The Copybook

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

1051

© Neil Theasby, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Autumn: A Dirge by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Poet Percy Shelley calls on November’s sister months to watch by the graveside of the dead Year.

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1052

© David Crocker, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

To Autumn by John Keats

Poet John Keats speaks of the beauties of Autumn, her colours, her sounds and her rich harvest.

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1053

© Gouwenaar, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

‘Thy Necessity is Yet Greater than Mine’ by Fulke Greville, Baron Brooke

Elizabethan courtier and soldier Sir Philip Sidney shows that a nobleman can also be a gentleman.

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1054

© David Dixon, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Bishop and the Chatterbox by Clay Lane

One week into a Lenten retreat with the Bishop of Hexham, a boy’s miserable life is turned right around.

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1055

© José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

Michaelmas

A celebration of St Michael, captain of heaven’s angel host, courteous warrior, and healer.

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1056

© Roswitha Budde, Cattery vom Hohen Timp, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Wolf, the Bear and Cat Ivanovitch by Clay Lane

A faithful but unprepossessing pet is turned out of hearth and home.

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© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 4 NS

April 21 OS

The Night-time Disciple : Nicodemus did not allow intellectual doubts to get in the way of what he knew in his heart.
She was a Phantom of Delight : Mary Wordsworth wasn’t pretty or bookish, but she was kind and vital, and William loved her.
Hardly : Tone down these bold assertions with ‘hardly’.
The Death of Julius Caesar : When Julius Caesar entered the Senate that day, a note warning him of treachery was clutched in his hand — unread.
Two Letters Home : A German soldier stopped the Great War so he could ask Captain Hulse to post a letter for him.
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.
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