Introduction
It is 1513, and Lord Marmion has been mortally wounded on the battlefield of Flodden. As he lies there, his lifeblood ebbing away, a woman kneels beside him. Clare feels no love for him, and the ungoverned passion he feels for her has spread death and dishonour all around. Yet her heart is not as hard as his.
Clare drew her from the sight away,
Till pain wrung forth a lowly moan,
And half he murmur’d, — ‘Is there none,
Of all my halls have nurst,*
Page, squire, or groom, one cup to bring
Of blessed water from the spring,
To slake my dying thirst!’
O, Woman! in our hours of ease,
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please,
And variable as the shade
By the light quivering aspen made;*
When pain and anguish wring the brow,
A ministering angel thou! -
Scarce were the piteous accents said,
When, with the Baron’s casque,* the maid
To the nigh streamlet ran:
Forgot were hatred, wrongs, and fears;*
The plaintive voice alone she hears,
Sees but the dying man.*
From ‘Marmion: A Romance of Flodden Field’ (1808) by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832).
* An unusual past form of ‘nurse’.
* That is, shaking unpredictably like the shadow of the aspen tree, populus tremuloides, which shimmers in the breeze because of the peculiar structure of the leaves. See also F. W. Bain’s fable in The Dilemma. The line is sometimes quoted as “By the light of quivering aspen made” but the first edition published in 1808, and the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations published in 1999, give it as it is given above.
* A casque is a helmet in a suit of armour.
* Marmion destroyed his rival for Clare’s love, Sir Ralph, by forging documents that brought him dishonour and drove him into exile.
* For a brief historical background to the battle, see Flodden Edge.
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
In Scott’s Marmion, Lord Marmion has been mortally wounded, and in his agony he rebukes absent servants for failing to bring water. Clare, the woman he has wronged, alone hears him; but it is the nature of Woman (says Scott) that even the hardest in heart may be touched by pity, and she runs to do his bidding. (58 / 60 words)
In Scott’s Marmion, Lord Marmion has been mortally wounded, and in his agony he rebukes absent servants for failing to bring water. Clare, the woman he has wronged, alone hears him; but it is the nature of Woman (says Scott) that even the hardest in heart may be touched by pity, and she runs to do his bidding.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: because, if, must, not, or, unless, whether, who.
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 Alone. Coy. Wrong.
2 O. Draw. Have.
3 Hatred. Her. Say.
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.)
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?
Your Words ()
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