McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XXIX · Part 4: Lessons XXV-XXXVI: Orators and soldiers
35. Napoleon at Rest (John Pierpont)
Goal: Your student reads a poem about Napoleon's lonely grave and compares it with the last lesson.
You'll need
- The book, or the scan beside this guide
- A notebook and pen
- A dictionary
What's in the book
Pierpont's poem reviewing Napoleon's campaigns and then his lonely grave. An author note comes first.
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: falchion, hosts, unrolled.
About the author
The book says John Pierpont (1785-1866) was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, and graduated from Yale in 1804. After trying law and business, he became a Unitarian pastor in Boston for nearly twenty years. At seventy-six he became an army chaplain. He also wrote school readers, popular for many years.
Read it aloud
Read the opening together:
His falchion flashed along the Nile;
His hosts he led through Alpine snows;
O'er Moscow's towers, that blazed the while,
His eagle flag unrolled, — and froze.
Your student reads the whole poem.
Talk about it
SayWhich campaigns of Napoleon are named in the first stanza?
SayWhy does the flag "freeze" over Moscow?
SayWho does not come to his grave, according to the poem? What is the poet saying by listing them?
SayCompare this poem with yesterday's portrait by Phillips. Which is harsher?
Tell it back
Your student explains the poem in two parts: Napoleon's glory, then his grave.
Copywork and memory
Copy and learn the first stanza.
Write (optional)
Write a paragraph: is fame worth having? Use Napoleon as an example.