 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 Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage: a calm evening on Lake Leman (Lake Geneva), then a wild night storm among the mountains. The heading is at the top of page 408.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Words and meanings

    Look over the notes and definitions printed at the end of the lesson before you start, so names and hard words don't trip up the reading.

    Leman is Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Find it on a map, and the Jura mountains nearby.

    Your student picks three unfamiliar words, guesses each meaning from the sentence, then checks a dictionary.

  2. About the author

    This lesson has no new author note. Lord Byron, the English poet, appears earlier in the book.

  3. Read aloud

    Read the calm stanzas softly and the storm stanzas loudly.

    Listen for these lines:

    Clear, placid Leman! thy contrasted lake,

    With the wild world I dwell in, is a thing

  4. Talk about it

    SayHow is the lake different from 'the wild world' the poet lives in?

    SayHow does the storm begin? Find the lines where the mountains seem to talk to each other.

    SayWhy does the poet seem to enjoy the storm?

    SayHave you ever watched a big storm? How did you feel?

  5. Narration

    Your student describes the change from calm to storm, using the poem's pictures.

  6. Writing (optional)

    Describe a storm you remember, in prose or a short poem, moving from calm to wild.

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