Second semester, test 1 - Review

Vocabulary

• The Mysterious Mr. Lincoln
  1. listless – lacking energy
  2. defy – to boldly oppose or resist
  3. patronize – to go to as a customer
  4. melancholy – sad, depressed
  5. denounce – to condemn; to criticize
  6. meddle – to intrude or interfere
• The Drummer Boy of Shiloh
  1. solemn – deeply serious
  2. askew – to one side; awry
  3. strew – to spread here and there; scatter
  4. legitimately – lawfully
  5. resolute – firm or determined
  6. muted – muffled, softened
• Hallucination
  1. opposition – the act of opposing or resisting
  2. corridor – a narrow hallway, often with rooms opening onto it
  3. inertia – resistance to motion, action, or change
  4. diminish – to become smaller or less
  5. conviction – a strong belief
  6. insolent – insulting, arrogant
  7. refrain – to hold oneself back; to stop

Stories

1. The Mysterious Mr. Lincoln (P. 282)
   • Biography by Russell Freedman
   • Setting: United States, 1809-1865
   • This biography is about the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. He was very tall (6’4), he towered above other men. He was also skinny with a dark complexion, coarse black hair and grey eyes. Most of his height came from his long, bony legs. He was once called two-faced by a rival in a debate, and he responded “If I had two faces, do you think I would use this one?”, he laughed about himself. Although he was often photographed, friends say that no photo did him justice, because the need to sit perfectly still made him seem stiff and formal at all times. People say when he spoke his face changed and seemed with emotion. Lincoln’s life story has been told in many books and movies. He could be humorous, but he could also be moody and melancholy. He had a lawyer’s logical mind, he was very ambitious, and yet he was superstitious and believed in dreams and omens. According to William Herndon, his law partner, he was ”the most secretive, shut-mouthed man that ever lived”. He’s described as a sloppy dresser, but he bought two suits a year from the best tailor in Springfield, Illinois. He said ”howdy” to greet his White House visitors and has a southern accent, yet he was a very eloquent public speaker. Lincoln is admired as a folk hero, yet during the Civil War he was the most unpopular president the nation had ever known. He had his haters, but also had his supporters who praised him as the mastermind behind the Union’s (against slavery) victory in the Civil War. Frederick Douglass, who grew up as a slave, called him ”the white man’s president”, he later changed his mind and came to admire Lincoln. Lincoln’s mission was to save his country from dismemberment and ruin, and to free his country from the great crime of slavery.  Lincoln said one of the most famous speeches ever, ”The Gettysburg Address”. He is best known as the Great Emancipator, the man who fed the slaves.
2. The Drummer Boy of Shiloh (P. 328)
   • Short Story by Ray Bradbury
   • Setting: The Battle of Shiloh during the Civil War; April, 1862
   • Fourteen-year-old Joby is awake the night before a Civil War battle. He lies beside his drum as he tries to sleep. The darkness is alive with the sighs of 100,000 men waiting for the next day’s battle. Joby has no shield or rifle because he is the drummer boy for the army; he only has his drum. He is crying from fear when the General appears out of the darkness. The General stops to talk with him and tells him that the army is young and untrained. The General fears what will happen to his men during the battle. He says he cried las night too, because he wished the other side gave up and the war was over and they’d all go home, but he knew it wasn’t going to be llike that. He tells Joby that he’s the heart of the army, the drumming is the heart of the army since the beat gives the soldiers courage and focus. If the drum beats slowly, the soldiers move slowly. A beat that is steady and fast moves them faster. The general says when they ask him what he did in this awful time in the future, that he should say proudly that he had been ‘the drummer boy at Shiloh’.
3. Barbara Frietchie (P. 292)
   • Poem by John Greenleaf Whittier
   • Setting: Maryland hills, September morning
   • In an early fall morning Robert E. Lee (one of the rebel leaders) was marching into Fredericktown. They had 40 confederate flags waving in the wind. Barbara Frietchie was a 90-year-old lady. She was the only one brave enough to take up the flag the men had taken down. The rebels came guided by Stonewall Jackson, he saw the flag and ordered his soldiers to halt and fire at the flag. The gunshots shivered the windows and tore the flag. Barbara snatched the flag when it was about to fall and leaned out the window and shook it. She told the men to shoot her but spare their country’s flag. Stonewall Jackson blushed and said whoever touches someone like her dies like a dog. They continued marchinf all day through the streets and all day Barbara kept the flag over the rebel’s heads. When Barbara died the Flag of Freedom and Union waved over her grave as a symbol for light and law. The stars above (in heaven) look down the stars of Frederick town (flag).
4. O Captain! My Captain! (P. 754)
   • Poem by Walt Whitman (worked in a hospital during the Civil War)
   • The poem is an extended metaphor about the Civil War. It talks about how a captain has finished a fearful trip and his ship has been through a lot, but the prize they wanted had been won. The captain was Abraham Lincoln, the ship was the country (the United States), the trip was the Civil War and the prize was the abolition of slavery and the union of the United States.
5. John Henry (P. 296)
   • Traditional Poem
   • Since John Henry was a little boy sitting on his father’s lap he was already telling him he must be a steel-driving man like him. He raced a steam drill to mine, he was very dedicated. Before he died he told his wife to be true to him when he died. And he told his baby boy before he died to be a steel driving man, just like his father had told him.