McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XXII · Part 3: Lessons XIII-XXIV: Dickens, Gray and Patrick Henry

28. The Three Warnings (Hester Lynch Thrale)

Goal: Your student reads a story-poem with dialogue and explains its moral.

⏱ About 40 minutes · 7 steps

Open it at the Internet Archive ↗

You'll need

  • The book, or the scan beside this guide
  • A notebook and pen
  • A dictionary

What's in the book

A poem in which Death calls on Dodson on his wedding day, agrees to give him three warnings before coming back, and returns when he is old. An author note comes first.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Words and meanings

    Before reading, find these words in the selection and look up any your student does not know: sages, specter, sufficient, dart.

  2. About the author

    The book says Hester Lynch Thrale (1739-1821) is remembered chiefly for her long friendship with Samuel Johnson. Born in Wales, she married a wealthy brewer and later Gabriel Piozzi, an Italian music teacher. Her best-known book is Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson, but "The Three Warnings" is her most famous piece.

  3. Read it aloud

    Read the opening together:

    The tree of deepest root is found

    Least willing still to quit the ground;

    Your student reads the poem, giving Death and Dodson different voices.

  4. Talk about it

    SayWhat bargain does Death make with Dodson on his wedding day?

    SayWhat are the three warnings, and why did Dodson not notice them?

    SayHow does the opening idea, about the tree with the deepest root, fit the story?

    SayWhat is the poem's moral?

  5. Tell it back

    Your student tells the story of the poem in order, as a prose tale.

  6. Copywork and memory

    Copy and learn:

    And now old Dodson, turning pale,

    Yields to his fate — so ends my tale.

  7. Write (optional)

    Write a paragraph: what "warnings" in ordinary life tell us to change our ways?

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