Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
The purple petals, fallen in the pool,

Made the black water with their beauty gay;
Here might the redbird come his plumes to cool,
And court the flower that cheapens his array.
Rhodora! If the sages ask thee why

This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,
Then Beauty is its own excuse for being:

Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!

I never thought to ask, I never knew:

But, in my simple ignorance, suppose

The self-same Power that brought me there brought you. ANSWER:

I. A. In May I found, etc.

B. When... solitudes.

A is the main clause of the sentence. B is, I think, an adjective clause dependent on May (since by when Emerson means in which month), and is joined to it by when.

Spreading is a pres. ptc., in appositive adjective construction, modifying Rhodora.

To please, an infin. phrase of purpose, depends on spreading.

II. A. The purple

B. Here. flower.

C. That

array.

gay.

A and B are indepen. clauses. No conj. is used between them; they carry on the same line of thought.

C is an adj. clause depending on flower, and joined to it through the rel. pron. that, subject of cheapens.

Fallen is a past ptc. used as an appositive adjective depending on petals. Gay is the objective comp. after made; an adj. mod. water.

Might come is a past potential verb-phrase. The aux. might is the real pred. vb. and come is an infin.

To cool is an infin. phrase of purpose after might come. I think Emerson meant to cool and [to] court, but he may possibly have intended might come and [might] court.

E. Why. sky.

A is the main clause; it contains B, a noun clause, obj. of tell, in which occurs the conditional clause C. B is introduced by the particle that, and C is joined to B by the sub. conj. if. D is a conditional clause subordinate to A and joined to it by if. E is a substantive clause, obj. of ask, an indirect question introduced by the inter. adv. of cause why, which modifies the predicate of E.

Rhodora is a noun absolute by direct address. Thee is the obj. of the person after ask. Them is an indirect obj. after tell. Dear is vocative, an absolute of address.

A and B are indep. clauses; the conj. and is not expressed between them. D is co-ord. with them, and is joined to them by but, an adversative conj. C is a subst. clause, object of knew and of the infinitive ask. E is a subst. clause, obj. of suppose. F is an adj. clause; the rel. pron. is that, whose antecedent, Power, is the subj. of brought.

This plan may be extended and made as definite as seems wise, always stopping short of devices that might lead to merely mechanical work. Co-ordinate conjunctions may be underlined once, subordinate conjunctions and their correlatives twice, relative pronouns with a wavy line, indefinite pronouns with a dotted line. Words supplied may be enclosed in brackets.

The following sentences furnish some suggestions:

1. Many times have I brought such flowers as my garden grew.

A. Many times . .

such flowers.

B. As my garden grew. (Adj. cl.; depends on such flowers; such is correlative with as.

2. There is a class among us so conservative that they are afraid the roof will come down if you sweep off the cob-webs.

A. There. so conservative.

=

B. That they are afraid [of] C. (Degree and result; modifies so conservative.) C. The roof will come down. (Substantive; obj. of [of].)

of [of 1.)

cobwebs. (Condition; subord. to C.)

3. Were the happiness of the next world as clearly apprehended as the felicities of this, it were a martyrdom to live.

A. It were
B. [If] the happiness

subord. to A.)

were as clearly apprehended. (Condition;

=

C. As the felicities of this [are clearly apprehended]. (Degree; equality; depends through as on clearly.)

4. Mankind in the aggregate is always wiser than any single man, because its experience is derived from a larger range of observation and experience, and because the springs that feed it drain a wider region both of time and space.-LOWEll.

A. Mankind . . wiser.

=

B. Than any man [is wise]. (Degree; inequality; depends on wiser.)

it.

E. That feed it. (Adj.; depends on springs.)

5. They believed that whoever had incurred his displeasure had deserved

A. They believed B C.

B. That C had deserved it. (Substantive; object of A.)

C. Whoever had incurred his displeasure. (Substantive; subject of B.)

6. Our eyes are holden, that we cannot see things that stare us in the face, until the hour arrives when the mind is ripened.

A. Our eyes are holden.

B. That things. (Result to A.)

...

E. When... ripened. (Adj. to hour.)

7. If a teacher has any opinion which he wishes to conceal, his pupils will become as fully indoctrinated into that as into any which he publishes. A. His pupils will become as fully indoctrinated into that.

B. As [they will become fully indoctrinated] into any. (Degree; equal

ity; depends through as on fully).

C. Which he publishes. (Adjective to any.)

D. If... opinion. (Condition.)

E. Which conceal. (Adjective to opinion.)

...

8. I hardly know anything more strange than that you recognize honesty in play and you do not in work.-RUSKIN.

A. I.. more strange.

B. Than C D [is strange]. (Degree; inequality; depends through more on strange.)

9. I have no expectation that any man will read history aright who thinks that what was done in a remote age by men whose names have resounded far, has any deeper sense than what he is doing to-day.—EMERSON. A. I have no expectation [of] BCDEFGH.

B. That any man will read history aright. (Substantive; obj. of [of ].) C. Who thinks D E F G H. (Adj. to man.)

D. That E has any deeper sense.

=

(Substantive; object of thinks.)

E. What was done in a remote age by men. (Substantive; subject of has.) F. Whose names have resounded far. (Adj. to men.)

G. Than H [has deep sense]. (Degree; inequality; depends on deeper.) H. What is he doing to-day. (Substantive; subject of an understood predicate [has deep sense].

10. But the life which is to endure grows slowly; and as the soil must be prepared before the wheat can be sown, so, before the kingdom of heaven could throw up its shoots, there was needed a kingdom of this world, where the nations were neither torn in pieces by violence nor were rushing after false ideals or spurious ambitions.-FROUDE.

and

A. But the life grows slowly;

I. Which is to endure. (Adj. to life.)

B. So there was needed a kingdom of this world.

1. Before the kingdom of heaven . . . shoots. (Time to B.) 2. Where the nations . . . ambitions. (Adj. to kingdom in B.) b. As the soil must be prepared.

1. Before the wheat can be sown.

(Manner to B.)

(Time to b.)

INDEX

[The numbers, except when otherwise designated, refer to sections.]