FOURTH VOICE

Aid the dawning, tongue and pen;

Aid it, hopes of honest men;
Aid it, paper; aid it, type;

Aid it, for the hour is ripe,

And our earnest must not slacken into play.

FIRST VOICE

Men of thought and men of action, CLEAR THE WAY!

SECOND VOICE

Lo! a cloud's about to vanish from the day;
And a brazen wrong to crumble into clay.

Lo! the right's about to conquer: CLEAR THE WAY!

THIRD VOICE

With the right shall many more

Enter smiling at the door;

With the giant wrong shall fall

Many others, great and small,

That for ages long have held us for their prey.

ALL

Men of thought and men of action, CLEAR THE WAY! -MACKAY: Clear the Way (arranged).

CHAPTER IV

GROUP SEQUENCE WITH SUBORDINATION

The problem of Sequence is often complicated by that of Subordination. It is worth while therefore to devote an entire chapter to studying some passages especially chosen to test your ability in both problems.

Where the subordinate groups are long, or where there are many in succession, there is likely to be confusion in the reader's mind, and to avoid this it is advisable to cut them out temporarily and lay stress on getting the principal idea or statement. When the student has that clearly in mind let him study carefully the subordinate idea or ideas. Then in reading aloud, when he comes to the point in the sentence where the main idea is interrupted by the subordinate one, let him pause an instant and, keeping in mind the principal sentence so far as it has gone, read the subordinate idea until he comes again to the main statement, and then finish that without regard to the interruption.

Her fair head, with all

Its wealth of hair shining and richly brown
Like melon seeds, its eyes of topaz, lips

Like twin pomegranate blooms, its cheeks as smooth
As a flute's note, and all that loveliness

Had caught the heart of Rohab as a snare

Tangles the falcon in a coil of death,

Fell, changed to a thing of horror, drenched in blood,

And beautiful no more.

-ARLO BATES: The Sorrow of Rohab.

As the long train

Of ages glide away,

the sons of men,

The youth, in life's green spring, and he who goes In the full strength of years, matron and maid, The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man,Shall one by one be gathered to thy side,

By those who in their turn shall follow them.

-BRYANT: Thanatopsis.

In the above extracts the principal statements are intentionally underlined as indicating a simple plan for students to follow in their own analysis when there is only one degree of subordination. When the main idea is interrupted more than once by subordinate groups the marking is even more helpful.

For artistic reasons Tennyson purposely draws out the simple statement concerning Sir Bedivere watching the departure of the barge which bore the body of the dead king. As you read it hurriedly it is anything but clear, and there are two places where there is much danger of getting the wrong meaning. Read it aloud at sight:

Thereat once more he moved about, and clomb Ev'n to the highest he could climb, and saw, Straining his eye beneath an arch of hand,

Or thought he saw, the speck that bare the King, Down that long water opening on the deep

Somewhere far off, pass on and on, and go
From less to less and vanish into light.

-TENNYSON: The Passing of Arthur.

Now see how the marking I have suggested helps you to get the right meaning:

Thereat once more he moved about, and clomb Ev'n to the highest he could climb, and saw, Straining his eye beneath an arch of hand,

Or thought he saw, the speck that bare the King,
Down that long water opening on the deep
Somewhere far off, pass on and on, and go
From less to less and vanish into light.

One of the most interesting examples I have ever come across is this from The Book of Esther. Here certainly, one might say, is a passage so mixed up that nobody can be expected to make head or tail out of it. But study it in the manner I have indicated and all becomes clear. Perhaps the sentence would not have been written in that way in our day, but that is not the question: which is, Can we interpret it as it stands?

Then the king said to the wise men (for so was the king's manner toward all that knew law and judgment; and the next unto him was Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king's face and sat first in the kingdom): What shall we do unto queen Vashti?-Esther, I, 13.

Work it out carefully and don't be afraid of those strange looking names of the seven princes. Just pass them over lightly for the present as though they were

English names, William, James, and the like. It may be helpful to diagram the sentence as you have done in your grammar lessons. Then read it aloud-the entire class can do this in concert-as I mark it below:

Then the king said to the wise men . . . What shall we do unto Queen Vashti?

Then the king said to the wise men (for so was the king's manner toward all that knew law and judgment; . . .): What shall we do unto Queen Vashti ?

Then the king said to the wise men (for so was the king's manner toward all that knew law and judgment; and the next unto him was Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, What shall we do unto Queen Vashti?

Then the king said to the wise men (for so was the king's manner toward all that knew law and judgment; and the next unto him was Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, ..: What shall we do unto Queen Vashti ?

Then the king said to the wise men (for so was the king's manner toward all that knew law and judgment; and the next unto him was Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king's face and sat first in .he kingdom):

What shall we do unto Queen Vashti?