A nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos). For the song of the nightingale, visit RSPB: Nightingale. For a picture of a glow-worm, see the Indian counterpart to Vincent Bourne’s fable, The Glow Worm and the Jackdaw, in which the poor glow-worm has a hungry jackdaw to deal with and must use a quite different approach.
Introduction
This Aesop-style fable was composed in Latin by schoolmaster Vincent Bourne (1695-1747) and later translated by his pupil William Cowper (pronounced ‘cooper’), one of Jane Austen’s favourite poets, and a devout Christian remembered for his tireless campaign against slavery. A rather self-important nightingale is taught a lesson in humility and mutual respect by a little glow-worm.
‘The Nightingale and the Glow Worm’
A NIGHTINGALE, that all day long
Had cheered the village with his song,
Nor yet at eve his note suspended,
Nor yet when eventide was ended,
Began to feel, as well he might,
The keen demands of appetite;
When, looking eagerly around,
He spied far off, upon the ground,
A something shining in the dark,
And knew the glow-worm by his spark;
So, stooping down from hawthorn top,
He thought to put him in his crop.
The worm, aware of his intent,
Harangued him thus, right eloquent:
‘Did you admire my lamp,’ quoth he,
‘As much as I your minstrelsy,
You would abhor to do me wrong,
As much as I to spoil your song;
For ’twas the self-same power divine,
Taught you to sing and me to shine;
That you with music, I with light,
Might beautify and cheer the night.’
The songster heard his short oration,
And warbling out his approbation,
Released him, as my story tells,
And found a supper somewhere else.*
From ‘Poems Every Child Should Know’, edited by Mary E. Burt.
* Like Cowper’s verses on The Jackdaw, this poem is a translation from the Latin of Vincent Bourne (1695-1747), who many years earlier had been Cowper’s master at Westminster School. Aesop’s fable of The Lion and the Mouse tells a similar story of mutual dependence; Ramaswami Raju’s Indian fable of The Glow Worm and the Jackdaw is altogether more practical.
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 Cowper’s poem, a nightingale weary from singing all day was thinking of snacking on a glow-worm when his intended meal spoke up. The glow-worm complained that he brought charm to the night as the nightingale brought charm to the day, and deserved as much respect. The bird was quite won over, and the glow-worm was spared. (57 / 60 words)
In Cowper’s poem, a nightingale weary from singing all day was thinking of snacking on a glow-worm when his intended meal spoke up. The glow-worm complained that he brought charm to the night as the nightingale brought charm to the day, and deserved as much respect. The bird was quite won over, and the glow-worm was spared.
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: because, just, may, not, otherwise, until, whereas, who.
About the Author
William Cowper (1731-1800) is remembered today as one of England’s most accomplished poets, admired by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth and Jane Austen. His verse ranges from translations of Classical epics such as Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ to homely and sometimes tongue-in-cheek reflections on English rural life, much of it coloured by his strong Christian beliefs and today recognised as truly groundbreaking. Cowper suffered for most of his life from depression; after three attempts on his own life he was briefly confined to an asylum, and thereafter lived in the home of a friend’s widow, Mary Unwin. Cowper spoke out loudly against slavery, and his verses were often quoted by Martin Luther King. Cowper is pronounced ‘cooper.’
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 Appetite. Long. Somewhere.
2 Out. Spoil. Tell.
3 Around. Find. Oration.
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.)
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
slt (10+1)
isolate. salt. salute. silt. slat. slate. sleet. slit. slot. slut.
islet.
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