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

125. Battle of Waterloo (Lord Byron)

Goal: Your student can describe the ball the night before Waterloo and the sudden turn to battle, and recite the first lines.

⏱ About 40 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: a ball in Brussels is interrupted by the sound of cannon, and the dancers ride off to battle. Notes explain Waterloo and the wood of Soignies.

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:

    Battle of Waterloo: fought on June 18th, 1815, between the French army and the allied forces

    Soignies: a wood between the field of Waterloo and Brussels, thought to be a remnant of the forest of Ardennes

    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

    Byron was met in Lesson CXVII. No new note here.

  3. Read aloud

    Start the reading gently and brightly, like music at a ball, then let it grow urgent.

    Listen for these lines:

    There was a sound of revelry by night,

    And Belgium's capital had gathered then

    Her Beauty and her Chivalry, and bright

  4. Talk about it

    SayWhat was happening in Brussels that night?

    SayWhat sound interrupts the dance? Why do some think it is only the wind?

    SayHow does Byron show the sudden partings?

    SayWhat does the last line mean, with friend and foe in one red burial?

  5. Narration

    Your student retells the night and the next day in order.

  6. Memorize or copy

    Learn the opening lines:

    There was a sound of revelry by night,

    And Belgium's capital had gathered then

    Her Beauty and her Chivalry, and bright

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