Admiralty Arch, on the south side of Trafalgar Square, in 1923, looking along The Mall to the Victoria Monument and Buckingham Palace beyond. In 1923, classical historian Sir Richard Winn Livingstone (1880-1960) invited readers to reflect on Pericles’s words in the light of the Great War of 1914-18. “In certain points the contrast between the austere discipline of Sparta and the freer life of Athens reads like a comparison between pre-war Prussia and Britain. Fully to appreciate the speech let the reader think: (1) How a speech by a modern statesman on the dead of 1914-18 would differ from it; (2) Whether our ideal of a state is that which Pericles propounds, and whether we fall short or have gone beyond it.”
LET us draw strength, not merely from twice-told arguments — how fair and noble a thing it is to show courage in battle — but from the busy spectacle of our great city’s life as we have it before us day by day, falling in love with her as we see her, and remembering that all this greatness she owes to men with the fighter’s daring, the wise man’s understanding of his duty, and the good man’s self-discipline in its performance — to men who sacrificed their lives as the best offerings on her behalf.
So they gave their bodies to the commonwealth and received each for his own memory praise that will never die and with it the grandest of all sepulchres, not that in which their mortal bones are laid but a home in the minds of men where their glory remains afresh to stir to speech or action as the occasion comes by. For the whole earth is the sepulchre of famous men; and their story is not graven only on stone over their native earth, but lives on far away, without visible symbol, woven into the stuff of other men’s lives. For you now it remains to rival what they have done.*
From the ‘History of the Peloponnesian War’ by Thucydides (?460-?404 BC), translated by Sir Alfred Eckhard Zimmern (1879-1957) and reproduced in ‘The Pageant of Greece’ (1923) by Sir Richard Winn Livingstone (1880-1960).
* This superb speech helped cement Pericles’s place in the hearts of Athenians, but he was unsentimentally cast aside as soon as things did not go so well. See Pericles and the Fickle Public of Athens.
Questions for Critics
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Précis
Pericles went on to say that the most fitting monument for the fallen of Athens was not the place where they were buried, however grand, but the minds of Athenians — so long as the living matched the dead in courage, duty and self-discipline, and cherished the ideals for which they had made the ultimate sacrifice. (55 / 60 words)
Pericles went on to say that the most fitting monument for the fallen of Athens was not the place where they were buried, however grand, but the minds of Athenians — so long as the living matched the dead in courage, duty and self-discipline, and cherished the ideals for which they had made the ultimate sacrifice.
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, otherwise, ought, unless, until, whereas, whether.
Archive
Word Games
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 Busy. Earth. Shock.
2 Climax. Their. Weakness.
3 All. Bone. Do.
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.)
Statements, Questions and Commands Find in Think and Speak
Use each word below in a sentence. Try to include at least one statement, one question and one command among your sentences. Note that some verbs make awkward or meaningless words of command, e.g. need, happen.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Send. 2 Meet. 3 Shock. 4 Escape. 5 Love. 6 Let. 7 Owe. 8 Face. 9 Remain.
Variations: 1. use a minimum of seven words for each sentence 2. include negatives, e.g. isn’t, don’t, never 3. use the words ‘must’ to make commands 4. compose a short dialogue containing all three kinds of sentence: one statement, one question and one command
Adjectives Find in Think and Speak
For each word below, compose sentences to show that it may be used as an adjective. Adjectives provide extra information about a noun, e.g. a black cat, a round table, the early bird etc..
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Greater. 2 Countless. 3 Grave. 4 Lesser. 5 Little. 6 Fair. 7 Bitter. 8 Shocking. 9 Grand.
Variations: 1.show whether your adjective can also be used as e.g. a noun, verb or adverb. 2.show whether your adjective can be used in comparisons (e.g. good/better/best). 3.show whether your adjective can be used in attributive position (e.g. a dangerous corner) and also in predicate position (this corner is dangerous).
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
x
0
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