Introduction
Scottish motivational writer Samuel Smiles is talking about the importance of noticing what we see, and gives two notable examples of a time when Nature has been mankind’s teacher.
WHILE Captain (afterwards Sir Samuel) Brown was occupied in studying the construction of bridges, with the view of contriving one of a cheap description to be thrown across the Tweed, near which he lived, he was walking in his garden one dewy autumn morning, when he saw a tiny spider’s net suspended across his path.
The idea immediately occurred to him, that a bridge of iron ropes or chains might be constructed in like manner, and the result was the invention of his Suspension Bridge.*
Sir Isambard Brunel took his first lessons in forming the Thames Tunnel from the tiny shipworm.*
He saw how the little creature perforated the wood with its well-armed head, first in one direction and then in another, till the archway was complete, and then daubed over the roof and sides with a kind of varnish; and by copying this work exactly on a large scale, Brunel was at length enabled to construct his shield and accomplish his great engineering work.
Slightly emended
The Union Bridge, the first vehicular suspension bridge in Britain, crossing the River Tweed from Horncliffe, Northumberland, England to Fishwick, Berwickshire, Scotland. Opened in 1820, it was the longest wrought-iron bridge of its kind in the world, at 449ft.
** Connecting Rotherhithe and Wapping at a depth of 75 feet, and 1,300 feet long. It was the world’s first tunnel beneath a navigable river. Note that this is Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, father of the more famous Isambard Kingdom Brunel. (Smiles called Brunel ‘Isambert’; ‘Isambard’ is the more usual spelling, and has been used here instead.)
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
Samuel Smiles noted how two great engineering works of the 19th century owed their origins to careful observation of the habits of small creatures in the natural world. He tells us that Samuel Brown’s Union suspension bridge over the Tweed owed its conception to a spider’s web, and Isambard Brunel’s Thames Tunnel to a shipworm. (55 / 60 words)
Samuel Smiles noted how two great engineering works of the 19th century owed their origins to careful observation of the habits of small creatures in the natural world. He tells us that Samuel Brown’s Union suspension bridge over the Tweed owed its conception to a spider’s web, and Isambard Brunel’s Thames Tunnel to a shipworm.
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: not, or, otherwise, ought, since, unless, until, 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 Arm. His. Study.
2 First. Result. Tiny.
3 Chain. Morning. Tweed.
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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Grok : Ask Grok
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