The Copybook

Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.

1645

© Bibi St-Pol, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Debtor and his Pig by Clay Lane

There are no lengths to which some people won’t go.

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1646

Rajesh ramesh gaikwad. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

The Crow and the Pitcher by Clay Lane

Brute force is no substitute for quick thinking.

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1647

© Pauline E, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

‘I Remember’ by Thomas Hood

A poem of nostalgia tinged with regret.

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1648

US National Archives and Records Administration, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain image.

The Music of Silence by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

In Coleridge’s epic poem, the Ancient Mariner, amid the horrors of a ship of dead men, sees a sight both beautiful and surreal.

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1649

© Lewis Clarke, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

November by Thomas Hood

Humorist Thomas Hood obviously didn’t like to see the nights drawing in

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1650

© Hajor, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The glory of political power soon passes away.

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Clay Lane The Copybook
About Clay Lane nicholas@claylane.uk

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

April 29 NS

April 16 OS

A Literary Mystery : In 1798, ‘Plays on the Passions’ appeared in London bookstores, but no one seemed to know who had written them.
Smile : Choose adjectives of praise for these nouns, at about the 7/10 level.
The Making of Mark : St Mark wrote his Gospel as a summary of the preaching of St Peter.
Zheng He and the Rise of Malacca : Malacca became a refuge from the overbearing empires of the Far East, thanks to a celebrated Chinese admiral.
Confusables : Compose sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between these words.
Jill and I : Include yourself in these sentences about Jill.
Saddled : Use these words in sentences, and see if you can use one of them as a verb.
Russia’s Heroic Stand : In 1941, with much of the West subdued, Adolf Hitler bent the full force of his hatred on Moscow.
Approachable : Replace the verb ‘can’ with these alternatives, and explain how the meaning of the sentence has changed.
The First Easter : In a translation from the Authorized Version of the Bible, published in 1611, St Mark recounts the discovery of Christ’s empty tomb.
A Collect for Easter Day : A short prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, for the day of Christ’s resurrection.
The Gambler : Which well-known expression is Dr Johnson talking about here?
If I Had But Two Little Wings : Samuel Taylor Coleridge holds on to those precious moments when loneliness is a problem for tomorrow.
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