A bee obligingly sipping from the flowers of
the cowslip, near Bishampton in Worcestershire. One of the best-known of all Shakespeare’s songs is
the song of Ariel:
Where the bee sucks, there suck I:
In a cowslip’s bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat’s back I do fly
After summer, merrily:
Merrily, merrily, shall I live now,
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.
THE tempest duly deposited Antonio’s ship and company on Prospero’s island. The magician made sure to rescue Ferdinand and, exactly as planned, the shipwrecked prince and lonely Miranda fell in love.
Meanwhile, conspiracies were afoot. Caliban was plotting Prospero’s downfall with the help of Alonso’s tipsy butler. Antonio and his brother Sebastian, thinking prince Ferdinand drowned, were designing the assassination of his father King Alonso, and imagining Sebastian wearing the crown of Naples in his place.
But Prospero knew by his art all that had passed, and despatched Ariel to bewitch the wretched conspirators with visions until they stumbled to the very door of his house. There, he toyed with them a little before unmasking himself, and having rebuked them, unexpectedly forgave them all.
So they set sail for Naples as friends; but not before Prospero had released faithful Ariel from his service, and renounced magic forever — forcing him to beg the enchanted audience to waft his ship home on the winds of their applause.
Based on ‘Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare’ by Edith Nesbit, and ‘The Tempest’ by William Shakespeare (1564-1616).
Précis
Prospero contrived to have Ferdinand, son of his enemy Alonso, King of Naples, fall for his young daughter Miranda, and with Ariel’s help he caught his usurper Antonio plotting to murder Alonso. But he forgave him, and they were all reconciled. As for Ariel, he was set free from long enchantment as a reward for faithful service. (57 / 60 words)
Prospero contrived to have Ferdinand, son of his enemy Alonso, King of Naples, fall for his young daughter Miranda, and with Ariel’s help he caught his usurper Antonio plotting to murder Alonso. But he forgave him, and they were all reconciled. As for Ariel, he was set free from long enchantment as a reward for faithful service.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, because, despite, if, otherwise, since, until, whether.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Duke. Renounce. Student.
2 Imagine. Still. Summon.
3 Downfall. Have. House.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
whl (5+1)
awhile. whale. wheel. while. whole.
wheelie.
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