McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson LXXXVII · Part 9: Comedy, Milton, Whittier and Shakespeare's taverns
93. The Barefoot Boy (John Greenleaf Whittier)
Goal: Your student can describe the boyhood Whittier celebrates and learn the opening lines by heart.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- A notebook and pen
- A dictionary
What's in the book
Whittier's poem The Barefoot Boy, with the author note on Whittier. The heading is low on the page, after the notes to An Evening Adventure.
The lesson, step by step
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.
Your student picks three unfamiliar words, guesses each meaning from the sentence, then checks a dictionary.
About the author
The book says Whittier was born in 1807 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and moved to Amesbury in 1840. His parents were Quakers and he kept that faith. He edited an anti-slavery paper in Philadelphia and was secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Snow-Bound (1865) is one of his longest and best poems.
Read aloud
Read the poem aloud, cheerfully, with a light skipping rhythm.
Listen for these lines:
Blessings on thee, little man,
Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan!
Talk about it
SayWhat does the barefoot boy know that he never learned in school?
SayThe poet says the boy is richer than a man with money. How?
SayWhat warning comes near the end, about growing up?
SayIs Whittier remembering his own boyhood? What makes you think so?
Narration
Your student describes one day in the life of the barefoot boy, using details from the poem.
Memorize or copy
Learn the opening couplet and the lines that follow it, as far as the end of the first sentence:
Blessings on thee, little man,
Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan!
Writing (optional)
Write about your favorite outdoor place and what you have learned there that no book taught you.
Afterwards
Go outside barefoot (if the weather allows) and recite the opening lines.