Introduction
In August 1492, Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) of Genoa set out across the Atlantic in ships provided to him by Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand II of Spain, reaching the Bahamas the following October. Europeans of his day had only the unproven theory of a round globe to guide them, and nearly four hundred years later Arthur Clough was still in awe of Columbus’s daring.
How in God’s name did Columbus get over
Is a pure wonder to me, I protest,
Cabot,* and Raleigh too,* that well-read rover,
Frobisher,* Dampier,* Drake,* and the rest.
Bad enough all the same,
For them that after came,
But, in great Heaven’s name,
How he should ever think
That on the other brink
Of this wild waste terra firma should be,
Is a pure wonder, I must say, to me.
How a man ever should hope to get thither,
E’en if he knew that there was another side;
But to suppose he should come any whither,
Sailing straight on into chaos untried,
In spite of the motion
Across the whole ocean,
To stick to the notion
That in some nook or bend
Of a sea without end
He should find North and South America,*
Was a pure madness, indeed I must say, to me.
Précis
Victorian poet Arthur Clough shared in verse his amazement at the audacity of Christopher Columbus. Others, including several Englishmen, had crossed the Atlantic early in the days of exploration, but only Columbus had done so at a time when nobody knew when or if landfall would be made. It was, said Clough, a kind of madness to try.
(58 / 60 words)
Victorian poet Arthur Clough shared in verse his amazement at the audacity of Christopher Columbus. Others, including several Englishmen, had crossed the Atlantic early in the days of exploration, but only Columbus had done so at a time when nobody knew when or if landfall would be made. It was, said Clough, a kind of madness to try.
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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: despite, may, not, otherwise, ought, whereas, whether, who.
Word Games
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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.
Express the ideas below in a single
sentence, using different words as much as possible.
Do not be satisfied with the first answer you
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