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Copywork
About This Passage
After the terrors of the wreck, the chapter fills with wonder at a strange southern island and its birds. Here Poe paints the royal penguin in a few exact strokes: a long bill of 'pink or bright scarlet,' and a body that does not waddle but walks 'erect, with a stately carriage,' tall and dignified like a proud little person. Copying it shows how precise colors and verbs can turn a plain description into a vivid picture, and how a writer makes a wild creature seem almost human.
The bill is long, and either pink or bright scarlet. These birds walk erect, with a stately carriage.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Tell what happens in this chapter in order: how the ship called the Jane Guy rescues Peters and the narrator and they slowly get well, how the schooner sails far south and weathers a sudden squall, how she reaches a cold island called Kerguelen Land, and how the narrator marvels at the royal penguins and at the neat little towns the penguins and albatrosses build together. Slow down at the part you find most wonderful and tell what you think about it.
Discussion Questions
- Once Peters and the narrator are safe aboard the Jane Guy and growing well again, the dreadful days on the wreck begin to feel 'rather as a frightful dream from which we had been happily awakened' than something that truly happened. Why do you think the wreck begins to feel more like a bad dream once the two friends are safe? What part of the chapter helps you decide?
- On Kerguelen Land the royal penguins stand up tall and walk with their heads high and their wings drooping like two little arms, so that they look almost like small people. Why do you think the narrator is so amazed by how human these penguins seem? What part of the chapter helps you decide?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Grand and dignified in the way one moves.
Item 2
Fresh green plants and grass.
Item 3
Dull, bleak, and joyless.
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Critical Thinking
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