15 September 27
After the murder of King Duncan, Lady Macbeth is alarmed to see her husband losing his grip on reality.
I recently added this post, Infirm of Purpose!.
It is an extract from William Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, seen by Dr Forman on April 20th, 1611, but probably first performed for King James I some five years earlier.
The basic premise of the play is that Duncan I, King of Scots, was murdered in his bed by his nephew Macbeth in AD 1040. In fact, Macbeth gained Duncan’s crown in battle, not by assassination, but Shakespeare’s version of the events lends itself better to the stage. In this extract, we see him stumbling back to his chamber after doing the grisly deed, already entering a state bordering moral collapse as he thinks about what he has done. His wife, Lady Macbeth, tries to keep him focused — the murder weapons have to be disposed of properly, and Duncan’s blameless servants have to be incriminated — but Macbeth is frankly losing his grip.
Composition
Join each group of ideas together into one sentence in at least two different ways, using different words as much as you can.
1 Macbeth murdered Duncan. He felt bad about it.
2 Macbeth’s hands were bloody. It upset him. Lady Macbeth called him foolish.
3 Duncan’s servants were asleep. Lady Macbeth incriminated them. She put blood on them.
16 September 27
Let Us Extol the Cross’s Praise
A hymn for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, from the Sarum Missal.
Today marks the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross on September 14/27, called Holy Cross Day in England. The feast commemorates the consecration of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in AD 335, in which the true Cross of Christ was kept as a precious relic. The nun Egeria, who visited Jerusalem in about 381–384, described seeing the relic taken from its silver casket on this day and ‘exalted’, that is, lifted up for public display and veneraton. See St Helen Finds the True Cross in The Copy Book.
The accompanying hymn is by Adam of St Victor (?-1146), and makes several Biblical allusions including the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath near Tyre: see 1 Kings 17:8-24. This translation is by Charles Buchan Pearson (1807-1881), Prebendary of Sarum and Rector of Knebworth, who uses the Anglo-Saxon word Rood for the Cross.
17 September 27
Make as many words as you can using the letters of one nine-letter word. Can you beat our score?
I have added a new Polyword to the collection.
Make as many words as you can using only the nine letters you are given below. Your words should all be four letters or more in length, and they should all contain the letter highlighted in the centre of the grid. You may not use the same letter twice. There is one nine-letter word to find.
18 September 21
Fill the empty boxes with letters, using the clues to help you find the right ones.
A new crossword for the collection.
Fill the empty boxes with letters to make words running across and down. Use the numbered clues to help you find the right words. Click any box to get started.
1 across Spotted. 5 letters
5 across Common name for nepeta cataria, a plant of the mint family. 6 letters
6 across Spire. 7 letters
7 across A golden era, a time of past success. 6 letters
2 down Just a little hungry. 7 letters
3 down Wide, tidal mouth of a river. 7 letters
4 down ‘A spoonful of honey will catch more flies than a gallon of ____.’ (Proverb) 7 letters
19 September 21
Dorothy Wordsworth recorded the magical effect of mentioning Rob Roy to a shy crofter’s wife.
I recently added this post, The Long Arm of Rob Roy.
It is taken from an entry in Dorothy Wordsworth’s diary of a visit to Scotland in 1803, in the company of her brother, poet William Wordsworth, and their friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In this extract, Dorothy recalls the magical effect that the mere mention of Rob Roy MacGregor’s name had on their hosts, a family of kindly Scottish crofters living beside Loch Lomond.
Composition
Join each group of ideas together into one sentence, in at least two different ways.
1 Mrs Macfarlane spoke little. Dorothy mentioned Rob Roy. Mrs Macfarlane told a dozen tales of him.
2 There was a shower of rain. Dorothy got wet. Mrs Macfarlane gave her dry clothes.
3 Rob Roy stole from the rich. He gave to the poor. Dorothy likened him to Robin Hood.
20 September 21
Suggest lively actions to make these simple scenes more interesting.
This is adapted from an idea in School Certificate English Practice (1933). It draws on a fundamental principle of writing often called ‘Show, Don’t Tell’, which encourages writers to paint lively, attention-grabbing images of something rather than make bald statements of it.
How would you show that a man had long arms? In her Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland in 1803, Dorothy Wordsworth, sister of poet William, was struck by how Scottish people spoke of Rob Roy’s prodigious reach:
“They told us that he could garter his tartan stockings below the knee without stooping.”
This is so much better than simply saying ‘Rob Roy had long arms’ and leaving it there.
Suggest similar ways to impress the following scenes on the imagination. How would you show that...?
1 A pool was stagnant.
2 A cave was huge.
3 A dog was helpful.
[Huge cave] In the narrow passages we had been noisy, but suddenly we found ourselves talking in whispers, like pilgrims in a cathedral.
For a helpful dog, read our story Manners Makyth Man by Edmund Saul Dixon.