McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XIV · Part 3: Lessons XIII-XXIV: Dickens, Gray and Patrick Henry
20. Vanity of Life (Johann Gottfried von Herder)
Goal: Your student reads a poetic version of Job 14 and compares it with the Bible text.
You'll need
- The book, or the scan beside this guide
- A Bible (for Job 14)
- A notebook and pen
What's in the book
Herder's version of words from the Book of Job, set out as poetry, with a note asking the reader to compare it with the ordinary version of the Bible (Job xiv).
The lesson, step by step
Words and meanings
Before reading, find these words in the selection and look up any your student does not know: vanity (here: emptiness), continueth, appoint, term.
About the author
The book says Herder (1744-1803) was a German poet, preacher and philosopher, born in Mohrungen, who died in Weimar. His works fill sixty volumes. This selection is from his Hebrew Poetry.
Read it aloud
Read the opening together:
Man, born of woman,
Is of a few days,
And full of trouble;
Your student reads the whole passage slowly.
Talk about it
SayWhat two pictures does the opening use for man's short life?
SayRead: "The tree hath hope, if it be cut down, / It becometh green again." How is a tree different from a man, in the speaker's eyes?
SayFind the question near the end about whether a man shall live again. How does the speaker answer his own sorrow?
SayOpen a Bible to Job 14. How does Herder's version differ from it?
Tell it back
Your student explains, in plain words, the speaker's complaint and his hope.
Copywork and memory
Copy:
The tree hath hope, if it be cut down,
It becometh green again,
And new shoots are put forth.
Write (optional)
Copy two verses from Job 14 and the same lines from Herder's version side by side. Write which you prefer and why.