,transcriber's ,notes3 ,words in italics
 in the original are surrounded by      
underscores4 ,a row of asterisks        
represents a thought break4 ,ellipses   
match the original4 ,a complete list of 
corrections as well as other  notes     
follows the text4                       
,,talks ,,on ,,teaching                 
,,literature                            
,,by                                    
,,arlo ,,bates                          
,illustration3 ,riverside ,press        
colophon                                
,,boston ,,and ,,new ,,york             
,,houghton1 ,,mifflin ,,and ,,company   
,the ,riverside ,press1 ,cambridge      
#aijf                                   
,,copyright #aijf ,,by ,,arlo ,,bates   
,,all ,,rights ,,reserved               
,published ,october #aijf               
,these ,talks are founded upon lectures 
delivered before the ,summer  ,school of
 the ,university of ,illinois in ,june1 
#aije4 ,the interest which  was shown in
 the subject and in the views expressed 

encouraged me to  state rather more     
elaborately and in book form what ,i    
felt in regard to  a matter which is    
certainly of great importance1 and      
concerning which  so many teachers are  
in doubt4 ,i wish here to express my    
obligation to  ,assistant-,professor    
,henry ,g4 ,pearson1 who has very kindly
 gone over the  manuscript1 and to whom 
,i am indebted for suggestions of great 
value4          ,,contents              
,i4 ,,the ,,problem                     
#a           ,,ii4 ,,the ,,conditions   
#aa          ,,iii4 ,,some              
,,difficulties                          
#bh           ,,iv4 ,,other ,,obstacles 
#ci            ,v4 ,,foundations ,,of   
,,work                      #fa         
,,vi4 ,,preliminary ,,work              
#gd          ,,vii4 ,,the               
,,inspirational ,,use ,,of ,,literature 
#hh         ,,viii4 ,,an ,,illustration 
#if           ,,ix4 ,,educational       
#aji            ,x4 ,,examinational     
#aba           ,,xi4 ,,the ,,study ,,of 

,,prose                      #acf       
,,xii4 ,,the ,,study ,,of ,,the ,,novel 
#aeb         ,,xiii4 ,,the ,,study ,,of 
,,macbeth                  #afe         
,,xiv4 ,,criticism                      
#aic           ,,xv4 ,,literary         
,,workmanship                    #bjg   
,,xvi4 ,,literary ,,biography           
#bbb         ,,xvii4 ,,voluntary        
,,reading                       #bbg    
,,xviii4 ,,in ,,general                 
#bcg               ,,index              
#bde            ,,talks ,,on ,,teaching 
,,literature          ,i    ,,the       
,,problem      ,few earnest teachers of 
literature have escaped those black     
moments  when it seems perfectly evident
 that the one thing sure in connection  
with the whole business is that         
literature cannot be taught4 ,if they   
are of sensitive conscience they are    
likely to have wondered at times        
whether it is honest to go on pretending
 to give instruction in a  branch in    
which instruction was so obviously      

impossible4 ,the more  they consider1   
the more evident it is that if a pupil  
really learns  anything in              
literature1--as distinguished from      
learning about  literature1--he does it 
himself2 and they cannot fail to see    
that as  an art literature necessarily  
partakes of the nature of all art1 the  
quality of being inexpressible and      
unexplainable in any language except    
its own4    ,the root of whatever       
difficulty exists in fulfilling the     
requirements  of modern courses of      
training which have to do with          
literature is just  this fact4 ,any art1
 as has been said often and often1      
exists simply and  solely because it    
embodies and conveys what can be        
adequately expressed  in no other form4 
,a picture or a melody1 a statue or a   
poem1 gives  delight and inspiration by 
qualities which could belong to nothing 
else4 ,to teach painting or music or    
literature is at best to talk about     
these qualities4 ,words cannot express  

what the work or art expresses1  or the 
work itself would be superfluous2 and   
the teacher of literature  is therefore 
apparently confronted with the task of  
endeavoring to  impart what language    
itself cannot say4    ,so stated the    
proposition seems self-contradictory and
 absurd4 ,indeed  it too often happens  
that in actual practice it is so4       
,teachers weary  their very souls in    
necessarily fruitless endeavors to      
achieve the  impossible1 and fail in    
their work because they have not clearly
  apprehended what they could effect and
 what they should endeavor to  effect4  
,in any instruction it is of great      
importance to recognize  natural and    
inevitable limitations1 and nowhere is  
this more true than  in any teaching    
which has to do with the fine arts4 ,in 
other branches  failure to perceive the 
natural restrictions of the subject     
limits the  efficiency of the teacher2  
in the arts it not only utterly vitiates
 all  work1 but it gives students a     

fundamentally wrong conception of the   
very nature of that with which they are 
dealing4    ,in most studies the teacher
 has to do chiefly with the             
understanding1  or1 to put it more      
exactly1 with the intellect of the      
pupil4 ,in dealing  with literature he  
must reckon constantly with the emotions
 also4 ,if  he cannot arouse the        
feelings and the imaginations of his    
students1  he does not succeed in his   
work4 ,not only is this difficult in    
itself1  but it calls for an emotional  
condition in the instructor which is    
not easily combined with the didactic   
mood required by teaching2 a  condition1
 moreover1 which begets a sensitiveness 
to results much  more keen than any     
disappointment likely to be excited by  
failure to  carry a class triumphantly  
through a lesson in arithmetic or       
history4  ,this sensitiveness constantly
 brings discouragement1 and this in turn
  leads to renewed failure4 ,in work    
which requires the happiest mood  on the

 part of the teacher and the freest play
 of the imagination1  the consciousness 
of any lack of success increases the    
difficulty a  hundredfold4 ,the teacher 
who is able by sheer force of           
determination to  manage the stupidities
 of a dull algebra class1 may fail      
signally in  the attempt to make the    
same force carry him through an         
unappreciated  exercise in ,macbeth4 ,it
 is true that no teaching is effective  
unless  the interest as well as the     
attention of the pupils is enlisted2    
but whereas in other branches this is a 
condition1 in the case of  literature it
 is a prime essential4    ,the teaching 
of literature1 moreover1 is less than   
useless if it is  not educational as    
distinguished from examinational4 ,it is
 greatly to  be regretted that necessity
 compels the holding of examinations at 
all in a subject of which the worth is  
to be measured strictly by the  extent  
to which it inspires the imagination and
 develops the character  of the student4

 ,any system of examinations is likely  
to be at best a  makeshift made         
inevitable by existing conditions1 and  
it is rendered  tolerable only where    
teachers--often at the expense1 under   
present  school methods1 of a stress of 
body and of soul to be appreciated  only
 by those who have taught--are able to  
mingle a certain amount of  education   
with the grinding drill of routine work4
 ,examination papers  hardly touch and  
can hardly show the results of literary 
training which  are the only excuse for 
the presence of this branch in the      
school  curriculum4 ,every faithful     
worker who is trying to do what is best 
for  the children while fulfilling the  
requirements of the official powers     
above him is face to face with the fact 
that the tabulated returns of           
intermediates and finals do not in the  
least represent his best or most        
laboriously achieved success4    ,under 
these conditions it is not strange that 
so many teachers are at a  loss to know 

what they are expected to do or what    
they should attempt  to do4 ,if the     
teachers in the secondary schools of    
this country were  brought together into
 some ,palace of ,truth where absolute  
honesty was  forced upon them1 it would 
be interesting and perhaps saddening to 
find how few could confidently assert   
that they have clear and logical  ideas 
in regard to the teaching of literature4
 ,they would all be able  to say that   
they dealt with certain specified books 
because such work  is a prominent part  
of the school requirement2 and many     
would1 unless  restrained by the        
truth-compelling power of their         
environment1 add  vague phrases about   
broadening the minds of the children4 ,a
 pitiful  number would be forced to     
confess that they had no clear          
conception of  what they were to do     
beyond loading up the memories of the   
luckless  young folk with certain dead  
information about books to be unloaded  
at  the next examination1 and there left

 forever4 ,too often broadening the     
mind of the young is simple flattening  
it out by the dead weight of  lifeless  
and worthless fact4    ,this uncertainty
 in regard to what they are to do and   
how they are  to do it is constantly    
evident in the complaints and inquiries 
of  teachers4 ,how would you teach      
',macbeth'8 one asked me4 ,do you think 
the sources of the plot should be       
thoroughly mastered8 ,another wrote  me 
that she had always tried to make the   
moral lesson of ,silas ,marner  as clear
 and strong as possible1 but that one of
 her boys had called  her attention to  
the fact that no question on such a     
matter had ever  appeared in the college
 entrance examination papers1 and that  
she did  not know what to do4 ,a third  
said frankly that she could never see   
what there was in literature to teach1  
so she just took the questions          
suggested by a text-book and confined   
her attention to them4 ,if these  seem  
extreme cases1 it is chiefly because    

they are put into words4  ,certainly the
 number of instructors who are virtually
 in the position  of the third teacher  
is by no means small4    ,even the      
editors of school classics are sometimes
 found to be no more  enlightened than  
those they profess to aid1 and not      
infrequently seem  more anxious to have 
the appearance of doing a scholarly     
piece of work  than one fitted for      
actual use4 ,the devices they recommend 
for fixing  the attention and           
enlightening the darkness of children in
 literary  study are numerous2 but not  
infrequently they are either ludicrous  
or  pathetic4 ,a striking example is    
that conspicuously futile method1 the   
use of symbolic diagrams4 ,the attempt  
to represent the poetry1 the  pathos1   
the passion of ,the ,merchant of ,venice
 or ,romeo and ,juliet  by a diagram    
like a proposition in geometry seems to 
me not only the  height of absurdity1   
but not a little profane4 ,i have       
examined these  cryptic combinations of 

lines1 tangents1 triangles1 and circles1
  with more bewilderment than           
comprehension1 ,i confess2 generally    
with  irritation2 and always with the   
profound conviction that they could     
hardly be surpassed as a means of       
producing confusion worse confounded  in
 the mind of any child whatever4 ,other 
schemes are only less wild1  and while  
excellent and helpful text-books are not
 wanting1 not a  few show evidence that 
the writers were as little sure of what 
they  were trying to effect1 or of how  
it were best effected1 as the most      
bewildered teacher who might unadvisedly
 come to them for enlightenment4        
,instruction in literature as it exists 
to-day in the common schools of  this   
country is almost always painstaking and
 conscientious2 but it is  by no means  
always intelligent4 ,the teachers who   
resort to diagrams are  sincerely in    
earnest1 and no less faithful are those 
who at the expense  of most exhausting  
labor are dragging classes through the  

morass of  questions suggested by the   
least desirable of school editions of   
college requirements4 ,they dose their  
pupils with notes as ,mrs4 ,squeers     
dosed the poor wretches at ,dotheboys   
,hall with brimstone and treacle4  ,the 
result is much the same in both cases4  
,oh6 ,nonsense1 rejoined ,mrs4 ,squeers4
 4 4 4 ,they have      brimstone and    
treacle1 partly because if they hadn't  
something      or other in the way of   
medicine they'd be always 4 4 4 giving a
      world of trouble1 and partly      
because it spoils their appetites1      
and comes cheaper than breakfast and    
dinner4    ,certainly any child1 no     
matter how great his natural appetite   
for  literature1 must find the desire   
greatly diminished after a dose of      
text-book notes4    ,the difficulties of
 teachers in handling this branch of    
instruction  have been increased by the 
system under which work must be carried 
on4 ,the tremendous problem of educating
 children in masses has yet  to be      

solved1 and it is at least doubtful if  
it can be worked out  successfully      
without a very substantial diminution of
 the requirements  now insisted upon4   
,certainly it is hardly conceivable that
 with the  curriculum as crowded as it  
is at present any teacher could do much 
in the common schools with the teaching 
of literature4 ,the pedagogic           
committees who have fixed the college   
entrance requirements1 moreover1  seem  
to have acted largely along conventional
 lines4 ,in the third  place the spirit 
of the time is out of sympathy with art1
 and the  variety and insistence of     
outside calls on the attention and      
interest  of the children make demands  
so great as to leave the mind dull to   
finer impressions4 ,to the boy eager    
over football1 the circus1 and  the     
automobile race he is to see when school
 is out1 even an inspired  teacher may  
talk in vain about ,dr4 ,primrose1 ,lady
 ,macbeth1 or any other  of the         
immortals4 ,ears accustomed to the      

strident measures of the  modern        
street-song are not easily beguiled by  
the music of ,milton1 and  yet the      
teacher of to-day is expected to        
persuade his flock that they  should    
prefer ,l',allegro to the vulgar but    
rollicking rag-time comic  songs of     
dime-museum and alley4 ,under           
circumstances so adverse1 it is  not to 
be wondered at that teachers are not    
only discouraged but often  bewildered4 
,what happens in many cases is          
sufficiently well shown by this extract 
from a freshman composition1 in which   
the writer frankly gives an  account of 
his training in ,english literature in a
 high school not  twenty-five miles from
 ,boston3        ,very special attention
 was paid to the instruction of the     
classics as to what the examinations    
require4 ,as closely as      possible   
the faculty determine the scope of the  
examinations1      and the class is     
drilled in that work especially4        
,examination      papers are procured   

for several years back1 and are given   
to the students as regular high school  
examinations1 and      as samples of the
 kind of questions to be expected4 ,the 
instructors notice especial questions   
that are often repeated      in         
examination papers1 warn the pupils of  
them1 and even go so      far as to     
estimate when the question will be used 
again4 ,i have      heard in the        
classroom1 ,this question was given     
three years      ago1 and it is about   
due again4 ,they ask it every three or  
four      years4    ,another boy wrote1 
in the same set of themes1 that he had  
taken the  examination in the autumn1   
and added3        ,on the ,june         
examinations ,i noticed that there was  
nothing about      ,milton1 so ,i       
studied ,milton with heart and soul4    
,here we find stated plainly what       
everybody connected with teaching  knows
 to be common1 and indeed what under the
 present system is almost  inevitable4  
,i know of many schools of no           

inconsiderable standing where  in all   
branches old examination papers1 if not 
used as the text-books1  are at least   
the actual guide to all work done in the
 last year of  fitting for college4     
,this is perhaps only human1 and it is  
easy to  understand2 but it certainly is
 not education1 and of that fact both   
students and teachers are entirely well 
aware4 ,all this ,i say with  no        
intention of blaming anybody for what is
 the result of difficult  conditions4   
,it is not well1 however1 to ignore what
 is perfectly well  known1 and what is  
one of the important difficulties of the
 situation4    ,the problem1 then1 which
 confronts the teacher in the secondary 
school  is twofold4 ,he has to decide in
 the first place what the teaching of   
literature can and should legitimately  
accomplish1 and in the second1  by what 
means this may most surely and          
effectively be done4 ,in a word1        
although work in this line has been     
going on multitudinously and  confusedly

 for years1 we are yet far from         
sufficiently definite ideas  why and how
 literature should be taught to         
children4          ,,ii    ,,the        
,,conditions      ,the inclusion of     
literature in the list of common school 
studies1  however the original intent   
may have been lost sight of1 was        
undoubtedly made in the interest of     
general culture4 ,it is not certain     
that those who put it in had definite   
conceptions of methods or  results1 but 
unquestionably their idea was to aid the
 development of  the children's minds by
 helping them to appreciate and to      
assimilate  thoughts of nobility and of 
beauty1 and by fostering a love for     
literature which should lead them to go 
on acquiring these from the             
masterpieces4 ,how clear and well       
defined in the minds of educators  this 
idea was it is needless to inquire4 ,it 
is enough that it was  undoubtedly      
sincere1 and that it was founded on a   
genuine faith in the  broadening and    

elevating influence of art4    ,the     
importance of literature as a means of  
mental development used to  be taken for
 granted4 ,our fathers and grandfathers 
had for the classics  a reverence which 
the rising generation looks back to as a
 phase of  antiquated superstition1     
hardly more reasonable than the worship 
of  sacred wells or a belief in goblins4
 ,so much stress is now laid  upon the  
tangible and the material as the only   
genuine values1 that  everything less   
obvious is discredited4 ,the tendency is
 to take only  direct results into      
consideration2 and influences which     
serve rather to  elevate character than 
to aid in money-getting are at best     
looked upon  with toleration4    ,that  
sense of mankind1 however1 which depends
 upon the perception of  the few1 and   
which in the long run forms the opinion 
of society in  spite of everything1     
holds still to the importance of        
literature in any  intelligent scheme of
 education4 ,the popular disbelief makes

 enormously  difficult the work of the  
teacher1 but the force of the conviction
  of the wise minority keeps this branch
 in the schools4 ,the sincere  teacher1 
therefore1 naturally tries to analyze   
effects1 and to discern  possibilities1 
in order to discover upon what facts the
 belief in the  educational value of the
 study of literature properly rests4    
,the most obvious reasons for the study 
of literature may be quickly  disposed  
of4 ,it is well for a student to be     
reasonably familiar with  the history of
 literature1 with the names and periods 
of great writers4  ,this adds to his    
chances of appearing to advantage in the
 world1  and especially in that portion 
of society where he can least afford  to
 be at a disadvantage4 ,he is provided  
with facts about books and  authors     
quite as much to protect him from the   
ill effects of appearing  ignorant as   
for any direct influence this knowledge 
will have on his  mind4 ,whatever the   
tendency of the times to undervalue in  

daily  life acquaintance with the more  
refined side of human knowledge1 the    
fact remains that to betray ignorance in
 these lines may bring real  harm to a  
person's social standing4 ,every one    
recognizes that among  educated people a
 lad is better able to make his way if  
he does not  confound the age of        
,shakespeare with that of ,browning1 and
 if he is  able to distinguish between  
,edmund ,spenser and ,herbert ,spencer4 
,such  information may not be specially 
vital1 but it is worth possessing4      
,considerations of this sort1 however1  
are evidently not of weight  enough to  
account for the place of the study in   
the schools1 and still  less to excuse  
the amount of time and attention        
bestowed upon it4 ,the  same line of    
reasoning would defend the introduction 
of dancing1 because        ,those move  
easiest who have learned to dance4      
,more important and more far-reaching   
reasons must be found to satisfy  the   
teacher1 and to hearten him for the     

severe labor of working with  class     
after class in the effort1 not always   
successful1 of arousing  interest and   
enthusiasm over the writings which go by
 the name of  ,english ,classics4 ,some 
of these ,i may specify briefly4 ,to    
deal with  them exhaustively would take 
a book in itself1 and would leave no    
room  for the consideration of methods4 
,a careful and intelligent study of     
masterpieces of prose or verse1  the    
teacher soon perceives1 must develop    
greatly the student's sense  of the     
value of words4 ,this is not the highest
 function of this work1  but it is by no
 means one to be despised4 ,literary    
study affords  opportunities for        
training of this sort which are not to  
be found  elsewhere2 and a sensitiveness
 to word-values is with a child the     
beginning of wisdom4    ,children too   
often acquire and adults follow the     
habit of accepting  words instead of    
ideas4 ,a genuine appreciation of the   
worth of language  is after all the     

chief outward sign of the distinction   
between the wise  man and the dullard4  
,one is content to receive speech as    
sterling coin1  and the other perceives 
that words are but counters4 ,if        
students could  but appreciate the      
difference between apprehending and     
comprehending  what they are taught1    
between learning words and assimilating 
ideas1  the intellectual millennium     
would be at hand4 ,children need to     
learn  that the sentence is after all   
only the envelope1 only the vehicle for 
the thought4 ,everybody agrees to this  
theoretically1 but practically  the fact
 is generally ignored4 ,the child is    
father to the man in  nothing else more 
surely than in the trait of accepting in
 perfect good  faith empty words as     
complete and satisfactory in themselves4
 ,the habit  of being content with      
phrases once bred into a child can be   
eradicated  by nothing short of severe  
intellectual surgery4    ,to say that   
words are received as sufficient in     

themselves and not as  conveying ideas  
sounds like a paradox2 but there are few
 of us who  may not at once make a      
personal application and find an        
illustration  in the common phrases and 
formulas of our life4 ,perhaps none of  
us  are free from the fault of sometimes
 substituting empty phrases for  vital  
rules of conduct4 ,the most simple and  
the most tremendous  facts of human life
 are often known only as lifeless       
statements  rather than realized as     
vibrant truths4 ,with children the      
language  of text-book or classroom is  
so likely to be repeated by rote and    
remembered mechanically that constant   
vigilance on the part of the  teacher   
can hardly overcome the evil4 ,force the
 boy who on the college  entrance       
examination paper writes fluently that  
,milton is the poet  of sublimity to try
 to define1 even to himself1 what the   
statement  means1 and the result is     
confusion4 ,he meant nothing4 ,he had   
the words1  but they had never conveyed 

to him a thought4 ,language should be   
the  servant of the mind1 but never was 
servant that so constantly and so       
successfully usurped the place of       
master4    ,children must be taught1 and
 taught not simply by precept but by    
experience1 to realize that the value of
 the word lies solely in its  efficiency
 as a vehicle of thought4 ,they must    
learn to appreciate as  well as to know 
mechanically that language is to be     
estimated by its  effect in             
communicating the idea1 and that to be  
satisfied with words  for themselves is 
obvious folly4 ,for enforcing this fact 
literature is  especially valuable4 ,it 
is hardly possible in even the most     
superficial  work on a play of          
,shakespeare1 for instance1 for the     
reader to fail  to perceive how the idea
 burns through the word1 how wide is the
  difference between the mere           
apprehension of the language and the    
comprehension of the poet's meaning4 ,in
 the study of great poetry the          

impossibility of resting satisfied with 
anything short of the ideas is  so      
strongly brought out that it cannot be  
ignored or forgotten2 and in  this way  
pupils are impressed with the value of  
words4    ,this sensitiveness to the    
value of words in general is closely    
coupled  with an appreciation of the    
force of words in particular1 of what   
may  be called word-values4 ,the power  
of appreciating that a word is merely  a
 messenger bringing an idea1 is         
naturally connected with the ability  to
 distinguish with exactness the nature  
and the value of the thought  which the 
messenger presents4 ,to feel the need of
 knowing clearly and  surely the thought
 expressed inevitably leads to precision
 and delicacy  in distinguishing the    
significance and force of language4     
,when once a  child appreciates the     
difference between the accepting of what
 he reads  vaguely or mechanically and  
the getting from it its full meaning1 he
  is eager to have it all2 he finds     

delight in the intellectual exercise  of
 searching out each hidden suggestion   
and in the sense of possession  which   
belongs to achieving the thought of the 
master4 ,it is not to be  expected that 
our pupils shall be able to receive in  
its full richness  the deepest thought  
of the poets1 but they none the less    
find delight  in possessing it to the   
extent of their abilities4 ,the point is
 too  obvious to need expansion2 but    
every instructor will recognize its     
great importance4    ,obvious as is this
 importance of the sense of the value of
 words and  a sensitiveness to          
word-values1 it is not infrequently     
overlooked4  ,teachers see the need of a
 knowledge of the meaning of terms and  
phrases in a particular selection       
without stopping to think of the  prime 
value of the principle involved1 or     
indeed that a general  principle is     
involved at all4 ,still more often they 
fail to perceive  all that logically    
follows4 ,in exact1 vital realization of

 the full  force of language lies the   
secret of sharing the wisdom of the     
ages4 ,if  students can be trained to   
penetrate through the word of the       
printed  page to the thought1 they are  
brought into communication with the     
master-minds of the race4 ,it is not    
learning to read in the common1  primary
 acceptation of the term that opens for 
the young the thought  of the race2 but 
learning to read in the higher and      
deeper sense of  receiving the word only
 as a symbol behind and beyond which the
 thought  lies concealed from the       
ordinary and superficial reader4        
,most of all is it the business of the  
young to learn about life4  ,whatever   
does not tend1 directly or indirectly1  
to make the child  better acquainted    
with the world he has come into1 with   
how he must  and how he should bear     
himself under its complex conditions1 is
 of  small value as far as education    
goes4 ,of rules for conduct he is given 
plenty as to matters of morality and of 

religion4 ,moral laws and  religious    
precepts are good1 and could they       
accomplish all that is  sometimes       
expected of them1 life would quickly be 
a different matter1  and teachers would 
find themselves living in an earthly    
paradise4  ,unhappily these excellent   
maxims effect in actual life far less   
than  is to be desired4 ,not            
infrequently the urchin who has been    
stuffed  with moral admonitions as a    
doll with sawdust shows in his conduct  
no regard for them other than a fine    
zeal in scorning them4 ,children  are   
seldom much affected by explicit        
directions in regard to conduct4  ,they 
must be reached by indirection1 and they
 are moulded less by what  they         
recognize as intentionally wise views of
 life than by those which  they receive 
unconsciously4 ,the more just these     
unrecognized ideas  of themselves and of
 the world are1 the greater is the      
chance that  they will develop a        
character well balanced and well        

adjusted to the  conditions of human    
life4    ,children live in a world      
largely made up of half-perceptions1 of 
misunderstandings1 and of dreams2 a     
world pathetically full of guesses4     
,they must depend largely upon          
appearances1 and constantly confound    
what seems with what really is4 ,they   
learn but slowly1 however1 to  shape    
their beliefs or their emotions by      
conventionality4 ,they do not  easily   
acquire the vice of accepting shams     
because some authority has  endorsed    
these4 ,all of us are likely to have had
 queerly uncomfortable  moments when we 
have found ourselves confounded and     
reproved by  the unflinching honesty of 
the child2 and we have been forced to   
confess1 at least to ourselves1 that    
much of our admiration is mere          
affectation1 many of our professions    
unadulterated truckling to some         
authority in which after all we have    
little real faith4 ,children are        
naturally too unsophisticated for       

self-deception of this sort4 ,they      
confound substance and shadow1 but they 
do it in good faith and with  no        
affectations4 ,they are therefore at the
 place where they most need  sound and  
sure help to apprehend and to comprehend
 those things which  their elders call  
the realities of life4    ,what human   
nature and human life are like is       
learned most quickly  and most surely   
from the best literature4 ,the outward1 
the evident  conditions of society and  
of humanity may perhaps be best obtained
 by  children from the events of        
every-day existence2 but in all that    
goes  deeper the wisdom of great writers
 is the surest guide4    ,on the face of
 it such a proposition may not seem     
self-evident1  and to not a few teachers
 it is likely to appear a little absurd4
  ,children1 it is evident1 learn the   
realities of life by living4 ,they      
perceive physical truth by the          
persuasive force of actual experience3  
by tumbling down and bumping their      

precious noses2 by unmistakably         
impressive contact with the fist of a   
pugnacious school-fellow2 by  being     
hungry or uncomfortably stuffed with    
,thanksgiving turkey2 by  heat and by   
cold1 by sweets or by sours1 by hardness
 or by softness4  ,certainly through    
such means as these the child gains     
knowledge and  develops mentally2 but   
the process is inevitably slow4 ,most of
 all  is the growth in the youthful mind
 of general deductions and the          
perception of underlying principles     
extremely gradual4 ,he does not  learn  
quickly enough that certain lines of    
conduct are likely to lead  to          
unfortunate ends4 ,even when this is    
grasped1 he has not come to  appreciate 
what human laws underlie the whole      
matter2 nor is he in the  least likely  
to realize them so fully as to shape by 
them his conduct  in the steadily more  
and more complicated affairs of life4   
,the small boy learns the wisdom of     
moderation from the stomach-ache  which 

follows too much plum-pudding or too    
many green apples--if the  pain is often
 enough repeated4 ,the matter1 however1 
is apt to present  itself to his mind as
 a sort of tacit bargain between himself
 and ,fate3  so many green apples1 so   
much stomach-ache2 so much              
self-indulgence and  so much pain1 and  
the account is balanced4 ,life is not so
 simple as  this2 and that ,fate does   
not make bargains so direct is learned  
from  experience so gradually as often  
to be learned too late4 ,to tell this   
to a child is of very little effect2 for
 even if he believes it with  his       
childish intelligence1 he can hardly    
feel the intimate links which  bind all 
humanity together1 and make him subject 
to the same conditions  that rule his   
elders and instructors4    ,the phrase  
realities of life1 moreover1 includes   
not only  sensible--that is1            
material--facts and conditions1 but the 
more subtle  things of inner existence4 
,a hundred persons are able to gather   

facts1  while very few are capable of   
drawing from them adequate conclusions  
or of perceiving how one truth bears    
upon another4 ,a very moderate  degree  
of intelligence is required for analysis
 as compared to that  necessary for     
synthesis4 ,the power to put two and two
 together1 as  the common phrase has it1
 grows slowly in the mind of a child4   
,within  a limited range children       
appreciate that one fact is somehow     
joined to  another2 and indeed the      
education which life gives consists     
chiefly in  expanding this perception4  
,the connection between touching a hot  
coal  and being burned brings home the  
plain physical relations early4 ,the    
connection between disobedience and     
unpleasant consequences will be  borne  
in upon the youthful consciousness      
according to the sharpness  of          
discipline by which it is enforced2 and 
so on to the end of the  chapter4 ,to   
perceive a relation and to appreciate   
what that relation  is are1 however1    

different matters4 ,the understanding of
 the nature  of breaking rules and      
suffering in consequence involves a     
perception  of underlying principle1 and
 some comprehension of the real nature  
of  these principles4    ,the part which
 literature may play in giving children1
 and for that  matter their elders1 a   
vivid perception of moral laws is shown 
by the  use which has been made of      
fables and moral tales4 ,the parables of
  ,scripture illustrate the point4 ,of  
the habit of making literature  directly
 a vehicle for moral instruction by the 
drawing of morals ,i  shall have        
something to say later2 but the extent  
to which this has  been done at least   
serves here to make clearer what we mean
 by saying  that in this study the child
 learns general principles and their    
relation4 ,the small child1 for         
instance1 who is told in tender years   
that ingeniously virtuous fable which   
relates the heroic doings of  little    
,george ,washington and his immortal    

hatchet1 gets some idea of a  connection
 between virtue and joy in the abstract4
 ,a notion faint1 but  none the less    
genuine1 remains in his mind that some  
real connection  exists between truth   
and desirability2 and the same sort of  
thing holds  true in cases where the    
teaching is less directly didactic4     
,the directly didactic is likely to be  
most in evidence in the training  of    
children1 and so affords convenient     
illustration of the illuminating  effect
 of literature on young minds4 ,despite 
the fact that ,i disbelieve  in reading 
into any tale or poem a moral which is  
not expressly put  there by the author1 
and that ,i hold more strongly yet to   
the belief  that the most marked and    
most lasting effects of imaginative work
 are  indirect1 ,i am not without a     
perception of the value at a certain    
stage  of human development of the      
direct moral of the fable and the       
improving  tale4 ,a small lad of ten    
within the range of my observation1 upon

 whom  had been lavished an abundance1  
and perhaps even a superabundance1 of   
moral precept1 astonished and           
disconcerted his mother by remarking    
with delightful navet that he had at    
school been reading ,the ,little        
,merchant1 in ,miss ,edgeworth's        
,parents' ,assistant1 and that from it  
he had learned how mean and foolish it  
is to lie4 ,but1 my dear boy1  the      
mother cried in dismay1 ,i've been      
telling you that ever since  you were   
born6 ,oh1 well1 responded the lad1 with
 the unconsciously  brutal frankness of 
his years1 but that never interested me4
 ,the  obvious moral teaching that had  
made no impression when offered as a    
bare precept had been effective to him  
when presented as an appeal to  his     
feeling4    ,through imaginative        
literature abstract truths are made to  
have for  the child a reality which is  
given to them by the experiences of     
daily  life only by the slowest of      
degrees4 ,children rarely generalize1   

except in matters of personal feeling   
and in the regions of general           
misapprehension4 ,a child easily        
receives the fact of the moment for a   
truth of all time3 if he is miserable1  
for instance1 he is very apt to  feel   
that he must always be in that doleful  
condition2 but this is in  no real sense
 a generalization4 ,it is more than half
 self-deception4  ,any child1 however1  
who has been thrilled by a single line  
of  imaginative poetry has--even if     
unconsciously--come into direct touch   
with a wide and humanly universal truth4
    ,especially and essentially is this 
to be said of truth which has to do     
with human feeling1 the universal truth 
of the emotions4 ,the man or  the woman 
into whom the school-boy or girl is to  
grow will in shaping  life be guided    
chiefly by the feelings4 ,whether the   
ordinary mortal  lives well or ill1     
basely or nobly1 dully or vividly1 is   
practically  determined by what he      
feels4 ,however much the convictions    

have to do  in ordering conduct1 feeling
 has more1 and conviction itself is with
  most mortals inseparably bound up with
 the emotions4 ,the highest office  of  
education is to develop the emotions    
highly and nobly2 and it is no  less    
essential to the intellectual than to   
the moral well-being of the  child that 
he be bred to feel as deeply and as     
wholesomely as possible4  ,every teacher
 knows that in dealing with children the
 ultimate appeal  is to their feelings4 
,if a crisis arises in school-life it is
 to the  emotions that the matter is    
inevitably referred1 whether the        
instructor  likes this or not1 and      
whether the appeal is made openly or is 
indirect  and tacit4 ,teaching must deal
 with the sentiments as well as with the
  understanding4 ,that no other means of
 training and properly developing  the  
feelings of youth is so efficient as    
literature seems to me a  proposition   
too self-evident to need further        
comment4    ,enthusiasm is so closely   

connected with the cultivation and      
training  of the emotions that it is not
 easy to draw a line between them4      
,while  there is certainly no need to   
enlarge here upon the worth of          
enthusiasm  in education or in life1 or 
upon literature as a means of arousing  
it1  it is worth while to emphasize the 
extent to which the mind of youth  may  
be affected by enthusiasm4 ,the effects 
are naturally often so  indirect or     
intangible as not to be easily measured1
 but often1 too1  they are direct and   
practical4 ,some years ago in a country 
school in  eastern ,maine was still     
paramount the old-time ,greenleaf's     
,arithmetic  which we elders remember   
with mixed feelings4 ,the law of        
education  in those days1 when children 
were still expected to do things which  
were mapped out for them and to follow a
 course of study whether it  chanced to 
please their individual fancy or not1   
enforced the mastering  of everything in
 the text-book1 even to sundry weird    

processes with  queer names such as     
,alligation ,alternate and the like4    
,the teacher  of this particular school1
 a plucky morsel of ,new ,england       
womanhood1  not much bigger than a      
chickadee1 set herself resolutely to    
carry  through the arithmetic a class of
 farmer lads1 better at the plow than   
in mathematics4 ,what happened she told 
me twenty-five years ago1 and  ,i am    
still able to call up the vision of the 
air half of defiance1  half of amusement
 with which she said3 ,the boys were in 
a perfectly  hopeless muddle4 ,i had    
explained and explained1 until ,i wished
 ,i could  either cry like a woman or be
 a man and swear6 ,the third day ,i had 
an inspiration4 ,in the very middle of  
the recitation1 ,i told them to  shut up
 their books1 and ,i cleaned every mark 
of the lesson off of  the blackboard4   
,then without a word of explanation ,i  
began to tell  them a little about the  
pamphlet ,sir ,walter ,raleigh wrote    
about the  ',revenge2' and then ,i began

 to recite ,tennyson's ballad--which was
 new  then4 ,i was wrought up to the    
very top-notch anyway1 and ,i just gave 
that ballad for all there was in me4    
,they were dazed a minute1 and  then    
they pricked up their ears1 their eyes  
began to shine1 and ,i had  them4 ,we   
kindled each other1 and by the time ,i  
got through the tears  were running down
 my cheeks for simple excitement4 ,when 
,i got to the  end1 you could just feel 
the hush4 ,then ,i told them to go      
outdoors and  snow-ball for ten minutes1
 and then to come in and conquer that   
lesson4  ,they were great1 rough farmer 
boys1 you understand2 but the moment    
they  were outside1 they gave a cheer1  
just to express things they couldn't    
have put into words4 ,when they came in 
they were alive to the ends of  their   
fingers1 and we went over that old      
,alligation with a perfect  rush4 ,this 
sort of thing would not be possible     
anywhere outside of the  old-fashioned  
country school1 but it is a capital     

illustration of the  way in which poetry
 may stir the enthusiasm4    ,more      
valuable still1 because at once deeper  
and most lasting1 is the  effect of     
literature in nourishing imagination4   
,the real progress which  children make 
in education--the assimilation of the   
knowledge which  they receive--depends  
largely upon this power4 ,in many       
branches of  study this is easily       
evident4 ,what a child actually knows of
 geography  or of history obviously     
depends upon the extent to which his    
mind is  able to make real places or    
events remote in space or in time4 ,the 
same is true of those studies where the 
fact is not so evident2 and it  is      
hardly too much to say that the advance 
of any student in higher  education is  
measured by the development of his      
imagination4    ,the teacher of         
literature in the secondary schools1    
then1 is to  consider that although his 
work is primarily done as a part of the 
school requirement1 he need not be      

without some clear and deliberate       
intention in regard to the permanent    
effect upon the education and  so upon  
the character of the pupil4 ,he may     
treat the getting of his  charges       
through the examinations as a purely    
secondary matter2 a  matter1 moreover1  
which is practically sure to be         
accomplished if the  greater and better 
purposes of the study have been secured4
 ,besides a  general knowledge of       
literary history1 the student should    
gain from  his training in the secondary
 school a vivid sense of the importance 
and value of words2 an appreciation of  
word-values as shown in actual  use by  
the masters2 should increase in         
knowledge of life1 and as it  were gain 
experience vicariously1 so as to advance
 in perception of  intellectual and     
moral values2 should be advanced in the 
control of  the feelings2 in enthusiasm2
 and in the development of that noblest 
of  faculties1 the imagination4         
,,iii    ,,some ,,difficulties      ,to 

deal clearly with the work of teaching1 
it is first of all essential  to deal   
frankly4 ,in order that suggestions in  
regard to instruction  in literature may
 be of practical value1 we must be      
entirely honest  in admitting and in    
facing whatever difficulties lie in the 
way and  whatever limitations are       
imposed by the conditions under which   
the work  is done4    ,as things are at 
present arranged1 an instructor1 it     
seems not unjust  to say1 must decide   
how far he is able to mingle genuine    
education with  the routine work which  
the system imposes upon him4 ,if he has 
not the  power to settle this question1 
or if he is lacking in the disposition  
to propose the question to himself1 his 
labor is inevitably confined  chiefly to
 routine4 ,his students are turned out  
examination-perfect1  it may be1 but    
with minds as fatally cramped and       
checked as the feet  of a ,chinese lady4
 ,if literature has a high and important
 function in  education1 the teacher    

must consider deeply both what that     
function is  and how he is best to      
develop it4    ,the failure on the part 
of instructors to do this makes much of 
the  work done in the secondary grades  
so mechanical as to be of the  smallest 
possible use so far as the expansion of 
the mind and of  the character of       
children is concerned4 ,for a pupil in  
the lower  grades the first purpose of  
any and of all school-work should be  to
 teach him to use his mind1--to think4  
,the actual acquirement of  facts is of 
importance really slight as compared to 
the value of  this4 ,if at twelve he    
knows how to read and to write1 is sound
 on the  multiplication-table1 is       
familiar with the outlines of grammar   
and the  broadest divisions of          
geography1 yet is accustomed to think   
for himself  in regard to the facts     
which he perceives from life or receives
 from  books1 he may be regarded as     
admirably well on in the education which
  he is to gain from the schools4       

,indeed1 if he have learned to think1   
he is excellently started even if he    
have accomplished nothing further  than 
simply to read and to write4    ,in     
these years of child-life the study of  
literature can legitimately  have but   
two objects3 it may and should minister 
to the delight of  youth1 that so the   
taste for good books be fostered and as 
it were  inbred2 and it should nourish  
the power of thinking4 ,whatever is     
beyond  this has no place in the lower  
grades1 and personally ,i am entirely   
free to say that much that is now called
 the study of literature is  the sort of
 elaborate work which belongs in the    
college or nowhere4  ,few students are  
qualified to study--as the term is      
commonly  interpreted--literature until 
they are advanced further than the boys 
and girls admitted to our high schools2 
further1 indeed1 than many who  are     
allowed to enter the universities4 ,the 
great majority of those who  grind      
laboriously through the college entrance

 requirements in ,english  are utterly  
unequal to the work and get from it     
little of value and a  good deal of     
harm4    ,what should be done in the    
lower grades1 and usually all that can  
with profit be attempted in the         
secondary schools anywhere1 is to       
cultivate in the children a love of     
literature and some appreciation  of it3
 appreciation intelligent1 ,i mean1 but 
not analytic4 ,i would  have the        
secondary schools do little with the    
history of authors1  less with the      
criticism of style1 and have no more    
explanation of  difficulties of language
 and of structure than is necessary for 
the  student's enjoyment4 ,in a time    
when the draughts made by daily life    
upon the attention of the young are so  
tremendous1 when the pressure  of the   
more immediately practical branches of  
instruction is so great1  to add        
drudgery in connection with literature  
seems to me completely  futile and      
doubly wrong4 ,the supreme test of      

success in whatever work  in literature 
is done in schools of the secondary     
grades should be1  according to my      
conviction1 whether it has given        
delight1 has fostered  a love of        
whatever is best in imaginative writings
 and in life4    ,the natural abilities 
of children differ widely1 and perhaps  
more  difference still is made by the   
home influences in which they pass      
their earliest years4 ,what should be   
done in the nursery can never be  fully 
made up in the school1 and what should  
be breathed in from an  atmosphere of   
cultivation can never be imparted by    
instruction4 ,it is  manifestly         
impossible to interest all in the       
artistic side of life to  the same      
extent1 just as it is idle to hope to   
teach all to draw with  equal skill4    
,this does not alter the direction of   
effort4 ,the teacher  must recognize and
 accept natural limitations1 but not on 
that account  be satisfied with aiming  
at less admirable results4    ,whatever 

are the conditions1 it is possible to do
 something to  foster a love of what is 
really good in literature1 and to avoid 
the  substitution of formal drill in the
 history of authors1 the study of       
conundrums concerning the sources of    
plots1 the meaning of obsolete  words1  
and like pedantic pedagogics1 for the   
friendly and vital study  of what should
 be a warm1 live topic4 ,if young folk  
can be made really  to care for good    
books1 not only is substantial and      
lasting good  gained1 but most that is  
now attempted is more surely secured4   
,william  ,blake declares that the truth
 can never be told so as to be          
understood  and not be believed4 ,in the
 same way it may be said that if        
children  can be trained to recognize   
the characteristics of good literature1 
they are sure1 in nine cases out of ten 
at least1 to care for it4    ,this is   
the work which properly belongs to the  
secondary schools2 and  it is quite as  
much as they can be expected to do even 

up to the close  of the high school     
course4 ,i am personally unable to see  
what good  is accomplished by taking any
 body of school-children that ever came 
under my own observation1--and the      
question must be judged by personal     
experience1--and drilling them in such  
matters as the following4 ,i have  taken
 these notes almost at random from      
approved school editions of the         
classics1 and they seem to me to be     
fairly representative4        ,some     
striking resemblances in the incantation
 scenes in      ,macbeth and            
,middleton's ,witch have led to a       
somewhat      generally accepted belief 
that ,thomas ,middleton was answerable  
for the alleged un-,shakespearean       
portions of ,macbeth4               99  
99       99       99       99           
,shakespeare's indebtedness in          
,midsummer's ,night's ,dream to      ,il
 ,percone admits of no dispute4         
,the incident of a ,jew whetting his    
knife like ,shylock occurs in      a    

,latin play1 ,machiavellus1 performed at
 ,st4 ,john's ,college1      ,cambridge1
 at ,christmas1 #aeig4    ,the opening  
note in a popular edition of ,silas     
,marner is a comment  upon this passage3
        ,the questionable sound of      
,silas's loom1 so unlike the natural1   
cheerful trotting of the                
winnowing-machine1 or the simple        
rhythm of the flail1 had a half-fearful 
fascination for the      ,raveloe boys4 
,the note reads as follows3        ,the 
hand-loom1 once found in every village  
and hamlet1 was      controlled by the  
action of the feet on the treadles1 and 
worked by the hands4 ,a figure          
representing the parts may      be found
 in ,johnson's ,cyclopdia4 ,the longer  
article on      ,weaving in the         
,encyclopdia ,britannica may also be    
consulted4 ,the rattle of the loom was  
in direct contrast      to the cheerful 
trotting of the winnowing-machine--an   
old-fashioned hand-machine for          
separating the chaff from the      grain

 by means of wind produced by revolving 
fans4 ,the flail1      still in common  
use for threshing grain by hand1        
consists of a      wooden staff or      
handle1 hung on a club called a swiple1 
so as      to turn easily4    ,if the   
end of the study of fiction is the      
acquirement of dry facts1  this note may
 pass4 ,i have purposely selected an    
example which is not  worse than the    
average1 and which may perhaps be       
supposed to have an  excuse in the      
consideration that so many readers may  
be ignorant of all  the contrivances    
mentioned2 but can any person with a    
sense of humor  suppose that a real boy 
is to get any proper enjoyment out of a 
story  when he is at the outset asked to
 consult a couple of cyclopdias1 and  is
 interrupted in his reading by comments 
of this sort8 ,the real point  of the   
passage1 moreover1--the literary        
significance1--the fact that  the boys  
of ,raveloe heard the winnowing-machine 
and threshing-flail  daily1 and so were 

attracted by the novelty of ,marner's   
weaving1 with  the use of this by       
,george ,eliot to emphasize the weaver's
 isolation in  the neighborhood1 is left
 utterly unnoticed4    ,were it worth   
while1 ,i could give from text-books in 
general use  examples more              
unsatisfactory than these2 but this is a
 fair sample of  the things which are   
administered to pupils in the name of   
literary  study4 ,the students are not  
interested in these details2 and ,i am  
inclined to believe that most of the    
teachers who mistakenly feel  obliged to
 drill classes in them could not        
honestly say that they  themselves care 
a fig for such barren facts4 ,it is no  
wonder that out  of the school course   
young folk so often get the notion that 
literature  is dull4 ,in a recent       
entrance paper a boy wrote as follows3  
,i could never understand why so much   
time has to be given in      school to  
old books just because they have been   
known a long      time4 ,it would be    

better if we could have given the time  
to      something useful4    ,he said   
what many boys feel1 and what not a few 
of them have thought  out frankly to    
themselves1 although perhaps few would  
express it so  squarely4 ,if the study  
of literature means no more than is     
represented  by work on notes and the   
history of books and authors1 ,i most   
fully  agree with him4    ,some of the  
books at present included in the college
 entrance  requirement1 it must be      
added1 lend themselves too much to      
unintelligent pedantry4 ,undoubtedly    
much thought has been given to the      
selection1 although perhaps less        
sympathetic consideration of child      
nature4 ,the result is not in all cases 
satisfactory4 ,to foster a taste  for   
poetry a teacher may1 it is true1 do    
much with ,julius ,csar1  but ,i have   
yet to see the class of undergraduates  
with which ,i should  personally hope to
 arouse enthusiasm with ,l',allegro1 ,il
 ,penseroso1  ,lycidas1 or ,comus4 ,i   

may be simply confessing my own         
limitations1  but ,i should think all of
 these poems1 magnificent in themselves1
  hardly fitted for the boys and girls  
who are found in our public  schools4 ,i
 have extracted from more than one      
teacher a confession of  entire         
inability to take pleasure in the       
,milton which they assure their  pupils 
is beautiful2 and while this is an      
arraignment of instructors  rather than 
of the works1 it is significant of the  
attitude the honest  minds of children  
are likely to take4    ,by way of making
 things worse1 scholars are drilled in  
,macaulay's  ,milton4#ce3a ,the         
inclusion of this essay1 the product of 
the  author's 'prentice hand1 is most   
lamentable4 ,the philistinism of        
,macaulay is here rampant2 and the one  
thing which students are sure  to get   
from the essay is the conception that   
poetry is the product  of barbarism1 to 
be outgrown and cast aside when         
civilization is  sufficiently advanced4 

,again and again in entrance            
examinations and  in second-year        
notebooks1 ,i have found this idea      
expressed4 ,it is not  only the one     
thing which survives out of the essay1  
but is often the  one conviction in     
regard to literature which has survived 
examinations  as the result of the study
 of the entire entrance requirement4 ,in
 the  entrance paper of the             
,massachusetts ,institute of ,technology
 for last  year 7#aije71 ,i had put a   
question in regard to the difference    
between  poetry and prose4 ,from the    
replies ,i have taken a few of the many 
echoes from the study of the ,milton4   
,macaulay claims that the uncivilized   
alone care for poetry4        ,i agree  
with ,macaulay that prose is the product
 of      civilization1 4 4 4 while      
poetry was the way the ancients         
expressed themselves4        ,poetry is 
not being written nearly so much now as 
in the ,dark      ,ages1 simply because 
men are learning to treat subjects in   

classes4        ,macaulay says that the 
writer of a great poem must have a      
certain unsoundness of mind1 and        
,carlyle makes the statement      that  
to be a great poet a man must first be  
as a little child4      ,if these       
opinions are just1 one would think      
poetry could not be      regarded as of 
a quality equal to prose works4         
,poetry came first in the lapse of time1
 and as people grew more      civilized1
 as their education grew higher1 they   
wrote in prose4    ,obviously these     
extracts hardly do justice to the views 
of ,macaulay1  but it is evidently      
absurd to try to interest pupils in     
poetry when  they are getting from one  
of the works selected for careful study 
the  idea that the poet is a semi-madman
 practicing one of the habits of a      
half-civilized race6#cf3a               
,fortunately much of the reading is     
better1 although in effect the books    
are sometimes limited by the difficulty 
of keeping the interest of  children up 

for the long poem4 ,the inclusion in the
 list of ,elaine  and ,the ,lady of the 
,lake of course presupposes on the part 
of the  pupil familiarity in the lower  
grades with lyrics and brief narrative  
poems2 and in many cases this may be    
sufficient4 ,most pupils will be  sure  
to care for ,the ,ancient ,mariner1 many
 for ,the ,princess2 and  any wholesome 
boy1 with ordinary intelligence1 should 
be interested in  ,ivanhoe and ,macbeth4
    ,as things stand1 however1 the      
teacher is forced to deal largely with  
books which almost compel formal and    
pedantic treatment4 ,burke's  ,speech on
 ,conciliation1 admirable as it is in   
its place and way1  will hardly give to 
a young student an insight into         
literature or a  taste for imaginative  
work4 ,the normal1 average lad is       
likely1 it  seems to me1 to be bored by 
,silas ,marner1 or at least very mildly 
interested2 and ,i confess frankly my   
inability to understand how  youthful   
enthusiasm is to be aroused or more than

 youthful tolerance  secured for        
,irving's ,life of ,goldsmith or        
,macaulay's ,life of  ,johnson4 ,plenty 
of pupils are docile enough to allow    
themselves to be  led placidly through  
these works1 and indeed to submit to any
 volume  imposed by school regulations2 
but what the teacher is endeavoring to  
do is to convince the young readers that
 books entitled to the name  literature 
are really of more worth and interest   
than the newspaper1  the detective      
story1 the sensational novel1 or the    
dime-theatre song4  ,it is perhaps not  
possible to find among the ,english     
,classics works  well adapted to such   
use1--although ,i refuse to believe     
it1--but ,i do  at least feel that the  
present entrance-requirement list does  
not lend  itself readily1 to say the    
least1 to the task of the teacher who   
aims  at developing an intelligent and  
loving appreciation of literature4      
,the list of obstacles which beset the  
way of a teacher of literature  might   

easily be lengthened2 but these seem    
chief4 ,they are  discouraging2 but they
 exist4 ,they must be faced and         
overcome1 and  nothing is gained by     
ignoring them4 ,the successful teacher1 
like the  successful general1 is he who 
most clearly examines difficulties1 and 
best succeeds in devising means by which
 they may be vanquished4                
,,footnotes3    #ce3a ,since this was   
written this essay has been removed from
 the  list1 but the effects of it are   
still with us1 as it was used for all   
classes entering college before #aijf4  
,i leave this comment1 however1  because
 of its important bearing on a point    
which ,i wish to bring up  later4       
#cf3a ,see page #bab4          ,,iv     
,,other ,,obstacles      ,the           
difficulties set down in the last       
chapter exist in the conditions  under  
which teachers must work4 ,they should  
be recognized1 to the end  that they may
 be as far as possible overcome4 ,they  
can be done away  with only by the slow 

and gradual changing of public opinion  
and the  re-forming of pedagogic        
intelligence4 ,for the present they are 
to be  reckoned with as inevitable      
limitations4    ,another class of       
obstacles to the ideal result of the    
teaching of  literature exists largely  
in the application of the modern system 
or in  the method of the individual     
teacher4 ,these may to a great extent be
  done away with by a proper            
understanding of conditions1 a just     
estimate  of what may be accomplished1  
and a wise choice of the means of doing 
this4 ,teachers must take things as they
 find them1 but the ultimate  result of 
work depends to a great extent upon how 
they take them4 ,if  they must often    
accept unfortunate conditions1 they may 
at least reduce  to a minimum whatever  
is uneffective in their own method4     
,the most serious defects which depend  
largely upon individual teaching  are   
four4 ,the first is the danger1 already 
alluded to1 of teaching  children about 

literature2 the second is that of making
 too great a  demand upon the child2 the
 third is the common habit of           
endeavoring to  reach the enthusiasm of 
the pupil through the reason1 instead of
 aiming  at the reason through the      
enthusiasm2 and the fourth is--to speak 
boldly--the possible incapacity of the  
teacher for this particular work4       
,the first of these is the most         
widespread4 ,it is so natural to bring  
forward facts concerning the history of 
writers and of books1 it is  indeed so  
impossible to avoid this entirely2 to   
induce students to  repeat glibly what  
some critic has written about authors   
and their  works is so easy1 that this  
insensibly and almost inevitably tends  
to make up the bulk of instruction4     
,every incompetent teacher takes  refuge
 in such formal drill4 ,the history of  
literature is concrete2  it is easily   
tabulated2 and it is naturally accepted 
by children as  being exactly in line   
with the work which properly belongs to 

other  studies with which they are      
acquainted4 ,if a child is set to treat 
literature just as he has treated       
history or mathematics1 the process     
will appeal to him as logical and easily
 to be mastered4 ,he will find  no      
incongruity in applying the same method 
to ,macbeth and to the list  of         
,presidents or to the                   
multiplication-table2 and however well  
or ill  he succeed in memorizing what is
 given him1 he will feel the ease of    
working in accustomed lines4 ,names and 
dates may be learned by rote1  old      
entrance-paper questions are tangible   
things1 and thus examinations  come to  
mean annual offerings of childish       
brains4 ,to teach literature  requires  
sympathy and imagination3 the history of
 literature requires  only perseverance4
 ,much that in school reports is set    
down as the study  of masterpieces is in
 reality only a mixture of courses in   
biography  and history1 more or less    
spiced with gossip4    ,the second      

danger1 that of making too great a      
demand upon the child1  is one which1 to
 some extent1 besets all school work    
to-day1 but which  seems to be          
especially great and especially         
disastrous in the case  of the study we 
are considering4 ,often the nature of   
the questions  asked shows one form of  
this demand in a way that is nothing    
less  than preposterous4 ,children in   
secondary schools are required to have  
original ideas in regard to the         
character of ,lady ,macbeth2 to define  
the workings of the mind of ,shylock2 to
 produce personal opinions  in the      
discussion of the madness of ,hamlet4   
,children whose highest  acquirements in
 ,english composition do not and cannot 
reach beyond the  plainest expository   
statement of simple facts and ideas1 are
 coolly  requested to discriminate      
between the style of ,il ,penseroso and 
that of ,l',allegro1 and to show how    
each is adapted to the purpose  of the  
poet4 ,if they were allowed to write    

from the point of view of  a child1 the 
matter would be bad enough2 but no      
teacher who sets such  a task would be  
satisfied with anything properly        
belonging to the  child-mind4 ,it is    
probably safe to be tolerably certain   
that no teacher  ever gave out this sort
 of a question who could without        
cribbing from  the critics perform      
satisfactorily the task laid upon the   
unfortunate  children4    ,i have before
 me a pamphlet entitled ,suggestions for
 ,teachers of  ,english ,classics in the
 ,high ,schools4 ,it is not a gracious  
task to  find fault with a fellow worker
 and a fellow writer in the same line in
  which ,i am myself offering           
suggestions1 and ,i therefore simply put
 it  to the common sense of teachers    
what the effect upon the average high   
school pupil would be if he were        
confronted with questions such as are   
included in the proposed outline for the
 study of ,evangeline4 ,the  author of  
the pamphlet directs that these points  

are to be used after  some power of     
analysis has been developed4        ,the
 language4            ,relative         
proportion of ,english and ,latin4      
,archaic element1 proportion and use4   
,weight of the style2 presentative and  
symbolic words4          ,emotional     
element2 experimental significance of   
terms4          ,picture-element2       
prevailing character of figures of      
speech4        ,the structure4          
,grammatical4                ,poetic    
uses of words2 archaisms1 poetic forms4 
,poetic uses of parts of speech1        
parse4#db3a              ,poetic        
constructions and inversions1 analyze4  
,metrical4                ,number and   
character of metrical feet4             
,accent and quantity1 the spondee4      
,scan selected lines1 compare with      
classic                  hexameter4     
,compare hexameter with other           
verse-forms4              ,character of 
rhyme1 compare with other poems4        
,presence and use of alliteration4      

,musical4                ,examine for   
lightness and speed2 trochee1 dactyl1   
polysyllables4              ,examine for
 dignity2 iambus1 monosyllables4        
,number of syllables in individual      
lines4              ,character of       
consonants2 stopped1 unstopped1         
voiced4              ,character of      
vowels2 back1 front1 round1 harsh4      
,correspondence of sound to sense4      
,it would be interesting1 and perhaps   
somewhat humiliating1 for each  one of  
us who are teachers to take a list of   
the questions we have set  for          
examinations in literature and with     
perfect honesty tell ourselves  how many
 of them we could ourselves answer with 
any originality1 and  how many it is    
fair to suppose that our students could 
write about  with any ideas except those
 gathered from teacher or text-book4    
,with  the pressure of a doubtful system
 and of unintelligent custom always     
upon us1 few of us1 it is to be feared1 
would escape without a sore  conscience4

    ,when ,i speak of a school-boy or a 
school-girl as writing with             
originality1 ,i do not mean anything    
profound4 ,i am not so deluded as  to   
suppose this originality will take the  
form of startlingly novel  discoveries  
in regard to the significance of work or
 the intention of  authors4 ,i only mean
 that what the boy or girl writes shall 
be written  because he or she really    
thinks it1 and that each idea1 no matter
 if  it be obvious and crude1 shall have
 some trace of individuality which  will
 indicate that it has passed through the
 mind of the particular  pupil who      
expresses it4 ,this1 ,i believe1 is what
 should chiefly concern  the maker of   
examination-papers4 ,he should          
especially aim at giving  students an   
opportunity of showing personal opinions
 and convictions4    ,no one who has    
looked over files of examination-papers 
is likely to  deny that we are most of  
us likely to be betrayed into asking of 
our  classes absurd things in the line  

of criticism4 ,it is all very well  to  
remember the scriptural phrase about the
 high character of some of  the         
utterances of babes and sucklings2 but  
this is hardly sufficient  warrant for  
insisting that our school-children shall
 babble in  philosophy and chatter in   
criticism4 ,the honest truth is that we 
are  constantly demanding of pupils     
things that we could for the most part  
do but very poorly ourselves4 ,the      
unfortunate youngsters who should  be   
solacing themselves with fairy-tales or 
with stories of adventure  as their     
taste happens to be1 are being dragged  
through ,the ,vicar of  ,wakefield1--an 
exquisite book1 which ,i doubt if one   
person in fifty  can read to-day with   
proper appreciation and delight until he
 is at  least twenty-five4 ,they are    
being asked to write themes about ,lady 
,macbeth1--and if they were really      
frank1 and wrote their own real         
thoughts1 if they considered her from   
the point of view of the children  they 

are1 where is the teacher who would not 
feel obliged to return  the theme as a  
failure8 ,those instructors who         
recognized that it was  of real worth   
because genuine would also realize that 
it would be  impossible when tried by   
the modern standard of examinations4    
,how far individual teachers go in      
demanding from children what the        
youthful mind cannot be fairly expected 
to give will depend upon  the personal  
equation of the instructor4 ,in too many
 cases the  entrance-examinations set a 
standard which in the fitting-schools   
may  not safely be ignored1 but which is
 fatal to all original thinking4        
,perhaps the worst form of this is the  
wrenching from the student what  are    
supposed to be criticisms upon artistic 
form or content4 ,a hint of  the        
teaching which is intended to lead up to
 this has been given in  the topics     
suggested in connection with the study  
of ,evangeline on  page #db4 ,the       
outline from which those are quoted goes

 on to give the  following questions3   
,of what literary spirit is ,evangeline 
the expression8        ,what is the     
author's thought-habit as shown in the  
poem8        ,what is the place of this 
poem in the development of verse8    ,i 
am perhaps a little uncharitable to     
these queries because ,i am1 ,i         
confess1 entirely unable to answer them 
myself2 but ,i am also sure that  no    
child in the stage of mental development
 belonging to the secondary  schools    
would have any clear and reasonable idea
 even of what they  mean4 ,the example  
is an extreme one1 but it has more      
parallels than  would seem possible4    
,the formulation of views on sthetics1  
whether in regard to workmanship  or to 
motive1 is utterly beyond the range of  
any mental condition the  teacher in    
secondary schools has a right to assume 
or to expect4 ,all  that can happen is  
that the student who is asked to answer 
sthetic  conundrums will reproduce1 in  
form more or less distorted according   

to the parrot-like fidelity of his      
memory1 views he has heard without      
understanding them4 ,any teacher of     
common sense knows this1 and any        
teacher of independent mind will refuse 
to be bullied by manuals or by          
entrance-examination papers into        
inflicting tasks of this sort upon his  
pupils4    ,in any branch many students 
either go on blunderingly or fail       
altogether through sheer ignorance of   
how to study4 ,in the case of           
literature perhaps more fail through    
this cause than through all others      
combined4 ,a robust1 honest1 and not    
unintelligent lad1 who is fairly  well  
disposed toward school work1 but whose  
real interests are in  outdoor life and 
active sport1 who is intellectually     
interested only  in the obviously       
practical side of knowledge1 is set down
 to study a  play of ,shakespeare's4 ,he
 is disposed to do it well1 if not from 
any  vital interest in the matter1 at   
least from a general habit of being     

faithful in his work and a healthful    
instinct to do a thing thoroughly  if he
 undertakes it at all4 ,he is at the    
outset puzzled to know what is  expected
 of him4 ,in arithmetic or algebra he   
has had definite tasks1  and success has
 been in direct proportion to the       
diligence with which  he has followed a 
course definitely marked out4 ,now he   
casts about for  a rule of procedure4   
,he can understand that he is expected  
to learn  the meaning of unusual or     
obsolete words1 that he is to make      
himself  acquainted with the story so   
that he may be able to answer any of the
  conundrums which adorn ingeniously the
 puzzle department of examination       
papers4 ,these things he does1 but he is
 too sensible not to know that  if this 
is all there is to the study of         
literature the game is not  worth the   
candle4 ,he cannot help feeling that the
 time thus employed  might be put to a  
better use2 he is probably bored2 and as
 he is sure  to know that he is bored1  

he is likely to conceive a contempt for 
literature which is none the less deep  
and none the less permanent for  not    
being put into words4 ,he very likely   
comes to believe1 with the  inevitable  
tendency of youth to make its own       
feelings the criteria  by which to judge
 all the world1 that everybody is really
 bored by  literature1 if only1 for some
 inscrutable reason1 people did not feel
  it necessary to shroud the matter in  
so much humbug4 ,talk about the  beauty 
of ,shakespeare1 about the greatness of 
his poetry1 the wonders  of literary    
art1 come to affect him as cant pure and
 simple4 ,he puts  this to himself      
plainly or not according to his         
temperament2 but the  feeling is in his 
mind1 showing at every turn to one wise 
enough to  discern4 ,now and then a boy 
is born with the taste and appreciation 
of  poetry1 and of course even in these 
days1 when a literary atmosphere in  the
 home is unhappily so rare1 an          
occasional student appears from time  to

 time who has been taught to care for   
poetry where every child should  learn  
to love it1 in the nursery4 ,on the     
whole1 however1 the average  school-boy 
really cares little or nothing for      
literature1 and in his  secret heart is 
entirely convinced that nobody else     
cares either4    ,not knowing how to    
study literature1 then1 and feeling that
 in  literature is nothing to study     
which is of consequence1 the pupil is   
in no position to make even a reasonable
 beginning4 ,he cannot even  approach   
literature in any proper attitude unless
 he can be made to  care for it2 unless 
he can be so interested that he ceases  
to feel the  profession of admiration   
for the ,shakespeare he is asked to work
 upon  to be necessarily cant and       
affectation4 ,perhaps the hardest part  
of the  task set before the teacher is  
to bring the pupil into a frame of mind 
where he can properly study poetry and  
to give him some insight into  what such
 study may and should mean4    ,how this

 is to be accomplished ,i cannot pretend
 fully to say4 ,in  speaking of what ,i 
may call inspirational training in      
literature  ,i shall try to answer the  
question to some extent2 and here ,i may
 at  least point out that the situation 
is from the first utterly hopeless  if  
the teacher is in the same state of mind
 as the pupil4 ,if the  instructor is   
able to see no method of studying       
literature other than  mechanical       
drudgery over form1 the looking-up of   
words1 verification  of dates1          
dissection of plot1 and so on1 it is    
idle to hope that he  will be able to   
aid the class to anything better than   
this dry-as-dust  plodding4 ,the teacher
 may at least learn what at its best the
 study  is4 ,he may or may not have the 
power of inciting those under him to    
enthusiasm1 but he may at least show    
them that something is possible  beyond 
the mechanical treatment of the         
masterpieces of art4    ,a writer in the
 7,chicago7 ,dial states admirably the  

attitude of great  masses of students in
 saying3        ,there are many people1 
young people in particular1 who1 with   
the best will in the world1 cannot      
understand why it is that      men make 
such a fuss about literature1 and who   
are honestly      puzzled by the praises
 bestowed upon the great literary       
artists4 ,they would like to join in    
sympathetic appreciation      of the    
masters1 and they have an abundant store
 of gratitude      and reverence to     
lavish upon objects that approve        
themselves as      worthy2 but just what
 there is in ,shakespeare and           
,wordsworth      and ,tennyson to call  
for such seeming extravagance of eulogy 
remains a dark mystery4 ,such people are
 apt in their moments of      revolt to 
set it all down to a sort of critical   
conspiracy1      and to consider those  
who voice the conventional literary     
estimates as chargeable with an         
irritating kind of hypocrisy4      ,they
 cannot see for the life of them why the

 books of the hour1      with their     
timeliness1 their cleverness1 their     
sentimental or      sensational         
interest1 should be held of no serious  
account by      the real lovers of      
literature1 while the dull babblers of a
      bygone age are exalted to the     
skies by these same devotees of      the
 art of letters4 4 4 4 ,some young      
people never recover from      the      
condition of open revolt into which they
 are thrown by the      injudicious     
methods of our education4    ,out of his
 own experience and appreciation the    
teacher must be able to  show the pupil 
some method of studying literature which
 shall in the  measure of the student's 
individual capacity lead to a conception
 of  what literature is and wherein lies
 its importance4 ,until this can be     
done1 nothing has been effected which is
 of any real or lasting value4    ,the  
third defect which ,i have mentioned ,i 
have put in a phrase which  may at first
 seem somewhat cryptic4 ,what is meant  

by the attempt to  reach the enthusiasm 
of the child through the reason may not 
be at once  apparent4 ,yet the thing is 
simple4 ,it is not difficult to lead    
children  to think1 and to think deeply1
 of things which have touched their     
feeling4 ,if once their emotions are    
aroused1 they will go actively  forward 
in every investigation of which their   
minds are capable1  and with whatever   
degree of appreciation they are equal   
to4 ,a child  cannot1 however1 be       
reasoned into any vital admiration4 ,the
 extent to  which an adult is to be     
touched emotionally by argument is      
extremely  limited4 ,few travelers1 for 
instance1 are able really to respond    
when  an officious verger or care-taker 
points out some historic spot1 and      
after glibly relating some event in his 
professional patter1 ends with  a look  
which says almost more plainly than     
words3 ,stand just here1  and thrill6   
,sixpence a thrill1 please4 ,yet this is
 very much what is  expected of         

children4 ,the teacher takes a famous   
book1 laboriously  recounts its merits1 
its fame1 its beauties1 and then tacitly
 commands  the children3 ,think of that1
 and thrill6 ,one credit for every      
thrill4  ,it is true that the verger    
demands a fee and the teacher promises a
  reward1 but the result is the same4   
,do the children thrill8 ,is there a    
conscientious teacher who has tried this
 method who has not with bitter         
disappointment realized that the        
students have come out of the course    
with nothing save a few poor facts and  
disfigured conventional opinions  which 
they reserve for examinations as they   
might save battered pennies  for the    
contribution-box8 ,they have been       
personally conducted through  a course  
of literature4 ,they come out of it in  
much the same condition  as return home 
the personally conducted through foreign
 art-galleries  who say3 ,yes1 ,i must  
have seen the ',mona ,lisa1' if it's in 
the ,louvre4  ,i saw all the pictures   

there1 you know4 ,the chief difference  
is that  children are generally         
incapable1 outside of                   
examination-papers1 of  pretending an   
enthusiasm which they do not feel4      
,one thing which is indisputable is that
 children know when they are  bored4    
,many adults become so proficient in the
 art of self-deception  as to be able to
 cheat themselves into thinking they are
 at the height  of enjoyment because    
they are doing what they consider to be 
the  proper thing2 when in simple truth 
their only pleasure must lie in the     
gratification of a futile vanity4 ,of   
children this is seldom true2  or1 if it
 is true1 it extends only to the        
fictions practiced by their  own        
childish world4 ,if they have           
conventions1 these differ from the      
conventions of their elders1 and they do
 not fool themselves with a  show of    
enjoyment when the reality is wanting4  
,if they are wearied by a  book1 the    
fact that it is a masterpiece does not  

in the least console  them4 ,they may be
 forced by teachers to read or to study 
it1 and to  say on examination-papers   
that it is beautiful2 yet they not only 
know  they are not pleased1 but to each 
other they are generally ready to       
acknowledge it with perfect frankness4  
,the need of saying this in the present 
connection is that it is not  possible  
really to convince children they are    
enjoying the writing of  themes about   
,mrs4 ,primrose1 or about ,silas ,marner
 and ,effie1 or on  the character of    
,lady ,macbeth1 unless they are vitally 
interested4  ,i am far from being so    
modern as to think that pupils should   
not be  asked to do anything which they 
do not wish to do2 but ,i am radical    
enough to believe that no other good    
which may be accomplished by the  study 
of literature in any other way can      
compensate for making good  books       
wearisome4 ,the idea that literature is 
something to be vaguely  respected but  
not to be read for enjoyment is already 

sufficiently  prevalent2 and rather than
 see it more widespread1 ,i would have  
all the  so-called teaching of          
literature in the secondary schools     
abolished  altogether4    ,the last     
point which ,i mentioned as likely to   
diminish the value of  teaching is that 
it so often demands of teachers more    
than can be  surely or safely counted on
 in the way of fitness4 ,this ,i do not 
mean  to dwell upon1 nor is it my       
purpose to draw up a bill of arraignment
  against my craft4 ,i wish simply to   
comment that one essential1 a prime     
essential1 in the teaching of literature
 is the power of imaginative  enthusiasm
 on the part of the teacher4 ,this would
 be recognized if the  subject of       
instruction were any other of the fine  
arts4 ,if teachers  were required to    
train school-children in the symphonies 
of ,beethoven  or in the pictures of    
,titian1 everybody would realize that   
some  special aptitude on the part of   
the instructor was requisite4 ,every    

normal school or college graduate is set
 to teach the masterpieces of           
,shakespeare or of ,milton1 and the fact
 that the poetry is as completely  a    
work of art as is symphony or picture1  
and that what holds true of  one as the 
product of artistic imagination must    
hold true of the other1  is quietly and 
even unconsciously ignored4    ,no      
amount of study will create in a teacher
 the artistic imagination in  its       
highest sense1 although much may be done
 in the way of developing  artistic     
perception2 but at least                
self-improvement may go far in the      
nourishing of the important quality of  
self-honesty4 ,an instructor  must learn
 to deal fairly with himself4 ,he must  
be strong enough to  acknowledge to     
himself fearlessly if he is not able to 
care for some  work that is ranked as an
 artistic masterpiece4 ,he must be      
willing to  say unflinchingly to himself
 that he cannot do justice to this work 
or  to that1 because he is not in       

sympathy with it1 or because he lacks   
any  experience which would give him a  
key to its mood and meaning4    ,one    
thing seems to me to be entirely above  
dispute in this delicate  inquiry3 that 
it is idle to hope to impart to children
 what we have  not learned ourselves2   
and it follows that the first necessity 
is to  appreciate our shortcomings4 ,i  
ask only for the same sort of honesty   
which would by common consent be        
essential in teaching the more humble   
branches4 ,a teacher who could not solve
 quadratic equations would  manifestly  
be an ill instructor in algebra4 ,by the
 same token it is  evident that a       
teacher who cannot enter into the heart 
of a poem1 who  does not understand the 
mood of a play1 who has not a real      
enthusiasm  for literature1 is not      
fitted to help children to a            
comprehension and  an appreciation of   
these4 ,neither is the power to rehearse
 the praises  and phrases of critics or 
commentators a sufficient qualification 

for  teaching4 ,in an examination-paper 
at the ,institute of ,technology a boy  
recently wrote with admirable frankness 
and directness3        ,i confess that  
while ,i like ,shakespeare1 ,i like     
other poets      better1 and while my   
teachers have told me that he was the   
greatest writer1 they never seemed to   
know why4    ,the boy unconsciously     
implies a most important fact1 namely1  
that if  a teacher does not know why a  
poet is great1 it is not only difficult 
to convince the pupil of the reality of 
his claims1 but also is it  impossible  
to disguise from the clever scholars the
 real ignorance  of the instructor4 ,as 
well try to warm children by a          
description of  a fire as to endeavor to
 awake in them admiration and pleasure  
by  parrot-phrases1 no matter how glibly
 or effectively repeated4 ,they are     
aroused only by the contagion of genuine
 feeling2 they are moved only  by       
finding that the teacher is first       
genuinely moved himself4    ,it is bad  

enough when an instructor repeats       
unemotionally what he has  unemotionally
 acquired about arithmetic or geography4
 ,pupils will  receive mechanically     
whatever is mechanically imparted2 and  
in even  the most purely intellectual   
branches such training can at best only 
distend the mind of the child without   
nourishing it4 ,when it comes to  a     
study which is presented as of value    
precisely because it kindles  feeling1  
the absurdity becomes nothing less than 
monstrous4    ,any child of ordinary    
intelligence comes sooner or later to   
perceive1  whether he reasons it out or 
not1 that much of the literature        
presented  to him is not in the least   
worth the bother of study if it is to   
be taken merely on its face-value4 ,if  
,the ,vicar of ,wakefield or  ,silas    
,marner is to be read simply for the    
plot1 either book might  be swept out of
 existence to-morrow and the world be   
little poorer4  ,a conscientious teacher
 will at least be honest with himself in

  determining how much more than the    
obvious and often slight face-value  he 
is enabling his class to perceive4      
,an ordinary modern school-boy          
unconsciously but inevitably measures   
the values of the books presented to him
 by the news of the day and  the facts  
of life as he sees it4 ,if he is not    
made to feel that books  represent      
something more than a statement of      
outward fact or of  fiction1 he is too  
clear-headed not to see that they are of
 little  real worth1 and with the       
pitiless candor of youth he is too      
honest not  to acknowledge this to      
himself4 ,young people are apt to credit
 their  elders with enormous power of   
pretending4 ,the conventionalities of   
life1 those arrangements which adults   
recognize as necessary to the  comfort  
and even to the continuance of society1 
are not infrequently  regarded by the   
young as rank hypocrisy4 ,the same is   
true of any tastes  which they cannot   
share4 ,again and again ,i have come    

upon the feeling  among students that   
the respect for literature professed by 
their  elders was only one of the many  
shams of which adult life appears to    
children to be so largely made up4      
,from the purely intellectual side of   
the matter1 moreover1 the youth  is     
right in feeling that there is nothing  
so remarkable in play or  poem as to    
justify the enthusiasm which he is told 
he should feel4 ,if  he sees only what  
,i have called the face-value1 he would 
be a dunce  if he did not imagine an    
absurdity in the estimate at which the  
works  of great artists are held4 ,he is
 precisely in the position of the man   
who judges the great painting by its    
realistic fidelity to details1  and     
logically1 from his point of view1 ranks
 a well-defined photograph  above ,the  
,night ,watch or the ,dresden ,madonna4 
,there is more thrill  and more emotion 
for the boy in the poorest newspaper    
account of a game  of football than in  
the greatest play of                    

,shakespeare's1--unless the lad  has    
really got into the spirit of the       
poetry4    ,if nothing is to be taken   
into account but the intellectual       
content  of literature1 the child is    
therefore perfectly right1 and doubly so
  from his own point of view4 ,regarded 
as a mere statement of fact it  is to be
 expected that the average modern boy   
will find ,macbeth far  less exciting   
and absorbing than an account of a      
football match or of  ,president        
,roosevelt's spectacular hunting4 ,if we
 expect the lad to  believe without     
contention and without mental           
reservation that the work  of literature
 is really of more importance and       
interest than these  articles of the    
newspaper or the magazine1 we are forced
 to depend upon  the qualities which    
distinguish poetry as art4 ,if books are
 to be used  only as glove-stretchers to
 expand mechanically the minds of the   
young1  it is better to throw aside the 
works of the masters1 and to come down  

frankly to able expositions of literal  
fact1 stirring and absorbing4    ,it    
must be always borne in mind1 moreover1 
that little permanent result  is        
produced except by what the pupil does  
for himself4 ,the teacher is  there to  
encourage1 to stimulate1 to direct2 but 
the real work is done  in the brain of  
the student4 ,this limits what may      
wisely be attempted  in the line of     
instruction4 ,what the teacher is able  
to lead the pupil  to discover or to    
think out for himself is within the     
limit of sound  and valuable work4 ,with
 every class1 and--what makes the       
problem much  more difficult--with every
 boy or girl in the class1 the capacity 
will  vary4 ,the signs1 moreover1 by    
which we determine how far a child is   
thinking for himself1 instead of more or
 less consciously mimicking  the mind of
 the master1 are all well-nigh          
intangible1 and must be  watched for    
with the nicest discernment4 ,often the 
teacher is obliged  to help the class or

 the individual as we help little       
children playing  at guessing-games with
 ,now you are hot1 or ,now you are cold2
 but  just as the game is a failure if  
the child has in the end to be told     
outright the answer to the conundrum1 so
 the instruction is a failure  if the   
student does not make his own discovery 
of the meaning and worth  of poem or    
play4 ,the moment the instructor finds  
himself forced to do  the thinking for  
his class in any branch of study1 he may
 be sure that  he has overstepped the   
boundary of real work1 or at least that 
he has  been going too rapidly for his  
pupils to keep pace with him4 ,this  is 
even likely to be true when he is       
obliged to do the phrasing1 the  putting
 of the thought into word4 ,he cannot   
profitably go farther at  that time4 ,in
 another way1 at another time1 he may be
 able to bring  the class over the      
difficulty2 but he is doing them an     
injury and not  a benefit1 if he go on  
to do for them the thinking1 or that    

realizing  of thought which belongs to  
putting thought into word4 ,he is then  
not  educating1 but cramming4 ,it is his
 duty to encourage1 to assist1 but      
never to do himself what to be of value 
must be the actual work of the  learner 
himself4    ,all this is evident enough 
in those branches where results are     
definite  and concrete1 like the        
learning of the multiplication-table or 
of the  facts of geography4 ,it is      
equally true in subjects where reasoning
 is  essential1 like algebra or syntax4 
,most of all1 if not most evidently1  is
 it vitally true in any connection where
 are involved the feelings  and anything
 of the nature of appreciation of       
artistic values4 ,we  evidently cannot  
do the children's memorizing for them2  
but no more  can we do for them their   
reasoning2 and least of all is it       
possible  to manufacture for them their 
likings and their dislikings1 their     
appreciations and their enthusiasms4 ,to
 tell children what feelings  they      

should have over a given piece of       
literature produces about the  same     
effect as an adjuration to stop growing 
so fast or a request that  they change  
the color of their eyes4    ,in any     
emotional as in any intellectual        
experience1 intensity  and completeness 
must ultimately depend upon the capacity
 and the  temperament of the individual 
concerned4 ,it is useless to hope that a
  dull1 stolid1 unimaginative boy will  
have either the same appreciation  or   
the same enjoyment of art as his fellow 
of fine organization and  sensitive     
temperament4 ,the personal limitation   
must be accepted1 just  as is accepted  
the impossibility of making some youths 
proficient in  geometry or physics4 ,it 
may be necessary under our present      
system--and  if so the fact is not to   
the credit of existing conditions--to   
present  the dull pupil with a set of   
ideas which he may use in examinations4 
,the proceeding would be not unlike     
providing the dead with an obolus by    

way of fare across the ,styx2 and       
certainly in no proper sense could be   
considered education4 ,difficult as it  
may be1 the pupil must be made to  think
 and to feel for himself1 or the work is
 naught4    ,perhaps the tendency to try
 to do for the student what he should   
accomplish for himself is the most      
general and the most serious of  all the
 errors into which teachers are likely  
to fall4 ,the temptation  is so great1  
however1 and the conditions so favorable
 to this sort of  mistake1 that it is   
not possible to mete out to instructors 
who fall  into it an amount of blame at 
all equal to the gravity of the offense4
      ,,footnotes3    #db3a ,i am unable
 to resist the temptation to call       
attention to the  intimation that the   
writer perceives some relation between  
poetry and  parsing4 ,it would be       
interesting if he had developed this4   
,v    ,,foundations ,,of ,,work4        
,the foundation of any understanding or 
appreciation of literature is           

manifestly the power of reading it      
intelligently4 ,a truth so obvious      
might seem to be taken for granted and  
to need no saying2 but any  one who has 
dealt with entrance examination-papers  
is aware how  many students get to the  
close of their fitting-school life      
without  having acquired the power of   
reading with anything even approaching  
intelligence4 ,primary as it may sound1 
,i cannot help emphasizing as  the      
foundation of all study of literature   
the training of students in  reading1   
pure and simple4    ,the practical value
 of simple reading aloud seems to me to 
have been  too often overlooked by      
teachers of literature4 ,teachers read  
to their  pupils1 and this is or should 
be of great importance2 but the thing of
  which ,i am now speaking is the       
reading of the students to the teacher  
and to the class4 ,in the first place a 
student cannot read aloud  without      
making evident the degree of his        
intelligent comprehension of  what he is

 reading4 ,he must show how much he     
understands and how he  understands it4 
,the queer freaks in misinterpretation  
which come out in the reading  of pupils
 are often discouraging enough1 but they
 are amusing and  enlightening4 ,any    
teacher can furnish absurd              
illustrations1 and it is  not safe to   
assume of even apparently simple        
passages that the child  understands    
them until he has proved it by          
intelligent reading aloud4  ,the        
attention which oral reading is at      
present receiving is one of the         
encouraging signs of the times1 and     
cannot but do much to forward the  work 
of the teacher of literature4    ,of so 
much importance is it1 however1 that the
 first impression of  a class be good1  
that the instructor must be sure either 
to find a  reasonably good reader among 
the pupils for the first rendering or   
must  give it himself4 ,in plays this is
 hardly wise or practicable2 but here   
the parts are easily assigned           

beforehand1 and the pride of the        
students  made a help in securing good  
results4 ,in any work a class should be 
made to understand that the first thing 
to do in studying a piece of  literature
 is to learn to read it aloud           
intelligently and as if it were  the    
personal utterance of the reader4    ,in
 dealing with a class it is often a     
saving of time and an easy method  of   
avoiding the effects of individual      
shyness to have the pupils read  in     
concert4 ,in dealing with short pieces  
of verse this is1 moreover1  a means of 
getting all the class into the spirit of
 the piece4 ,the  method lacks1 of      
course1 in nicety2 but it is in many    
cases practically  serviceable4         
,above everything the teacher must be   
sure1 before any attempt is  made to do 
anything further1 that the pupil has a  
clear understanding  at least of the    
language of what he reads4 ,my own      
experience with  boys who come from     
secondary schools even of good grade has

 shown me  that they not infrequently   
display an extraordinary incapability of
  getting from the sentences and phrases
 of literature the most plain  and      
obvious meaning1 especially in the case 
of verse2 while as to  unusual          
expressions they are constantly at sea4 
,on a recent entrance  examination-paper
 ,i had put1 as a test of this very     
power1 the lines  from ,macbeth3        
,and with some sweet oblivious antidote 
,cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that      
perilous stuff4    ,the play is one     
which they had studied carefully at     
school1 and they  were asked to explain 
the force in these lines of oblivious4  
,here are  some of the replies3         
,oblivious1 used in this quotation1     
means that the person      speaking was 
not particular as to the kind of        
antidote that was      chosen4        ,a
 remedy that would not expose the lady  
to public suspicion4        ,the word   
oblivious implies a soothing cure1 which
 will heal      without arousing the    

senses4        ,an antidote applied in a
 forgetful way1 or unknown to the       
person4        ,oblivious here means    
some antidote that would put ,lady      
,macbeth to sleep while the doctor      
removed the cause of the      trouble4  
,oblivious antidote means one that is   
very pleasing4        ,the word         
oblivious is beautifully used here4     
,macbeth wishes      the doctor to      
administer to ,lady ,macbeth some       
antidote which      will cure her of her
 fatal sic illness1 but which will not  
at all be any bitter medicine4          
,oblivious here means relieving4        
,oblivious means some remedy the doctor 
had forgotten1 but      might remember  
if he thought hard enough4    ,of course
 many of the replies were sensible and  
sound1 but those hardly  better than    
these were discouragingly numerous4     
,in my own second-year work1 in which   
the students have had all the           
fitting-school training and the freshman
 drill besides1 ,i am not  infrequently 

confounded by the inability of students 
to understand the  meaning of words     
which one uses as a matter of course4   
,the statement  that ,raleigh secretly  
married a ,lady in ,waiting1 for        
instance1  reappeared in a note-book in 
the assertion that ,sir ,walter ran away
  with ,queen ,elizabeth's waiting-maid2
 and a remark about something which     
took place at ,holland ,house brought   
out the unbelievable perversion  that   
the event happened in a ,dutch tavern4  
,personally ,i have never  discovered   
how far beyond words of one syllable a  
lecturer to students  may safely go in  
any assurance that his language will be 
understood by  all the members of his   
class2 but this is one of the things    
which must  be decided if teaching is to
 be effective4    ,it must always be    
remembered that the vocabulary of       
literature is to  some extent different 
from that employed in the ordinary      
business of  life4 ,the student is      
confronted with a set of terms which he 

seldom  or never uses in common speech2 
he must learn to appreciate fine        
distinctions in the use of language2 he 
must receive from words a  precision and
 a force of meaning1 a richness of      
suggestion1 which is  to be appreciated 
only by special and specific training4  
,it will be  instructive for the teacher
 to take any ordinary high-school class1
 for  instance1 and examine how far each
 member gets a complete and lucid       
notion of what ,burke meant in the      
opening sentence of the ,speech on      
,conciliation3        ,i hope1 ,sir1    
that notwithstanding the austerity of   
the ,chair1      your good nature will  
incline you to some degree of indulgence
      toward human frailty4    ,an      
instructor is apt to assume that the    
intent of a passage such as  this is    
entirely clear1 yet ,i apprehend that   
not one high-school pupil  in twenty    
gets the real force of this unaided4    
,if this example seems in its diction   
too remote from every-day speech  to be 

a fair example1 the teacher may try the 
experiment with the  sentence in ,books 
in which ,emerson speaks of volumes that
 are        ,so medicinal1 so stringent1
 so revolutionary1 so authoritative4    
,every word is of common1 habitual use1 
but most young people would be          
well-nigh helpless when confronted with 
them in this passage4    ,the use in    
literature of allusion1 of figures1 of  
striking and unusual  employment of     
words1 must become familiar to the      
student before he  is in a condition to 
deal with literature easily and with    
full  intelligence4 ,the process must be
 almost like that of learning to read   
in a foreign tongue4 ,for a teacher to  
ignore this fact is to take the         
position of a professor in ,italian or  
,spanish who begins the reading  of his 
pupils not with words and simple        
sentences1 but with intricate  prose and
 verse4    ,it must be remembered1      
moreover1 that if the diction of        
literature  is removed from the daily   

experience of the pupil1 the ideas and  
the  sentiments of literature are yet   
more widely apart from it4 ,literature  
must deal largely with abstract thoughts
 and ideas1 expressed or  implied2 it is
 necessarily concerned with sentiments  
more elevated or  more profound than    
those with which life makes the young   
familiar4 ,they  must be educated to    
take the point of view of the author1 to
 rise to  the mental plane of a great   
writer as far as they are capable of so 
doing4 ,until they can in some measure  
accomplish this1 they are not  even     
capable of reading the literature they  
are supposed to study4    ,fortunately  
it is with reading literature as it is  
with reading foreign  tongues4 ,often   
the context1 the general tone1 the      
spirit1 will carry  us over passages in 
which there is much that is not clear to
 our exact  knowledge4 ,children are    
constantly able to get from a story or a
 poem  much more than would seem        
possible to their ignorance of the      

language  of literature4 ,they are      
helped by truth to life even when they  
are far  from realizing what they are   
receiving2 so that it would be          
manifestly  unjust to assume that the   
measure of a child's profit in a given  
case  is to be gauged too nicely by his 
acquaintance with the words1 the        
phrases1 the tropes1 the suggestions in 
which the author has conveyed  it4 ,the 
fact remains1 however1 that in          
attempting to do anything  effective in 
the way of instruction the teacher has  
first of all to  train his pupil in the 
language of literature4    ,the student1
 having learned to read the work which  
is to be studied1  must approach it     
through some personal experience4 ,the  
teacher who is  endeavoring to assist   
him must therefore discover what in the 
child's  range of knowledge may best    
serve as a point of departure4 ,in all  
education1 no less than in formal       
argument1 a start can be made only  from
 a point of agreement1 from something as

 evident to the student as  it is to the
 instructor4 ,consciously or            
unconsciously every teacher  acts upon  
this principle1 from the early lessons  
in addition which  begin with the       
obvious agreement produced by the sight 
of the blocks  or apples or beads which 
are before the child4 ,in literature1   
too1 the  fact is commonly acted upon1  
if not so universally formulated4 ,if   
young  pupils are having ,the ,village  
,blacksmith read to them1 the teacher   
instinctively starts with the fact that 
they may have seen a blacksmith  at work
 at his forge4 ,the difficulty is that  
teachers who naturally do  this in      
simple poems fail to see that the same  
principle holds good of  literature of a
 higher order1 and that the more complex
 the problem1  the greater the need of  
being sure of this beginning with some  
actual  experience4    ,with this       
finding some safe and substantial       
foundation in the pupil's  own          
experience is connected the necessity of

 speaking of literature1  as of anything
 else one tries to teach1 in the        
language of the class  addressed4 ,of   
all that we say to our pupils very      
little if any of all  our careful wisdom
 really impresses them or remains in    
their minds  except that portion which  
we have managed to phrase in terms of   
their  language and so to put that it   
appeals to emotions of their own young  
lives4 ,they can have no conception of  
the characters in fiction or  poetry    
except in so far as they are able to    
consider these shadows as  moving in    
their own world4 ,they should be told to
 make up their minds  about ,lady       
,macbeth1 or ,robin ,hood1 or ,dr4      
,primrose as if these were  persons of  
their own community about whom they had 
learned the facts  set forth in the     
books read4 ,they cannot completely     
realize this1 but  they get hold of the 
fictitious character only so far as they
 are able  to do it4 ,they will at least
 come to have a conception that people  

they  see in the flesh and those they   
meet in literature are of the same      
stuff fundamentally1 and should be      
judged by the same laws4 ,they will     
receive the benefit1 moreover1 whether  
they realize it or not1 of being  helped
 by fiction to understand real life1 and
 they will be in the  right way of      
judging books by experience4    ,the    
principle of speaking to pupils only in 
the language of their own  experience is
 of universal application1 but it is to 
be applied with  common sense4 ,nothing 
is more unfortunate in teaching than to 
have  pupils feel that they are being   
talked down to or that too great an     
effort is being made to bring           
instruction to their level4 ,a friend   
once told me of a professor who in the  
days of the first period of  tennis     
enthusiasm in this country made so great
 an effort to take all  his             
illustrations from the game that the    
class regarded the matter a  standing   
joke4 ,yet if care be exercised it is   

not difficult to mix  with the childish1
 the familiar1 and the commonplace1 the 
dignified1  the unusual1 and the        
suggestive4 ,starting with a daily      
experience the  teacher may go on to    
states of the same emotion which are far
 greater  and higher than can have come 
into the actual life of the child1 but  
which are imaginatively intelligible and
 possible because although they  differ 
in degree they are the same in kind4    
,nothing is lost of the  dignity of a   
play of ,shakespeare's dealing with     
ambition if the teacher  starts with    
ambition to be at the head of the       
school1 to lead the  baseball nine1 or  
to excel in any sport2 but from this the
 child should  be led on through        
whatever instances he may know in       
history1 and in  the end made to feel   
that the ambition of ,macbeth is an     
emotion he has  felt1 even though it is 
that emotion carried to its highest     
terms4 ,so  the small and the great are 
linked together1 and the use of the     

little  does not appear undignified     
because it has been a stepping-stone to 
the  great4    ,the aim in teaching     
literature is to make it a part of the  
student's  intimate and actual life2 a  
warm1 human1 personal matter1 and not a 
thing taken up formally and laid aside  
as soon as outside pressure is  removed4
 ,to this end is the appeal made to the 
pupil's experience1  and to this end is 
he allowed to make his own estimates1 to
 formulate  his own likes and dislikes4 
,any teacher1 it must be remembered1 is 
for the scholar in the position of a    
special pleader4 ,the student  regards  
it as part of the pedagogic duty to     
praise whatever is taught1  and         
instinctively distrusts commendation    
which he feels may be only  formal and  
official4 ,he forms his own opinion     
independently or from  the judgment of  
his peers1--the conclusions of his      
classmates4 ,he  may repeat glibly for  
purposes of recitation or of examination
 the  criticisms of the teacher1 but he 

is likely to be little influenced  by   
them unless they are confirmed by the   
voice of his fellows and his  own taste4
 ,if young people do not reason this    
out1 they are never  uninfluenced by it2
 and this condition of things must be   
accepted by  the teacher4    ,it follows
 that it is practically never wise to   
praise a book  beforehand4 ,the proper  
position in presenting to the class any 
work for  study is that it is something 
which the class are to read together    
with  a view of discovering what it is  
like4 ,of course the teacher assumes    
that it has merit or it would not be    
taken up1 but he also assumes  that     
individually the members of the class   
may or may not care for it4  ,the       
logical and safe method is to set the   
students to see if they  can discover   
why good judges have regarded the work  
as of merit4 ,the  teacher should say in
 effect3 ,i do not know whether you will
 care for  this or not2 but ,i hope you 
will be able to see what there is in it 

to  have made it notable4    ,when the  
study of poem or play is practically    
over1 when the pupils  have done all    
that can be reasonably expected of them 
in the way of  independent judgment1 the
 teacher may show as many reasons for   
praising  it as he feels the pupils will
 understand4 ,he must1 however1 be      
honest  in letting them like it or not4 
,he must recognize that it is better    
for a lad honestly to be bored by every 
masterpiece of literature  in existence 
than to stultify his mind by the        
reception of merely  conventional       
opinions got by rote4    ,much the same 
thing might be said of the drawing of a 
moral1 except  that it is not easy to   
speak with patience of those often      
well-meaning  but gravely mistaken      
pedagogues who seem bound to impress    
upon  their scholars that literature is 
didactic4 ,in so far as a book is       
deliberately didactic1 it is not        
literature4 ,it may be artistic in      
spite of its enforcing a deliberate     

lesson1 but never because of this4  ,my 
own instinct would be1 and ,i am        
consistent enough to make it pretty     
generally my practice1 to conceal from a
 class as well as ,i can any  deliberate
 drawing of morals into which a writer  
of genius may have  fallen4 ,it is like 
the fault of a friend1 and is to be     
screened from  the public as far as     
honesty will permit4 ,certainly it      
should never be  paraded before the     
young1 who will not reason about the    
matter1 but are  too wholesome by nature
 and too near to primitive human        
conditions not  to distrust an offering 
of intellectual jelly which obviously   
contains  a moral pill4    ,morals are  
as a rule drawn by teachers who feel    
that they must teach  something1 and    
something tangible4 ,they themselves    
lack the conception  of any office of   
art higher than moralizing1 and they    
deal with  literature accordingly4 ,they
 are unable to appreciate the fact that 
the  most effective influence which can 

be brought to bear upon the human  mind 
is never the direct teaching of the     
preacher or the moralizer1  but the     
indirect instruction of events and      
emotions4 ,personally ,i have           
sufficient modesty1 moreover1 to make me
 hesitate to assume that ,i can  judge  
better than a master artist how far it  
is well to go in drawing  a moral4 ,if  
the man of genius has chosen not to     
point to a deliberate  lesson1 ,i am far
 from feeling inclined to take the      
ground that ,i know  better1 and that   
the sermon should be there4 ,when       
,shakespeare1 or  ,coleridge1 or        
,browning feels that a vivid transcript 
of life should  be left to work out its 
own effect1 far from me be the          
presumption to  consider the poet wrong1
 or to try to piece out his magnificent 
work  with trite moralizing4    ,the    
tendency to abuse children with morals  
is as vicious as it  is widespread4 ,it 
is perhaps not unconnected with the idea
 that  instruction and improvement must 

alike come through means not in         
themselves enjoyable4 ,it is the        
principle upon which an old ,new        
,england country wife rates the efficacy
 of a drug by its bitterness4  ,we all  
find it hard to realize that as far as  
literature1 at least1 is  concerned1 the
 good it does is to be measured rather  
by the pleasure  it gives4 ,if the      
children entirely and intelligently     
delight in it1 we  need bother about no 
morals1 we need--as far as the question 
of its  value in the training of the    
child's mind goes--have no concern about
  examinations4 ,art is the ministry of 
joy1 and literature is art or it  is the
 most futile and foolish thing ever     
introduced into the training  of the    
young4          ,,vi    ,,preliminary   
,,work      ,it will not always do to   
plunge at once into a given piece of    
literature1 for often a certain amount  
of preliminary work is needed  to       
prepare the mind of the pupil to receive
 the effect intended by the  author4    

,for convenience ,i should divide the   
teaching of literature into  four       
stages3        ,preliminary2            
,inspirational2      ,educational2      
,examinational4    ,the division is of  
course arbitrary1 but it is after all   
one which  comes naturally enough in    
actual work4 ,one division will not     
infrequently pass into another1 and no  
one could be so foolish as  to suppose  
literature is to be taught by a cut and 
dried mechanical  process of any sort4  
,the division is convenient1 however1 at
 least for  purposes of discussion2 and 
no argument should be needed to prove   
that  in many cases the pupil cannot    
even read intelligently the literature  
he is supposed to study until he has had
 some preparatory instruction4    ,the  
vocabulary of any particular work must  
first be taken into account4  ,we do not
 ask a child to read a poem until we    
suppose him to have by  every-day use   
become familiar with the common words it
 contains4 ,we  should remember that the

 poet in writing has assumed that the   
reader is  equally familiar with any    
less common words which may be used4 ,it
 is  certainly not to be held that the  
writer intends that in the middle of  a 
flowing line or at a point where the    
emotion is at its highest1 the  reader  
shall be bothered by ignorance of the   
meaning of a term2 that  he shall be    
obliged to turn to notes to look up     
definitions1 shall be  plunged into a   
puddle of derivations1 allied meanings1 
and parallel  passages such as are so   
often prepared by the ingenious editors 
of  school texts4 ,these things are well
 enough in their place and way2 but  no 
author ever intended his work to be read
 by any such process1 and  since        
literature depends so largely on the    
production of a mood1 such              
interruptions are nothing less than     
fatal to the effect4    ,i remember as a
 boy sitting at the feet of an elder    
sister who was  reading to me in        
,english from a ,french text4 ,at the   

very climax of  the tale1 when the      
heroine was being pursued down a wild   
ravine by a  bandit1 the reader came to 
an adjective which she could not        
translate4  ,with true ,new ,england    
conscientiousness she began to look it  
up in  the dictionary2 but ,i could not 
bear the delay4 ,i caught the lexicon   
out of her hands1 and without having    
even seen the ,french or knowing  a     
syllable of that language1 cried out3   
,oh1 ,i know that word6 ,it  means      
'blood-boltered4' ,did he catch her8    
,she abandoned the search1  and in all  
the horror of the picturesque           
,shakespearean epithet the  bandit      
dashed on1 to be encountered by the hero
 at the next turn of  the romantic      
ravine4 ,i had at the moment1 so far as 
,i can remember1  no consideration of   
the exact truth of my statement4 ,i     
simply could  not bear that the emotion 
of the crisis should be interrupted by  
that  bothersome search for an exact    
equivalent4 ,the term 'blood-boltered'  

fitted the situation admirably1 and ,i  
thrust it in1 so that we might  hurry   
forward on the rushing current of       
excitement4 ,this1 as ,i  understand it1
 is the fashion in which children should
 take literature4  ,few occasions1      
perhaps1 are likely to call for epithets
 so lurid as  that in which ,macbeth    
described the ghost of ,banquo1 but the 
spirit of  the thing read should so     
carry the reader forward that he cannot 
endure  interruption4    ,when work must
 be done with glossary and notes in     
order that the  text may be easily and  
properly understood1 this should be     
taken as  straightforward preliminary   
study4 ,it should be made as agreeable  
as possible1 but agreeable for and in   
itself4 ,when ,i say agreeable  for     
itself1 ,i mean without especial        
reference to the text for which         
preparation is being made4 ,the history 
of words1 the growth and  modification  
of meanings1 the peculiarities and      
relations of speech1  may always be made

 attractive to an intelligent class2 and
 since here  and throughout all study of
 literature students are to be made to  
do  as much of the actual work as       
possible1 this part is simple4    ,the  
amount of time given to such learning of
 the vocabulary might  at first seem to 
be an objection to the method4 ,in the  
first place1  however1 there is an      
actual economy of time in doing all this
 at first  and at once1 thus getting it 
out of the way1 and saving the waste  of
 constant interruptions in going over   
the text2 in the second1 it  affords a  
means of making this portion of the work
 actually interesting  in itself and    
valuable for its relation to the study  
of language in  general2 and in the     
third place it both fixes meanings in   
mind and  allows the reading of the     
author with some sense of the effect he 
designed to give by the words he        
employed4    ,it is hardly necessary to 
say that in this matter of taking up the
  vocabulary beforehand many teachers1  

perhaps even most teachers1 will  not   
agree with me4 ,the other side of the   
question is very well put in  a leaflet 
by ,miss ,mary ,e4 ,litchfield1         
published by the ,new ,england          
,association of ,teachers in ,english3  
,my pupils1 ,i find1 can work longer and
 harder on ,macbeth and      ,hamlet1   
with constantly increasing interest1    
than on any      other masterpieces     
suited to school use4 ,just because     
these      dramas are so stimulating1   
the pupils have the patience to         
struggle with the difficulties of the   
text4 ,in general they      feel only a 
languid interest in word-puzzles such as
 delight      the student of language2  
for instance1 the expression1 ,he       
doesn't know a hawk from a handsaw1     
might fail to arouse their              
curiosity4 ,but when ,hamlet says3 ,i am
 but mad north-north      west3 when the
 wind is southerly ,i know a hawk from a
 handsaw1      they are on the alert2   
they really care to know what he means  

and why he has used this peculiar       
expression4 ,thus word-study      which 
might be mere drudgery is rendered      
interesting by the      human element in
 the play--the element which1 in my     
opinion1      should always be kept well
 in the foreground4    ,a large number  
of teachers1 many of them1 very likely1 
of experience  greater than mine1 will  
agree with this view4 ,i am not able to 
do so  because ,i believe we should know
 the language before we try to read2    
but ,i at least hold that the first     
principle in any successful teaching  is
 that a teacher shall follow the method 
which he finds best adapted  to his own 
temperament4 ,for the instructor who is 
convinced that the  habit of taking up  
difficulties of language as they are met
 in actual  reading1 to take them up    
then is perhaps the only effective way  
of  doing things4 ,it seems to me1      
however1 a little like sacrificing the  
literature to a desire to make teaching 
the vocabulary easier4 ,it is  very     

likely a simpler way of arousing        
interest in difficulties of  language2  
but in teaching literature the          
elucidation of obscure words  and       
phrases is of interest or value simply  
for the sake of the effect  of the text1
 and ,i hold that to this effect1 and to
 this effect as a  whole1 everything    
else should be subordinate4 ,each       
teacher must decide  for himself what is
 the proper method1 but ,i insist that  
no author  ever wrote sincerely without 
assuming that his vocabulary was        
familiar  to his audience beforehand4   
,certainly ,i am not able to feel that  
it  is wise to interrupt any first      
reading with anything save perhaps the  
briefest possible explanations1 comments
 that are so short as not to  break the 
flow of the work as a whole4    ,the    
first reading of a narrative of any     
sort1 it may surely be said1  is chiefly
 a matter of making the reader1 and     
especially the childish  reader1        
acquainted with the story4 ,since little

 real study can be  accomplished while  
interest is concentrated on the plot1 it
 may be wise  for the teacher to have a 
first reading without any more attention
 to  the difficulties of vocabulary than
 is absolutely needed to make the  story
 intelligible1 and then to have the     
difficulties learned before  a second   
and more intelligent going over of the  
work as a whole4 ,each  teacher must    
decide a point of this sort according to
 individual  judgment and the character 
of the class4    ,in all the lower      
grades of school work whatever          
literature is given to  the children    
should be in diction and in phrasing so 
simple that very  little of this sort of
 preliminary work need be done4 ,so long
 as what  is selected has real literary 
excellence it can hardly be too simple4 
,we constantly forget1 it seems to me1  
how simple is the world of  children4   
,dr4 ,john ,brown1 dear and wise soul1  
has justly said3        ,children are   
long in seeing1 or at least in looking  

at what is      above them2 they like   
the ground1 and its flowers and stones1 
its red sodgers and lady-birds1 and all 
its queer things2      their world is   
about three feet high1 and they are more
 often      stooping than gazing up4    
,it does not follow that children are to
 be fed on that sort of  water-gruel    
which is so often vended as juvenile    
literature4 ,they  should be given the  
best1 the work of real writers2 but of  
this the  simplest should be chosen1 and
 in dealing with it the children should 
not be bothered with thoughts and ideas 
which are over their heads4  ,they live1
 it must be remembered1 in a world about
 three feet high1  mentally as well as  
physically4    ,in preliminary work the 
first object is to remove whatever      
obstacles  might hinder ease and        
smoothness of progress in reading4      
,beside having  all obscure terms       
understood1 it is well to call attention
 to some of  the most striking and      
beautiful passages in the book or poem  

which  is to be read4 ,they should be   
taken up as detached quotations1 and    
the pupils made to discover or to see   
how and why each is good4 ,the  pleasure
 of coming upon them when the text is   
read helps in itself2 it  diminishes the
 strain upon the mind of the student in 
the effort of  comprehension1 and it    
doubles the effect of the portions      
chosen4 ,my  idea is that many fine     
passages may be treated almost as a part
 of the  vocabulary of the text2 their  
meaning and force may be made so evident
  and so attractive that when the       
complete play or poem is taken up a     
knowledge of these bits helps greatly in
 securing a strong effect of  the work  
as a whole4    ,we teachers too often   
ignore1 it is to be feared1 the strain  
it is  to the young to understand and to
 feel at the same time4 ,we fail to     
recognize1 indeed1 how difficult it is  
for them--or for any one--to  feel while
 the attention is taxed to take in the  
meaning of a thing2  so that in literary

 study we are likely to demand the      
impossible1 the  responsiveness of the  
emotions while all the force of the     
child's mind  is concentrated upon the  
effort to comprehend4 ,whatever may be  
done  legitimately to lessen this stress
 is most desirable4 ,the preparation  of
 the vocabulary1 the elucidation of     
obscure passages obviously aids  in     
this2 but so does the pointing out of   
beauties4 ,instead of being  bothered in
 the midst of the effort to take in a   
poem or a play as a  whole and being    
harassed by the need of mastering       
details of diction or  phrasing1 the    
student has a pleasant sense of         
self-confidence in coming  upon obscure 
matters already conquered2 and in the   
same way receives  both pleasure and a  
feeling of mastery in recognizing       
beauties already  familiar4    ,the     
preliminary work1 besides this study of 
any difficulties of  vocabulary1 should 
include whatever is needful in making   
clear any  difference between the point 

of view of the work studied and that of 
the child's ordinary life4    ,in ,the  
,merchant of ,venice1 for instance1 it  
is necessary to make  clear the fact    
that the play was written for an        
audience to which  usury was an         
intolerable crime and a ,jew a creature 
to be thoroughly  detested4 ,the        
,jew-baiting of recent years in ,europe 
helps to make  this intelligible4 ,the  
point must be made1 because otherwise   
,antonio  appears like a cad and        
,jessica inexcusable4 ,the story is     
easily brought  home to the school-boy1 
moreover1 by its close relation to the  
simplest  emotions4    ,the two facts   
that ,antonio has incurred the hatred of
 ,shylock through  his kindness to      
persons in trouble and that he comes    
within the  range of danger through     
raising money to aid his friend         
,bassanio are  so closely allied to     
universal human feelings and universal  
human  experience that it is only       
needful to be sure these points are     

clearly  perceived to have the          
sympathies of the class thoroughly      
awakened4 ,all  this is so obvious that 
it is hardly necessary to say it except 
for the  sake of not omitting what is of
 so much real importance4 ,every teacher
  understands this and acts upon it4    
,to include this in the preliminary work
 may seem a contradiction of  a previous
 statement that it is not wise to tell  
children what they  are expected to get 
from any given book4 ,the two matters   
are entirely  distinct4 ,what should be 
done is really that sort of giving of   
the  point of view which we so commonly 
and so naturally exercise in telling  an
 anecdote in conversation4 ,of all      
conceited men ,i ever met1 we say1  ,tom
 ,brandywine was the worst4 ,why1 once  
,i saw him--and so on for  the story    
which is thus declared to be an         
exposition of overweening  vanity4 ,see1
 we say to the class in effect1 you must
 have felt sorry  to see some kindly1   
honest fellow cheated just because he   

was too  honest to suspect the sneak    
that cheated him4 ,here is the story of 
a  great1 splendid1 honest ,moor1 a     
noble general and a fine leader1 who    
was utterly ruined and brought to his   
death in just that way4 ,this is  not   
drawing a moral1 and it seems to me     
entirely legitimate aid to the  student4
 ,it is less doing anything for them    
that they could and should  do than it  
is directing them so that they may      
advance more quickly and  in the right  
direction4    ,this indication of the   
general direction in which the mind     
should move  in considering a work is   
closely connected with what might be    
called  establishing the proper point of
 departure4 ,this is neither more nor   
less than fixing the fact of common     
experience in the life of the pupil  at 
which it seems safe and wise to begin4  
,what has been said about  the way in   
which a teacher calls upon the          
experience of the pupils to  bring home 
the picture of the ,village ,blacksmith 

at his forge is an  indication of what  
is here meant4 ,in teaching history     
to-day1 with  a somewhat older grade of 
pupils than would be reading that poem  
of  ,longfellow's1 an instructor        
naturally makes vivid the ,massacre of  
,st4  ,bartholomew by comparison with   
the reports of ,jewish massacres in our 
own time2 and in the same line the fact 
that it is so short a time  since the   
,king of ,servia was assassinated1 or   
that the present ,sultan  of ,turkey    
cemented on his crown with the blood of 
his brothers1 may  be made to assist a  
class to take the point of view         
necessary for the  realization of the   
tragedy in ,macbeth4 ,i have already    
spoken#hc3a  of the humbler1 but perhaps
 even more vital way in which the vice  
of  ambition that is so strong a motive 
power in that tragedy is to be          
understood by starting from the rivalry 
in sports1 since from this so  surely   
intelligible emotion the mind of the boy
 is easily led on to the  ambition which

 burns to rule a kingdom4 ,it is wise   
not to be afraid of  the simple4 ,if the
 poem to be studied is ,the ,ancient    
,mariner1 it is  well to discover what  
is the strangest situation in which any 
member of  the class has ever found     
himself4 ,after inciting the rest of the
 pupils  to imagine what must be one's  
feelings in such circumstances1 it is   
not  difficult to lead them on to       
understand the declaration of ,coleridge
  that he tried to show how a man would 
feel if the supernatural were  actual4  
,for natural1 wholesome-minded children 
it is not in the least necessary  to    
take pains to reconcile them to the     
supernatural4 ,to the normal  child the 
line between the actual and the unreal  
does not exist  until this has been     
drilled into him by adult teaching1     
conscious  or unconscious4 ,the normal  
condition of youth is that which accepts
  a fairy as simply and as              
unquestioningly as it accepts a tree or 
a  cow4 ,certainly it is true that      

children are in general ready enough    
for what they would call make-believe1  
that stage of half-conscious            
self-deception which lies between the   
blessed imaginative faith of            
unsophisticated childhood and the more  
skeptical attitude of those who  have   
discovered that there isn't any ,santa  
,claus4 ,for all younger  classes       
nothing more is likely to be necessary  
than to assume that the  wonderful will 
be accepted4    ,when occasion arises to
 justify the marvellous1 the teacher may
 always  call attention to the fact that
 in poems like ,the ,ancient ,mariner1  
or ,comus1 or ,macbeth the supernatural 
is a part of the hypothesis4  ,to       
connect with this the pupil's conception
 of the part the hypothesis  plays in a 
proposition in geometry is at once to   
help to connect one  branch of study    
with another1 always a desirable thing  
in education1  and to aid them in       
understanding why and how they are to   
accept the  wonders of the story        

entirely without question4 ,the         
impossible is part  of the proposition1 
and this they must be made to feel      
before they can  be at ease with their  
author or get at all the proper point of
 view4    ,the aim of literature is to  
arouse emotion1 but we live in a        
realistic  age1 and the youth of the    
present is not given to the emotional4  
,youth1 moreover1 instinctively conceals
 feeling1 and the lads in our           
school-classes to-day are in their      
outside lives and indeed in most of     
their school-work called upon to be as  
hard-headed and as unemotional  as      
possible4 ,they are likely to feel that 
emotion is weak1 that to be  moved is   
effeminate4 ,they will shy at any       
statement that they should  feel what   
they read4 ,the notion of conceiving an 
hypothesis helps just  here4 ,a boy will
 accept--not entirely reasoning the     
thing out1 but  really making of it an  
excuse to himself for being moved--the  
idea that  if the hypothesis were true  

he might feel deeply1 although he       
assures  himself that as it is he is    
actually stable in a manly indifference4
  ,the aim of the teacher is to awake   
feeling1 but not to speak of it2 to     
touch the class as deeply as possible1  
yet not to seem aware1 or at  least not 
to show that he is aware that the       
students are touched4    ,in this as in 
all treatment of literature1 any        
connection with the  actual life of the 
pupil is of the greatest value4 ,it     
seems to justify  emotion1 and it gives 
to the work of imagination a certain    
solidity4  ,without reasoning the thing 
out fully1 a boy of the present day is  
likely to judge the importance of       
anything presented to him at school  by 
what he can see of its direct bearing   
upon his future work1 and  especially by
 its relations to the material side of  
life4 ,this is even  measurably true of 
children so young that they might be    
supposed still  to be ignorant of the   
realism of the time and of the practical

 side of  existence4 ,the teacher best  
evades this danger by starting directly 
from some thought or fact in the child's
 present life and from this  leading him
 on to the mood of the work of          
literature which is under               
consideration4    ,here and everywhere  
,i feel the danger of seeming to be     
recommending  mechanical processes for  
that which no mechanical process can    
reach4 ,if  the teacher has a           
sympathetic love for literature1 he will
 understand  that ,i do not and cannot  
mean anything of the sort2 if he has not
  that sympathy1 he cannot treat        
literature otherwise than in a machine  
fashion1 no matter what is said4 ,it    
sometimes seems that it is hardly       
logical to expect every teacher to be an
 instructor in literature any  more than
 it would be to ask every teacher to    
take classes in music and  painting4    
,art requires not only knowledge but    
temperament2 both master  and pupil must
 have a responsiveness to the           

imaginative1 or little can  be          
accomplished4 ,since the exigencies of  
our present system1 however1  require   
that so large a proportion of teachers  
shall make the attempt1  ,i am simply   
endeavoring to give practical hints     
which may aid in the  work2 but ,i wish 
to keep plainly evident the fact that   
nowhere do ,i  mean to imply a patent   
process1 a mechanical method1 or        
anything which  is of value except as it
 is applied with a full comprehension   
that the  chief thing1 the thing to     
which any method is to be at need       
completely  sacrificed1 is to awaken    
appreciation and enthusiasm1 to quicken 
the  imagination of the student1 and to 
develop whatever natural powers he  may 
have for the enjoying and the loving of 
good books4#hg3a      ,,footnotes3      
#hc3a ,page #fi4    #hg3a ,while this   
volume was in press a writer in the     
,monthly ,review  7,london7 has         
remarked3 ,i fail to see how a literary 
sense can be  cultivated until a firm   

foundation of knowledge has been laid   
whereon  to build1 and ,i tremble to    
think of the result of an enforced diet 
of  ',the ,canterbury ,tales1' ',the    
,faerie ,queen1' and ',marmion' upon a  
class  as yet ignorant of the elements  
of ,english composition4          ,,vii 
,,the ,,inspirational ,,use ,,of        
,,literature      ,the term             
inspirational1 which ,i have used as    
indicating the second  division of the  
teaching of literature1 is a somewhat   
absurdly large  word for what is the    
most simple and natural part of the     
whole dealing  with books which goes on 
between teacher and pupil4 ,it is a     
term1  however1 which expresses pretty  
well what is or should be the exact     
character of the study at its best4 ,the
 chief effect of literature  should be  
to inspire1 and by inspirational1 as    
applied to teaching1 ,i  mean that      
presentation of literature which best   
secures this end4    ,put in simpler    
terms the whole matter might be         

expressed by saying that  the most      
important office of literature in the   
school as in life is to  minister to    
delight and to enthusiasm2 and whoever  
is familiar with the  limited extent to 
which the required training in college  
requirements  or in prescribed courses  
fulfils this office will realize the    
need  which exists for the emphasizing  
of this view of the matter4 ,literature 
is made a gymnasium for the training of 
the intellect or a treadmill  for the   
exercise of the memory1 but it is too   
seldom that delight which  it must be to
 accomplish its highest uses4    ,that  
the secondary schools should be chiefly 
concerned with this phase  of literature
 seems to me a truth so obvious and so  
indisputable that  ,i can see only with 
astonishment that it is so generally    
ignored4 ,in  the lower grades1 it is   
true1 something is done in the way of   
letting  children enjoy literature      
without bothering about didactic        
meanings1  history of authors1          

philological instances1 critical        
manipulations1 and  all the devices with
 which later the masterpieces of genius 
are turned  into bugbears2 but even here
 too many teachers feel an innate       
craving  to draw morals and to make     
poetry instructive4 ,they seem to forget
  that as children themselves they      
skipped the moral when they read a      
story1 or at best received it as an     
uninteresting necessity1 like the  core 
of an apple1 to be discarded when from  
it had been gleaned all  the sweets of  
the tale4 ,nothing is more amazing than 
the extent to  which all we teachers1 in
 varying degrees1 but universally1 even 
to the  best of us1 go on dealing with a
 sort of imaginary child which from  our
 own experience we know never did and   
never could exist4 ,the first  great    
secret of all teaching is to recognize  
that we must deal with our  pupils as if
 we were dealing with our own selves at 
their age4 ,if we  can accomplish this1 
we shall not bore them with dull        

moralizings under  the pretext that we  
are introducing them to the delights of 
literature4    ,where a class has to be 
dealt with1 the work in any branch must 
be  adapted to the average mind1 and not
 to the understanding of the            
individual2 so that in school many      
things are impossible which at  home1 or
 in individual training1 are not        
difficult4 ,it is not hard1 ,i  believe1
 to interest even the average modern    
boy1 distracted by the  multiplicity of 
current impressions1 in the best        
literature1 provided  he may be taken   
alone and competently handled4 ,almost  
any wholesome and  sane lad may at times
 be found to be indifferent in class to 
the plays  of ,shakespeare1 for         
instance2 yet ,i believe few healthy and
 fairly  intelligent boys of from ten to
 fifteen could resist the fascination of
  the plays if these were read with them
 by a competent person at proper  times1
 and without the dilution of mental     
perception which necessarily  comes with

 the presence of classmates4 ,be this1  
however1 as it may1  the teacher must be
 content with arousing as well as he can
 the spirit  of the class as a whole4   
,some one or two of the cleverest pupils
 will  lead1 and may seem to represent  
the spirit of all2 but even they are    
not what they would be alone1 and in any
 case the instructor must not  devote   
himself to the most clever while the    
rest of the pupils are  neglected4      
,it follows that in the choice of pieces
 to be read to students the  first thing
 to be considered is that these shall be
 effective in a  broad sense so that    
they will appeal to the average         
intelligence and  taste of a given class
 easily and naturally4 ,they must first 
of all  have that strong appeal to      
general human emotion which will insure 
a  ready response from youth not well   
developed sthetically and rendered  less
 sensitive by being massed with other   
students in a class4 ,such  a selection 
is not easy1 and it involves the careful

 study of what  may be termed the       
individuality of any given group of     
pupils2 but it  seems to me to be at    
once one of the most obvious and one of 
the most  important of the points which 
should be considered in the beginning of
  any attempt to create in school a real
 enjoyment in literature4    ,a danger  
which naturally presents itself at the  
very outset is the  likelihood of       
forgetting that the possession of this  
easy and obvious  interest is not a     
sufficient reason why a work should be  
presented to a  class4 ,it too often    
happens that the desire of arousing and 
interesting  pupils leads teachers to   
bring forward things that are           
sensational and  have little if any     
further recommendation4 ,doubtless ,dr4 
,johnson was  right when he declared    
that you have done a great thing when   
you have  brought a boy to have         
entertainment from a book2 yet after all
 the  teacher is not advancing in his   
task and may be doing positive harm  if 

he sacrifice too much to the desire to  
be instantly and strongly  pleasing4    
,flashy and unworthy books are so       
pressed upon the reading  public at the 
present day that especial care is needed
 to avoid  fostering the tendency to    
receive them in place of literature4    
,it is not my purpose to give lists of  
selections1 for in the first  place it  
has been done over and over1 notably in 
such a collection as  the admirable     
,heart of ,oak series2 and in the second
 no selection  can be held to be equally
 adapted to different classes or to have
  real value unless it has been made    
with a view to the actual needs of  a   
definite body of pupils4 ,pupils must be
 interested1 yet the things  chosen to  
arouse their interest should be those   
which have not only the  superficial    
qualities which make an instant appeal1 
but possess also  those more lasting    
merits essential to genuine literature4 
,in the lower grades it is generally1 ,i
 believe1 possible for the  teacher to  

control the choice of selections put    
before students1  although even here    
this is not always the case4 ,if errors 
of selection  are made1 however1 they   
are largely due to inability to judge   
wisely  and to a too great deference to 
general literary taste4 ,a teacher  must
 remember that two points are absolutely
 essential to any good  teaching of     
literature3 first1 that the selection be
 suited to the  possibilities of the    
individual class2 second1 that the      
teacher be  qualified so to use and     
present the selection as to make it     
effective4  ,many conscientious teachers
 take poems which they know are regarded
  as of high merit1 and which have been 
used with advantage by other            
instructors1 yet which they             
individually1 from temperament or from  
training1 are utterly inadequate to     
handle4 ,they either lack the  insight  
and delight in the pieces which are     
essential if the pupils  are to be      
kindled1 or are deficient in power so to

 present their own  appreciation and    
enjoyment that these appeal to the      
children4    ,for illustration of one of
 the ways in which a child may be led   
into  the heart of a poem ,i have chosen
 ,the ,tiger1 by ,william ,blake4  ,this
 belongs to the class of literature     
constantly taken for use with  children 
because it is reputed to be beautiful1  
yet which constantly  fails in its      
appeal to a class4 ,it is to me one of  
the most wonderful  lyrics in the       
language1 yet ,i doubt if it would ever 
have occurred to  me to use it in our   
common schools1 and certainly ,i should 
never have  dreamed that it was to be   
presented to children in the lower      
grades4  ,i do not know with what       
success teachers in general may have    
used it1  but in one or two ,boston     
schools with which ,i happen to be      
fairly  well acquainted the effect is   
pretty justly represented by the mental 
attitude of the small lad spoken of in  
the next chapter4 ,the extent to  which 

children acquiesce in a sort of         
mechanical compliance in what to  them  
are the vagaries of their elders in the 
matter of literature can  hardly be     
exaggerated4 ,doubtless they often      
unconsciously gain much  of which they  
do not dream in the way of the          
development of taste and  perception1   
but too often the whole of the          
instruction given along  sthetic lines  
slides over them without producing any  
permanent effect  of appreciable value4 
,of course ,i do not contend that       
children are not advancing unless they  
know it4 ,early training in literature  
may often be of the highest value       
without definite consciousness on the   
part of the child4 ,self-analysis  is no
 more to be expected here than anywhere 
else in the early stages  of training4  
,the child does not in the least        
comprehend1 for instance1  that the     
ditties of ,mother ,goose1 meaningless  
jingles as they are1  are educating his 
sense of rhythm2 he does not understand 

that his  imaginative powers are being  
nourished by the fairy-tale1 the normal 
mental food for a certain stage of the  
development of the individual as  it is 
the natural and inevitable product of a 
corresponding stage in  the development 
of the race4 ,so long as a child has    
genuine interest  in a poem or a tale he
 is getting something from it1 but he   
does not  concern himself to consider   
anything beyond present enjoyment4 ,in  
the  earlier stages at least1 and for   
that matter at any stage1 the thing  to 
be secured is interest2 and instruction 
in the lower school grades  should be   
confined to what is actually needed to  
make children enjoy a  given piece4     
,anything beyond this may wisely be     
deferred4    ,in many of the lower      
grades it is now the fashion to have    
children  act out poems4 ,the method is 
spoken of with satisfaction by teachers 
who have tried it4 ,i know nothing of it
 by experience1 but should  suppose it  
might be good if not carried too far4   

,children are naturally  histrionic1 and
 advantage may be taken of this fact to 
stimulate their  imagination and to     
quicken their responsiveness to         
literature1 if  seriousness and         
sincerity are not forgotten4    ,in this
 early work it does not seem to me that 
much can wisely be done  in the study of
 metrical effects4 ,indeed1 ,i have     
serious doubts whether  much in the way 
of the examination of the technique of  
poetry properly  has place anywhere in  
preparatory schools4 ,the child1        
however1 should  be trained gradually to
 notice metrical effects1 by having     
attention  called to passages which are 
especially musical or impressive4 ,by   
beginning with ringing and strongly     
marked verse and leading on to  effects 
more delicate the teacher may do much in
 this line4    ,i have called this early
 work inspirational because it should be
  directed to making literature a       
pleasure and an inspiration4 ,the word1 
clumsy as it may seem1 does express the 

real function of art1 and the  only     
function which may with any profit be   
considered in the earlier  stages of the
 study of literature4 ,the object is to 
make the children  care for good books2 
to show them that poetry has a meaning  
for them2  and to awaken in             
them--although they will be far from    
understanding the  fact--a sensitiveness
 to ideals4 ,the child will not be aware
 that he  is being given higher views of
 life1 that he is being trained to some 
perception of nobler aims and           
possibilities greater than are presented
  by common experiences2 but this is    
what is really being accomplished4  ,any
 training which opens the eyes to the   
finer side of life is in the  best and  
truest sense inspiration2 and it should 
be the distinct aim  of the teacher to  
see to it that whatever else may happen1
 in the  lower grades or in the higher1 
this chief function of the teaching of  
literature shall not be lost sight of or
 neglected4          ,,viii    ,,an     

,,illustration      ,to attempt to give 
a concrete illustration of the method in
 which any  teaching is to be carried on
 is in a way to try for the impossible4 
,every class and every pupil must be    
treated according to the especial       
nature of the case and the personal     
equation of the teacher4 ,i perhaps     
expose myself to the danger of seeming  
egotistic if ,i insert here an          
experience of my own1 and1 what is of   
more consequence1 ,i may possibly       
obscure the very points ,i am           
endeavoring to make clear4 ,as well as  
,i  can1 however1 ,i shall set down an  
actual talk1 in the hope that it  may   
afford some hint of the way in which    
even difficult pieces of  literature may
 be made to appeal to a child4 ,of      
course this is not in  the least meant  
as a model1 but solely and simply as an 
illustration4    ,i once asked a fine   
little fellow of eight what he was doing
 at school4  ,he answered--because this 
happened to be the task which at the    

moment  was most pressing--that he was  
committing to memory ,william ,blake's  
,tiger4    ,do you like it8 ,i asked4   
,oh1 we don't have to like it1 he       
responded with careless frankness1  we  
just have to learn it4    ,the form of  
his reply appealed to one's sense of    
humor1 and ,i wondered  how many of my  
own students in literature might have   
given answers not  dissimilar in spirit1
 had they not outgrown the delicious    
candor which  belongs to the first      
decade of a lad's life4 ,the afternoon  
chanced to  be rainy and at my disposal4
 ,i was curious to see what ,i could do 
with  this combination of ,blake and    
small boy1 and ,i made the experiment4  
,i should not have chosen the poem for  
one so young2 but it is real1  compact  
of noble imagination1 the boy was       
evidently genuine1 and a real  poem must
 have something for any sincere reader  
even if he be a child4    ,the following
 report of our talk was not written down
 at the time1  and makes no pretense of 

being literal4 ,it does represent1 so   
far  as ,i can judge1 with substantial  
accuracy what passed between the        
straightforward lad and myself4 ,too    
deliberate and too diffuse to have      
taken place in a school-room1 it yet    
gives1 on an extended scale1  what ,i   
believe is the true method of teaching  
literature in all the  secondary-school 
work4 ,i do not claim to have originated
 or to have  discovered the method2 but 
,i hope that ,i may be able to make     
clearer  to some teachers how children  
may be helped to do their own thinking  
and thus brought to a vital and         
delighted enjoyment of the masterpieces 
they study4    ,i began to repeat aloud 
the opening lines of the poem4    ,why1 
said the boy1 do you know that8 ,did you
 have to learn it at  school when you   
were little like me8    ,i'm not sure   
when ,i did learn it1 ,i answered2 ,i've
 known it for a  good while2 but ,i     
didn't just learn it4 ,i like it4    ,i 
repeated the whole poem1 purposely      

refraining from giving it very  great   
force1 even in the supreme symphonic    
outburst of the magnificent  fifth      
stanza3        ,tiger1 tiger1 burning   
bright        ,in the forests of the    
night1      ,what immortal hand or eye  
,could frame thy fearful symmetry8      
,in what distant deeps or skies         
,burnt the fire of thine eyes8      ,on 
what wings dare he aspire8        ,what 
the hand dare seize the fire8           
,and what shoulder and what art         
,could twist the sinews of thy heart8   
,and1 when thy heart began to beat1     
,what dread hand formed thy dread feet8 
,what the hammer8 what the chain8       
,in what furnace was thy brain8         
,what the anvil8 what dread grasp       
,dare its deadly terrors clasp8         
,when the stars threw down their spears1
        ,and watered heaven with their  
tears1      ,did he smile ,his work to  
see8        ,did he who made the lamb   
make thee8    ,it sounds rather pretty1 
,i commented1 as carelessly as possible4

    ,yes1 ,i suppose so1 he assented    
colorlessly1 looking at me rather       
suspiciously4    ,he was a shrewd little
 mortal1 and he had been so often told  
at school  that he should like this and 
that for which in reality he did not    
care a button that he was on his guard4 
,i made a casual remark about  something
 entirely unrelated to the subject4 ,it 
was well that the lad  should not feel  
that he was being instructed4 ,then in a
 manner as  natural and easy as ,i could
 make it ,i asked3    ,did you ever see 
a tiger8    ,oh1 yes2 ,i've seen lots of
 them at the circus4 ,tom ,bently never 
went  to but one circus1 but ,i've been 
to four4    ,what does a tiger look     
like8 ,i went on1 ignoring the          
irrelevant4    ,he's a fierce-looking   
thing6 ,didn't you ever see one8        
,yes1 ,i've seen them1 but ,i wondered  
if they looked the same to you as  they 
do to me4    ,why1 how do they look to  
you8    ,i asked you first4 ,it's only  
fair for you to say first4    ,well1 the

 small boy said1 with a fine show of    
being determined to  play fair1 ,i think
 they look like great big1 big1 big     
cats4 ,did you  think that8    ,that's  
exactly what ,i should have said4 ,they 
really are a sort of cat1  you know4    
,did you ever see a keeper stir them up8
    ,oh1 yes1 sir2 and they snarled like
 anything1 and licked their lips  just  
like this6    ,he gave a highly         
gratifying imitation1 and then added    
vivaciously3 ,if  ,i were the keeper1   
,i'd keep stirring them up all the time4
 ,they did  look so mad6    ,and they   
opened and shut their eyes slowly1 ,i   
suggested1 as if  they'd like to get    
hold of their keeper4    ,yes2 and their
 eyes were just like green fire4        
',burning bright1' ,i quoted2 and then  
without giving the boy time to  suspect 
that he was being led on1 ,i asked at   
once3 ,did you ever see a  cat's eyes in
 the dark8    ,oh1 ,i saw our cat once  
last summer1 when we were in the        
country1 under  a rosebush after dark1  

when ,dick and ,i got out of the window 
after we'd  gone to bed4 ,she just      
scared me2 her eyes were just like      
little green  lanterns4 ,dick said they 
were like little bicycle lamps4    ,if  
it had been a tiger under a bush in the 
night1--'in the forests of  the         
night1'--    ,oh1 interrupted the boy   
with the eagerness of a discoverer1 is  
that  what it means6 ,did he see a tiger
 in the night under a bush8 ,a real1    
truly tiger1 all loose8 ,i'd have run   
away4    ,i don't know if he ever saw   
one1 ,i answered4 ,i rather think he    
saw a tiger or a picture of one1 or     
thought of one1 and then got to         
thinking how it must seem to come across
 one in the woods2 when one was         
travelling1 say1 in the ,east where     
tigers live wild4 ,if you came upon  one
 in the forest in the dark1 what do you 
think would be the first  thing that    
would tell you a tiger was near8    ,i'd
 hear him4    ,did you ever hear a cat  
moving about8    ,no1 the boy said      

doubtfully4 ,aunt ,katie says ,spot     
doesn't make any  more noise than a     
sunbeam4 ,could a sunbeam make a noise8 
,she meant that ,spot didn't make any4  
,you'd never hear a tiger coming1  for  
it's a kind of cat1 and moves without   
sound4 ,you wouldn't know that  way4    
,i'd see him4    ,in the night8 ,you    
couldn't see him4    ,yes1 ,i could6    
,yes1 ,i could6 he cried triumphantly4  
,i'd see his eyes  just like green fire4
    ,i had interested the lad and taken 
him far enough to feel sure he would    
follow me if ,i helped him on a little  
faster4 ,i was ready to use clear       
suggestion when ,i felt that he would   
respond to it as if the thought  were   
his own4    ,well1 ,i said1 don't you   
see that this is just what the man who  
wrote  the poem meant8 ,he got to       
thinking how the tiger would look in the
  night to anybody that came on him in  
the forest and saw those eyes like      
green fires shining at him out of the   
jungle4 ,don't you suppose you or  ,i   

would think they were pretty big fires  
if we saw them1 and knew there  was a   
tiger behind them8    ,i guess we       
should6 ,wooh6 ,do you suppose ,bruno'd 
run8    ,bruno was a small and silky    
water-spaniel1 a charming beast in his  
way1 but not especially welcome at this 
point of the conversation4    ,very     
likely2 ,i slid over the subject4 ,the  
man knew that he would  have a feeling  
how big and strong that tiger must be3  
and it gave him  a shock to think what a
 fearful thing the beast would be there 
in the  dark1 with all the warm1 damp   
smells of the plants in the air1 and the
  strange noises4 ,it would almost take 
away his breath to think what a  mighty 
,being it must have taken to make       
anything so awful as a tiger4    ,yes1  
the lad said so quietly that ,i let him 
think a little4 ,he had  snuggled up    
against my knee and laid hold of my     
fingers1 and ,i knew  some sense of the 
matter was working in him4 ,after a     
moment or two ,i  asked him if he could 

repeat the first verse of the poem as if
 he were  the man who thought of the    
tiger in the jungle there1 with fierce  
eyes  shining out of the dark1 and who  
had so clear an idea of the mighty      
creature that he couldn't help thinking 
what a wonderful thing it was  that it  
could be created4 ,the boy fixed his    
eyes on mine as if he were  getting     
moved and half-consciously desired to be
 assured that ,i was  utterly serious   
and sympathetic2 and in his clear       
childish voice he  repeated in a way    
that had really something of a thrill in
 it3        ,tiger1 tiger1 burning      
bright         ,in the forests of the   
night1       ,what immortal hand or eye 
,could frame thy fearful symmetry8      
,if a traveller were in the jungle in   
the dark night1 ,i went on after  a word
 of praise for his recitation1 ,i       
suppose he couldn't see much  around    
him1 the trees would be so thick4 ,he'd 
have to look up to the  sky to see      
anything but the tiger's eyes4    ,he'd 

see the stars there1 the boy observed1  
just as ,i had hoped he  would4 ,i've   
seen stars through the trees4 ,i was out
 in the woods long  after dark once4    
,were you really8 ,the man must have    
thought the stars looked like the  eyes1
 as if when the animal was made the     
,creator went to the sky itself  for    
that fire4 ,think of a ,being that could
 rise to the very stars and  take their 
light in ,his hand4    ,ouf6 the small  
man cried navely4 ,i shouldn't want to  
take fire in  my hand6    ,the writer of
 the poem was thinking what a wonderful 
,being ,he must be  that could do it2   
but that if ,he could make a creature   
like the tiger1  ,he would be able to do
 anything4    ,the boy reflected a      
moment1 and then1 with a frank look1    
asked3 ,did  the fire in a tiger's eyes 
really come out of the stars8    ,i     
don't think that the poem means that it 
really did1 was my answer4  ,i think it 
means that when the poet thought how    
wonderful a tiger is1  with the life and

 the fierceness shining like a flame in 
his eyes1  and how we cannot tell where 
that fire came from1 and that the stars 
overhead were scarcely brighter1 it     
seemed as if that was where the  green  
light came from4 ,he was trying to say  
how wonderful and terrible  it was to   
him1--especially when he thought of     
coming upon the beast all  alone in the 
forest in the night with nobody near to 
defend him4    ,the boy was silent1 and 
thinking hard4 ,he had evidently not yet
 clearly  grasped all the idea4    ,but 
,god didn't make a tiger on an anvil and
 put pieces of stars in for  eyes1 he   
objected4    ,you told me yesterday that
 ,bruno swims like a duck4 ,he doesn't  
really1  for a duck goes on the top of  
the water4    ,oh1 but ,i meant that    
,bruno goes as fast as a duck4    ,and  
you wanted me to know how well he swims1
 ,i suppose4    ,why1 of course4 ,bruno 
can swim twice as fast as ,tom          
,talcott's dog4    ,you said that about 
the duck to make me know what a         

wonderful swimmer  ,bruno is1 and the   
man who wrote the poem wanted you when  
you read it to  feel how wonderful the  
tiger seemed to him2 its eyes as if they
 were of  fire brought from the stars1  
its strength so great that it seemed as 
if  his muscles had been beaten out on  
an anvil from red-hot steel by some     
,being mighty enough to do something no 
man could begin to do4 ,the poem        
doesn't mean that a tiger was really    
made in this way2 but it does mean  that
 when you think of the strength and     
fearfulness of the creature1  able to   
carry off a man or even a horse in its  
jaws1 this is the best  way to give an  
idea of how terrible the animal seemed4 
,the boy accepted this1 and so we came  
to the fifth verse4 ,the range  of ideas
 here is so much beyond the mind of any 
child that it was  necessary to suggest 
most of them1 to go very slowly1 and in 
the end  to be content with a childishly
 inadequate notion of the magnificent   
conception4 ,i gave frankly a suggestion

 of the creation of all the  animals at 
the beginning1 and of how the angels    
might have stood around  like stars1    
watching full of interest and of        
kindness4 ,the boy was  easily made to  
feel as if he had seen the making of the
 deer and the  lamb and the horse1 and  
of how the angels might see in one or   
another  of the animals a help or a     
friend to man4    ,then suppose1 ,i     
said1 that the angels should see ,god   
make the great  tiger1 royal and        
terrible4 ,what would they see8    ,oh1 
a great fierce thing1 the lad returned4 
,do you suppose he'd jump  right at the 
deer and the lambs8    ,he would make   
the angels think how he could4 ,how     
different from the  other animals he'd  
be4    ,yes1 he'd have big1 big1 sharp  
teeth1 and he'd lash his tail1 and he'd 
put out his claws4 ,do you suppose he'd 
sharpen his claws the way ,muff  does on
 the leather chairs8    ,very likely he 
would1 ,i said4 ,at any rate the angels 
would think  how the other animals would

 be torn to pieces if the tiger got hold
 of  them2 and they would think of what 
would happen to men4 ,perhaps they      
would imagine some poor ,hindu woman1   
with her baby on her back going  through
 a path in the jungle1 and how the tiger
 might leap out suddenly  and tear them 
both to pieces4 ,the angels couldn't    
understand how ,god  could bear to make 
any animal so cruel1 or how ,he could be
 willing to  have anything so wicked in 
the world4 ,they would be so sorry for  
all  the suffering that was to come that
 they would throw down their spears  and
 not be able to keep back the tears4    
,but angels wouldn't have spears1 would 
they8    ,i went to a shelf of the      
library in which we were talking and    
took down  a volume in which ,i found a 
picture of ,st4 ,michael in full armor4 
,it is like the fire from the stars1 ,i 
said4 ,of course nobody ever  saw an    
angel to know how he would look1 but to 
show how strong and  powerful an angel  
might be1 a good many men that make     

pictures have  painted them like        
knights4    ,but men that had spears    
wouldn't cry2 ,i shouldn't think angels 
would4    ,even the strongest men cry   
sometimes1 my boy2 only it has to be    
something tremendous to make them4 ,a   
thing that would make the angels  'water
 heaven with their tears' must be       
something so terrible that you  couldn't
 tell how sad it was4    ,well1 anyway1 
,i'd rather be a tiger than a lamb1 he  
proclaimed rather  unexpectedly4        
,very likely1 ,i assented1 but ,i think 
you'd rather have a lamb come  after    
,baby ,lou than a tiger4    ,oh1 ,i     
wouldn't want a tiger to get ,baby ,lou6
 he cried with a tremor4    ,i suppose  
that is the way the angels might feel at
 the idea of the  tiger's killing       
anybody1 ,i rejoined4    ,with a lad    
somewhat older one would have gone on to
 develop the  thought that to the       
watching angels the tiger1 leaping out  
fierce  and bloodthirsty from the hand  
of the ,creator1 would be like the      

incarnation of evil1 and that in their  
weeping was represented all the         
sorrowful problem of the existence of   
evil in the ,universe2 but this on  the 
present occasion ,i did not touch upon4 
,so the angels1 ,i went on1 couldn't    
keep back their tears2 but what  did    
,god do8    ,why1 ,he smiled6 the boy   
answered1 evidently with astonishment at
 the  thought which now for the first   
time came home to him4 ,i shouldn't     
think ,he'd have smiled4    ,when you   
were so disappointed the other day      
because the carriage was  broken and you
 couldn't go over to the lake in it1 do 
you remember that  ,uncle ,jo laughed8  
,oh1 he knew we could go in his         
automobile4    ,he knew4    ,yes1 he    
knew1 began the boy1 and so-- ,he       
stopped1 and looked at me  with a sudden
 soberness4 ,what did ,god know8 he     
asked seriously4    ,he must have known 
that somehow everything was right1 don't
 you think8  ,he knew why ,he had made  
the tiger1 just as ,he knew why ,he had 

made the  lamb1 and so ,he could see    
that everything would be as it should be
 in  the end4    ,but--but--    ,the boy
 was speechless in face of the eternal  
problem1 as so many  greater and wiser  
have been before him4 ,it seemed to me  
that we had  done quite enough for once1
 so ,i broke off the talk with a        
suggestion  that we try the boy's       
favorite game4 ,that was the end of the 
matter for  the time1 but in the library
 of the lad's father the copy of ,blake 
is  so befingered at the page on which  
,the ,tiger is printed that it is       
evident that the boy1 with the soiled   
fingers of his age1 has turned it       
often4 ,how much he made out of the talk
 ,i cannot pretend to say1 but at  least
 he came to love the poem4    ,i said at
 the start that ,i do not give the      
conversation1 which is  actual1 as a    
sample1 but as an illustration4 ,the    
poem called for more  leading on of the 
pupil than would many1 for as ,blake is 
one of the  most imaginative of ,english

 writers1 his conceptions are the more  
subtle and profound4 ,a class1 moreover1
 cannot be treated always with  the same
 deliberation as that which is natural  
in the case of a single  child2 but the 
essential principle1 ,i believe1 is the 
same everywhere4          ,,ix          
,,educational      ,educational in the  
broadest sense must anything be which is
  inspirational2 for to interest the    
child in literature1 to make him  enter 
into it as into a charming heritage1 is 
more truly to educate  him than would be
 any pedantic or formal instruction     
whatever4 ,i have  used the term        
specifically1 however1 as a convenient  
word by which  to designate that form of
 instruction which is more deliberately 
and formally an effort to make clear    
what literature may be held to  teach4  
,to regard any work of art as directly  
and didactically teaching  anything is  
perhaps to fail in so far to treat it as
 art2 but the  point which such a       
consideration raises is too deep for our

 present  inquiry1 and may be           
disregarded except in the case of       
unintelligent  attempts to make every   
tale or poem embody and convey a set    
moral4 ,to  endeavor to aid pupils to   
perceive fully the relation of what they
 read  to themselves and to the society 
in which they live is part of the       
legitimate work of the teacher of       
literature4 ,in a word1 while the term  
is perhaps not the best1 ,i have used   
the word educational to designate  such 
study as is directed to helping the     
student to gain from books a  wider     
knowledge of life and human nature4     
,it is not my idea that in actual       
practice a formal division is  to be    
made1 and still less that what ,i have  
called inspirational  consideration of  
literature is ever to be discontinued4  
,in the growth  of a child's mind comes 
naturally a simple and unreflecting     
pleasure  in literature1 beginning1 as  
has been said1 with unsophisticated     
delight in the marked rhythms of ,mother

 ,goose or in the wholesome joy  of the 
fairy-story4 ,to this is gradually added
 an equally unreflecting  absorption of 
certain ideas concerning life1 which by 
slow degrees  gives place to reflection 
conscious and deliberate4 ,the delight  
and the  unconscious yielding to the    
influence of the work of art remain1 and
 to  the end they are more effective    
than any deliberate and conscious ideas 
can be4 ,nothing that we teach our      
pupils about a poem can compare in      
influence with what they absorb without 
realizing what they are doing4  ,one of 
the great dangers of this whole matter  
is that we shall hurry  them from an    
instinctive to a cultivated attitude    
toward literature2  that we shall       
replace natural and healthful pleasure  
by laborious and  conscientious study4  
,in dealing with any piece of real      
literature the  wise method1 it seems to
 me1 is to take it up first for the     
absolute1  straightforward emotional    
enjoyment4#aaj3a ,it is of very little  

use  to study any work which the        
children have not first come to care    
for4  ,after they see why a piece is    
worth while from the point of view of   
pleasure1 then study may go further and 
consider what is the core of  the work  
intellectually and emotionally4    ,in  
speaking of treating literature         
educationally ,i do not refer to  that  
sort of instruction which so generally  
and unfortunately takes  the place of   
the true study of masterpieces4 ,the    
history of a poem or  a drama1 the      
biography of authors1 and all work of   
this sort should  in any case be kept   
subordinate and should generally1 ,i    
believe1  come after the student has at 
least a tolerable idea and a fair       
appreciation of the writings themselves4
 ,what is important and what ,i  mean by
 the educational treatment of literature
 is the development of  those general   
truths concerning human nature and human
 feeling which  form the tangible       
thought of a play or poem4 ,the line of 

distinction  between this and the less  
tangible ideas which are conveyed by    
form1  by melody1 by suggestion1--the   
ideas1 in short1 which are the secret   
of the inspirational effect of a        
work1--cannot be sharply drawn4 ,many   
of the tangible ideas will have been    
obvious in the reading of which  the    
recognized purpose has been mere delight
 and inspiration2 and on  the other hand
 the two classes of ideas are so closely
 interwoven that  it is not possible1   
even were it advisable1 to separate them
 entirely4  ,it is possible1 however1   
after the pupil has come to take        
pleasure in  a work1--though it should  
never be attempted sooner1--to go on to 
the  deliberate study of the            
intellectual content1 and to take up    
broad and  general truths4    ,one way  
of preparing a class for the work which 
is now to be done  is to speak to them  
of literature as a sort of high kind of 
algebra2  to let them see1 that is1 how 
the distinction between the great mass  

of reading-matter and what is fairly to 
be called literature is not  unlike the 
difference with which they are familiar 
in mathematics  between arithmetic and  
the higher grade of work which comes    
after4 ,the  newspaper1 the text-book1  
the history1 the scientific treatise all
  deal with the concrete1 just as       
arithmetic has to do with absolute      
quantities4 ,in the mental development  
of the pupil the time comes when  he is 
considered sufficiently advanced to go  
on from the handling of  concrete things
 to the dealing with the abstract4 ,when
 he is able to  understand the relation 
between the sum paid for one bushel of  
wheat  and the amount needed to purchase
 fifty1 he may be advanced to the lore  
of general formul1 and be made to       
understand how x may represent  any     
price and y any number of bushels4 ,in  
the same way from reading  in a         
newspaper the story of the assassination
 of the late ,king of  ,servia1 the     
concrete case1 he may go on to read     

,macbeth1 wherein  ,duncan represents   
any monarch of given character1 and     
,macbeth not a  particular1 actual1     
concrete assassin1 but a murderer of a  
sort1 a  type1 the general or abstract  
character4 ,the student has gone on from
  the particular to the general2 from   
the concrete to the abstract2 from  the 
arithmetic of human nature to its       
algebra4    ,a similar comparison       
between history and poetry is on the    
same grounds  easily to be made between 
the history lesson and the chronicle    
plays  of ,shakespeare4 ,the student who
 in his nursery days started out with   
the instinctive question in regard to   
the fairy-tale3 ,is it true8  begins to 
perceive the difference between literal 
and essential truth4  ,he perceives that
 verity in literature is not simple and 
obvious  fidelity to the specific fact  
or event2 he learns to appreciate that  
the truth of art1 like the truth of     
algebra1 lies in its accuracy  in       
representing truth in the abstract3 he  

comes to appreciate the  narrowness of  
the nursery question1 which asked only  
for the literal  fact1 and he begins to 
comprehend something of the symbolic4   
,an excellent illustration for practical
 use is a poem like ,how they  ,brought 
the ,good ,news from ,ghent to ,aix4    
,any live1 wholesome boy is  sure to    
tingle with the swing and fervor of the 
verse1 the sense of  the open air1 the  
excitement1 the doubt1 the hope1 the    
joyful climax4  ,it is easy to lead the 
class on to consider how exhilarating   
such an  experience would be1 and to go 
on from this to point out that the  poem
 does not describe a literal1 actual    
occurrence2 but that it is a            
generalized expression of the zest and  
exhilaration of a superb1 all  but      
impossible ride1 with the added         
excitement of being responsible for  the
 freedom or even the lives of the folk  
of a whole city4    ,the first feeling  
of the class on learning that such a    
ride was not  taken is sure to be one of

 disappointment4 ,it is better to meet  
this frankly1 and to compensate for it  
by arousing interest in the  embodiment 
of abstract feeling4 ,one great source  
of the lack of  interest in literature  
at the present time is that the         
material1  practical character of the   
age makes it difficult for the general  
reader to respect anything but the      
concrete fact4 ,literature is apt to    
present itself to the hard-headed young 
fellow of the public school  as a lot of
 make-believe stuff1 and therefore at   
best a matter of  rather frivolous      
amusement4 ,the surest way of correcting
 this common  attitude of mind is to    
nourish the appreciation of what fact in
 art  really means2 to cultivate a clear
 perception of how a poem or a tale  may
 be the truest thing in the world1      
although dealing with imaginary         
personages and with incidents which     
never happened4#aad3a    ,as an         
illustration of the sense in which      
literature is a sort of  algebra of     

human feeling somewhat more remote from 
the ordinary life  of a child may be    
taken another poem of ,browning's1 ,the 
,lost ,leader4  ,my experience is that  
most youth of the school age start out  
by being  able to make little or nothing
 of this4 ,by a little talk1 however1   
beginning perhaps as simply as with the 
way in which a lad feels when  a        
school-fellow he had faith in has failed
 in a crisis1 has for some  personal    
advantage gone over to the other party  
in a school election1  or of how the    
class would feel if some teacher who had
 been with the  students in some effort 
to obtain an extension of privilege to  
which  the scholars felt themselves to  
be honestly entitled had for his  own   
purposes swung over to the opposite     
side1 the whole thing may be  brought   
home4 ,the boys may be led on to imagine
 what are the feelings  of a youth eager
 for the cause of freedom and the       
uplifting of man1  when one whom he has 
looked to as a leader1 one in whom he   

has had  absolute faith1 deserts the    
rank for honors or for money4 ,once the 
young minds are on the right track it is
 by no means impossible to  bring them  
to see pretty clearly that in the poem  
is not the question  of a particular man
 or a particular cause2 but that        
,browning is dealing  with a universal  
expression of the pain that would come  
to any man1 to  any one of them1 in     
believing that the leader who had been  
most trusted  and revered had in reality
 been unworthy1 and had betrayed the    
cause  his followers believed he would  
gladly die to defend4    ,these two     
examples from ,browning ,i have taken   
almost at random1 and  not because they 
are unusual in this respect1 for this   
quality is the  universal property of   
all real literature1 and indeed is one  
of the  tests by which real literature  
is to be identified4 ,any selection     
which  it is worth while to give        
students at all must have this relation 
which  ,i have called algebraic1 but of 

which the true name is imaginative2  and
 it is certainly one of the important   
parts of anything which in a  high sense
 is properly to be called teaching      
literature to make the  scholars realize
 and appreciate this4    ,the next step 
is more difficult because far more      
subtle2 and ,i confess  frankly that it 
is all but impossible to propose methods
 by which  formal instruction may deal  
with it4 ,the aim of literature is      
largely  the attempt to produce a mood4 
,the prime aim of the poet is to induce 
in the reader a state of feeling which  
will lead inevitably to the  reception  
of whatever he offers in the same mood  
in which he offers  it4 ,in the simplest
 cases no instruction is needed1 for    
even with  school-boys a ringing metre1 
to take a simple and obvious example1   
has somewhat the same effect as the     
dashing swing of martial music2  whoever
 comes under its influence falls        
insensibly into the frame of  mind in   
which the ideas of the verse should be  

received4 ,the thoughts  are accepted in
 the exhilarated spirit in which they   
were written1 and  the effects of the   
metre are as great or greater than the  
influence of  the literal meaning4 ,it  
is a commonplace to call attention to   
the part  which the melody of poetry or 
the rhythm of prose plays in the effect1
  but how to aid pupils to a            
responsiveness to this language of form 
is  not the least of the problems of the
 teacher4    ,the means by which an     
author establishes or communicates his  
mood  do not always appeal to the young4
 ,indeed1 beyond a certain limited      
extent they appeal to most adults only  
after careful cultivation in the        
understanding of art-language4 ,it is as
 idle to suppose that literature        
appeals to everybody and without sthetic
 education as it is to suppose  that    
sculpture or music will surely meet with
 a response everywhere4  ,nobody expects
 ,beethoven's ,ninth ,symphony or       
,bach's ,passion ,music  to arouse      

enthusiasm in accidentally assorted     
school-children1 yet to  all the pupils 
in a mixed public school are offered the
 parallel works  of ,shakespeare and    
,milton4 ,unless a class is made up of  
boys or girls  with unusual aptitude or 
wisely and carefully trained to         
responsiveness  to metrical effect1 it  
seems hardly less idle to offer them    
,comus or  ,lycidas than it would be to 
expect them to enjoy a classic concert4 
,the language of form in the higher     
range of literature is to them an       
unknown tongue4    ,children are likely 
to be susceptible to marked metrical    
effects1 as  witness their love of      
,mother ,goose2 but to the more delicate
 music  of verse they are often largely 
or completely insensitive4 ,a musical   
ear is not1 it is probable1 to be       
created1 but it is certainly possible   
to develop the metrical sense4 ,children
 who are born with good native          
responsiveness to rhythm often are so   
badly trained or so neglected  as to    

seem to have none1 and it is part of the
 office of instruction  to call out     
whatever powers lie in them latent4     
,this is largely  accomplished by the   
sort of use of literature which ,i have 
called  inspirational4 ,in the ideal    
home-training children are so taken  on 
from the rhymes of the nursery to more  
advanced literature that  development of
 the rhythmical sense is continuous and 
inevitable2 but  one of the things which
 every school-teacher knows best is that
 this  sort of home-training is rare and
 the work must be done in the class4    
,the substitute is a poor one1 but it   
has at least some degree of the         
universal human responsiveness to rhythm
 to appeal to4    ,another difficulty is
 that children have to learn the verbal 
language  of literature4 ,much of the   
atmosphere of a poem1 for instance1 is  
likely to be produced by suggestion1 by 
the mention of legend or  tale or hero1 
when the reader must find in previous   
knowledge and  association a key to what

 is intended4 ,all this is likely to be 
largely or entirely lost on children2   
and yet this is often the  very         
quintessence of what the author tries to
 convey4 ,children are  constantly at   
the same disadvantage in understanding  
literature that  they are in            
comprehending life4 ,they have not      
gathered the associations  or           
experienced the emotions which make so  
large a part of the language  of great  
writers4 ,all this renders it difficult 
for the instructor to  be sure that his 
class has any inkling even of the mood  
in which a  piece is intended2 yet he   
must first of all be sure that as far as
 is  possible he has put them1 each     
pupil according to his character and    
acquirements1 in touch with the spirit  
of the work to be studied4    ,this     
cannot be done entirely4 ,we cannot hope
 that a lad of a dozen  years will enter
 into all the emotions1 all the passions
 of the great  poets4 ,he may1 however1 
be absorbingly interested and thrilled  

by  ,macbeth1 or the ,tempest1 or the   
,merchant of ,venice4 ,he does not  get 
from these plays all that his elders    
might get1 any more than he  would      
perceive the full meaning and passion of
 a tremendous situation  in real life2  
but he does get some portion of the     
message1 some  perception of the deeps  
and heights of human nature4 ,even if he
 find no  more than simple1 unreasoning 
enjoyment1 he is gaining unconsciously1 
and he is obviously nourishing a love   
for good literature4    ,the question of
 what is thoroughness in school study of
 literature  is of much importance1 and 
it is of no less difficulty4 ,certainly 
it is not merely the mastery of         
technical obscurities of language1  the 
solving of philological puzzles1 or the 
careful examination of  historical      
facts4 ,thoroughness in these things1 as
 has already been  said1 may be         
exactness in learning about literature1 
but not in the  study of literature     
itself4 ,consideration of the average   

acquirements  of pupils in secondary    
schools makes it fairly evident1 it     
seems to  me1 that the study of         
technique in any of its phases cannot in
 these  classes be carried very far     
without the danger of its degenerating  
into  the most lifeless formalism2 and  
perhaps in nothing else is the tact  and
 judgment of the teacher so well shown  
as in the decision how far it  is wise  
to carry study along particular lines4  
,i have never encountered  a class even 
in my college work which ,i could have  
set to the subjects  recommended in a   
book for teachers of literature which   
advises drilling  the students of the   
high school on the relations in the     
plays of  ,shakespeare of metre to      
character1 whatever that may mean4      
,neither  should ,i set them to         
distinguish1 as is advised by another   
text-book1  between the kinds of        
imagination employed3 7a7 ,modifying2   
7b7  ,reconstructive2 7c7 ,poetical3    
creative1 imperative1 or associative4   

,i could not1 indeed1 do much with such 
subjects1 from the simple fact  that ,i 
do not myself know what such questions  
mean1 and still less  could ,i answer   
them4 ,each instructor1 however1 must   
decide for himself1  and with every     
class decide anew4 ,no fixed standard   
can be established1  but each case must 
be settled on its own merits4           
,,footnotes3    #aaj3a ,the vocabulary1 
of course1 being known before the text  
is  attempted4    #aad3a ,see page #bba4
          ,x    ,,examinational         
,examinations are at present held to be 
an essential part of the  machinery of  
education1 and whether we do or do not  
believe this to  be true1 we are as     
teachers forced to accept them4         
,especially is it  incumbent on teachers
 in the secondary schools to pay much   
attention to  accustoming pupils to     
these ordeals and to preparing them to  
go through  them unscathed4 ,many       
instructors1 as has been said already1  
become so  completely the slaves to this

 process that they confine their efforts
  to it entirely1 and few are able to   
prevent its taking undue importance  in 
their work and in the minds of their    
pupils4    ,the general principle should
 be kept in mind that no examination is 
of  real value for itself in the        
training of youth1 and that to study for
  it directly and explicitly is fatal to
 all the higher uses of the study  of   
literature or of anything else4 ,tests  
of proficiency and advancement  are     
necessary1 but they should be regarded  
as tests1 and no pains  should be spared
 to impress upon every student the fact 
that beyond  this office of measuring   
attainment they are of no value         
whatever4    ,examinations exist1       
however1 and nothing which can be done  
directly is  likely to remove from the  
minds of sub-freshmen the notion that   
they  study literature largely if not   
solely for the sake of being able to    
struggle successfully with the          
difficulties of entrance papers4 ,the   

only means of combating this idea is the
 indirect method of making  the study   
interesting in and for itself2 of       
nourishing a love for  great writings   
and fostering appreciation of           
masterpieces4 ,it may be  added1        
moreover1 that this is also the surest  
way of securing ease and  proficiency on
 just those lines in which it is the    
ambition of pedantic  teachers to have  
their pupils excel4 ,classes are more   
effectively  trained for college tests  
by teaching them to think1 to examine   
for  themselves1 to have real           
responsiveness and feeling for          
literature1  than they can possibly be  
by any drill along formal lines4 ,here  
as  pretty generally in life the        
indirect is the surest4    ,more is done
 in the way of preparation for any      
rational examination1  ,i believe1 by   
training youth to recognize good        
literature and to  realize what makes it
 good1 than by any amount of deliberate 
drill of  especially prescribed works or

 laborious following out of the lines   
indicated by old examination-papers4    
,much of this is effected by what  has  
been spoken of as inspirational         
teaching1 the simple training  of       
children to have real enjoyment of the  
best4 ,in the lower grades  of school   
this is all that can be profitably      
attempted4 ,before the  student leaves  
the secondary school1 however1 he should
 be able for  himself to make in a      
general way an application of the       
principles which  underlie literary     
distinctions4 ,he should be able broadly
 to recognize  the qualities which      
belong to the best work4 ,he should be  
able from  personal experience to       
appreciate the force of the remarks of  
,de  ,quincey3        ,what is it that  
we mean by literature8 ,popularly1 and  
amongst      the thoughtless1 it is held
 to include everything that is          
printed in a book4 ,little logic is     
required to disturb this                
definition4 ,the most thoughtless person

 is easily made aware      that in the  
idea of literature one essential element
 is some      relation to a general and 
common interest of man1 so that what    
applies only to a local or professional 
or merely personal      interest1 even  
though presenting itself in the shape of
 a book1      will not belong to        
literature4 4 4 4 ,men have so little   
reflected on the higher functions of    
literature as to      find it a paradox 
if one should describe it as a mean or  
subordinate purpose of books to give    
information4 ,but this is      a paradox
 only in the sense which makes it       
honorable to be      paradoxical4 4 4 4 
,what do you learn from ,paradise ,lost8
      ,nothing at all4 ,what do you     
learn from a cookery-book8              
,something new1 something you did not   
know before1 in      every paragraph4   
,but would you therefore put the        
wretched      cookery-book on a higher  
level of estimation than the divine     
poem8 ,what you owe to ,milton is not   

any knowledge1 of which a      million  
separate items are still but a million  
of advancing      steps on the same     
earthly level2 what you owe is power1   
that      is1 exercise and expansion to 
your own latent capacity of             
sympathy with the infinite1 where each  
pulse and each separate      influx is a
 step upward1 a step ascending as upon a
 ,jacob's      ladder from earth to     
mysterious altitudes above the earth4   
,all the steps of knowledge1 from first 
to last1 carry you      further on the  
same plane1 but could never raise you   
one foot      above your ancient level  
of earth2 whereas the very first step   
in power is a flight1 is an ascending   
movement into another      element where
 earth is forgotten4--,the ,poetry of   
,pope4    ,if a boy or girl has any     
vital and personal perception of the    
truth  which is here so eloquently set  
forth1 this perception affords a        
certain criterion by which to judge     
whatever work comes to hand4 ,it  will  

also give both the inclination and the  
power to judge rightly1 so  that        
anything which an examination-paper may 
legitimately ask is in so  far within   
the scope of ordinary thought4    ,i    
have ventured1 in another chapter1 to   
give some idea of the way  in which ,i  
think such a work as ,macbeth might be  
treated in  the secondary school4 ,i    
wish to emphasize the fact that it is an
  illustration and not a model4 ,it is  
the way in which ,i should do it2  but  
the teaching of literature1 ,i repeat1  
is naught if it is not marked  by the   
personality of the teacher4 ,of the     
results to be aimed at one  need not be 
in doubt2 concerning the methods there  
are and there should  be as many        
opinions as there are sound and         
individual instructors4 ,this           
illustration ,i have included because it
 may serve as a sort of diagram  to make
 plain things which can only clumsily be
 presented otherwise1  and because ,i   
hope that it may be suggestive even to  

teachers who  differ widely from this   
exact method4    ,what is aimed at in   
this manner of treating the play is     
primarily  the enjoyment of the pupil1  
secondarily the broadening of his  mind1
 and thirdly the training of his powers 
for the examinations  inevitably lying  
in wait for him4 ,it may seem           
contradictory that ,i  put pleasure     
first and yet would begin with          
straightforward drill on  the           
vocabulary4 ,such training1 however1 is 
preparatory to the taking  up of        
literature1 ,i believe it necessary to  
the best results1 and  ,i have already  
said that to my mind no need exists for 
making this  dull4 ,even if it be looked
 upon as simple drudgery1 however1 ,i   
should  not shirk it4 ,children should  
be taught that they are to meet hard    
work pluckily4 ,they cannot evade the   
multiplication-table without  subsequent
 inconvenience1 and the sooner they     
realize that this is true  in principle 
all through life1 the better for them4  

,their enjoyment1  moreover1 will be    
tenfold greater if they earn it by      
sturdy work4    ,it would be well1 ,i   
believe1 if all teachers in the         
secondary  schools who are in the habit 
of concerning themselves largely with   
examinations and of allowing the minds  
of those under them to become  fixed on 
these could realize that readers of     
blue-books are sure to  be favorably    
impressed by two things3 by the         
expression of thoughts  obviously       
individual1 and by the evidence of clear
 thinking4 ,if these  two qualities     
characterize an examination-book1 the   
chances of its  passing muster are so   
large that exact formal knowledge counts
 for  little in comparison4 ,all        
teachers who are intelligently in       
earnest  try to put as little stress on 
examinations as is possible under       
existing conditions1 but not all keep   
clearly in mind the fact that  the best 
remedy for possible harm is the         
cultivation of the student's            

individuality4    ,the question of      
written work in preparation for entrance
 tests is  a difficult one1 and it is   
one which has been largely answered by  
the papers set by the colleges4 ,it is  
natural that teachers who are  entirely 
aware that their own reputations will   
largely depend upon the  success of the 
candidates they send up should endeavor 
to train their  classes in the especial 
line of writing which seems best to suit
 the  ideas of examiners4 ,the principle
 of selection is not1 it seems to me1  a
 sound one1 but it is inevitable4 ,the  
one thing which may be done is  to make 
the topics selected as human and as     
personal as possible3 to  insist that   
the boy or girl who is writing of ,lady 
,macbeth or ,hamlet  shall make the     
strongest effort possible to realize the
 character as  a real being2 shall as   
far as possible take the attitude of    
writing  concerning some actual person  
about whom are known the facts set down 
in the play4 ,this is less difficult    

than it sounds1 and while it is  never  
entirely possible for a child to realize
 ,lady ,macbeth as if she  were a       
neighbor1 most children can go much     
farther in this direction  than is      
generally appreciated4    ,themes       
retelling the plot of novel or play are 
seldom satisfactory4  ,satisfactorily to
 summarize the story of a work of any   
length requires  more literary grasp    
than can possibly be expected in a      
secondary  school4 ,it is far better to 
set the wits of children to work to fill
 up  gaps of time in the stories as they
 are originally written2 to imagine     
what ,macbeth and his wife had said to  
each other before he goes to the        
chamber of ,duncan in the second act1   
for instance1 or the talk between       
,silas ,marner and ,eppie after the     
visit in which ,godfrey ,cass disclosed 
himself as the girl's father4 ,these are
 not easy subjects1 and it is  not to be
 expected that the grade of work        
produced will be high1 but it  is at    

least likely to be original and genuine4
    ,description is a snare into which  
it is easy for teacher or pupil  to     
fall4 ,it generally means the more or   
less conscious imitation of  passages   
from the reading1 or a sort of          
crazy-quilt of scraps in which          
sentences of the author are clumsily    
pieced together4 ,in the highest  grades
 good work may sometimes be obtained by 
asking pupils to describe  the setting  
of a scene in a play1 but this is far   
too difficult for  most classes4        
,examination of character1 of           
situations1 or of motives affords the   
best  opportunity for written work in   
connection with literary study4 ,to make
  literary study subordinate to the     
practice of composition is manifestly   
wrong1 yet in many schools this is done 
in practice even if it is not  justified
 in theory4 ,children should be taught  
to write by other means  than by themes 
in connection with the masterpieces of  
literature4 ,the  old cry against using 

,paradise ,lost1 and the soliloquies of 
,hamlet  as exercises in parsing might  
well be repeated with added emphasis of 
the modern fashion of making            
,shakespeare and ,milton mere adjuncts  
to a  course in composition4 ,the       
written work is1 of course1 to be       
corrected  where it is faulty1 but its  
chief purpose should never be anything  
outside of the better understanding and 
appreciation of the authors  read4      
,in a brief1 sensible pamphlet on       
,methods of ,teaching of ,novels ,may   
,estelle ,cook remarks3        ,there is
 another point which ,i should like to  
make for the      study of character1   
though with some hesitation1 since there
      is room for great difference of   
opinion about it4 ,it is this3      that
 the study of character leads directly  
to the exercise of      the moral       
instinct4 ,whether we like it or not1 it
 is true that      the school-boy--even 
the boy1 and much more the girl--will   
raise the question1 ,is it right8 and   

,is it wrong8 and      that we must     
either answer or ignore these questions4
 ,my own      feeling about it is that  
this irrepressible moral instinct       
was included by ,providence partly for  
the purpose of making a      special    
diversion in favor of the ,english      
teacher4 4 4 4 ,a boy      will read    
scenes in ,macbeth through a dozen times
 for the      sake of deciding whether  
,macbeth or ,lady ,macbeth was chiefly  
responsible for the murder of ,duncan1  
when he will read them      only once   
for the story2 and this extra zeal is   
not so much      because he wants to    
satisfy a craving for facts1 as because 
he      enjoys fixing praise or blame4 4
 4 4 ,my experience with the ,sir       
,roger de ,coverley papers has been that
 the class failed to get      any       
imaginative grasp of them until ,i      
frankly appealed to the      moral      
instinct by asking1 ,what did ,addison  
mean to teach in      this paper8 ,did  
the ,eighteenth ,century need that      

lesson8 and      ,do we still need it8  
,by that process the class have finally 
reached a grasp of ,sir ,roger which has
 given them fortitude to      write a   
theme on ,sir ,roger at an ,afternoon   
,tea4    ,my own definition of          
imagination is evidently not that of the
 writer1  and ,i am not able to agree   
that this appeal to the moral instinct  
develops anything other than an         
intellectual understanding2 but that    
point is unimportant here4 ,the thing   
which is to be noted is that  on the    
moral side children may be able to think
 intelligently and  individually in     
regard to the characters and the        
situations of the  plays and the novels 
read4 ,the teacher1 in choosing such    
subjects for  written work1 must1 of    
course1 be careful to avoid topics which
 have  already been considered in the   
book itself4 ,in a novel by ,george     
,eliot1  for instance1 all possible     
moral issues are likely to be so        
discussed  and rediscussed by the       

novelist as to leave little room for the
  thought of the reader to exercise     
itself independently2 but in all the    
plays of ,shakespeare1 and in the       
fiction of most of the masters1 the     
opportunities are ample4    ,the supreme
 test of any subject which is to be     
given to students in  their written work
 is whether it is one upon which it is  
reasonable  to suppose they can and will
 have thought which is individual and   
therefore original4 ,if it were         
necessary to make nice distinctions     
between that which is and that which is 
not legitimately part of the  study of  
literature as an art1 one must go much  
further than this4 ,the  writing of     
themes1 however1 is part of the         
examinational side of the  work2 the    
main thing is to be sure that it is not 
dwelt upon more  than is necessary1 and 
that it is within the range of the      
personal  experience of the student4 ,if
 teachers feel compelled to set their   
classes to write formal and lifeless    

themes on pedantic topics such  as too  
often appear in examination-papers1 they
 will do well to keep  in mind that this
 is not the study of literature1 but a  
stultifying  process which lessens the  
power of appreciation and replaces      
intelligent comprehension by mechanical 
imitation4           99       99        
99       99       99    ,in connection  
with the subject of this chapter ,i may 
mention a  device which may not be      
without practical value in              
secondary-school  examinations4 ,it     
affords a means of discovering how well 
the student  is succeeding in grasping  
general principles and in making actual 
application of them2 while at the same  
time it should impress upon him  the    
fact that he is not studying merely a   
series of required readings1  but the   
nature and qualities of literature4     
,on an examination-paper in second-year 
,english at the ,institute of           
,technology was put this test3          
,it is assumed that the student has     

never read the following      extract4  
,state what seem its excellent points   
7a7 of      workmanship2 7b7 of thought2
 7c7 of imagination4    ,to this was    
added a brief extract from some standard
 author4    ,the opening statement was  
made in order that the class should     
understand the selection to be not from 
any required reading1 but from  some    
work presumably entirely unfamiliar4    
,the points of excellence only  were    
asked for in order to fix attention on  
merits2 and indirectly  to strengthen1  
so far as might be1 the perception of   
the importance  of looking in literature
 for merits rather than for defects4 ,it
 is  undoubtedly proper that scholars   
should be able to perceive defects1  but
 this power is best trained by educating
 them to be sensitive and  responsive to
 excellencies4#aca3a    ,the necessities
 of time made it impossible to put upon 
the papers of  which ,i am speaking     
extracts of much length1 and the class  
were told  that not much was expected in

 comment upon the thought expressed4    
,the purpose of the question1 that of   
seeing how intelligently they  were able
 to apply such principles as they had   
learned1 was also  frankly put4 ,they   
were warned against generalities and    
statements  unsupported4 ,then they were
 left to their own devices4 ,the results
  were all suggestive1 and of course    
were of widely varying degrees of       
merit4 ,a few samples may be given1     
chosen1 ,i confess1 from those more     
interesting4 ,on one paper were the     
opening lines of the second book of     
,paradise ,lost4        ,high on a      
throne of royal state1 which far        
,outshone the wealth of ,ormus and of   
,ind1      ,or where the gorgeous east  
with richest hand      ,showers on her  
kings barbaric pearl and gold1          
,satan exalted sat4    ,among the       
comments were these3        ,of the     
workmanship of this selection we may say
 that it is      good4 ,the selection of
 words is especially forcible4 ,gorgeous

      east and richest hand are         
extremely so4 ,but what ,i consider     
a fine use of a word is the word        
barbaric4 ,here we can see      the     
early inhabitants of the uncivilized    
rich countries of the      east2 the    
inhabitants ignorant of the value of    
their wealth1      throwing it around as
 we would the pebbles on a beach4 ,the  
thought and the imagination are good4   
,we can see before us the      vividly  
portrayed picture4 ,there sits ,satan   
high above his      surrounding in such 
rich and dazzling magnificence that it  
outshines even the richest kings of the 
richest part of the      world4         
99       99       99       99       99  
,the best point of the workmanship      
consists in placing the      description
 first and not completing the thought   
until the last      line2 thus keeping  
the reader in suspense1 and causing     
careful      attention to be put on all 
the sentence4 ,the words high1          
throne1 royal1 and exalted combine to   

bring out the      thought of ,satan's  
majesty4 ,the thought of unbounded      
wealth is      brought out by the use of
 the word showers in the third line4    
,the author is able to give us a much   
more vivid idea of the      magnificence
 of the throne by letting us construct  
the throne      to suit ourselves than  
by giving a detailed description and    
leaving nothing to the imagination4     
,even the materials are only            
suggested1 the whole idea being one of  
unbounded wealth and      splendor4     
99       99       99       99       99  
,the choice of words is one of the best 
points in the      workmanship of the   
quotation4 ,the arrangement also adds   
emphasis4 ,all the descriptions of the  
throne are so vivid that      the mind  
is deeply impressed by the splendor and 
richness of      the throne4 ,the       
gorgeous east is very expressive of     
wealth      and beauty4 ,with this      
arrangement of words the piece becomes  
very striking and the choice of the     

strongest words is shown      too in    
touch with the whole sentence4 ,whereas 
on the other hand      if any other     
arrangement had been used much of the   
force of      these words would have    
been lost4 ,the thought of the extract  
is to describe the great wealth and     
beauty with which ,satan is             
surrounded4 ,the writer must have a very
 vivid imagination to      describe such
 a scene of wealth and beauty4 ,the     
first word1      ,high1 appeals directly
 to the imagination and immediately     
gives the impression of power4    ,these
 answers were written by boys who had   
not been called upon to do  anything of 
the sort before1 and while their        
inadequacy is evident  enough1 they are 
genuine1 and are sound as far as they   
go4 ,of course1  after such a test1 the 
first business of the teacher is to go  
over the  selection and to show how he  
would himself have answered the         
question4  ,the class is then ready to  
appreciate qualities which might be     

recited  to them in vain before they    
have set their minds to the problem4 ,in
  the examples ,i have given no one has 
touched1 for instance1 upon the         
suggestiveness of the words ,ormus and  
,ind1 but very little is  needed to make
 them see this after they have had the  
passage in an  examination-paper4    ,a 
couple of examples dealing with the     
first two stanzas of ,byron's           
,destruction of ,sennacherib may be     
given by way of showing how a  different
 selection was treated4        ,the     
first thing ,i noticed in reading the   
extract was the      perfect rhythm4    
,you cannot read the extract without    
wanting      to say it aloud4 ,then the 
choice of words struck me3 ,the         
sheen of their spears2 when summer is   
green4 ,it is hard      for me to       
distinguish workmanship1 thought1 and   
imagination4      ,i cannot tell whether
 the words and metaphors used in the    
extract were the result of deliberate   
choice and of long      thought2 but ,i 

strongly suspect that he saw the whole  
thing in      his imagination1 and the  
words just came to him4 ,it is hard     
to understand how anything that reads so
 smoothly could have      been written  
with labor4 ,the strongest point of the 
extract      seems to be its richness in
 illustration3 ,the ,assyrian came      
down like the wolf on the fold4 ,no     
long1 detailed description      could   
explain better the wildness of such an  
attack1 the sudden      swoop of some   
half-barbaric horde1 striking suddenly1 
and then      disappearing into the     
night4 ,the sheen of the spears was like
      stars on the sea4 ,the flash from 
a spear would be just such a      gleam 
as the reflected star from the crest of 
a wave1 visible      for a moment and   
then gone4               99       99    
99       99       99        ,some of its
 excellent points of workmanship are    
melody and      selection of words4 ,the
 melody is excellent4 ,it has a soothing
      effect when read aloud1 and there 

is not a place where      one would     
hesitate in regard to the accenting of  
words4 ,i      believe the melody is so 
good that a person only knowing the     
pronunciation of the first line could   
almost read the rest      of it         
correctly because the sound of each line
 is so closely      connected with that 
of all other lines4 ,the selection of   
words      is very good4 ,there is not a
 place where a substitution could       
be made which would improve the meaning1
 sense1 or melody4 ,the      extract    
shows great thought4 ,in the last       
paragraph especially      where the     
,assyrians are compared to the leaves of
 summer and      in autumn4 ,no better  
thought could bring out more clearly how
      badly the host was defeated4 ,in  
the first paragraph it also             
compares the ,assyrians to a wolf coming
 down upon a fold4      ,this again     
gives a definite idea1 and seems to     
point out how      confident they were  
of victory4 ,the imagination is very    

vivid4      ,you can almost think you   
were on the field and that all the      
events were taking place before you4    
,i have copied these partly to emphasize
 the point that it is idle to  expect   
too much1 and partly to illustrate the  
form in which genuine  perception is    
likely to work out upon a school        
examination-paper4 ,these  have not been
 chosen as the best papers written1 but 
each is good  because each shows sincere
 opinion4    ,this sort of question is  
of course in the line of what is        
constantly  done in class1 but it is    
after all a different thing when it is  
made  to emphasize the idea that an     
examination is a test of the power to   
appreciate literature instead of an     
exercise of memory4      ,,footnotes3   
#aca3a ,see page #bje4          ,,xi    
,,the ,,study ,,of ,,prose      ,method 
in teaching is properly the adaptation  
of the personality of  a given teacher  
to the personality of a given class4 ,it
 cannot be  defined by hard and fast    

rules1 and the only value in presenting 
such  illustrations as the following is 
that they may afford hints which        
teachers will be able with advantage to 
develop in terms of their own           
individuality4 ,the way that is wise in 
one is never to be set down as  the way 
best for another2 and here as elsewhere 
,i offer not a model  but simply an     
illustration4 ,if it suggest1 it has    
fulfilled a better  purpose than if it  
were taken blindly as a rigid guide4    
,my own feeling would be that classes in
 literature should be provided  with    
nothing but the bare text1 without notes
 of any kind unless with  a glossary of 
terms not to be found in available books
 of reference4  ,in the matter of       
looking up difficulties the books of    
reference in the  school library should 
be used2 and if the school has no       
library beyond  the dictionary1 ,i      
should still hold to my opinion4 ,the   
vocabulary may  be very largely worked  
out with any fairly comprehensive       

dictionary1  and what cannot be         
discovered in this way is better taken  
viva voce  in recitation than swallowed 
from notes without even the trouble of  
asking4 ,much will be done1 moreover1 by
 the not unhealthy spirit of  emulation 
which is sure to exist where the pupils 
are set to use their  wits and to report
 the result in class4 ,they will        
remember much better2  and1 what in     
general education is of the very first  
importance1 they  will have admirable   
practice in the use of books of         
reference4 ,many  difficulties must be  
explained by the teacher2 but this1 ,i  
insist1 is  better than the following of
 notes1 a habit which is sure to        
degenerate  into lifeless memorizing4   
,the model text for school use would be 
cut in those few passages not suited for
 the school-room1 would be  clearly     
printed1 and would be as free as        
possible from any outside  matter       
whatever4 ,in the case of poetry the    
ideal method would be to  keep the text 

out of the hands of the student         
altogether until all  work necessary to 
the mastering of the vocabulary had been
 done3 but  in practice such voluntary  
reading as a pupil chose to do          
beforehand  would do no harm other than 
possibly to distract his attention from 
the learning of the meaning of words and
 phrases4 ,in prose he will  generally  
be in a key which allows the            
interruption of a pause for  looking up 
words without much injury to the effect 
of the work4    ,the study of prose is  
of course directed by the same          
principles as that  of poetry1 but the  
application is in school-work somewhat  
modified  in details4 ,in the first     
place the vocabulary of any prose used  
in the schools is not likely to contain 
obsolete words such as are  found in    
,shakespeare1 and in the second place   
the length of a novel  forbids its being
 read aloud in class in its entirety4 ,i
 have taken my  illustrations chiefly   
from books included in the ,college     

,requirements1  because these books are 
the ones with which the majority of     
teachers  are obliged to work4 ,the ,sir
 ,roger de ,coverley papers are sure to 
be taken up in any school-room where    
literature is studied to-day1  and      
,burke ,on ,conciliation is one of the  
inevitable obstacles in  the way of     
every boy who wishes to enter college4  
,whatever the work1  however1 the       
important thing is that each pupil shall
 understand1 shall  appreciate1 and     
shall connect what he reads with his own
 life4    ,the order in which different 
works are taken up in class is a matter 
of much moment4 ,no rules can be given  
arbitrarily to govern the  arrangement  
of the readings1 since much depends upon
 the individual  class to be dealt with4
 ,on general principles1 for instance1  
it might  seem that ,burke's ,speech1 as
 being the least imaginative of the     
prescribed work1 might well come first2 
but on the other hand1 the  argument    
demands intellectual capacity and       

maturity which will often  require that 
it be not put before a given group of   
scholars until they  have had all the   
training they can gain from the other   
requirements4  ,a teacher can hardly    
afford to have any rule in the whole    
treatment  of literature which is not so
 flexible that it may be modified or    
disregarded entirely when circumstances 
require4 ,the ideal method1  perhaps1   
would be to give a class first a few    
short pieces as tests1  and then to     
arrange their longer work upon the basis
 of the result4    ,if the ,speech is to
 be taken up first or last1 it must be  
preceded by  a clear understanding of   
the history of the conditions with which
 ,burke  dealt4 ,this knowledge should  
have been obtained in the history class1
  and the use of facts obtained in      
another branch affords one of the       
opportunities for doing that useful     
thing which should be kept always  in   
sight1 the enforcing of the fact that   
all education is one1 although  for     

convenience of handling necessarily     
divided into various branches4  ,if the 
class has not had the requisite         
instruction in history1 the  teacher of 
,english is forced to pause and supply  
the deficiency1 as  it is hopeless to   
try to go on without it4 ,the argument  
of ,burke is  pretty tough work for any 
class of high-school students1 and      
without  familiarity with the           
circumstances which called it forth is  
utterly  unintelligible4    ,the        
vocabulary of ,burke contains few words 
which need to be studied  beforehand1   
and indeed it is perhaps better to treat
 the speech as  so far a logical rather 
than an imaginative work that without   
other  preparation than a thorough      
mastery of the circumstances under which
  it was delivered and of the political 
issues with which it dealt the  class   
may be given the text directly4 ,in the 
first reading the thing  to be insured  
is the intelligent comprehension of the 
language and of  the argument4 ,in the  

first half-dozen paragraphs1 for        
instance1 such  passages as these must  
be made perfectly clear3        ,i hope1
 ,sir1 that notwithstanding the         
austerity of the ,chair1      your good 
nature will incline you to some degree  
of indulgence      toward human frailty4
        ,the grand penal bill4          
,returned to us from the other ,house4  
,we are not at all embarrassed 7unless  
we please to make      ourselves so7 by 
any incongruous mixture of coercion and 
restraint4        ,from being blown     
about by every wind of fashionable      
doctrine4    ,this is clear enough in   
meaning1 but the class should notice the
  suggestion of the biblical phrase     
which insinuates that a good deal of    
the political fluctuation which has     
complicated the question of the         
treatment of the colonies has been like 
the hysterical instability of  those who
 run after every fresh eccentricity     
offered in the name of  religion4       
,i really did not think it safe or manly

 to have fresh      principles to seek  
upon every fresh mail that should arrive
      from ,america4        ,it is in   
your equity to judge4                   
,parliament1 having an enlarged view of 
objects4        ,a situation which ,i   
will not miscall1 which ,i dare not     
name4        ,that the public tribunal  
7never too indulgent to a long and      
unsuccessful opposition7 would now      
scrutinize our conduct with      unusual
 severity4        ,we must produce our  
hand4        ,somewhat disreputably4    
,the whole oration is studded with      
passages such as these1 and it is  the  
habit of too many instructors to expect 
the student to depend upon  notes for   
the solution of such difficulties4 ,i   
have already indicated  that ,i believe 
this to be an unwise and weakening      
process2 and in a  political document of
 this sort a drill for elucidating      
difficulties  may well be undertaken    
when in an imaginative work more        
latitude may be  allowed in the way of  

sliding over them4    ,the reading of   
the speech as a whole could hardly be   
attempted with any  profit until the    
class has mastered its technicalities   
and its logic4  ,the oration differs in 
this from more imaginative literature4  
,here it  is not only proper but        
necessary to make analysis part of the  
first  reading4    ,the class should for
 itself make a summary of the speech as 
it goes  forward4 ,for each paragraph   
should be devised a single sentence     
which  gives clearly and concisely the  
thought1 so that at the conclusion a    
complete skeleton shall have been made4 
,each student should make these         
sentences for himself as part of his    
preparation of a lesson1 and from  a    
comparison in the class the final form  
may be selected4 ,some of the  school   
editions do this admirably1 but one of  
two things seems to me  indisputable3   
either the ,speech is too difficult for 
students to  handle or they should make 
their own summaries4 ,to do this part of

 the  work for them is to deprive the   
study of its most valuable element4     
,the best justification such a selection
 can have for its inclusion  in the list
 of required books is that it may fairly
 be used for this  careful analytical   
work without prejudice to the effect of 
the piece as  a whole4 ,in other words1 
no objection exists to treating this    
especial  selection first from the      
purely intellectual point of view4 ,to  
consider  a play of ,shakespeare first  
intellectually would seem to me utterly 
wrong2 but this argument of ,burke is   
intentionally addressed to the  reason  
rather than to the imagination1 and     
would therefore logically be  so read4  
,beside the mere interpretation of      
difficult passages1 the pupil should  be
 made to discern and to weigh the value 
and effect of the admirable  sentences  
in which the orator has condensed whole 
trains of logic4        ,the concessions
 of the weak are the concessions of     
fear4        ,a wise and salutary       

neglect4        ,the power of refusal1  
the first of all revenues4        ,the  
voluntary flow of heaped-up plenty4     
,all government--indeed1 every human    
benefit and enjoyment1      every virtue
 and every prudent act--is founded on   
compromise      and barter4    ,the     
study of phrases of this sort is        
admirable training for the  reasoning   
faculties of the scholar1 it educates   
the powers of reading1  and it may be   
made a continuous lesson in the nature  
and value of  literary technique4 ,of   
this study of literary workmanship ,i   
shall speak  later2 here it is          
sufficient to point the necessity at    
once and the  advantage of dwelling on  
these vital thoughts so admirably       
expressed4    ,by the time the oration  
has been gone through with1 and a       
summary of  each paragraph made in the  
class1 a skeleton is ready from which   
the  argument may be considered as a    
whole4 ,in some schools students will be
  able to criticise from an historical  

point of view1 and any intelligent  boy 
to whom the oration is given for study  
should be able to judge of  the logic of
 the plea4    ,if the ,speech is to     
justify its claim to being literature in
 the  higher sense1 however1 it is not  
possible to stop with the intellectual  
study4 ,the question of what constitutes
 literature is better taken up1  it     
seems to me1 near the end of the course 
of secondary work1 if it is  to come in 
at all2 but preparation for dealing with
 that question must  come all along the 
line4 ,when ,burke has been studied for 
his political  meanings1 his argument   
summed up and examined1 the intellectual
 force  of the parts and of the whole   
sufficiently considered1 then it is     
necessary to look at the imaginative    
qualities of the work4    ,i would never
 set children to examine any piece of   
prose or verse for  any qualities until 
,i was sure they understood what they   
are to look  for4 ,if they are to       
examine the oration for imaginative     

passages1  they must first know clearly 
what an imaginative passage is4 ,here   
the  previous training of the class is  
to be reckoned with4 ,some classes  must
 be taught the significance of the term 
imaginative by having  the passages     
pointed out to them and then analyzed2  
others are so far  advanced as to be    
able to discover them4 ,the thing ,i    
wish to emphasize  is that when the     
simply intellectual study has progressed
 far enough1  the imaginative must      
follow4 ,passages which may be used here
 are such  as these3        ,my plan 4 4
 4 does not propose to fill your lobby  
with      squabbling colony agents1 who 
will require the interposition      of  
your mace at every instant to keep peace
 among them4 ,it      does not institute
 a magnificent auction of finance1 where
      captivated provinces come to      
general ransom by bidding against       
each other1 until you knock down the    
hammer1 and determine a      proportion 
of payments beyond all powers of algebra

 to equalize      and settle4           
99       99       99       99       99  
,such is the strength with which        
population shoots in that part      of  
the world1 that1 state the numbers as   
high as we will1      whilst the dispute
 continues1 the exaggeration ends4      
99       99       99       99       99  
,look at the manner in which the people 
of ,new ,england have of      late      
carried on the whale fishery4 ,whilst we
 follow them among      the tumbling    
mountains of ice1 and behold them       
penetrating into      the deepest frozen
 recesses of ,hudson ,bay and ,davis    
,strait1      whilst we are looking for 
them beneath the ,arctic ,circle1 we    
hear that they have pierced into the    
opposite region of polar      cold1 that
 they are at the antipodes and engaged  
under the      frozen ,serpent of the   
south4 ,falkland ,island1 which seemed  
too remote and romantic an object for   
the grasp of national      ambition1 is 
but a stage and resting-place in the    

progress of      their victorious       
industry4 ,nor is the equinoctial heat  
more      discouraging to them than the 
accumulated winter of both poles4       
,we know that while some of them draw   
the line and strike the      harpoon on 
the coast of ,africa1 others run the    
longitude and      pursue their gigantic
 game along the coast of ,brazil4 ,no   
sea      but is vexed by their          
fisheries4 ,no climate that is not      
witness      of their toils4            
99       99       99       99       99  
,a people who are still1 as it were1 but
 in the gristle1 and not      yet       
hardened into the bone of manhood4      
,passages of this sort are frequent in  
the speech1 and it is not  difficult to 
make the pupils not only recognize them1
 but appreciate  the quality which      
distinguishes them from the             
matter-of-fact statements  of figures1  
statistics1 or other necessary          
information4    ,a step further is to   
make the class see how the imagination  

shows in a  passage like the famous     
sentence3        ,i do not know the     
method of drawing up an indictment      
against a      whole people4    ,these  
dozen or so words may profitably be made
 the subject for an  entire lesson1 and 
if this seem a proportionately          
extravagant amount  of time to give to a
 single line1 ,i can only say that to do
 one thing  thoroughly is not only      
better than to do a score superficially1
 but in  the long run it is economy of  
time as well4 ,if the class can be led  
to  discuss the meaning of the phrase1  
and the principles upon which ,burke    
rested the argument which is behind this
 superb proposition1 not only  will the 
hour have been well spent in developing 
the ideas of the  students1 but the     
whole oration will be wonderfully       
illuminated4 ,when  to this is added an 
adequate understanding of the           
imaginative grasp  which seizes the     
personality of a whole nation1 perceives
 its majesty1  its sovereignty1 and the 

impossibility of arraigning it before   
the bar  like a criminal1 the student is
 getting the best that the study of the 
oration can give him4    ,written work  
should be kept within the limits of the 
capability of  the individual pupil to  
think intelligently4 ,perhaps the best  
means  of enforcing upon a class the    
vigor of ,burke's style at once and the 
completeness of the oration as a whole  
is that of requiring from each  an      
expression1 as clear and as exact as    
possible1 of just what the  orator      
wished to effect1 and an estimate1 as   
critical as the pupil is  capable of    
making1 of how the means employed were  
especially adapted  to carry out his    
purpose4 ,such work will be useless if  
the teacher  does the reasoning1 but    
much may be elicited by skilful leading 
in  recitation1 and after the scholars  
have done all that they can do1 the     
instructor may add his comment4         
,after the ,speech on ,conciliation may 
reasonably come1 if the required  list  

of readings is being followed1 the ,sir 
,roger de ,coverley ,papers4  ,here one 
deals with work more deliberately       
imaginative4 ,preparation  for taking up
 these essays should begin with a brief 
account of the  ,spectator and of the   
circumstances under which they were     
written4 ,the  less elaborate this is   
the better1 so long as it serves the    
purpose of  giving the class some notion
 of the point of view2 and indeed it is 
to  be doubted whether as a matter of   
fact any great harm would be done if    
even this were omitted4 ,what is needed 
is to interest the class in the  work1  
and facts about times and circumstances 
seldom effect much real  good in this   
study4    ,the vocabulary will give     
little trouble4 ,it is well to be sure  
that  the readers understand beforehand 
such words as may be rather remote  from
 daily speech4 ,in the account of the   
club 7,march #b1 #agaj-aa71  for        
instance1 the list given out for test   
might include such terms  as these3     

baronet1 country-dance1 shire1 humor1   
modes1 ,soho-square1  quarter-sessions1 
game-act4 ,in the first paragraph1 from 
which these  words are taken1 are also  
two or three phrases which should be    
familiar  before the reading is         
undertaken3 never dressed afterward1 in 
his merry humors1 rather beloved than   
esteemed1 and justice of  the quorum4   
,the historical allusions1 as           
represented by the names  ,lord         
,rochester1 ,sir ,george ,etherege1 and 
,dawson1 go also into this  preliminary 
study4    ,the paper should be first    
read as a whole1 with no other          
interruption  than may come in the form 
of questions from the class4 ,the       
teacher  should make no effort at       
anything here but intelligent reading4  
,then  the paper may be given out for   
careful study2 the form of this may be  
varied at the pleasure of the teacher   
and the needs of the class4 ,the        
presentation of character is the point  
to be most strongly brought  out1 and   

this must be done delicately but as     
completely as possible4  ,the ,de       
,coverley ,papers necessarily seem to   
the modern youth extremely  remote from 
actual life as he knows it1 and the     
majority of ,institute  students with   
whom ,i have talked admit that they     
found ,addison very  quiet1 or1 in their
 own phrase1 slow4 ,the characters are  
accordingly  apt to appear to them dim  
and unreal2 to be hardly more alive than
 the  figures on an ancient tapestry4   
,this feeling cannot be wholly overcome1
  especially in the limited time which  
is at the command of the teacher  of    
school literature1 yet whatever         
vividness of impression a reader  of the
 essays gets is directly proportional to
 the extent to which  ,sir ,roger and   
his friends emerge from the land of     
shadows1 and seem  to the boys and girls
 genuine flesh and blood4 ,the chief    
care of the  instructor in dealing with 
these papers1 the aim to which          
everything  else should be subordinated1

 is to encourage and to develop the     
sense  of reality4 ,the little touches  
by which the personality of the old     
knight is shown must be dwelt upon as   
each appears2 and in the end a  summary 
of these may be made as a means of      
stating briefly but clearly  ,sir       
,roger's character4 ,constantly1 too1 by
 means homely enough to  be clearly and 
easily intelligible to the class1 must  
each of these  passages be connected    
with the personal experiences of the    
children4  ,in the essay generally      
headed ,sir ,roger at ,home1 for        
instance1 the  author remarks3          
,sir ,roger1 who is very well acquainted
 with my humor1 lets me      rise and go
 to bed when ,i please2 dine at his own 
table1 or in      my chamber1 as ,i     
think fit2 sit still1 and say nothing1  
without      bidding me be merry4       
,the whole situation1 that of a notable 
man's visit to a country  squire1 is    
utterly foreign to the pupil's probable 
experience4 ,he can1  however1 be made  

to recall occasions in which he has been
 considered  and his wishes consulted4  
,he may or may not as a guest have      
tested  different forms of hospitality1 
but he easily decides how under given   
circumstances he would wish to be       
treated4 ,from this he is without       
difficulty led to an appreciation of the
 consideration with which ,sir  ,roger  
was intent not upon his own wishes or   
the ease of his household1  but upon the
 pleasure of his guest4 ,few boys or    
girls can have come to  the school age  
without understanding what a drawback to
 good spirits  it is to be told to be   
merry1 and they can appreciate the      
common sense  of the knight in thinking 
of this1 and his tact in not bothering  
his  guest4 ,the same thoughtful        
kindness is shown in the way ,sir ,roger
  protected his lion from sightseers4   
,incidentally the point may be made  in 
passing that ,addison humorously took   
this means of impressing on the  reader 
of the ,spectator the importance of the 

supposed writer4    ,the best           
preparation a teacher can make for      
dealing with these  essays is to get    
clearly into his own mind the           
personality1 the  characteristics1 even 
the outward appearance of each of the   
characters  dealt with4 ,it is          
impossible to make these quiet and      
delicately drawn  pictures real and     
alive unless we have for them a genuine 
love and a  sense of acquaintance2 and  
,i know of no method by which in        
practical  work this can be communicated
 except by the vivifying of such        
passages  as that quoted above4    ,each
 student should bring to the class a    
statement of what he regards  as the    
chief thought in each paper as it comes 
up1--not the moral of  the paper1 but   
the chief end which the writer seems to 
have in view1  the thought which most   
strongly strikes the reader4 ,these     
opinions  should be talked over in      
class1 and from them one produced which 
at  least the majority of the class are 

willing to accept4 ,no pupil1  however1 
should be discouraged from holding to   
his own original  proposition1 or from  
adopting a view at variance with that of
 the  majority4    ,always if           
possible1--and personally ,i should make
 it possible1 even at  the sacrifice of 
other things1--the paper should last of 
all be read  as a whole without         
interruption4 ,the fact should always be
 kept before  the minds of the pupils   
that the essay is not a collection of   
detached  facts or thoughts1 but that it
 is a whole1 and that it can fairly be  
received only in its entirety4          
99       99       99       99       99  
,to stretch out illustrations of the    
teaching of particular books would  only
 be tedious1 and ,i trust ,i have done  
enough to make evident what ,i  believe 
should be the spirit of work done in the
 studying of prose  in the secondary    
schools4 ,the matter is of comparative  
simplicity as  contrasted with the      
handling of poetry2 and ,i have         

therefore reserved  most of my space for
 the latter4 ,no one knows better than  
,i that any  formal method is fatal to  
real and vital work2 and what ,i have   
written  has been largely inspired by a 
knowledge that many instructors are at a
  loss to formulate any rational method 
at all1 while others1 ,i am forced      
sorrowfully to add1 seem never even to  
have perceived that any method  is      
possible4          ,,xii    ,,the       
,,study ,,of ,,the ,,novel              
,whatever may be the entrance           
requirements and whatever the prescribed
  course in the way of fiction1 ,i      
should begin the study of the novel     
with a modern book4 ,to hold the        
attention of the majority of modern     
children long enough for them to form   
any adequate idea of the quality  and   
characteristics of any work of the      
length of an ordinary novel1  long      
enough for them to gain an idea which   
conceives of the work  as a whole and   
not as a collection of detached scenes  

and scraps1  is sufficiently difficult  
in any case4 ,it should not be made more
  difficult by selecting as a text a    
book requiring effort in the            
understanding of vocabulary1 point of   
view1 setting1 and the rest4  ,ivanhoe  
is good in its place1 but it is not     
adapted to use as first  aid to the     
untrained4 ,it is probable that a class 
after sufficient  experience in fiction 
may be able to handle ,silas ,marner1   
and it is  apparently fated by the      
powers that be that they must struggle  
with  ,the ,vicar of ,wakefield2 but    
they certainly need preliminary practice
  before they are set to grapple with   
those fictions so remote from  their    
daily lives4 ,they should begin with    
something as near their own  world as   
possible2 and ,treasure ,island1 the    
scene laid in the land  of boyhood's    
imaginings1 is an excellent example of  
the sort of story  which may well be    
used to introduce them to the serious   
consideration  of this branch of        

literature4    ,a little preliminary    
talk may well precede the actual        
reading4 ,the  teacher should be sure   
that the class has a fair idea of what  
piracy  is1--a matter generally of      
little difficulty1--and of the social   
conditions under which the tale begins4 
,the actual geography of the  romance   
need not be considered much1 although   
students lose nothing if  they are      
trained to the habit of knowing         
accurately the location of  such real   
places as are named in any story2 but   
the imaginary geography  of the tale1   
the topography of the island1 should be 
well mastered4  ,beyond this1 the       
teacher should have prepared a list of  
words to be  learned before any reading 
is done4 ,this should include all those 
in  the first assignment that are likely
 to bother the child in the first  going
 over of the text4 ,in the opening      
chapter1 for instance1 such  words as   
these3        ,buccaneer 7title of ,part
 ,i74      ,capstan bars4               

,connoisseur4      ,dry ,tortugas4      
,spanish ,main4      ,hawker4           
,assizes4    ,in this chapter are a     
couple of allusions to the costume of   
the time1  but as they are intelligible 
only when taken as sentences they may be
  left for the reading in class3        
,one of the cocks of his hat having     
fallen down4        ,the neat1 bright   
doctor1 with his powder as white as     
snow4    ,when the class comes together 
the vocabulary is to be taken up as a   
solid and distinct task1 and after that 
is disposed of1 the text may  follow4   
,it is generally impossible to give the 
time to the reading  aloud of an entire 
novel2 but ,i am inclined to believe    
that at least  the opening chapters1 the
 portion of the story which must be most
  deliberately considered if the young  
reader is to go on with the tale  in    
full possession of the atmosphere and   
the characters as they are  introduced1 
should always be thus taken up4 ,the    
portions assigned  for each lesson must 

be brief at first1 but may wisely       
increase as  the interest grows and     
familiarity with personages and         
situations is  enlarged4    ,the first  
chapter1 then1 having been read aloud1  
the class may make a  list of the       
characters introduced3 ,squire          
,trelawney1 ,dr4 ,livesey1 the  old     
pirate not yet named1 the father1 the ,i
 who is telling the story4  ,the seaman 
who brings the chest and the neighbors  
are obviously of no  permanent          
importance4    ,of these characters the 
class should give orally so much of an  
impression as they have obtained from   
this chapter4 ,this is simple with  the 
buccaneer1 fairly easy in regard to ,dr4
 ,livesey and the inn-keeper1  but more 
difficult in the case of the boy4 ,the  
paragraph beginning3        ,how that   
personage haunted my dreams1 ,i need    
scarcely tell you--    and the opening  
sentence of the following paragraph3    
,but though ,i was so terrified by the  
idea of the seafaring man      with one 

leg1 ,i was far less afraid of the      
captain himself than      anybody else  
who knew him--    give admirable        
material for class discussion4 ,the     
first should appeal  to the children1   
who must be made to understand that to  
,jim ,hawkins the  one-legged seafaring 
man was not a mere idea1 but an actual  
personage  for whom he was set to watch1
 and of whom even the terrible old      
,billy  ,bones was mortally afraid4 ,the
 second at once illustrates how the     
unknown was more frightful to the lad   
than the veritable flesh and  blood     
pirate2 and it shows also by excellent  
contrast how terrifying  the buccaneer  
was to the frequenters of the inn4      
,for the second chapter the vocabulary  
would for most classes include  such    
words as        ,cutlass4      ,talons4 
,chine4      ,lancet4    ,the           
expressions which should be made clear  
in class would include3        ,cleared 
the hilt of his cutlass4      ,showed a 
wonderfully clean pair of heels4        

,fouled the tap4      ,stake my wig4    
,open a vein4    ,this chapter has a    
number of delicate touches which should 
be brought  to the notice of the class2 
such as the lump in the throat of ,black
  ,dog while he waited for the pirate in
 moral terror2 his clever excuse  for   
having the door left open apparently    
that he might be sure ,jim was  not     
listening1 but in reality that he might 
have a way of escape in  case of danger2
 the picture of the gallows in the      
tattooing4    ,the characters of ,billy 
,bones and ,jim are added to in the     
chapter1  and that of the doctor made   
more clear4 ,the touch by which the boy 
is  made to feel compassion for the     
pirate when ,bones turns so ghastly at  
the sight of ,black ,dog is one which   
should not be missed4 ,the story1  too1 
begins to develop1 and the youthful     
reader must be unusually  insensitive if
 he does not speculate upon the past of 
,bones and upon  the relation of the    
pirate with ,black ,dog4    ,it is not  

necessary to go on with this sort of    
analysis1 for the method  ,i am         
detailing must be essentially that of   
most teachers4 ,if the points  mentioned
 seem to some over-minute1 ,i can only  
say that since the  aim is to teach     
children how to handle fiction1 the task
 of training  them to be intelligently  
careful in their reading is of the first
  importance4 ,there is no risk of      
making them finical or too minutely     
observant4 ,this is moreover the study  
of a novel1 and it should be  more      
careful than reading is supposed to be4 
,it is morally certain  that any child  
will fall below the standard set1 and it
 is therefore  necessary to have the    
standard as high as it can be without   
tiring or  confusing the children4      
,when the book has been gone through in 
this way comes the important  question  
of dealing with it as a whole4 ,it would
 hardly be wise to ask  children        
directly what they think of a book as a 
complete work2 and yet  that is the     

thing at which the teacher wishes to    
arrive4 ,the way has  been prepared by  
the study of character and the          
discussion of incident  throughout4 ,in 
the end the subject of character as it  
is seen from the  beginning of the tale 
to the close may easily lead the way to 
making  up some estimate of the book as 
a unit4 ,first1 do the persons in the   
romance act consistently2 second1 do the
 incidents follow along so that  they   
seem really to have happened4 ,these    
questions will at first have a  tendency
 to bewilder young readers1 who are     
likely to accept anything  in a romance 
as if it were true1 and to have no      
judgment beyond the  matter whether the 
book does or does not interest them4 ,it
 is not to  be expected that they will  
go very deep or be very broad in their  
dealing with such points in the case of 
a first novel1 but they can  make a     
beginning4 ,they cannot in the book in  
question go far in what is  the natural 
third question concerning a book as a   

whole3 ,does it show  clearly and truly 
the development of character under the  
circumstances  of the story4 ,jim       
,hawkins is at the end of the book      
manifestly older  and more manly than at
 the start1 as shown1 for instance1 by  
his  refusal to break his word to       
,silver when the doctor talks with him  
over the stockade and urges him to come 
away with him4 ,with the other          
characters it is more the bringing out  
of traits already existing than  the    
developing of new ones4 ,john ,silver is
 of course by far the most  masterly    
figure in the book--although the student
 should be allowed  to have his own idea
 in regard to this4 ,indeed1 one of the 
ways in  which he judges and should     
judge a book as a whole is by deciding  
what  personage in it is1 all things    
considered and the story taken all      
through1 most clearly and sharply       
defined4 ,the class should be able to   
see and to appreciate how the tale as it
 progresses brings to light one  phase  

after another of the amazing character  
of ,silver1 up to his pluck  at the     
moment when the treasure-seekers        
discover that the gold has been  taken  
away from the cache and to his humble   
attitude toward the ,squire  when the   
cave of ,ben ,gunn is reached4          
,lastly1 perhaps1--for ,i do not insist 
upon the order in which these  points   
should be taken up1 but only give them  
in the sequence which to  me seems      
likely to be most natural and           
effective1--the class should  be brought
 to appreciate the construction of the  
book4 ,this involves  obviously the way 
in which the author weaves together     
incidents so that  each shall have a    
part in the general scheme2 but it also 
involves the  way in which he brings out
 the part that the individual traits and
  character of the persons in the story 
had in leading up to the end4 ,in       
,treasure ,island1 for instance1 it is  
easy to show how one thing leads  to    
another1 and how out of the chain no    

link could be taken without  breaking   
the continuity4 ,this should not be     
impressed upon the class1  however1 as a
 matter of invention on the part of the 
author4 ,children  know that the book is
 a fiction1 but they prefer to ignore   
this4 ,it is  not well to make the fact 
part of the instruction4 ,the way to    
handle  this is to dwell upon the skill 
with which he has arranged particulars1 
and passed in his narrative from one    
party to another so as to have  each    
incident clear4 ,pupils may be reminded 
of how easy it is to mix  the details of
 a story so as to confuse the hearer or 
the reader1 and  thus may be made to    
appreciate to some degree the cleverness
 of the  workmanship which so           
distinguishes the work of ,stevenson4   
,more subtle in a way and yet not beyond
 the comprehension of the  school-boy is
 the part which character plays in      
shaping events and  moulding the story4 
,the restlessness and the curiosity of  
,jim1 from  the adventure of the        

apple-barrel to the saving of the ship1 
are  essentials in the tale2 and equally
 the diabolical cleverness and          
unscrupulousness of ,silver shape the   
events of the story from  beginning to  
end4    ,one more illustration may be   
taken from the novel which is so        
generally  included in high-school      
,english1 ,scott's ,ivanhoe4 ,here it is
  necessary to prepare for the story by 
the acquirement of a certain  amount of 
history4 ,it is perhaps as well to take 
the first five#aei3a  paragraphs of the 
opening chapter as a preliminary lesson1
 and to  treat it as history pure and   
simple4 ,in preparation for this lesson 
the  following vocabulary should be     
mastered3        ,dragon of ,wantley4   
,wars of the ,roses4      ,vassalage4   
,inferior gentry1 or franklins4         
,feudal4      ,the ,conquest4      ,duke
 ,william of ,normandy4      ,normans4  
,anglo-,saxons4      ,battle of         
,hastings4      ,laws of the chase4     
,chivalry4      ,hinds4      ,classical 

languages4    ,a few other expressions1 
such as petty kings1 should be looked   
after  in the reading1 lest the class   
get a false impression4 ,the geography  
of  the river ,don and of ,doncaster may
 be passed over2 but it is perhaps      
better1 especially in this historical   
preliminary1 to require full  accuracy  
in this particular4 ,to my thinking all 
this should be looked  up by the        
students1 and never taken from notes    
appended to the text4    ,the five      
paragraphs in which ,scott gives the    
historic background  should be taken    
frankly as a piece of work out of which 
the class is  to make as clear a        
conception of the period of the tale as 
possible4  ,the pupils should use their 
common sense and their intelligence in  
studying it1 getting all out of it that 
they can get4 ,then it should  be read  
aloud in the class1 and carefully gone  
over4 ,the aim should be  to have       
understood as clearly as possible what  
were the political and  the social      

conditions of the time when the events  
of the romance are  represented as      
taking place4 ,such other historic      
personages as enter  into the story     
without being mentioned in this         
preliminary sketch  should be brought   
into this exposition4 ,thus when ,king  
,richard and  ,prince ,john and ,robin  
,hood the semi-historic come upon the   
stage the  student will be prepared for 
the effect which the novelist intended1 
and will have1 moreover1 that pleasure  
which a young reader always  feels in   
finding himself equal to an occasion4   
,this preliminary work being            
accomplished1 the rest of the book will 
probably have to be largely assigned for
 home reading4 ,the opening  chapters1  
however1 and the most striking scenes   
must certainly be read  aloud in class4 
,a sufficient portion for a lesson will 
be assigned each  day4 ,a list of words 
for that portion will be given out with 
it to be  learned first4 ,no teacher    
will suppose1 ,i fancy1 that in every   

case a  student will master the         
vocabulary before he reads the          
selection1 but  the principle is sound  
and the words would at least be all     
taken up in  class before any reading is
 done4 ,students should be told to read 
the  selection aloud at home1 and should
 come to the class acquainted with  the 
meaning and significance of each        
passage1 or prepared to ask about  them4
    ,at the beginning of the novel1 when
 the reader is learning the  situation  
and the characters concerned1 the       
assignments must be shorter  than in the
 latter part of the book1 when these    
things are understood  and the current  
of the tale runs more swiftly4 ,the     
remainder of the  first chapter1 from   
the paragraph beginning ,the sun was    
setting is  quite enough for a first    
instalment4 ,the following words make up
 the  preliminary vocabulary3           
,rites of druidical superstition4       
,scrip4      ,bandeau4      ,harlequin4 
,rational4      ,quarter-staff4         

,murrain4      ,eumus4    ,the method of
 treating the fiction itself has been   
sufficiently  indicated in the previous 
illustration from ,treasure ,island1 but
 may  be briefly touched upon4 ,in this 
chapter of ,ivanhoe are introduced  two 
characters4 ,both are described at some 
length1 but in the case of  both        
important touches here and there add to 
the impression4 ,gurth is  said at the  
beginning to be stern and sad1 and in   
the talk the reasons  come out4         
,the mother of mischief confound the    
,ranger of the forest1 that      cuts   
the foreclaws off our dogs1 and makes   
them unfit for their      trade4        
,little is left us but the air we       
breathe1 and that appears      to have  
been reserved with much hesitation1     
solely for the      purpose of enabling 
us to endure the tasks they lay upon our
      shoulders4    ,we have a proof of 
his impulsiveness in the dangerous      
freedom with  which he speaks to ,wamba1
 and of how daring this is we are made  

aware  when the jester says to him3     
,i know thou thinkest me a fool1 or thou
 wouldst not be so      rash in putting 
thy head into my mouth4 ,one word to    
,reginald      ,front-de-,buf 4 4 4 thou
 wouldst waver on one of these trees    
as a terror to all evil speakers against
 dignities4    ,of the superstition of  
,gurth we have proof by his fear at the 
mention  of the fairies4        ,wilt   
thou talk of such things while a        
terrible storm of      thunder and      
lightning is raging within a few miles  
of us8    ,here is a fairly satisfactory
 portrait of ,gurth1 although other     
traits  of character are developed as   
the book goes forward4 ,at the end of   
the novel the attention of the class may
 be directed to the skilful  way in     
which at the very start ,scott has      
struck in the words of ,gurth  the      
keynote of the oppression of the        
,normans and the hatred for them  in the
 hearts of the ,saxons2 but a point of  
this sort should not be  anticipated4   

,it will tell for more if it is left    
until it has had its  full effect and   
its place as a part of the whole romance
 may be clearly  shown4           99    
99       99       99       99    ,one   
last word ,i cannot bring myself to     
omit4 ,i have said elsewhere that  ,i   
disbelieve in the drawing of morals1 and
 at the risk of repetition ,i  wish to  
emphasize this in connection with       
fiction4 ,the temptation here  is       
especially strong4 ,it is so easy to    
draw a moral from any tale ever  written
 that two classes of teachers1 those    
morally over-conscientious  and those   
ignorantly inept1 are almost sure to    
insist that their  classes shall drag a 
moral lesson out of every story4 ,the   
habit seems  to me thoroughly vicious4  
,it is proper to make the character of  
the  persons in the novel as vivid as   
possible4 ,the villain may be made  as  
hateful to ,god and to man as the       
testimony of the author will in  any way
 allow2 but when that is done the       

children should be left to  draw their  
own morals4 ,they should not even be    
allowed to know that  the teacher is    
aware that a moral may be drawn1 and    
still less should  they be asked to     
discover one4 ,if they draw a moral     
themselves or ask  questions about one1 
this is well1 so long as they are       
sincere and  spontaneous4 ,if they are  
left entirely to themselves in this they
 will  in a healthy natural fashion get 
from the story such moral instruction   
as they are capable of profiting by1 and
 they will not be put into that         
antagonistic attitude which human nature
 inevitably takes when it is  preached  
to4      ,,footnotes3    #aei3a ,five in
 the original4 ,some school editions1   
for what reason ,i  do not know1 omit   
paragraph five1 which begins3 ,this     
state of things ,i  have thought it     
necessary to premise4          ,,xiii   
,,the ,,study ,,of ,,macbeth      ,how  
,i conceive the study of poetry may be  
managed in school-work ,i have  already 

indicated somewhat fully1 but one       
concrete example is often  worth a dozen
 abstract statements4 ,in the literary  
work of almost every  high school is now
 included the study of at least one     
,shakespearean  play1 and as ,macbeth is
 so generally selected as the one to be 
first  taken up1 ,i have chosen that as 
an illustration4    ,the study of any   
play1 as ,i have said1 should begin with
 a requirement  that the class master   
the vocabulary4 ,the pupils should be   
made to  understand that the need of    
doing this is precisely the same as the 
need of learning common speech for the  
sake of comprehending the talk  of      
every-day life1 or of mastering the     
vocabulary of ,french before  going to  
the theatre to hear a play in that      
language4 ,the scholars  should be told 
frankly that this will not be           
particularly easy work1  but that it is 
to be taken in the same spirit that one 
learned the  multiplication-table4 ,no  
harm can come of letting the class      

expect this  part of the work to be full
 harder than it really is1 and at least 
it  is well to have students understand 
that they are expected to labor to  fit 
themselves for the enjoyment of         
literature4    ,in this preparation the 
aim is to make it possible for the      
readers  to go on with the text without 
important interruptions4 ,this purpose  
determines what words and passages shall
 be taken up4 ,some difficulties  may   
safely and wisely be left for the second
 reading of the play1 and  as it is well
 in these days not to expect too much of
 the industry  of youth1 the teacher    
will do well to keep the list of words  
to be  mastered as short as may be4 ,the
 whole play should be prepared for      
before any of it is read1 but ,i give   
only examples from the first act4  ,i   
should suggest--each teacher to vary the
 list at his pleasure--that  in the     
first act the following words should be 
dealt with4 ,the numbers  of the lines  
are those of the ,temple ,edition4      

,alarum4 ,this occurs in the            
stage-directions of scene ii4 ,the class
  will see at once that it differs from 
alarm1 and can be made to  appreciate   
how from the strong rolling of the      
r--alarr'm came to  this form4 ,that the
 latter form is now used in the sense of
 a warning  sound1 and especially in the
 sense of a sound of trumpet or drum to 
announce the coming of a military body  
or the escort of importance  affords a  
good example of the manner in which     
synonyms are established  in the        
language4 ,a quotation or two may help  
to fix the word in mind3        ,our    
stern alarums changed to merry          
meetings--,richard ,,iii1      i1 #a4   
,and when she speaks1 is it not an      
alarum to love8--,othello1      ii1 #c4 
,the dread alarum should make the earth 
quake to its      centre4--,hawthorne1  
,old ,manse4    ,kerns and              
gallowglasses1 ii1 #ac4 ,it may be      
enough to give simply  the fact that the
 first of these uncouth words means     

light-armed and  the second heavy-armed 
,irish troops4 ,if the teacher likes1   
however1 he  may add a brief mention of 
the passage from ,barnabie ,riche3      
,the ,galloglas succeedeth the          
,horseman1 and hee is commonly          
armed with a skull1#afg3a a shirt of    
maile1 and a ,galloglas      axe2 his   
service in the field is neither good    
against horsemen1      nor able to      
endure an encounter of pikes1 yet the   
,irish do      make great account of    
them4 ,the ,kerne of ,ireland are next  
in      request1 the very drosse and    
scum of the countrey1 a generation      
of villaines not worthy to live3 these  
be they that live by      robbing and   
spoiling the poor countreyman1 that     
maketh him      many times to buy bread 
to give unto them1 though he want       
for himself and his poore children4     
,these are they that are      ready to  
run out with every rebell1 and these are
 the very      hags of hell1 fit for    
nothing but for the gallows4--,new      

,irish      ,prognostication4    ,thane1
 ii1 #de4 ,this word may be made        
interesting by its close  connection    
with the ,anglo-,saxon4 ,thegan was     
originally a servant1  then technically 
the king's servant1 and so an           
,anglo-,saxon nobleman and  one of the  
king's more immediate warriors4         
,bellona1 ii1 #ed4 ,the mythological    
allusion is of course easy to  handle4  
,composition1 ii1 #ei4 ,this ,i would   
include in the list chiefly to          
emphasize how often a little common     
sense will solve what at first  sight   
seems a difficulty of language4 ,craves 
composition is so easily  connected with
 composing difficulties or any similar  
phrase that an  intelligent pupil can   
see the point if he is only alive to the
 force of  language4    ,aroint1 iii1   
#f4 ,it will interest most scholars to  
learn that this  word--except for modern
 imitations--is found only in           
,shakespeare1  and in him but twice1    
both times in the phrase ,aroint thee1  

witch  7the second instance1 ,lear1 iii1
 #d74 ,they will be at least amused  by 
the possibility of its being derived    
from a dialect word given  in the       
,cheshire proverb quoted by an old      
author named ,ray in #afic1  and        
probably in use in the time of          
,shakespeare3 ',rynt you1 witch1'  quoth
 ,bessie ,locket to her mother2 and in  
the speculation whether  the dramatist  
himself made the word4 ,the curious     
derivation of the  term from rauntree or
 rantry1 the old form of rowan1 or      
mountain-ash1  is sure to appeal to     
children who have seen the rowan        
ripening its  red berries4 ,the         
mountain-ash1 or the quicken1 as it is  
called in  ,ireland1 is one of the most 
famous trees in ,irish tradition1 and is
  sacred to the ,gentle ,people1 the    
fairies4 ,it was of old regarded as a   
sure defence against witches1 and the   
theory of some scholars is that  the    
original form of the exclamation given  
by ,shakespeare was ,i've a  rauntree1  

witch1 ,i've a rowan-tree1 witch4 ,all  
that it is necessary  for the reader to 
know is that the word is evidently a    
warning to the  witch to depart2 but    
there can be no objection to introducing
 into  this preliminary study of the    
vocabulary matter which is likely to    
arrest attention and to fix meanings in 
the mind4    ,rump-fed ronyon1 iii1 #f4 
,it is hardly worth while to do more    
with  this than to have it understood   
that ronyon is a term of contempt1      
meaning scabby or something of the sort1
 and that rump-fed1 while it  may refer 
to the fact that kidneys1 rumps1 and    
scraps were perquisites  of the cook or 
given to beggars1 probably indicates    
nothing more than a  plump1 over-fed    
woman4    ,pent-house lid1 iii1 #bj4 ,a 
pent-house is from the dictionary found 
to be a sloping roof projecting from a  
wall over a door or window2 and  from   
this to the comparison with the eyebrow 
is an easy step4 ,that the  simile was  
common in the sixteenth century may be  

shown by numerous  quotations1 as1 for  
instance1 the passage in ,thomas        
,decker's ,gull's  ,horne-book1 #afji3  
,the two eyes are the glasse windows1 at
 which light disperses      itself into 
every roome1 having goodlie pent-houses 
of hair to      overshadow them4    ,in 
the second chapter of ,ivanhoe3         
,had there not lurked under the         
pent-house of his eye that sly          
epicurean twinkle4    ,and so on down to
 our own time1 when ,tennyson1 in       
,merlin and ,vivian1  writes3        ,he
 dragged his eyebrow bushes down1 and   
made      ,a snowy pent-house for his   
hollow eyes4    ,insane root1 iii1 #hd4 
,in ,plutarch's ,lives1 which in the    
famous  translation of ,north was       
familiar to ,shakespeare and from which 
he took  material for his plays1 we are 
told that the soldiers of ,anthony in   
the  ,parthian war were forced by lack  
of provisions to taste of roots that    
were never eaten before2 among which was
 one that killed them1 and made  them   

out of their wits4 ,any intelligent     
student would be likely to  understand  
the force of this phrase from the       
context1 but it is well to  speak of it 
beforehand to avoid distraction of the  
attention in reading4    ,coign1 vi1 #g4
 ,jutty1 from our common use of the verb
 to jut1  carries its own meaning1 and  
the use of the word coign in this       
passage is given in the ,century        
,dictionary4    ,sewer1 vii1            
stage-directions4 ,the derivation and   
the meaning are  also given in the      
,century ,dictionary1 with illustrative 
quotations4    ,so far for single words 
which would be likely to bother the     
ordinary  student in reading4 ,the list 
might be extended by individual teachers
  to fit individual cases1 and such     
words included as choppy1 iii1 #dd2     
blasted1 iii1 #gg2 procreant1 vi1 #h2   
harbinger1 iv1 #de2 flourish1  iv1 end2 
martlet1 vi1 #d2 ,god 'ield1 vi1 #ac2   
trammel up1 vii1  #c2 limbec1 vii1 #fg4 
,it is well1 however1 not to make the   

list longer  than is absolute necessary2
 and as the vocabulary of the whole play
 is  to be taken up1 it is better to    
trust to the general intelligence of    
the class as far as possible4      ,,ii 
,these doubtful or obsolete words having
 been mastered by the class1  and the   
lines in which they occur used as       
illustrations of their use1  the next   
matter is to take up obscure passages4  
,these may be blind  from unusual use of
 familiar words or from some other      
cause4 ,where  the difficulty is a      
matter of diction it is hardly worth    
while to  make further division into    
groups1 and in the first act the        
following  passages may be given to the 
students to study out for themselves if 
possible1 or to have explained by the   
teacher if necessary3        ,say to the
 king the knowledge of the broil        
,as thou did leave it4--ii1 #f4         
99       99       99       99       99  
,for brave ,macbeth--well he deserves   
that name--      ,disdaining fortune1   

with his brandished steel      ,which   
smoked with bloody execution1      ,like
 valour's minion carved out his passage 
,till he faced the slave2      ,which   
ne'er shook hands1 nor bid farewell to  
him1      ,till he unseam'd him from the
 nave to chaps1      ,and fix'd his head
 upon our battlements4--ii1 #af-bc4     
99       99       99       99       99  
,except they meant to bathe in reeking  
wounds1      ,or memorize another       
,golgotha1      ,i cannot tell4--ii1    
#ci-da4               99       99       
99       99       99        ,till that  
,bellona's bridegroom1 lapp'd in proof1 
,confronted him with self-comparisons1  
,point against point rebellious1 arm    
'gainst arm1      ,curbing his lavish   
spirit4--ii1 #ed-eg4               99   
99       99       99       99        ,he
 shall live a man forbid4--iii1 #ba4    
99       99       99       99       99  
,the weird sisters1 hand in hand1       
,posters of the sea and land4--iii1 #cb1
 #cc4               99       99       99

       99       99        ,art not      
without ambition1 but without      ,the 
illness should attend it4--v1 #bj-ba4   
99       99       99       99       99  
,all that impedes thee from the golden  
round      ,that fate and metaphysical  
aid doth seem      ,to have thee crowned
 withal4--v1 #cj-ca4               99   
99       99       99       99           
,to beguile the time      ,look like the
 time4--vi1 #fc4               99       
99       99       99       99           
--,those honors deep and broad wherewith
      ,your majesty loads our house3 for
 those of old      ,and the late        
dignities heap'd up to them      ,we    
rest your hermits4--vi1 #af-bj4         
99       99       99       99       99  
,this ,duncan      ,hath borne his      
faculties so meek4--vii1 #af-ag4        
99       99       99       99       99  
,what cannot you and ,i perform upon    
,the unguarded ,duncan8 what not put    
upon      ,his spongy officers1 who     
shall bear the guilt      ,of our great 

quell4--vii1 #fi-gb4    ,this list again
 may be made longer or shorter1 with the
 same proviso  as before1 that it be not
 unnecessarily distended4 ,phrases like 
craves composition and insane root1     
which ,i have put into the  first       
section1 may be grouped here if it seems
 better4 ,i have not felt  it needful to
 indicate the way in which the meaning  
of these obscure  passages is to be     
brought out1 for the method would be    
essentially the  same as that taken to  
interest the class in the vocabulary of 
detached  words4      ,,iii    ,passages
 possibly obscure from the thought may  
for the most part be  left for the later
 study of the play in detail4 ,a few of 
them it is  well to take up for the     
simple purpose of training the student  
in  poetic language1 and some need to be
 understood for the sake of the  first  
general effect4 ,in the first act of    
,macbeth the passages which  it is      
actually necessary to examine are few1  
but the list may be made  long or short 

at the pleasure of the teacher4 ,the    
following may serve  as examples3       
,the merciless ,macdonwald--            
,worthy to be a rebel1 for to that      
,the multiplying villainies of nature   
,do swarm upon him4--ii1 #i-ab4         
99       99       99       99       99  
,as whence the sun 'gins his reflection 
,shipwrecking storms and direful        
thunders break1      ,so from that      
spring whence comfort seem'd to come    
,discomfort swells4--ii1 #be-bh4        
99       99       99       99       99  
,but thither in a sieve ,i'll sail1     
,and like a rat without a tail1         
,i'll do1 ,i'll do and ,i'll do4--iii1  
#h-aj4    ,this passage is a good       
example of what may be passed over in   
the first  reading1 yet which if        
understood adds greatly to the force of 
the  effect4 ,if the scholar knows that 
according to the old superstition a     
witch could take the form of an animal  
but could be identified by the  fact    
that the tail was wanting1 the idea of  

the hag's flying through  the air on the
 wind to the tempest-tossed vessel bound
 for ,aleppo1  and on it taking the form
 of a tailless rat to gnaw1 and gnaw1   
and  gnaw till the ship springs a leak1 
is sure to appeal to the youthful       
imagination4        ,my thought1 whose  
murder yet is but fantastical1          
,shakes so my single state of man that  
function      ,is smothered in surmise1 
and nothing is      ,but what is        
not4--iii1 #aci-adb4    ,this is one of 
those passages which is sure to puzzle  
the ordinary  school-boy1 although a    
little help will enable him to          
understand it1  and to see how natural  
under the circumstances is the state of 
mind  which it paints4 ,the murder is as
 yet only imagined 7fantastical71  and  
yet the thought of it so shakes         
,macbeth's individual 7single7          
consciousness 7state of man7 that the   
ordinary functions of the mind  are lost
 in confused surmises of what may come  
as the consequences of  the deed2 until 

to his excited fancy nothing seems real 
7is7 but what  the dreadful surmise     
paints1 although that does not yet      
exist4                    ,your servants
 ever      ,have theirs1 themselves1 and
 what is theirs1 in compt      ,to make 
their audit to your highness' pleasure1 
,still to return your own4--vi1 #be-bh4 
99       99       99       99       99  
,his two chamberlains      ,will ,i with
 wine and wassail so convince1          
,that memory1 the warder of the brain1  
,shall be a fume1 and the receipt of    
reason      ,a limbec only4--vii1       
#fc-fg4    ,the whole of ,macbeth's     
soliloquy at the beginning of scene vii 
is a  case in point4 ,it may be taken up
 here1 but to my thinking is better     
treated after the class is familiar with
 the circumstances under which  it is   
spoken4      ,,iv    ,the taking up of  
especially striking passages beforehand 
may be omitted  altogether1 although    
what ,i consider the possible advantages
 ,i have  already indicated4#age3a      

,perhaps the better plan is to do this  
after  the first reading of the play1   
and before the second reading prepares  
the way for detailed study4 ,the sort of
 passage ,i have in mind is  indicated  
by the following examples3        ,if   
you can look into the seeds of time1    
,and say which grain will grow and which
 will not4--iii1 #eh-ei4    ,the        
attention of the pupils may be called to
 the especial force and  fitness of the 
image4 ,the impossibility of telling    
from the appearance  of a seed whether  
it will grow or what will spring from it
 makes very  striking this comparison of
 events to them1 so unable are we to say
  which of these seeds of time will     
produce important results and which     
will show no more growth than a seed    
unsprouting4        ,dun4 ,this castle  
hath a pleasant seat2 the air           
,nimbly and sweetly recommends itself   
,unto our gentle senses4        ,ban4   
,this guest of summer1             ,the 
temple-haunting martlet1 does approve   

,by his loved mansionry that the        
heaven's breath             ,smells     
wooingly here4--vi1 #a-g4    ,this is   
not only charming as poetry1 but it is  
excellent as a help to  train the class 
to appreciative reading by attention to 
significant  details4 ,nimbly1--with a  
light1 quick motion1--the air recommends
  itself1--comes upon us in a way which 
makes us appreciate its  goodness1--unto
 our gentle1--delicate1 capable of      
perceiving subtle  qualities1--senses4  
,in the reply of ,banquo the use of     
guest1 one  favored and invited1 of     
temple-haunting1 conveying the idea of  
one  frequenting places consecrated and 
revered1 of loved mansionry1  dwellings 
which the eye loves to recognize1 all   
help to strengthen the  impression1 and 
to give the feeling to the mind which we
 might have  from watching the flight of
 the slim1 glossy swallows flitting     
about  their nests4    ,it is not       
necessary to multiply examples1 since   
each teacher will  have his personal    

preferences for striking passages2 and  
since many  will probably prefer to     
leave this whole matter to be taken up  
in the  reading4      ,v    ,the first  
reading of a play1 whether it come      
before or after the  mastering of the   
vocabulary1 should be unbroken except by
 the pauses  necessary between          
consecutive recitations1 and must above 
everything be  clear and intelligible4  
,in all but the most exceptional        
circumstances  it should be done by the 
teacher1 the class following the text in
  books of their own4 ,no teacher who   
cannot read well has any business  to   
attempt to teach literature at all1 for 
reading aloud is the most  effective of 
all means to be used in the study4 ,this
 does not mean that  the reading should 
be over-dramatic1 and still less that it
 should be  what is popularly known as  
elocutionary2 but it does mean that it  
shall be agreeable1 intelligent1 and    
sympathetic4 ,the teacher must  both    
understand and feel the work1 and must  

be trained to convey both  comprehension
 and emotion through the voice4 ,the    
pupils will from a  first reading get   
chiefly the plot1 but they may also be  
unconsciously  prepared for the more    
important knowledge of character which  
is  naturally the next step in the      
process of studying the drama4    ,as   
preparation for the first reading of    
,macbeth little is needed in  the way of
 general explanation4 ,the discussion of
 the supernatural  element1 of the      
responsibility of the characters1 and of
 the central  thought of the play1 may  
safely be left for later study4 ,young  
people  will respond to the direct      
story1 and it is not unwise to let the  
plot produce its full effect as simple  
narrative4 ,it is well to state         
beforehand how it comes that the        
kingship does not necessarily go by     
immediate descent1 and so to make it    
evident how ,macbeth secured the        
throne2 it may be well also to comment  
briefly on the state of society  in     

which crime was more possible than now2 
but beyond this the play may  be left to
 tell its own tale4    ,in this first   
reading the teacher will do well to     
indicate such points  of stage-setting  
as are not evident1 and such stage      
business as is  necessary to the        
understanding of the scene4 ,it is as   
well1 however1  not to give too much    
stress to this4 ,to follow the play of  
emotions  is with children instinctive1 
and this they will do without dwelling  
on the details of the scene too closely 
in a material sense4 ,at least  a very  
little aid will be sufficient at this   
stage4 ,in a subsequent  reading these  
matters may be more fully brought out1  
although ,i am  convinced that even then
 it is easy to overdo the insisting upon
 aids  to visualization4    ,what may be
 done and should not be omitted is the  
interspersion in  passing of comments so
 brief that they do not interrupt1 yet  
which  throw light upon meanings which  
might otherwise be likely to pass       

unnoticed4 ,nothing should be touched   
upon in this way which is so            
complicated as to require more than a   
word or two to make it plain4  ,what ,i 
mean is illustrated by these examples3  
,i come ,graymalkin4      ,paddock      
calls4--i1 #i1 #aj4    ,the voice in    
reading conveys the idea that the       
witches speak to  familiar spirits in   
the air1 but it is well to state that   
fact  explicitly4        ,what1 can the 
devil speak true8--iii1 #ajg4    ,banquo
 thinks instantly of the word of the    
witches1        ,glamis1 and thane of   
,cawdor1 etc4--iii1 #aaa-aai4    ,in    
these lines and in #abf-adg1 it is of so
 much importance that the  distinction  
between the asides and the direct speech
 be appreciated  that it may be well to 
call attention to the changes4          
,cousins1 a word1 ,i pray you4--iii1    
#abf4    ,banquo draws the others aside1
 probably to tell them of the prediction
  by the witches of the news they have  
brought1 and this gives ,macbeth a      

moment by himself to think of the       
strangeness of it4        ,think upon   
what hath chanced4--iii1 #aec4    ,this 
is said1 of course1 to ,banquo4         
,we will establish our estate upon      
,our eldest son1 ,malcolm4--iv1 #cg4    
,here the conditions of succession      
already spoken of may be alluded  to1   
and the fact noted that if ,macbeth had 
entertained any hopes of  succeeding    
,duncan legitimately1 these were now    
dispelled4        ,and when goes        
hence8--v1 #fj4    ,the sinister        
suggestion of this may well be          
emphasized by calling  attention to it4 
,by your leave1 hostess4--vi1 #ca4      
,with these words ,duncan1 who has taken
 the hand of ,lady ,macbeth1 turns  to  
lead her in4      ,,vi    ,once the play
 has been read as a whole the way has   
been prepared for  more careful         
attention to details4 ,for each         
recitation the parts should  be assigned
 beforehand for oral reading1 three or  
four pupils being  assigned to each part

 so that in a long scene opportunity is 
given for  bringing a number of the     
students to their feet4#ahj3a ,it is    
well  to prepare for this second reading
 by selecting the central motive of  the
 play1 and having the class discuss it4 
,in the case of ,macbeth it  is easy to 
select ambition as the main thread4 ,in 
some plays a single  passion or emotion 
is not so easily detached1 but it is    
generally  needful to remember that if  
children are to be impressed and are to 
see things clearly1 they must be dealt  
with simply2 so that even at  the       
expense of slighting for the time being 
some of the strands it is  well to keep 
to the principle of naming one and      
holding to it with  straightforwardness 
until the work is tolerably familiar4   
,the children should be made to say--not
 to write1 for contagion of  ideas is of
 the greatest importance here--what they
 understand by  ambition1 how far they  
have noticed it in others1 and perhaps  
how far  felt it themselves4 ,a wise    

teacher should have little difficulty in
  making such a talk personal enough to 
enforce the idea without letting  it    
become too intimate4 ,it can be brought 
out that the test of ambition  is the   
extent of the sacrifices one is willing 
to make to gratify  it4 ,the ambition   
already spoken of to excel in class1 to 
be at the  head of the school baseball  
nine or football team1 to be popular    
with  friends1 and so on for the common 
ambitions of life may seem trifling1    
but it belongs to the language of the   
child's life4 ,here and there  the      
teacher finds pupils who might seize the
 conception of ambition  without        
starting so near the rudiments1 but most
 need it2 ,i am unable  to see how any  
can be hurt by it4 ,it is much more     
difficult to get a  conception vividly  
into the minds of twenty pupils together
 than it is  to impress the same thing  
upon a hundred separately1 and ,i should
 never  feel that ,i could afford to    
neglect the humblest means which might  

be  serviceable4 ,the talk1 moreover1   
does not stop here4 ,it is to be led on 
to what the boys and girls would wish to
 be in the world2 and from this  to     
historic instances of what men have done
 to gratify their ambitions4  ,the      
assassination of the late ,king of      
,servia is still so recent as  to seem  
much more real than murders farther back
 in history1 and it  lends itself well  
to the effort to make vital the tragedy 
that is  being studied4 ,i am not for an
 instant urging that literature shall be
  treated in too realistic a manner1 as 
,i hope to show before ,i conclude2  but
 ,i do not feel that there is any fear  
of making it too real to the  boys and  
girls with whom one must deal to-day in 
our schools4    ,it is perhaps well1    
too1 that some comment should be made at
 this stage  on the supernatural        
element4 ,a class is likely to have had 
geometry by  the time it has come to the
 study of ,shakespeare1 and most        
children can  with very little          

difficulty be made to understand that in
 ,macbeth  and ,the ,ancient ,mariner   
the existence of the supernatural is the
  hypothesis upon which the work        
proceeds4 ,when this is understood it is
  not amiss to develop the idea that    
,shakespeare perhaps introduced the     
witches as a way of showing how evil    
thoughts and desires spring up in  the  
heart4 ,the class will easily see that  
the ideas of ambition1 of  the          
possibility of gaining the crown1 which 
little by little grew in  the heart of  
,macbeth can be better shown to an      
audience by putting the  words into the 
mouths of the witches than by means of  
soliloquies4 ,this  giving of reasons   
why the dramatist does one thing or     
another should  not be pressed too far  
and should be touched upon with caution4
 ,it is  often better to let a detail go
 unremarked than to run the risk of     
confusing the mind of the pupil4 ,the   
witches1 however1 are almost sure  to be
 remarked upon1 and they must be        

considered frankly4    ,in this second  
reading such obscure passages as have   
been glided over  before are to be taken
 into consideration4 ,if the pupils     
have1 as  they should have1 texts       
unencumbered with notes1 they may be    
given a  scene or two at a time1 and    
told to use their wits in elucidating   
the  difficulties4 ,often they show     
surprising intelligence in this line1   
and the bestowal of praise where it is  
deserved is one of the most  effective  
as well as one of the pleasantest parts 
of the whole process4  ,what they cannot
 elucidate alone1 they may be if        
possible helped to  work out in class1  
or1 if this fails1 may be told outright4
 ,if they  have tried to arrive at the  
true meaning1 they are in a condition   
when  an explanation will have its best 
and fullest effect4    ,passages in the 
first act of ,macbeth which ,i have thus
 far passed  over deliberately1 to the  
end that the pupil be not bothered over 
too  many difficulties at once1 are such

 as these3        ,fair is foul1 and    
foul is fair1--i1 #aa4        ,where the
 ,norweyan banners flout the sky        
,and fan our people cold4--ii1 #di1 #ej4
        ,nor would we deign him burial  
of his men      ,till he disbursed1 at  
,saint ,colme's inch4--ii1 #ei1 #fj4    
,ten thousand dollars4--ii1 #fb4    ,if1
 as is likely to be the case1 the       
greater part or all of the class  have  
passed the word dollars without notice1 
that fact serves to  illustrate the need
 of care in reading4 ,that they should  
pass it1  moreover1 illustrates also how
 the anachronism might pass unnoticed   
in ,shakespeare's time1 when historical 
accuracy was the last thing  about which
 a playwright bothered his head4 ,the   
teacher may well here  refer back to the
 idea of considering literature as the  
algebra of the  emotions1 and remind the
 class that as the poet was not         
endeavoring  to write history or to tell
 what happened in a concrete instance1  
but  only to represent the abstract     

principle of such a situation as that in
  which ,macbeth and his wife were      
involved1 a departure from historical   
accuracy is of no importance so long as 
it does not disturb the effect  on the  
mind of the audience or reader4         
,no more that thane of ,cawdor shall    
receive      ,our bosom interest4--ii1  
#fc1 #fd4        ,i'll give thee a      
wind4--iii1 #aa4    ,the supposed power 
of the witches to control the winds and 
the  superstitions of the sailors about 
buying favorable weather from them  may 
be taken up in the first reading2 but it
 seems better to leave it  for the time 
when the effect of the play as a whole  
has been secured1  and the interruption 
will be less objectionable4        ,his 
wonders and his praises do contend      
,which should be thine or his3 silenced 
with that4--iii1 #fc4        ,that1     
trusted home4--iii1 #abj4        ,poor  
and single business4--vi1 #af4          
,like the poor cat i' the adage4--vii1  
#de4    ,it is not necessary to continue

 this list4 ,its length is decided by   
the  one fixed principle to which is no 
exception3 it is too long the moment    
the teacher fails to hold the interest  
of the class in the work which  is being
 done4 ,no amount of information        
acquired or skill in passing            
examinations can compensate for the harm
 done by associating the plays  of      
,shakespeare in the minds of the student
 with the idea of dulness or  boredom4  
,textual explanation1 however1 is of    
small importance as compared to an      
intelligent grasp of the office and     
effect of each incident and each  scene 
in the development of the story and of  
the characters of the  actors in the    
tragedy4 ,at the end of each scene1 or  
for that matter  at any point which     
seems well to the instructor1 the       
students should  in this second reading 
be called upon to comment orally on what
 has  been done in the play and what has
 been shown4 ,i have much more faith  in
 the genuineness of what a boy says on  

his feet in the class room  than in what
 he may write at home4 ,a teacher with  
the gentlest hint may  at once stop     
humbug and conventionality when it is   
spoken1 but when  stock phrases1        
conventional opinions1 views imperfectly
 remembered or  consciously borrowed    
from somebody's notes have been neatly  
copied out  in a theme1 no amount of red
 ink corrects the evil that has been    
done4  ,the important thing is to get an
 appreciation1 no matter how limited or 
imperfect it may be1 which is yet       
genuine and intelligent4    ,with the   
matter of disputed readings1 ,i may say 
in parenthesis1 the  teacher in the     
secondary school has no more to do than 
to answer doubts  which may arise in the
 minds of the pupils4 ,personally ,i    
should offer  to the consideration of   
the class the conjectural reading of the
 line        ,vaulting ambition1 which  
o'erleaps itself4--vii1 #bg4            
,vaulting ambition1 which o'erleaps its 
selle 7saddle72    because it seems to  

me so plausible and because it is likely
 to commend  itself4 ,for the most part1
 however1 ,i should let sleeping dogs   
lie1 and  if nobody noticed the possible
 confusion of the text1 ,i would not    
risk  confusion of mind by calling      
attention to it4    ,the personal       
opinions of the class upon the actions  
and the acts of  the characters are not 
difficult to get at in this way1 and    
often will  be the more fully shaped and
 more clearly thought out if the pupil  
is  constrained to defend an unpopular  
view4 ,i am not introducing anything    
new1 for this sort of discussion is     
carried on by every intelligent         
teacher2 it is mentioned here only for  
the sake of completeness in the  process
 of treating a play in the class-room4  
,,vii    ,it may seem superfluous to    
some teachers to end the study as it    
began1  by a complete1 uninterrupted    
reading of the whole4 ,it is possible   
that  sometimes it would weary a class  
already weary of going over the same    

ground2 but if so the class has been on 
the wrong tack throughout4 ,i  make the 
suggestion1 however1 in confidence that 
the effect will be  good1 and that the  
students will enjoy this review4        
,whether the reading  is done by teacher
 or pupils depends somewhat upon        
circumstances2 but  it should certainly 
be by the pupils if possible4           
,,viii    ,i have carefully and         
intentionally omitted all mention of the
 study of  the sources of the plot1 the 
probable date of the play1 and things of
  that sort which interest thorough     
,shakespearean scholars1 and which  are 
the chosen subjects of pedantic         
formalists4 ,metrical effects and       
subtilties are beyond any pupils ,i have
 ever encountered in secondary  schools4
 ,i do not believe that students in the 
secondary schools should  be troubled   
with any study of this sort4 ,the       
teacher should of course  be prepared   
briefly to answer any questions of this 
nature which are  put1 and to show the  

pupils where in books of reference      
information  may be found4 ,the great   
principle is1 however1 to include in the
 study  nothing which does not enhance  
the impression of the play as a work of 
imaginative literature1 and to omit     
everything which can possibly be  spared
 without endangering this general       
effect4    ,the danger of overshadowing 
literary study with irrelevant          
information  is great and constant4 ,the
 amount of special knowledge which a    
child  must acquire to appreciate a play
 of ,shakespeare's is unhappily large   
in any case2 and the constant aim of the
 teacher should be to reduce  this to a 
minimum4 ,it is far better that a pupil 
go through the work  with imaginative   
delight and fail to get the exact       
meaning of half  the obscure passages   
than that he be bored and wearied by an 
exact  explanation of all of them at the
 expense of the inspiration of the  work
 as a whole4 ,my painful doubts of the  
wisdom of our present scheme  of        

insisting upon the study of literature  
in the common schools arises  largely   
from the unhappy necessity of having so 
much explained and  the too common lack 
of courage to do a sufficient amount of 
judicious  ignoring of difficulties4    
,,ix    ,i cannot shirk entirely1 as ,i 
should be glad to do1 the question of   
written work on the play we have been   
considering4#ahh3a ,it is a  thousand   
pities that children must be required to
 write anything about  ,macbeth when    
they have read it2 but it is evident    
that under existing  conditions they    
will be required to produce something on
 paper4 ,in  regard to this ,i must     
repeat that they should never be asked  
to write  as exercises in composition4  
,everything that a child writes is1 in  
one sense1 a rhetorical exercise1 but   
the teacher should impress it  upon the 
class that here the chief aim is to get 
an expression of the  child's thought4  
,the more completely the children can be
 made to feel  that this is not a       

composition1 but a statement of         
impressions1 of  personal tastes1 and of
 opinions1 the better4    ,what subjects
 are suited for written work is a matter
 which must be  decided by each teacher 
according to the dispositions1 the      
knowledge1  the aptitude shown by the   
scholars in a particular class4 ,it will
  inevitably be influenced largely by   
examination-papers2 and in the  face of 
the lists of subjects provided by these 
it is idle to offer  any particular     
suggestions4 ,in general the test of a  
subject1 so far  as real benefit is     
concerned1 is whether it is one upon    
which the  student may fairly be        
expected to be able to feel and to      
reason in  terms of his own experience4 
,a subject is suited to his needs so    
long1  and so long only1 as he is able  
to consider it as a matter which might  
concern him personally4 ,he may think   
crudely and he must of course  think    
inadequately2 but he should at least    
think sincerely and without  regard to  

what somebody else has thought before   
him4 ,he should be  original in the     
sense that he is putting down his own   
impressions1 is  writing thoughts which 
have not been gathered from books1 but  
have been  come at by considering the   
play in the light of whatever knowledge 
he  personally has of life and human    
nature4    ,much may depend1 it is worth
 remarking1 upon the way a subject for  
theme-work is given out4 ,phrases count 
greatly in all human affairs1  but      
especially in the development of        
children4 ,adults are supposed  to      
understand words so readily as to be    
free from the danger of  receiving wrong
 impressions from phraseology which is  
unfamiliar2 but  whether this be true or
 not1 certain it is that the young are  
often  bewildered by words and queerly  
affected by turns of language4 ,the same
  theme-subject may be hopelessly       
incomprehensible or at least unhappily  
remote when stated in one way1 while in 
another wording it is entirely          

possible4 ,the first essential is to    
make clear beyond all possibility  of   
doubt what is required1 and this is to  
be accomplished only by using  language 
which the student understands4 ,the     
teacher must here as in  all instruction
 keep constantly in mind that language  
that is clear  and familiar to him may  
be nothing less than cryptic to the     
class4 ,i  remember a lad in a country  
school who was hopelessly bewildered    
when  confronted with the subject given 
out by his teacher3 ,what ,character  in
 this ,book ,appeals to ,you ,most1 and 
on what ,grounds8 yet who wrote  easily 
enough a very respectable theme when ,i 
said3 ,she only wants  you to pick out  
the person in the book you like best1   
and tell why you  like him4 ,oh1 is that
 all8 he said at first incredulously4   
,but that  isn't saying anything about  
grounds4 ,the incident1 absurd as it is1
 is  really typical4    ,i have usually 
found that the word compare will reduce 
most students  to mere memories1 as they

 strive almost mechanically to reproduce
  things set down in the notes of       
text-books4 ,nothing is more common than
  subjects like ,compare the ,characters
 of ,macbeth and ,lady ,macbeth1        
,compare ',l',allegro' and ',il         
,penseroso1' and so on4 ,the result is  
generally a statement of the criticisms 
of the characters or works  mentioned1 a
 statement which is a poor rehash of    
notes1 but has of real  comparison no   
trace4 ,the comparison calls for        
analytical powers far  beyond anything  
pupils are likely to have developed2 and
 when a boy  asked me not so very long  
ago what a teacher expected of him when 
he  had been required to compare ,sir   
,roger de ,coverley and ,will ,honeycomb
  ,i was forced to reply that ,i was    
utterly unable even to conjecture4 ,i   
regard the frequent appearance of       
theme-subjects of this sort in the      
secondary schools with mingled envy and 
wonder3 envy for the teachers  who      
apparently possess the power to elicit  

satisfactory work on these  lines1 and  
wonder that the power to do this work   
seems so completely  to disappear when  
the pupil leaves the secondary schools4 
,to comment on the subjects which have  
actually stood upon entrance            
examinations in the last half-dozen     
years would in the first place  be      
invidious1 in the second would expose me
 to an unpleasant danger  of seeming to 
challenge attention to papers for which 
,i have been  personally responsible1   
and in the third place would do no      
possible  good4 ,a teacher with common  
sense can make the application of the   
general principles ,i have stated if he 
choose2 and he will at least  minimize  
the unfortunate necessity of making the 
written work a  preparation for         
examinations4      ,x    ,memorizing is 
perhaps best done in connection with the
 last reading  of the play1 but that is 
a mere detail4 ,students should be      
encouraged  to commit to memory the     
finest passages1 and should be given an 

opportunity of repeating them in the    
class with as much intelligent          
effectiveness as possible4 ,they should 
not1 of course1 be encouraged  or       
allowed to rant or to spout             
,shakespeare2 but the teacher should    
insist that at least lines be recited so
 that the meaning is brought  out       
clearly1 and he should encourage the    
speaker to give each passage  as if it  
were being spoken as the expression of a
 distinct personal  thought4    4       
4       4       4       4       4       
4       4       4    ,as ,i said at the 
beginning of this chapter1 ,i have not  
endeavored to  provide a model1 but     
merely for the sake of suggestiveness to
 offer an  illustration4 ,this is at    
least one way in which the study of a   
play  may be taken up in the secondary  
school4 ,whether it is the best way  for
 a given case is another matter2 and ,i 
must at the risk of tiresome  iteration 
add that here as everywhere the highest 
function of the  teacher is to discover 

what is the best possible method not for
 the  world in general1 but for the     
particular class to be dealt with at the
  moment4      ,,footnotes3    #afg3a ,a
 metal covering for the head3 a helmet4 
#age3a ,page #hj4    #ahj3a ,personally 
,i would never have a pupil recite      
except on his feet4    #ahh3a ,see      
chapter xi4          ,,xiv              
,,criticism      ,what should be used in
 the way of tests of the knowledge of   
pupils is a  puzzling question for any  
teacher4 ,like any other pedagogically  
natural  and necessary inquiry1 it can  
be answered only with a repetition of   
the  caution that no set of hard and    
fast rules will apply to all schools or 
to all classes4 ,students themselves1   
however1 would often be perplexed  if   
they were not given definite tasks to   
perform1 definite questions to  answer1 
definite facts to memorize4 ,in         
acquiring the vocabulary needed  for the
 reading of a play both teacher and     
pupil feel with satisfaction  that      

legitimate because tangible work is     
being done2 and for either  it is hard  
to appreciate the fact that the         
essential thing in the  study of        
literature is too intangible to be      
tested or measured by  specific         
standards4 ,in what ,i have called the  
inspirational treatment  of literature  
both are likely to feel as if a vacation
 is being taken  from real work1 since  
the impression is general that the only 
method of  keeping within the limits of 
useful educational progress is dependent
  upon the accomplishing of concrete    
tasks4    ,the need of fitting students 
for examinations is generally allowed in
  practice to answer the question what  
shall be done4 ,i have already  said    
that ,i have personally little faith in 
the ultimate value of  much of the drill
 thus imposed1 and it is hardly to be   
supposed that  any intelligent teacher  
could be satisfied to let matters rest  
here4  ,certainly a pupil who graduates 
from the high school should have some   

power of criticising intelligently any  
book which comes into his hands1  and of
 forming estimates of diction1 general  
form1 and to a less extent  even of     
style4 ,his criticism is necessarily    
incomplete2 but it should  be genuine   
and sound as far as it goes4 ,such a    
result is not dependent  upon the power 
of passing examinations1 but is chiefly 
secured by  precisely that training in  
appreciation which is least formal and  
may  easily appear farthest from        
practice in criticism4    ,some actual  
and definite criticism1 however1 is     
legitimately a part of  the school-work2
 and concerning this certain things     
present themselves  to my mind as       
obvious4 ,in the first place criticism  
is of no value1 but  rather is harmful1 
if it fails to be genuine4 ,from this   
follows the  deduction that no criticism
 can profitably be required until the   
child  is old enough to form an opinion1
 and that at no stage should comments   
be asked which are beyond the child's   

intellectual development4 ,in the  early
 stages criticism is necessarily genuine
 in proportion as it is  personal2 and  
it must have become entirely easy and   
natural before it  can safely be made at
 all theoretic4    ,in the early stages 
of the use of literature in education1  
as has  been said already1 the aim is to
 help the child to enjoy1 and to        
understand so that enjoyment may be     
inevitable4 ,this should normally be    
done in the home1 but since in a large  
number of cases in the common  schools  
the effects of home training in         
literature are so lamentably  wanting1  
the teacher must in most cases undertake
 to begin at the very  beginning4 ,so   
far as criticism goes1 the early stages 
are of course  merely the rudimentary   
likings or dislikings1 and the          
encouragement  of expression of such    
tastes4 ,following this comes naturally 
the  putting into word of reasons for   
preferences4 ,this must be done with    
simplicity1 in the homeliest and most   

unconventional manner1 and above  all   
with no hint to the child that he is    
doing anything so large as to           
criticise4 ,it is precisely at this     
stage that children are most in  danger 
of contracting the habit of repeating   
parrot-like the opinions  of their      
elders4 ,all of us have to begin life by
 receiving the views of  adults1 and we 
are all--except in the rare instances of
 extraordinary  geniuses1 who need not  
be much considered here--eager to       
conceal lack  of knowledge by glib      
repetitions of the ideas of others4 ,to 
force young  pupils to give opinions    
when they have none of their own to give
 is to  repeat the mistake which        
,wordsworth notes in his ,lesson for    
,fathers4  ,the child in the poem       
unthinkingly declared that he preferred 
his new  home to the old4 ,his father   
insists upon a reason1 and the poor     
little  fellow1 having none1 is forced  
into the lie3        ,at ,kilve there is
 no weathercock1       ,and that's the  

reason why4    ,in the lower grades the 
thing which may well and wisely be done 
is to  accustom the children to         
literature and to literary language4 ,if
 pupils  come to the upper grades and   
show that this has not been done1 the   
teacher still has it to do1 just as he  
must teach them the alphabet or  the    
multiplication-table if they arrive     
without the knowledge of these          
essentials to advanced work4 ,this is   
the only safe foundation upon  which    
work may rest1 and although to acquire  
it consumes the time which  should be   
put on more elaborate study1 that study 
cannot be soundly  done until the       
rudimentary preparation is well         
mastered4 ,criticism must  be postponed 
until the pupil is prepared for it4     
,criticism1 whenever it come1 must begin
 simply1 and it must be  connected with 
the actual life and experience of the   
child4 ,we are  constantly endangering  
success in teaching by being unwilling  
to stop  at the limits of the possible4 

,boys and girls will be frank about what
  they read if they are once really     
convinced that frankness is what is     
expected and desired4 ,they are         
constantly1 if not always consciously1  
on the watch for what the teacher wishes
 them to say4 ,whatever  encourages them
 to think for themselves and to state   
that thought  unaffectedly and freely is
 what is educationally valuable1 and    
this  only4    ,opinions concerning     
characters in tales perhaps do as well  
as anything  for the beginning of       
criticism in classes4 ,a teacher may say
 to a  pupil3 ,suppose you had known    
,silas ,marner1 what would you have     
thought  of him8 ,the child is easily   
led to perceive the difference between  
seeing or knowing such a man in real    
life1 with its limited chances  of any  
knowledge of character1 of the past     
history of the weaver1 of  his secret   
thoughts1 or of his feelings1 and       
knowing him from the book  which gives  
all these details so fully4 ,the        

question then becomes3  ,suppose you had
 in some way found out about him all    
that the novel  tells1 what would you   
have felt8 ,the teacher will easily     
detect and  should with the gentlest    
firmness and the firmest gentleness     
suppress  any conventional answers4 ,the
 young girl who with glib               
conventionality  declares that ,silas   
was a noble character whom she pities   
because of  the way in which he was     
misunderstood may be questioned whether 
if  she had lived in ,raveloe she would 
have seen more than the homely1         
unsocial stranger1 and whether1 even had
 she known all that was  concealed under
 his homely life1 she could have held   
out against his  general unpopularity4  
,she is forced to think when she is     
asked whether  among those who live     
around her may not be men and women     
whose lives  are as pathetic and as     
misjudged as was that of the weaver4    
,children  have ideas about the         
personages in the stories they hear or  

read1 and  it is only necessary to      
encourage1 in each pupil according to   
his  temperament1 first the formulating 
of these clearly and then the frank     
stating of them4    ,in all this sort of
 criticism one thing which should be    
sedulously  avoided is any appearance of
 drawing a moral4 ,deliberately to draw 
a  moral is almost inevitably to defeat 
any lesson which the tale might  enforce
 if it is left to make its own effect4  
,the point to be aimed at  here is not  
to turn the story into a sermon1 but to 
make it as close  to the individual life
 of the child as is possible4 ,the      
difference is  in essence that between  
being told a thing and experiencing it4 
,once  this relation is established1 the
 child feels an emotional share in the  
matter such as can be created by no     
amount of sermonizing4 ,it may be       
doubted if any genuine child ever drew a
 moral spontaneously1 and in  all this  
work spontaneity is the beginning of    
wisdom4    ,after the pupil has come to 

have some notion1 more or less clear    
according to his own mental development1
 of what the personages in a  story or a
 play are like1 he easily goes on to    
determine the relation  of one event to 
another1 the interrelation between the  
separate parts  of the work4 ,he should 
be able to tell in a general way at     
least what  influence one character has 
upon another1 and of the responsibility 
of  each in the events of the narrative4
    ,these opinions should as much as   
possible be put into speech before      
being written4 ,the subject should be   
talked out1 however1 in a manner  so    
sincere and straightforward as to make  
conventionality impossible4  ,students  
must be held rigorously to honest and   
simple expression of  real beliefs and  
feelings4 ,in every class1 and perhaps  
especially  among girls1 are likely to  
be some who will surely repeat          
conventional  phrases4 ,children pick up
 set phrases with surprising ease1 and  
will  offer them whenever they have     

reason to believe such counterfeit will 
be received instead of real coin4 ,these
 shams are easily recognized1  and they 
should be mercilessly dealt with1 almost
 anything except  sarcasm1 that weapon  
which is forbidden to the teacher1 being
  legitimate against such cant4 ,the    
student who repeats a set phrase  is    
usually effectually disposed of by a    
request to explain1 to make  clear1 and 
to prove2 so that the habit of          
meaningless repetition cannot  grow     
unless the teacher is insensitive to it4
 ,the genuine ideas of the  pupils may  
be developed and put into word in the   
class1 and afterwards  the writing out  
will involve getting them into order and
 logical  sequence4    ,it may be       
objected that by this process each      
scholar will borrow ideas  from what he 
hears said in the class4 ,this is in    
reality no serious  drawback to the     
method4 ,if the individuals are trained 
to think for  themselves1 each will     
judge the views which are presented in  

class1 and  will make them his own by   
shaping and modifying them4 ,in any case
 the  danger of a student's getting too 
many ideas is not large1 and those  he  
gets from his peers1 his classmates1 are
 much more likely to appeal  to him and 
to remain in his mind than any which he 
culls from books4  ,the notions will    
sometimes be crude1 but they will be so 
corrected and  discussed in recitation  
that they cannot be essentially false4  
,any criticism which is received from   
pupils1 whether spoken or written1  must
 first of all be intelligent4 ,sound    
common sense is the only safe  basis for
 any comment1 and the higher the grade  
of a work of literature  imaginatively  
the more easy is it to treat it in a    
common-sense spirit4  ,pupils should be 
made to feel not only that they have a  
right to any  opinion of their own on   
what they read1 but that they are       
expected  to have one2 and that this    
opinion may be of any nature whatever1  
so long as they can justify it by sound 

reasons4 ,still farther than  this1 they
 should be allowed freely to cherish    
tastes for which they  cannot give      
formal justification--provided they can 
show a reasonable  appreciation of the  
real qualities of the work they like or 
dislike4  ,in the higher regions of     
imaginative work the power of analysis  
of the  most able critic may fail2 and  
it is manifestly idle to expect from    
school-children exhaustive criticism of 
high things which yet they may  feel    
deeply4    ,since it is of so much      
importance that all comment and         
criticism shall  be sincere1 care must  
be taken to keep work within limits     
which make  sincerity possible4         
,students must not be required to       
perform tasks  which are in the nature  
of things impossible4 ,to push beyond   
dealing  with comparatively simple      
matters in a frank and direct manner1 is
  inevitably to encourage the use of    
conventional phrases and to replace     
sincerity with cant4    ,a nice question

 connects itself with the determination 
of how much it  is proper and wise to   
require of children3 it is how much     
farther it  is well to call upon them to
 criticise literature than we should ask
  them to comment on life4 ,we need to  
know what we are doing1 and though  an  
examination of the character and motives
 of a criminal in a book  is not the    
same thing as would be this sort of     
criticism applied to a  flesh and blood 
neighbor1 the two processes are the same
 in essence4  ,the better the teacher   
succeeds in arousing the imagination of 
the  pupil1 moreover1 the more closely  
the two approach4 ,we should be sure    
that we are doing well in requiring of  
the young1 who would not and  should not
 be encouraged to dwell on actual crime 
and suffering1 that  they produce       
original opinions upon these things as  
represented in  fiction4    ,it is of   
course to be allowed that no teaching   
can make fictions vital  and real in    
exactly the same way as is that which is

 known actually to  have happened4 ,an  
imaginative child vitalizes the story   
which touches  him1 but does not bring  
it home to himself as he would          
occurrences  within the circle of his   
own experience4 ,it may be urged that by
  encouraging him to analyze sin in the 
comparatively remote world of  fancy we 
give him a chance to perceive its moral 
hatefulness without  that distrust of   
his fellows which might come if he were 
forced to  learn the lesson from the    
harsher happenings of life2 and that in 
books  the knowledge of character and   
circumstance is so much fuller than it  
is likely to be in experience that he is
 able to see more clearly4  ,the fact   
remains1 however1 that we should hardly 
expect or desire a  lucid and reasonable
 estimate of the late ,king and ,queen  
of ,servia  from the school-children who
 are being made to write laborious reams
  on the motives and the character of   
,macbeth and ,lady ,macbeth2 that we    
should be shocked at finding boys and   

girls considering in real life          
occurrences like the seduction of       
,olivia ,primrose1 or suspicions like   
those ,gareth entertained of ,lynette4  
,we certainly cannot afford to  be      
prurient1 or to confine the young to    
goody-goody books4 ,they may  generally 
be safely trusted1 it seems to me1 to   
read any tale or poem  of first-class   
merit1 although its subject were as     
painful as that of  dipus4 ,they will   
receive it as they receive facts of life
 told  by a wholesome-minded person1    
often with very little real perception  
of the darkest and most sinister side4  
,it will be as it was with young        
,copperfield when he read ,fielding's   
masterpiece and took delight in  the    
hero1 a child's ,tom ,jones1 a harmless 
creature4 ,when it comes to  the        
discussion of motives1 of character1 of 
black events in fiction1  the case is   
different4 ,the child is forced to take 
a new attitude2 to  accumulate the      
opinions of his elders1 to view life    

from their more  sophisticated point of 
view2 and inevitably to receive a fresh1
 and not  always a desirable insight    
into evil4 ,i am not inclined to        
dogmatize on  this point1 and touch upon
 it chiefly for the sake of suggesting  
that  teachers may do well to keep it a 
little in mind4 ,each case1 it seems  to
 me1 must be decided upon its own merit1
 and ,i at least have no  arbitrary     
rules to lay down4 ,of one thing1       
however1 ,i am sure1 and that  is that  
whatever is taken up at all should be   
treated with absolute and  fearless     
frankness4    ,all criticism of diction1
 style1 or whatever belongs to literary 
workmanship necessarily comes late4 ,in 
the secondary schools ,i believe  very  
little can profitably be done in this   
line at all4 ,of this ,i  shall speak   
later in connection with the study of   
workmanship1 but  here ,i may say that  
,i suppose most teachers to recognize   
the obvious  absurdity of such questions
 about metres and metrical effects as   

are  given on page #dc4 ,that they      
should be gravely proposed in a book of 
advice is indication that somebody      
believes in them2 but any class  of     
students with which ,i have ever had to 
deal would be reduced to  mechanical    
repetition of cant conventionality by   
the bare sight of such  interrogations4 
,one thing which is of importance is the
 need of encouraging pupils to  judge of
 any work as a whole4 ,it is so much    
easier to deal with details  than with a
 complete work that constantly students 
leave schools where  the training is in 
many respects excellent1 and have gained
 no ability  to go beyond the           
examination of particulars4 ,the far    
more important  power of estimating a   
book or a play from its total effect has
 not been  cultivated4 ,no teacher      
should forget that the ability to deal  
fairly  with a whole is of as much more 
value than any facility in minute       
criticism as that whole is greater than 
any of its parts4    ,this does not mean

 that a student can well summarize      
everything he  reads or that he may     
wisely attempt it4 ,it does imply that  
at least his  attention shall have been 
directed over and over to the great fact
 that  the study of details is not the  
study of a masterpiece2 that he shall   
have been required to judge a book or a 
play1 so far as he is able1 as  a whole 
work and with reference to its entire   
effect4 ,in talking with  undergraduates
 even about short works1 pieces no      
longer than a single  essay of ,steele  
or a simple lyric1 ,i constantly find   
that they are apt  to have no conception
 whatever that they could or should do  
anything  but pick out minute details4  
,i ask what it amounts to as a whole1   
how  it justifies itself1 or what is its
 value as a complete poem or essay1  and
 they seem utterly unable to see what ,i
 am driving at4 ,the painful  attempt to
 find out what ,i wish them to say so   
entirely occupies their  minds as to    
render them incapable of using whatever 

power of judgment  they may possess4    
,not long ago one boy said to me3 ,i    
didn't know it  made any difference what
 the poem was about if you could pick   
out  things in it4 ,what do you suppose 
it was written for8 ,i asked4 ,a  look  
of painful bewilderment came into his   
face1 and he answered that  he supposed 
some folks liked to write that way4 ,i  
inquired whether he  would test a       
bridge--he was an engineering           
student--by picking out bits  without   
seeing how the parts held together and  
how strong it was as  a whole1 and he   
returned with puzzled frankness3 ,but a 
bridge has a  use4 ,very good1 was what 
,i assured him1 and so does a poem4     
,can't  you appreciate that mankind has 
not been keeping poems from generation  
to generation without finding out if    
they really are useless8 ,any work  of  
literature that is really good must be  
of value as a whole1 and  you have not  
got hold of it until you are able to see
 what it is for  as a single thing1 a   

complete unit4 ,the fact is so evident  
that it  seems almost absurd to mention 
it in a book intended for teachers1 but 
scores of boys come yearly from the     
fitting-schools who prove how often  the
 fact is ignored1--ignored1 very likely1
 because it is taken for  granted1 but  
no less ignored with seriously ill      
effects4    ,in general1 criticism in   
the secondary schools should have to do 
only  with the good points of work4     
,unless a pupil himself shows that he   
perceives shortcomings in what is read1 
it is on the whole the place  of the    
instructor to keep the attention of the 
class fixed on merits1  while defects   
are ignored4 ,this is not to be         
interpreted as meaning  that any        
weakness should ever be allowed to pass 
for a merit2 or as  indicating that it  
is ever wise to shirk a difficulty4 ,any
 intelligent  pupil1 for instance1      
should see for himself that the         
metaphors are  sadly and inexcusably    
mixed in the passage3        ,whether   

'tis nobler in the mind to suffer       
,the slings and arrows of outrageous    
fortune1      ,or to take arms against a
 sea of troubles1      ,and by opposing 
end them4    ,it is necessary to meet   
this knowledge frankly1 and to show him 
how it  is that ,shakespeare can be so  
great in spite of faults like this4 ,it 
is  the inclination of childhood to feel
 that a man must be perfect to be       
great1 but even at the cost of          
encountering the difficulty of such a   
faith the truth must be told4 ,in       
general1 however1 it is as well not to  
go out of the way to enforce the        
doctrine of human fallibility1 and the  
youthful mind is best nourished by being
 fed on what is good1 rather  than by   
being taught to perceive what is bad4   
,when a pupil is asked to put into words
 the reason why a piece is  written1 he 
should be required to answer by a       
complete sentence1 a  properly phrased  
assertion4 ,he is not unlikely to begin 
by giving  a single term1 an incomplete 

and tentative phrase1 or at best a      
fragmentary statement4 ,for the sake of 
the clearness of his own  idea and of   
the habit of accurate thinking1 he      
should be encouraged  and expected to   
make the idea clear and the statement   
finished4  ,student-criticism1 as ,i    
have said perhaps often enough already1 
cannot  in the nature of things be      
either profound or exhaustive1 but it   
should  be intelligent and well defined 
as far as it goes4          ,,xv        
,,literary ,,workmanship      ,the      
appreciation of literary workmanship    
dawns very slowly on the  child's mind4 
,in the secondary schools not much can  
be accomplished  in the way of making   
students feel the niceties of literary  
art2  but something should be done to   
enforce the nature and the worth of     
technique4 ,much that touches the       
undergraduate's feelings he cannot      
analyze1 and should never in any work of
 the secondary schools be  asked to     
criticise4 ,he should1 however1 if he is

 to be systematically  trained in the   
study of masterpieces1 have knowledge   
enough of the  qualities which          
distinguish them from lesser work to    
perceive on what  their claims to       
superiority are founded4 ,children so   
naturally and  so generally feel that   
distinctions which do not appeal to them
 are  arbitrary1 and it is of so much   
importance to guard against any feeling 
of this sort in the case of literature1 
that it is worth while to be  at some   
pains to make distinctions perceptible1 
even if they may not  always be made    
entirely clear4    ,one of the tests of 
rank in civilization is appreciation of 
workmanship4 ,the savage knows nothing  
of mechanics beyond the power  of a     
lever in prying up a rock1 the action of
 a bowstring1 or crude  facts of this   
sort4 ,a machine to him is not only     
incomprehensible1  but supernatural3 a  
locomotive is a fire-devil1 and a loom  
or a  printing-press1 should he see one1
 a useful spirit4 ,at the other end of  

the scale of appreciation of mechanical 
appliances is the inventor who  devises 
or the trained engineer who understands 
the most complicated  engines of modern 
ingenuity4 ,somewhere between stands any
 one of  us1--the ordinary pupil        
presumably far above the savage1 but far
 below  the expert4 ,in the appreciation
 of the art of the painter1 at the      
bottom of the scale is the bushman who  
can look at the clever painting  of a   
man and not know what it represents1 and
 at the top the great  painters of the  
world and those who can best enter into 
the spirit of  their productions4 ,in   
this scale again each of us stands      
somewhere2 the  average school-boy is   
unhappily likely to be so far down as to
 take  delight in the colored           
illustrations of the ,sunday newspapers 
and to  be utterly indifferent to a     
,titian or a ,rembrandt4 ,in            
comprehension  of the value and effect  
of language1 the same principle obtains4
 ,the  scale extends from the savage    

tribes with a vocabulary of but a few   
hundred words for the entire speech of  
the race and no power of making         
combinations beyond the simplest1 to the
 cultivated nations with  perhaps a     
couple of hundred thousand words and the
 art of producing the  highest forms of 
prose and of poetry4 ,the scale is a    
long one1 and its  development has taken
 uncounted ages2 but somewhere in the   
line each  individual has his place4    
,the degree of the civilization of a    
race is  unerringly determined by its   
command of the written word2 the mental 
rank of the individual is no less       
certainly fixed by his power of using   
and of comprehending human speech4      
,this general truth is easily brought   
home to young people by reminding  them 
how they began their knowledge of       
language with the acquirement of  single
 words and went on to appreciate how    
much more may be expressed  by          
word-combinations4 ,after the infantile 
give came in turn p'ease  give and      

please give me a drink4 ,from such      
stages each of them has  gone on        
learning4 ,they have constantly         
increased their vocabulary1  their      
knowledge of the value of words1 of     
word-arrangement1 and of                
sentence-construction4 ,gradually by    
practical experience they have  gained  
some appreciation of all those points   
which make up the sum of  instruction in
 classes in composition4 ,they now need 
to be shown that  literary appreciation 
is the extension of this knowledge along
 the same  lines2 that it is the means  
of advancing toward a higher place in   
that  scale which extends from the      
ignorant savage to the sages4 ,they may 
in  this way be brought to a conception 
of literary technique as a matter       
connected with the process of perception
 which they have been carrying  on from 
childhood4    ,how value in all         
workmanship is to be judged by the      
effects produced is  admirably          
illustrated by machinery1 but it is     

hardly less evident in  the case of     
language4 ,the simpler forms of sentence
 come to be used by  the child in place 
of single disconnected words because    
with sentences  he can do more in the   
way of communicating his ideas and      
obtaining what  he desires4 ,to         
illustrate more complicated forms of    
language we have  only to remind the    
child how carefully he orders his speech
 when he is  endeavoring to coax a favor
 from an unwilling friend or a reluctant
  parent4 ,the child feels himself      
clever just in proportion as he is  able
 so to frame his plea that it secures   
his end4 ,he may be reminded  that he   
selects most carefully the terms which  
suggest such things and  ideas as favor 
his wish and avoids any that might hint 
at possible  objections4 ,out of these  
homely1 universal experiences of        
childhood it  is possible to build up in
 the mind of the pupil a very fair      
notion of  the nature and the use of    
literary workmanship2 a notion1         

moreover1  which is at once sound in    
principle and entirely adequate as a    
working  basis4    ,teaching consists   
principally in helping pupils to extend 
ideas  which they have received from    
daily life4 ,in this matter of literary 
workmanship1 for instance1 it means     
showing them that they have1  without   
being especially conscious of the fact1 
a responsiveness  to well-turned forms  
of speech and to skilful use of words4  
,they  may perhaps be made to appreciate
 this with especial vividness by  having
 their attention called to the pleasure 
they take in clever or  apt sayings from
 their fellows or from joking speeches4 
,this form  of illustration must1 it is 
true1 be used with discretion4 ,it is   
always difficult to lead the mind of a  
child from the concrete to  the general4
 ,not a few children--and children1 too1
 of considerable  intelligence--are not 
unlikely1 if jesting remarks are        
instanced1 to  conclude that good       
literary workmanship means something    

amusing4 ,with  due care1 however1 a    
class may be led to see how the same    
quality  of apt presentation in word    
which pleases them in the sayings of    
schoolmates is what1 carried farther1 is
 the foundation of literary  technique4 
,concrete examples of thoughts so well  
expressed that they have come to  be    
almost part of common speech are        
abundant4 ,the crisp1 dry phrases of    
,pope lend themselves admirably as      
illustration1 they are so neat1 so      
compact1 and1 it may be added1 so free  
from delicate sentiment which  might be 
blurred in the handling4        ,order  
is heaven's first law4      ,an honest  
man's the noblest work of ,god4    ,the 
class can supply examples in most cases1
 and be pleased with itself  for being  
able to do so4 ,the finer instances from
 greater writers may  be led up to1 the 
epigrams of ,emerson1 the imaginative   
phrases of  ,shakespeare2 and so on to  
longer examples1 with illustrations from
 the  rolling paragraphs of ,macaulay1  

the panoplied prose of ,de ,quincey1    
and after that from lyrics and passages 
in blank verse4 ,thus much  may be done 
in the way of instruction in technique  
fairly early in  high-school work4 ,with
 it or after it at a proper interval    
should  follow instruction in regard at 
least to the mechanical differences     
between prose and poetry and what they  
mean4 ,i have mentioned  earlier#bab3a  
the impression students often bring from
 the reading  of ,macaulay's ,milton4   
,the remarks there quoted are selected  
from  answers to a question of an       
entrance paper in regard to the         
difference  in form and in quality      
between prose and poetry4 ,others from  
the same  examination show yet more     
strikingly the general haziness of      
conception  in the minds of the         
candidates3        ,in prose words are  
thrown together in a way to make good   
sense      and to form good ,english4   
,poetry is the grouping of words into   
a metric sic system4        ,poetry is  

often written in rhyme1 while prose is  
expressed in      sentences4            
,poetry is the name given to writing    
that is written in verse      form4 ,one
 does not as a rule get the meaning of  
things when      they are written in    
verse form4        ,prose may be verse  
when dealt with by such an author as    
,shakespeare or ,milton1 but prose      
usually consists of words      arranged 
in sentences and paragraphs without any 
special order4        ,poetry is used as
 a pastime1 and as such is all right4   
,between good blank verse and prose     
there is not much difference      except
 in the form of wording in which it is  
put upon the page4        ,for me1 the  
difference between prose and poetry is  
this3 ,prose      does not rhyme and    
poetry does4 ,under such a definition1  
all      literature not poetry must be  
prose4 ,therefore ,shakespeare's        
works are prose4    ,the illustrations  
might be much extended1 but these will  
show the  confusion which existed in the

 minds of boys who had been painfully   
drilled in the college entrance         
requirements4 ,i have not selected  the 
examples for their absurdity1 although  
in a melancholy way they  are droll     
enough2 but ,i have meant them to       
illustrate the confusion  which existed 
in the minds of a large number of the   
candidates at that  particular          
examination of what makes the vital     
difference between prose  and poetry4   
,it is not my contention that teachers  
in the secondary  schools are to go into
 minute details in regard to poetic     
form2 but ,i  do believe that it is idle
 to talk about the rank of a writer as a
 poet  or of the beauty of              
,shakespeare's verse to students who do 
not know the  difference between verse  
and prose4    ,i may be allowed to      
remark in passing that to my mind the   
influence of  the theories of           
,macaulay's ,milton alluded to above    
illustrates the  difference in effect of
 that which appeals to the personal     

experience  and feelings of boys and    
that which they are forced to receive   
without  such inward interpretation4    
,the boys who were trained in the       
,milton  were trained also in ,carlyle's
 ,burns4 ,the ,carlyle1 with its        
eloquent  appreciation of the office of 
the poet1 the seer to whom has been     
given  a gift of vision1 had apparently 
left no trace upon their minds4 ,they   
had1 however1 been forced1 too often    
unwilling1 over numerous pages of  what 
they were assured was poetry of the     
highest quality1 yet which to  them was 
unintelligible and wearisome4 ,when     
,macaulay declared that  poetry was a   
relic of barbarism they seized upon the 
theory eagerly  because it justified    
their own feelings1 because it coincided
 with  their own impressions2 and       
thenceforth they doubtless held         
complacently  to their faith in the     
obsolete uselessness of verse1 fortified
 by so  high an authority4    ,in the   
whole body of papers in the examination 

from which ,i have been  quoting very   
few gave the impression that the writer 
had a clear  conception that somehow1   
even if he could not express it1 a vital
  difference exists between poetry and  
prose4 ,the greater number of  the boys 
seemed to think that rhyme made the     
distinction1 or that  distortion of     
sentences was the leading               
characteristic4 ,not one  teacher in a  
score had succeeded in impressing upon  
his pupils the  fundamental truth that  
the only excuse poetry can have for     
existing  is that it fulfils an office  
impossible for prose4 ,yet nothing which
  can properly be called the study of   
poetry can be done until this  prime    
fact is recognized with entire          
clearness4 ,beyond the entirely         
unanalytical enjoyment of verse1 the    
native responsiveness to rhythm1  and   
the uncritical pleasure with which one  
learns to love literature  and to seek  
it as a means of pleasure1 the first1   
the most primary1 the  absolutely       

indispensable fact to be thoroughly     
impressed on a young  student is that   
poetry uses form as a part1 and an      
essential part1 of  its language4 ,the  
boy must be made to understand that just
 as he tries  by his tone1 by his       
manner1 by his smile1 to produce in his 
hearers  the mood in which he wishes    
them to receive what he has to say1 so  
the  poet by his melody1 by the form of 
his verse1 by his ringing rhythms or    
long1 melting cadences1 by his rhyme or 
his pauses1 is endeavoring to  interpret
 the ideas he expresses as surely as he 
is by the statements  he makes4 ,the    
truth which the teacher knows1 that not 
infrequently the  metrical effect is    
really of more value and significance   
than the ideas  stated1 is naturally for
 the most part too deep for the         
comprehension  of pupils at this stage4 
,it would only confuse a class to go so 
far as  this2 but if we are to study    
poetry1 we must have at least a working 
definition of what poetry is1 and one   

which shall commend itself to the       
children with whom we are working4      
,as a mere suggestion which may be of   
practical use to some teachers1 ,i      
would call attention to what may be done
 by comparing certain pieces of  prose  
with the poems which have grown out of  
them4 ,i know of nothing  better for    
this use than ,tennyson's ,ballad of the
 ,revenge and the  prose version of ,sir
 ,walter ,raleigh from which it is      
taken4 ,in many  parts the language is  
almost identical1--but with the         
differences  between robust prose and a 
stirring lyric4 ,the teacher who can    
make a  class see what the distinction  
is1 what the ballad accomplishes that   
,raleigh has not attempted1 will have   
made clear by concrete example  what    
poetry does and why it is written4      
,another example is ,byron's            
,destruction of ,sennacherib compared   
with the original version of the        
incident as given in the ,bible4    ,it 
may seem to some teachers that ,i am    

going rather deep1 but to such ,i       
should simply propound the question what
 they understand by the study  of       
poetry4 ,the natural error of the       
untrained mind is to regard the         
intellectual content of a poem as its   
reason for being1 and to foster  such an
 error as this is to make forever       
improbable if not impossible  any       
intelligent or genuine insight into     
poetry whatever4 ,if we are  not to     
protect children against this mistake1  
fatal as it is to any  perception of the
 real province and nature of poetic art1
 what do we  expect to accomplish in all
 the extensive attention which is under 
the  present system devoted to the works
 of the masters8    ,that so many boys  
failed to answer satisfactorily in this 
matter of  distinguishing between prose 
and poetry is of course not conclusive  
evidence either of general ignorance or 
of conscious fault on the part  of      
instructors4 ,boys often fail in        
attempts to state distinctions  about   

which they are yet reasonably clear in  
their minds1 and it may  well be that   
many who gave absurd replies would have 
no difficulty in  discriminating between
 verse and prose1--at least when verse  
fulfilled  the specification of the     
candidate who wrote3        ,a jagged   
appearance is the main                  
form-characteristic of blank      verse4
 ,each sentence is a separate line1 and 
every other      sentence is indented   
about a quarter of an inch4    ,it would
 be interesting to present to pupils who
 have finished the  study of the college
 requirements half a dozen brief        
selections1 some  prose and some poetry1
 but all printed in solid paragraphs4   
,the number  of students who could      
accurately and confidently distinguish  
in every  case would be a not unfair    
test of the extent to which the         
distinction  is understood4    ,teachers
 probably fail to make this matter clear
 because they not  unnaturally assume   
that of course any intelligent lad in   

his teens  must know the distinction    
between prose and poetry4 ,natural as   
such an  assumption may be1 however1 it 
is often--indeed1 ,i am tempted to say  
generally--wrong4 ,the chief business of
 the modern teacher is after  all the   
instructing of pupils in things which   
they would naturally be  supposed to    
know already4 ,it is certainly safer    
never to assume in  any grade that a    
student knows anything whatever until he
 has given  absolute proof4 ,the weakest
 points in the education of the modern  
student are certainly those which are   
continually taken for granted4    ,one  
of the most serious obstacles in the way
 of bringing young people  to understand
 technical excellence and to appreciate 
literary value is  the difficulty of    
having school-work done with proper     
deliberation4 ,it  is doubtful if any   
process in education can profitably be  
hurried2 it  is certain that nothing of 
worth can be done in the study of       
literature  which is not conducted in a 

leisurely manner4 ,the first care of an 
instructor in this delicate and         
difficult branch must be to insure a    
genial atmosphere3 an atmosphere of     
tranquillity and of serenity4 ,no       
matter how tall a heap of prescribed    
books may block the way to the  end of  
the school year1 each masterpiece that  
is dealt with should be  treated with   
deference and an amount of time         
proportioned not to its  number of pages
 but to the speed with which the class  
can assimilate  its worth and beauty4   
,if worst comes to worst1 ,i would have 
a teacher  say honestly to his pupils3  
,we have taken up almost all of the term
  by treating what we have studied as   
literature instead of huddling  through 
it as a mechanical task4 ,for the sake  
of examinations we are  forced to crowd 
the other books in4 ,the process is not 
fair to them or  to you2 so do not make 
the mistake of supposing that this is   
the proper  way of treating real books4 
,children who have been properly trained

  will understand the situation and will
 appreciate the justice of the          
proposition4    ,in this connection is  
of interest the remark of an            
undergraduate  who said that he obtained
 his first impression of style and of   
the  effectiveness of words from        
translating4 ,i suppose the truth is1   
he explained with intelligence1 that in 
,english ,i never read slowly  enough to
 get anything more than the story or    
what was said4 ,when ,i was  grubbing   
things out line by line and word by word
 ,i at last got an idea  of what my     
teachers had meant when they talked     
about the effect of the  choice of      
words4 ,many of us can look back to the 
days when we learned  grammar from      
,latin rather than from ,english1       
although we had been over  much the same
 thing in our own tongue4 ,in the       
foreign language we had  to go          
deliberately and we had to apply the    
principles we learned4 ,only  when the  
student is treating literature so slowly

 and thoroughly that  these conditions  
are reproduced does he come to any      
comprehension of  style or indeed of the
 real value of literature4    ,readers  
of all ages naturally and normally read 
anything the first  time for the        
intellectual content3 for the story1 for
 the information1  for that meaning1 in 
short1 which is the appeal to the       
intellectual  comprehension4 ,the great 
majority are entirely satisfied to go no
  farther4 ,they do not1 indeed1        
perceive the reason for going farther2  
and they are too often left in ignorance
 of the fact that they have  entirely   
missed the qualities which entitle what 
they have read to be  considered        
literature in the higher sense4    ,in  
this they are often encouraged1         
moreover1 by the unhappy practice  of   
making paraphrases4 ,the paraphrasing of
 masterpieces is to me  nothing less    
than a sacrilege4 ,it degrades the work 
of art in the mind  of the child1 and   
contradicts the fundamental principle   

that poetry  exists solely because it   
expresses what cannot be adequately said
 in  any other way4 ,a paraphrase bears 
the same relation to a lyric1 for       
instance1 that a drop of soapy water    
does to the iridescent bubble  of which 
it was once the film4 ,the old cry      
against the selection of  passages from 
,milton for exercises in parsing should 
be repeated with  triple force against  
the use of literature as material for   
children to  translate from the words of
 the poet into their own feeble         
phraseology4  ,the parsing was by far   
the lesser evil4 ,it is often necessary 
to have  an oral explanation of         
difficult passages2 but this should be  
always  expressly presented as simply a 
means to help the child to get at  the  
real significance of a lyric1 a sort of 
ladder to climb by4 ,any  paraphrasing  
and explaining should be carefully held 
to its place as an  inadequate and      
unfortunate necessity4 ,the class should
 never be allowed  to think that any    

paraphrase really represents a poet1 or 
that it is to  be regarded in any light 
but that of apologetic tolerance4    ,in
 this matter of workmanship1 as         
everywhere else in the process of       
dealing with literature1 much depends   
upon the character of the class4  ,much 
must always be left unaccomplished1 and 
much is always wisely  left even        
unattempted4 ,often the teacher must go 
farther in individual  cases than would 
naturally have been the case in a given 
grade  because questions will be asked  
which lead on4 ,it is often necessary1  
for instance1 to explain that the       
crowding forward of events made         
unavoidable by stage conditions is not a
 violation of truth1 but a  conforming  
to the truth of art4 ,a lad will object 
that things could not  move forward so  
rapidly1 and it is then wise to show him
 that dramatic  truth does not include  
faithfulness to time1 but may condense  
the  events of days into an hour so long
 as it is true to human nature and  to  

the effects those events would have had 
if occurring at intervals  however      
great4 ,again children will object in a 
tale that the incidents  are not likely 
to have happened2 and it is then        
necessary to make clear  the distinction
 between probability and possibility1   
and how fiction  may deal with either4  
,these matters1 however1 are to be left 
to the  intelligence of the individual  
instructor4 ,if he cannot manage them   
wisely without advice1 he cannot do it  
with arbitrary rules4    ,for a last    
word on the matter of training students 
in the appreciation  of literary form   
and workmanship ,i should offer a       
warning against  attempting too much4   
,something is certainly unavoidable1 but
 of  minuti it is well to exercise what 
,burke calls a wise and salutary        
neglect4 ,literary language must be     
learned or all intelligent work is      
utterly impossible2 since form is an    
important element in all artistic       
language1 it is not possible to ignore  

this4 ,the extent to which work  can and
 should go in the study of form in a    
given class is one of the  matters which
 the instructor has to decide2 and when 
he has decided it  he must resolutely   
refuse to allow himself to be unhappy   
because in the  great realm of          
literature are so many noble tracts of  
which he has not  even hinted to his    
class the existence4 ,if he has done the
 lesser work  well he has at least put  
his students in a condition to do the   
greater  for themselves2 if he had      
attempted more he might have            
accomplished  nothing4      ,,footnotes3
    #bab3a ,page #cf4          ,,xvi    
,,literary ,,biography      ,how far the
 biography of authors shall be a part of
 the school-work is  a question which   
deserves attention4 ,i began these talks
 by calling  attention to the fact that 
it is so much easier to teach details   
about the life of a writer than it is to
 train the youthful mind to a  true     
appreciation of literature itself4      

,teachers naturally and almost          
unconsciously fall into the habit of    
over-emphasizing this division of  the  
history of literature1 and questions    
about the lives of authors are          
dangerously easy to formulate for       
recitation or for examination-paper4    
,nothing1 however1 should be allowed to 
obscure the idea that the work  and not 
the worker is the thing with which study
 should be concerned2  and everybody    
would agree that in theory the limit to 
biographical  inquiry in                
secondary-school study is the extent to 
which a knowledge of  an author's career
 or personality aids to the             
understanding of what he  has written4  
,to say this1 however1 is much like     
restating the question4 ,like a good    
deal that passes for argument1 it only  
puts the problem in other words2  for we
 are at once confronted with the doubt  
how far a pupil in the  secondary school
 is likely to be helped by knowing about
 the facts of  a writer's life4 ,at the 

beginning of the ,spectator ,addison    
remarks3        ,i have observed that a 
reader seldom peruses a book with       
pleasure1 till he knows whether the     
writer of it be a black      or a fair  
man1 of a mild or choleric disposition1 
married or      a bachelor1 with other  
particulars of the like nature1 that    
conduce very much to the right          
understanding of an author4    ,i may   
frankly confess that this is so entirely
 untrue of myself that  ,i am perhaps   
not a fair judge for others4 ,since it  
is to me a matter  almost of            
indifference who wrote a book1 where or 
when he lived1 what  he was and what he 
did1 ,i have not perhaps estimated      
rightly the  effect of biography on     
children4 ,i am firm in my belief1      
however1 that  for making literature    
more clear1 more vivid1 more attractive1
 the  effect of a knowledge of the      
author's life is with children apt to be
  practically nothing4 ,if they are     
interested in a book1 they may on that  

account like to know something of the   
man who wrote it1 but ,i have yet  to   
find a student who really cared for a   
piece of literature because he  had been
 made to learn facts about the author4  
,that a book was written  in a given age
 will account to him for fashions of    
thought strange  to-day1 but he is      
seldom able to carry such analysis      
beyond the most  general idea4    ,in   
regard to helping scholars in the       
secondary schools to understand  a given
 piece of literature by instructing them
 about the personality  of the writer1  
,i am quite as skeptical4 ,it may be    
that one lad in a  hundred may come to a
 better appreciation of a book from what
 he knows  of the temperament of the    
author4 ,it is possible to point this   
out in  occasional striking instances4  
,if a boy read ,a ,modest ,proposal1 a  
teacher naturally calls attention to the
 character of ,swift as having          
determined the ferocious form which this
 plea for humanity has taken2  in       

dealing with ,the ,journal of the       
,plague ,year it is inevitable that  the
 instructor speak of the journalistic   
tendency of ,defoe1 which led  him to   
write on topics which were at the moment
 before the public4 ,in  either case the
 result is not important in the sense of
 going much  beyond what the student may
 be made to feel without any mention of 
the  writer or the writer's             
peculiarities4    ,it is very easy to   
delude ourselves into feeling that we   
are being  helpful when in reality we   
are simply being pedagogic4 ,if our     
pupils  were so far advanced as to be   
able to perceive the subtle relations   
between character and literature1       
between the nature of a writer and  the 
interpretation we are to put upon what  
he has written1 they would  in most     
cases be better fitted to instruct us   
than to receive any  instruction we are 
able to furnish4 ,it is sometimes well  
to give pupils  things which we are     
aware they cannot grasp2 to show them   

the existence  of lines of thought which
 they are not yet qualified to carry    
out4  ,our aim in this is to broaden    
their perceptions1 and to direct them   
toward truths which later they may      
investigate for themselves4 ,in the     
secondary schools1 however1 very little 
of this sort can be profitably  done in 
connection with anything so complex and 
subtle as the relation  of the character
 of an author to his work4 ,young people
 must take  literature at its face      
value1 so to say1 and in teaching them  
to do  this is more than room for all   
the energies a teacher in these grades  
can bring to bear4    ,the history of   
literature1 its development1 its        
relations to the  evolution of human    
thought1 should all be as far as        
possible familiar  to the teacher2 and  
no instructor with knowledge and        
enthusiasm is  likely to ignore any of  
these in dealing with masterpieces4     
,they must  all1 however1 be brought    
forward with care1 for it is easy to    

overwhelm  the mind of the young1       
especially in an age like the present   
when a  child goes to school with       
attention already strained by the       
imperative  and insistent calls of daily
 life4 ,students on leaving the high    
school  should be familiar with the     
place in the centuries of authors they  
have  especially studied1 and of the    
score or so of writers most important   
in ,english literature from ,chaucer    
down4 ,with the exact details of        
biography they need not have been       
concerned4 ,if they have had curiosity  
enough to look these up as a matter of  
individual interest1 it is  well1       
although ,i am not sure that anything is
 gained by encouraging  this research4  
,to know of ,shakespeare1 of ,chaucer1  
and of ,milton1 for  instance1 what may 
be put into a dozen lines2 and of lesser
 writers to  have proportionate         
information1 seems to me ample4 ,the    
work and not the  worker is of          
importance2 the book and not the author2

 the poem and not  the poet4    ,many   
teachers will not agree with me in      
giving to the personality and  the      
biographies of writers so small a place4
 ,every man must judge by  his own      
experience1 and ,i can only say that    
every year ,i deal with  classes in     
literature ,i find myself deliberately  
giving less attention  to the history of
 literature4 ,i have insisted already   
upon the danger  that such study shall  
take the place of the consideration of  
literature  itself1 and ,i have now     
attempted to renforce that thought by   
stating  definitely what it seems to me 
wise to attempt in the secondary        
schools4 ,i do not desire to be         
dogmatic1 however1 and here as elsewhere
  the conclusion of the whole matter is 
that while the question of the  wisdom  
of giving extended instruction in       
literary history or biography  is to be 
carefully considered1 each instructor   
must frame the answer  according to     
personal experience and the individual  

needs of any given  class4              
,,xvii    ,,voluntary ,,reading      ,no
 teacher who is really concerned with   
the development of the pupil's  mind can
 afford to ignore outside influences4   
,indeed1 even were a  teacher           
conceivable who1 consciously or         
unconsciously1 cared only to  drag      
scholars over the prescribed course1 he 
would yet be forced to  take into       
account the effect of every-day life and
 circumstance1 and  under existing      
conditions every teacher is sure to find
 that he is to  a great extent obliged  
to do the work of the home in all that  
relates  to the sthetic training of a   
large number of children4 ,in teaching  
literature it is not only wise but it is
 easy to discover and to a  large extent
 to influence whatever reading pupils do
 of their own will  outside of the      
required work4    ,thoroughly to        
accomplish all that a teacher desires1  
or even all that  is often expected of  
him1 would be possible only to the gods2

 and it  is evident enough that no      
instructor can exercise complete        
parental  supervision over all the life 
of the pupils under him4 ,certain things
  in the training of the young are      
accomplished at home or go forever      
undone4 ,perhaps the most serious       
difficulty in this whole complicated    
business of education is that the       
schoolmaster is so largely called  upon 
to undo what is done outside the        
schoolroom4 ,he may at least be         
thankful that in the matter of reading  
he is dealing with something  tangible1 
something in which so many of his flock 
may with skilful  management be         
influenced4    ,in a leaflet published  
under the auspices of the ,new ,england 
,association of ,teachers of ,english1  
,the ,voluntary ,reading of ,high       
,school ,scholars1 ,professor ,w4 ,c4   
,bronson1 of ,brown ,university1        
comments on the fact that the mind of   
the young person is likely to  perceive 
little relation between the literature  

administered at school  and the books   
voluntarily read outside4 ,he says3     
,many of our high-school youth are      
leading a double life in      things    
literary3 in the class-room ,doctor     
,jekyll studies the      lofty idealism 
of ,comus or ,paradise ,lost2 outside1  
,mr4      ,hyde revels in the yellow    
journalism and the flashy novel2 and    
in many cases ,doctor ,jekyll does not  
even realize that he has      changed   
into another and lower being4    ,the   
difficulty in making boys and girls     
realize a connection between            
school-work and actual life is familiar 
to every teacher4 ,i am  personally     
convinced that one reason for           
this--although obviously not  the only  
one--is the modern tendency to diminish 
the sense of value and  necessity by too
 much yielding to the inclination of the
 child4 ,coaxing  along the line of the 
least resistance is sure to produce an  
effective  even if hardly conscious     
indifference1 which is far less healthy 

than  the temper of mind bred by        
insistence upon progress along the line 
of duty4 ,be that as it may1 however1   
the modern scholar generally  regards   
school as one thing and life as         
practically another4 ,books read  in the
 class-room1 books studied1 discussed as
 a part of formal and  required work1   
are felt to be remote from daily        
existence and almost as  something a bit
 unreal4 ,they may be even enjoyed1 and 
yet seem to the  illogical youthful mind
 as having a certain adult quality which
 sets  them apart from any vital        
connection with the life of youth4 ,it  
is not  uncommon1 ,i believe1 for a boy 
to like a book in his private capacity1 
reading it for simple and unaffected    
pleasure1 and yet to feel it  almost a  
duty to be bored by the same book when  
it comes up as a part  of the work of   
the school-room4    ,very likely a hint 
of the explanation of the whole matter  
is to be  found in this last fact4 ,in  
the first place the work of the         

schoolroom1  however gently             
administered1 represents compulsion1 and
 we have  trained the rising generation 
to feel that compulsion is a thing to   
be abhorred4 ,perhaps nothing could ever
 make school-work the same  as the life 
which is voluntary and spontaneous2 but 
modern methods  have generally not      
succeeded in minimizing this difficulty4
 ,in the  second place1 teachers are too
 often uncareful or unable to soften the
  differences between reading without   
responsibility of thoroughness  and     
reading with the consciousness that     
class-room questionings may  lie beyond4
 ,almost any child has the power of     
treating a book or a  poem as a friend  
when he reads for pleasure and of       
regarding the same  book as an enemy    
when it becomes a lesson4 ,the thing is 
normal and not  unhealthy2 but it is to 
be reckoned with and counteracted4      
,professor ,bronson1 in his brief       
discussion of the matter1 goes on to    
remark that where the ,jekyll and ,hyde 

attitude of mind exists--which to  some 
degree1 ,i believe1 would be in every   
pupil--        ,the first task of the   
teacher is to make the pupil fully      
realize it and to urge upon him the     
necessity of discrimination      in his 
voluntary reading4 ,for this purpose    
ridicule of trashy      books by name   
and praise of good books1 with reasons  
why they      are good1 may well fill   
the part of a recitation period1 now    
and then1 even though the routine work  
suffer a little4 ,for the      same     
purpose1 it is very desirable that more 
of the best modern      literature be   
made a part of the ,english course1     
especially      in the earlier years1   
when the pupil's taste is forming1 for  
it is easier to bring such works into   
close relation with his      voluntary  
reading4 ,the teacher of ,english may   
also consider      himself recreant if  
he does not give his class advice about 
the reading of magazines and            
instructions how to read the            

newspapers4    ,with the spirit of this 
,i agree entirely4 ,the letter does not 
seem  to me entirely satisfactory4 ,i   
have learned to be a little afraid  of  
ridicule as a means of affecting the    
minds of the young in any  direction4   
,it is the easiest of methods1 but no   
less is it the one  which requires the  
most prudence and delicacy4 ,it is the  
one which is  most surely open to the   
error of the point of view4 ,if the     
teacher  tries to lessen the inclination
 of pupils for specific books by        
ridicule1 he can do no good unless he is
 able to make the class feel  that these
 books are ridiculous not only according
 to the standards of  the teacher but   
according to the standard of the child4 
,to prove that  from the instructor's   
point of view a book is poor and silly  
amounts  to little if the work really   
appeals to the young4 ,no more is       
effected  than would be accomplished if 
the teacher told lusty lads that to him 
playing ball seemed a foolish form of   

amusement4 ,they appreciate at  once    
that he is speaking from a point of view
 which is not theirs and  which they    
have no wish to share4 ,he must be able 
to make it evident  that the book in    
question1 with its attractions1 which he
 must frankly  acknowledge1 is poor when
 judged by standards which the pupils   
feel to  be true and which belong to the
 sphere of boyhood4    ,i confess with  
contrition that in my zeal for good     
literature ,i have in  earlier days     
spoken contemptuously of popular and    
trashy books which  ,i had reason to    
think my boys probably enjoyed and      
admired4 ,i believe  ,i was wrong4 ,now 
,i do not hesitate to say what ,i think 
about any book  when a student asks me1 
but ,i make it a rule never in class to 
attack  specific books or authors for   
anything but viciousness1 and that      
question is hardly likely to arise in   
the secondary schools4 ,i cannot  afford
 to run the risk of alienating the      
sympathies of my pupils1  and of        

arousing a feeling that my point of view
 is so far removed  from theirs that    
they cannot trust my opinions to be     
sympathetic4  ,the normal attitude of   
the child toward the adult is likely    
enough  to be that of believing         
grown-ups to be so far from             
understanding  what children really care
 for as to be entirely untrustworthy in 
the  selection of reading4 ,the child   
disregards or distrusts the judgments   
of his elders not on abstract grounds1  
but merely from an instinctive  feeling 
that adults do not look at things from  
his point of view4 ,i  always fear lest 
by an unwise condemnation of a book     
which a lad has  enjoyed ,i may be      
strengthening this perfectly natural and
 inevitably  stubborn conviction4       
,the first and most important means of  
influencing outside reading  is by      
impressing upon the child's mind the    
idea that he is studying  literature    
chiefly for the sake of reading to      
himself and for himself4  ,about this   

should be no doubt or uncertainty4 ,no  
child should for  a moment be allowed to
 suppose that such dealing with books as
 is  possible in the school-room can be 
chiefly for its own sake1 can be  so    
much an end as a means4 ,to allow him to
 suppose that the few works  he goes    
over can be held adequately to represent
 the great literary  treasures of the   
race1 or that he can be supposed to do  
more than to  learn how to deal with    
literature for himself1 is at once to   
make  instruction in this branch more an
 injury than a benefit4 ,it would  be no
 more reasonable than to allow him to   
think that he learns the                
multiplication-table for the sake of his
 school sums rather than  that he may   
have an effective tool to help him in   
the practical affairs  of life4    ,to  
influence outside work of any sort is   
difficult1 especially in  city schools  
where the pupils are subject to so many 
distractions4  ,the teacher is generally
 obliged to make his effort in this     

direction  almost entirely individual1  
treating no two scholars exactly in the 
same way1 and he is not infrequently    
obliged to employ a considerable  amount
 of shrewdness in the process4 ,when ,i 
wish to talk to ,john ,smith  about his 
reading1 a clever teacher said in my    
hearing1 ,i send to him  to see me about
 his spelling1 or his handwriting1 or   
anything to give  an excuse for a chat4 
,then ,i bring in the thing ,i am aiming
 at as if by  accident4 ,the number of  
instructors possessed of the adroitness1
 the  time1 and the patience for this   
sort of finesse is probably not large2  
but much may be done by words dropped   
apparently by chance1 if only the       
instructor has the matter earnestly at  
heart4    ,how far the relation of books
 in the required reading to books read  
voluntarily may profitably be insisted  
upon in class must depend  largely upon 
the particular pupils involved4 ,every  
teacher will  certainly do well to find 
out what his students are reading       

outside1  if they are reading anything1 
and he should then consider what use to 
make of his knowledge4 ,the very fact   
that he concerns himself about  the     
matter will call the attention of the   
class to the fact that a  connection    
exists2 and that it is real enough to be
 worth heeding4  ,any wise teacher will 
find an advantage in having indications 
of the  natural tastes and inclinations 
of those he is trying to train1 and to  
know what the boys and girls really like
 to read will often correct a  tendency 
to speak of the required readings in a  
tone that is outside  the range of the  
sympathies of the scholars4 ,if he knows
 that the girls  are fond of weeping    
over ,the ,broken ,heart of the         
,barmaid1 that the  boys revel in ,the  
,bloody ,boot-jack1 that both find ,mrs4
 ,pigs of the  ,potato-patch exquisitely
 amusing1 he sees at once that he must  
be  cautious in dwelling on the pathos  
of ,evangeline1 the romance of ,the     
,flight of a ,tartar ,tribe1 or the     

humor of ,charles ,lamb4 ,children fed  
on intellectual viands so coarse would  
find real literature insipid1  and must 
be trained with frank acceptance of that
 fact4    ,to say that teachers may also
 often do something in the way of       
arousing  parents to do their part in   
guiding the reading of children is to go
  somewhat outside of my field4 ,the    
public asks so much of teachers  already
 that any hint of labor in the homes of 
pupils seems--and  in many cases would  
be--nothing less than the suggestion of 
an  impossibility4 ,if ,i were to urge  
the matter1 ,i should do it purely on   
the ground that teachers may sometimes  
greatly lessen the difficulty  of the   
task they undertake in the school-room  
by a little judicious  labor in the     
home4 ,in the public schools to-day many
 children1 perhaps  even a majority1    
come from homes wherein no literary     
standard is  apparent1 and where for the
 most part none exists4 ,they are being 
given  a training which their parents   

did not have1 and they feel themselves  
better able to direct their elders in   
things intellectual than their  fathers 
and mothers are to advise them4 ,in     
these cases1 certainly very  numerous1  
the teacher must accept the inevitable1 
and do what he can by  inducing his     
pupils to talk with him about their     
outside reading4 ,where  parents are    
more cultivated1 much may often be      
effected by the simple  request or      
suggestion that the young folk be       
supervised a little in the  choice of   
books4 ,the teacher must of course use  
tact in doing anything  in this line1   
especially in those cases where such a  
request is most  needed4 ,parents who   
pay least attention to such matters are 
especially  likely to resent            
interference with their prerogative of  
neglecting  their children1 though they 
may generally be reached by the flattery
  of a carefully phrased request for    
coperation4 ,few things are more        
delicate to handle than neglected       

duties1 and the fathers and mothers  who
 shirk all responsibility for the mental
 training of their offspring  must be   
approached as if they jealously tried to
 leave nothing in this  line for any    
teacher to do4    ,the most common fault
 of young people to-day in connection   
with reading  is the neglect of books   
altogether or the devouring of fiction  
of a  poor quality4 ,to urge boys and   
girls to read good books or to admonish 
them to avoid poor ones is seldom likely
 to effect much4 ,such direct  and      
general appeal is sure to seem to them  
part of the teacher's  professional     
routine work1 and not to alter their    
inclinations or to  make any especial   
difference with their practice4         
,children are led  to care for good     
reading only by being made acquainted   
with books  that appeal to them2 and    
they are protected against poor or      
injurious  reading only by being given a
 taste for what is better4    ,this     
summing-up of the situation is easily   

made1 but how to make  children         
acquainted in a vital and pleasant      
fashion with good books and  how to     
cultivate the taste is really the whole 
problem which we are  studying4 ,this is
 the aim and the substance of all       
genuine teaching  of literature1 and    
everything in these talks is an attempt 
to help  toward an answer4 ,when the    
problem of voluntary reading has been   
satisfactorily solved the work of the   
teacher is practically done1  for the   
pupil is sure to go forward in the right
 direction whether he  is led or not4   
,all that treatment of literature which 
for convenience  ,i have called         
inspirational is directly in the line of
 developing  and raising the taste of   
young readers1 and beyond this ,i do not
 see  that specific rules can be given4 
,personal influence is after all  what  
tells1 and the most that can be done    
here is to call attention  to the fact  
that in so far as a teacher can         
influence and direct the  voluntary     

reading of a pupil he has secured a most
 efficient aid to his  school-work in   
literature4          ,,xviii    ,,in    
,,general      ,throughout these talks  
,i have tried to deal with the teaching 
of  literature in practical fashion1 not
 letting theory lead me to forget  the  
conditions actually existing4 ,to       
consider an ideal state of things  might
 be interesting1 but it would hardly    
help the teacher bothered  by the       
difficulties of every-day school-work4  
,i have intended always  to keep well   
within the field of ordinary experience1
 and to make  suggestions applicable to 
average teaching4 ,how well ,i have     
succeeded  can be judged better by      
teachers than by me2 but ,i wish in     
closing  to insist that at least ,i     
believe that what ,i have said is       
every-day  common sense4    ,i have     
throughout assumed always that no       
teacher worthy of the name  can be      
content with merely formal or           
conventional results1 but will be       

determined that pupils shall be brought 
to some understanding of what           
literature really is and of why it is   
worthy of serious attention--to  some   
appreciation1 in a word1 of literature  
as an art4 ,if an instructor  could be  
satisfied with fitting boys and girls   
for examinations1  nothing could be     
simpler or easier2 but ,i am sure that  
,i am right in  believing that our      
public-school teachers are eagerly      
anxious to  make of this study all that 
is possible in the line of developing   
and  ennobling their pupils4    ,every  
earnest teacher knows that literature   
cannot be taught by  arbitrary methods4 
,the handling of classes studying the   
masterpieces  of genius must be shaped  
by the knowledge and the inspiration of 
the  individual teacher or it is naught4
 ,neither ,i nor another may give a     
receipt for strengthening the           
imagination1 for instilling taste1 for  
arousing enthusiasm4 ,all that any book 
of this sort can effect1 and all  that  

,i have endeavored to do1 is to protest 
against methods that are  formal and    
deadening1 to offer suggestions which   
may--even if only by  disagreement--help
 to make definite the teacher's         
individual ideas1 and  to warn against  
dangers which beset the path of all of  
us to whom is  committed the high office
 of teaching this noble art4    ,the    
idea which ,i have hoped most strongly  
to enforce is the possibility  of       
arousing in children1 even in those bred
 without refining or  intellectual      
influences1 an appreciation of the      
spirit and the  teachings of the great  
writers1 a love for good books which may
  lead them to go on with the study     
after they have passed beyond the       
school-room4 ,the best literature is so 
essentially human1 it so truly  and so  
irresistibly appeals to natural         
instincts and interests1 that  for its  
appreciation nothing is needed but that 
it be understood4 ,to  produce and to   
cultivate such understanding should be1 

,i believe1 the  chief aim of any course
 in literature4    ,the understanding   
and the appreciation must of course vary
 according  to the temperament and the  
responsiveness of the child4 ,miracles  
are  not to be expected4 ,no teacher    
need suppose that the street ,arab and  
the newsboy will lie down with ,browning
 and rise up with ,chaucer2 that  ,sally
 and ,molly will give up chewing gum for
 ,shakespeare1 or that ,tom1  ,dick1 and
 ,harry will prefer ,wordsworth to      
football4 ,in his own way and  to his   
own degree1 however1 each child will    
enjoy whatever literature  he has       
comprehended4 ,as far as he can be made 
to care for anything not  directly      
personal or appealing to the senses1 he 
may be made to care  for this4 ,nature  
has taken care of the matter of fitting 
children to  understand and to love     
literature as it has prepared them to   
desire  life4 ,to bring the young into  
appreciation of the best that has been  
thought and recorded by man1 there is   

but one way3 make them familiar  with   
it4    ,it is a mistake to suppose1     
moreover1 that an especial sort of books
 is  needed for children4 ,a selection  
there should be1 and it is manifestly   
necessary to exercise common sense in   
choice of works for study4 ,a  class    
that will be deeply interested in       
,macbeth would be simply  puzzled and   
bored by ,troilus and ,cressida4        
,childish games for the  intellect there
 may be1 as there are childish          
amusements for the body2  but so far as 
serious training is concerned there is  
neither adult  literature nor juvenile  
literature1 but simply literature4      
,the range of the mind of a child is    
limited1 and the experience  demanded   
for the simplest comprehension of a work
 may be necessarily  beyond the possible
 reach of child life4#bdj3a ,the        
limitations of  youth have1 however1 and
 should have1 the same effect in        
literature as  in life4 ,they restrict  
the comprehension and the appreciation  

of the  facts of existence1 and equally 
they restrict the comprehension and  the
 appreciation of the facts in what is   
read4 ,the impressions which  the child 
takes from what he sees or from what he 
reads are not those  of his elders1     
although this is less generally true of 
emotions than  of facts4 ,the important 
point is that the impressions shall be  
vital  and wholesome1 and above all else
 that they be true with the actual      
verity of human experience4 ,we all     
commit errors in the conclusions we     
draw from life2 and children will make  
mistakes in the lessons they  draw from 
books4 ,books which are wise and sane1  
however1 will sooner or  later correct  
any misconceptions they beget1 just as  
life in time makes  clear the false     
conclusions which life itself has       
produced4    ,i have spoken more or less
 about the enjoyment of this study by   
children1 and it is difficult if not    
impossible to conceive that if  a class 
is rightly handled most children will   

not find the work a  pleasure4 ,it is   
necessary1 however1 to be a little on   
our guard in the  practical application 
of the principle that children get      
nothing out  of literature unless they  
enjoy it4 ,they certainly cannot enjoy  
it  unless they get something out of it2
 but it will hardly do to make the      
enjoyment of a class too entirely the   
test by which to decide what work  the  
class shall do4 ,pupils should be       
stimulated to solid effort in the  way  
of application and concentration1 and ,i
 have already pointed out  that in      
mastering the difficulties of literary  
language they should  be made to do     
whatever drudgery is needed1 whether    
they are inclined  to it or not4 ,they  
cannot1 moreover1 read with intelligence
 anything  with real thought in it1     
until they have learned concentration of
 mind4  ,children1 like their elders1   
value most what has cost something to   
attain1 and facile enjoyment may mean   
after-indifference4    ,the contagion of

 enthusiasm is one of the means by which
 children are  most surely induced to   
put forth their best efforts to         
understand and  to assimilate4 ,if the  
teacher is genuinely enthusiastic in his
 love  for a masterpiece1 even if this  
be something that might seem to be  over
 the heads of the children1 he arouses  
them in a way impossible  of attainment 
by any other means4 ,a boy once said to 
me with that  shrewdness which is       
characteristic of youth1 ,my teacher    
didn't  like that book1 and we all knew 
it by the way she praised it4 ,sham     
enthusiasm does not deceive children2   
but they are always impressed by  the   
genuine1 and no influence is more       
powerful4    ,the most serious obstacle 
which teachers of literature to-day meet
  with1 ,i am inclined to think1 is the 
difficulty children have in  seizing    
abstract ideas4#bda3a ,so long as study 
and instruction are  confined to the    
concrete and the particular the pupil   
works with  good will and intelligence4 

,the moment the boundary is crossed into
  the region of the general1 he becomes 
confused1 baffled1 and unable  to       
follow4 ,the algebra of life is too much
 for the brain which is  accustomed to  
deal only with definite values4 ,what is
 evidently needed  all along the line is
 the cultivation of the reasoning powers
 in the  ability to deal with abstract  
thought4 ,personally ,i believe that    
this  could be best secured by the      
simplification of the work in the lower 
grades1 and by the introduction of      
thorough courses in ,english grammar    
and the old-fashioned mental arithmetic4
 ,if some forty per cent4 of  the       
present curriculum could be suppressed  
altogether1 and then ten  per cent4 of  
the time gained given to these two      
admirable branches1  the results of     
training in the lower grades1 ,i am     
convinced1 would  show an enormous      
improvement4 ,i may be wrong in this1   
and in any case  we must deal with      
things as they exist2 and the teacher of

 literature  must accept the fact that  
he has largely to train his class in    
breadth  of thinking4 ,he will be able  
to deal with generalizations only so far
  as he is assured that his students    
will grasp them1 and this will          
generally mean so far as he is able to  
teach them to deal with this  class of  
ideas4           99       99       99   
99       99    ,this book has stretched 
beyond the limits which in the beginning
 were  set for it1 and in the end the   
one thing of which ,i am most conscious 
is of having accomplished the           
emphasizing of the difficulties of the  
branch of work with which it is         
concerned4 ,if ,i have done nothing more
  than that1 ,i have discouraged where  
,i meant to help2 and ,i can only  hope 
that at least between the lines if not  
in the actual statements  may be found  
by the earnest and hard-working teachers
 of the land--that  class too little    
appreciated and worthy so much          
honor--hints which will  make easier and

 more effective their dealing with this 
most important  and most difficult      
requirement of the modern curriculum4   
,,footnotes3    #bdj3a ,see pages       
#fh-gj4    #bda3a ,see page #aab4       
,,index          ,abilities of children 
differ1 #cj1 #fj4        ,abstract      
ideas1 #bc1 #aab-aae4        ,acting out
 poems1 #id4        ,addison1 ,de       
,coverley ,papers1 #abh1 #ach1 #adf-aej2
        ,spectator1 #adf1 #bbc4         
,analysis vs4 synthesis1 #ba4           
,art1 literature an1 #ec2        not to 
be translated into words1 #b2           
purpose of1 #a1 #gc4          ,bach1    
,passion ,music1 #aaf4                  
,beethoven1 #ec2        ,ninth          
,symphony1 #aaf4        ,biography1     
literary1 #bbb-bbf4        ,blake1      
,william1 quoted1 #ca2        ,the      
,tiger1 #ic1 #if-ajh4        ,bronson1  
,w4 ,c41 ,voluntary ,reading1 #bbh1     
#bcj4        ,brown1 ,dr4 ,john1 quoted1
 #gi4        ,browning1 #gb1 #aae1 #bci2
        ,how they ,brought the ,good    

,news1 #aac2        ,the ,lost ,leader1 
#aad4        ,burke1 #bba2              
,speech on ,conciliation1 #cg1 #fe1     
#ach-adf4        ,byron1 ,destruction of
 ,sennacherib1 #acc1 #bae4              
,carlyle1 ,burns1 #bac4        ,chaucer1
 #bbe1 #bci4        ,children1 abilities
 differ1 #cj1 #fj2        at            
disadvantage1 #aah2        comply       
mechanically1 #ic2        conceal       
feeling1 #he2        do not know how to 
study1 #df-dh2        know when bored1  
#eb2        learn life by living1 #ai2  
must be taught in own language1 #fh2    
must do own work1 #eh2        must form 
estimates1 #gj2        not affected by  
preaching1 #ah2        puzzled by       
literature1 #di2        responsive to   
metrical effects1 #aag2        skip     
morals1 #hi2        their world1 #ah1   
#gi2        too much demanded of1 #de2  
understand only through personal        
experience1 #ae1 #fg4        ,coleridge1
 #gb2        ,ancient ,mariner1 #cg1    
#hd1 #he1 #aha4        ,college entrance

 requirements1 #h1 #cj1 #ach1 #bac2     
books1 #cd-ch2        editors of1 #f4   
,conventionality1 how met1 #aig4        
,cook1 ,may ,estelle1 ,methods of       
,teaching ,novels1 #abh4                
,cramming1 #ei4        ,criticism1      
#aic-bjf2        asked of pupils1 #dd2  
of trashy books1 #bca2        must take 
pupil's point of view1 #bca4            
,decker1 quoted1 #afi4        ,defoe1   
,journal of the ,plague ,year1 #bbd4    
,deliberation in work necessary1 #bag4  
,description1 how written by pupils1    
#abg4        ,de ,quincey1 #baa2        
definition of literature1 #abc2         
,flight of a ,tartar ,tribe1 #bcd4      
,diagrams1 futility of1 #f4             
,dickens1 quoted1 #g1 #bjb4             
,didactic literature1 #bb1 #aji4        
,edgeworth1 ,maria1 ,parents'           
,assistant1 #bc4        ,eliot1 ,george1
 #abi2        ,silas ,marner1 #e1 #cb1  
#cg1 #ef1 #abg1 #aeb1 #aig4             
,emerson1 #baa2        quoted1 #fe4     
,emotion1 aim of literature to arouse1  

#he2        in literature1 #b1 #ij2     
the motive power1 #bd4                  
,enthusiasm1 connected with culture1    
#bd2        contagious1 #bda2           
necessary in teaching1 #ee2             
justification of1 #eg2        reason to 
be reached through1 #dj1 #ej4           
,evangeline1 #bcd2        questions on1 
#db1 #dc1 #de4        ,examinational    
teaching1 #gd1 #aba-ace4                
,examinations1 #bh1 #dd1 #gj1 #ahd2     
an ,institute paper1 #acj-ace2          
best prepared for by broad teaching1    
#abb2        boy's view of1 #h1 #i2     
danger of1 #dj2        entrance1 #ce1   
#de2        inevitable1 #aba2           
necessarily a makeshift1 #d2        not 
the aim in teaching1 #bh1 #gc2          
study for1 #aba-acj2        valuable    
only as tests1 #aba2        what counts 
in1 #abe2        what examinations      
should test1 #dd4          ,fables1     
truth of1 #ba4        ,fielding1 ,tom   
,jones1 #bjb4          ,goldsmith1      
,vicar of ,wakefield1 #dd1 #ef1 #aeb4   

,hawthorne1 quoted1 #afg4        ,heart 
of ,oak ,series1 #ia4        ,honesty   
essential in teaching1 #ed4             
,illustrations1 care in using1 #baa4    
,il ,percone1 #cb4        ,imagination  
essential in study of literature1 #c2   
not created but developed1 #ec2         
nourished by literature1 #bf4           
,inspirational use of literature1 #gd1  
#hh-ie1 #aag1 #bcf4        ,irving1     
,life of ,goldsmith1 #cg4               
,ivanhoe1 #cg1 #aeb2        quoted1     
#afi2        study of1 #aei-afc4        
,johnson1 ,samuel1 quoted1 #ia4         
,juvenile literature1 #hj4              
,lamb1 ,charles1 #bcd4        ,language 
of literature1 #fc-fg1 #aah2        of  
pupils1 #fd1 #fh-gj2        value judged
 by effect1 #bji4        ,life1         
realities of1 #bj4        ,limitations1 
inevitable1 #df-dh2        must be      
accepted1 #ca1 #aif2        youthful1   
#bdj4        ,litchfield1 ,mary ,e41    
quoted1 #gg4        ,literature1 a ,fine
 ,art1 #ec2        aim of1 #he2         

algebraic1 #aab2        approached      
through personal experience1 #fg1 #fi2  
deals with abstract ideas1 #fg2         
difficulty in teaching1 #bh-ch2         
defined by ,de ,quincey1 #abc2          
essentially human1 #bch2        history 
of1 #dj1 #bbb2        juvenile1 #hj1    
#bci2        language of1 #fc-fg1 #aah2 
measured by life1 #ef2        must be   
connected with life1 #fh2        must be
 taught in language of learner1 #fh2    
not didactic1 #bb1 #aji2        not     
taught by arbitrary methods1 #bch2      
nourishes imagination1 #bf2             
pupils indifferent to1 #dh2             
relation to life1 #aaj2                 
reproduces mood1 #aaf2        symbolic1 
#aac2        truth in1 #aab-aad2        
vocabulary of1 #gd2        why included 
in school course1 #aa-bg4        ,see   
,study of ,literature2 ,teaching of     
,literature2 ,literary                  
,workmanship4        ,literary          
appreciation1 may be unconscious1 #ic4  
,literary workmanship1 #bjg-bba4        

,longfellow1 #hc2        ,evangeline1   
#db1 #dc1 #de4          ,macaulay1 #baa1
 #bad2        ,life of ,johnson1 #cg2   
,milton1 #ce1 #cf1 #bab1 #bac4          
,macbeth1 #c1 #e1 #cg1 #dj1 #eg1 #fi1   
#gf1 #gg1 #hc1 #he1 #aah1 #abd1 #bjb2   
false explanations of words in1 #fc2    
,miss ,cook on1 #abh2        note on1   
#cb2        study of1 #afe-aib4         
,machiavellus1 #cb4        ,memorizing1 
#aia4        ,merchant of ,venice1 #f1  
#ha1 #aah4        ,metrical effects1    
#aaf2        beyond ordinary students1  
#ahf2        children susceptible to1   
#aag2        in ,evangeline1 #dc2       
relation to character1 #aai2            
study of1 #id2        vs4 intellectual  
content1 #baf4        ,middleton1       
,witch1 #cb4        ,milton1 #ae1 #ec1  
#aag1 #bbj1 #bbe2        ,comus1 #cd1   
#he1 #aag1 #bbh2        ,il ,penseroso1 
#cd1 #da1 #aij2        ,l',allegro1 #cd1
 #da1 #aij2        ,lycidas1 #cd1 #aag2 
,paradise ,lost1 #abc1 #abg1 #aca1 #bbh4
        ,milton1 ,macaulay's1 #ce1 #cf1 

#bab1 #bac4        ,moral1 drawn by     
children1 #abi2        not to be drawn  
by teacher1 #ga-gc1 #afc1 #afd1 #aih2   
skipped by children1 #hi4               
,north1 ,plutarch's ,lives1 #agj4       
,notes1 #ge1 #acf2        to be studied 
first1 #gf4        ,novel1 study of1    
#aeb-afd4          dipus1 #bjb4         
,oral recitation1 #ahj1 #ahd1 #aih4     
,originality in children1 #dc4          
,parables1 truth of1 #ba-bb4            
,paraphrases1 #bai4        ,plutarch1   
#agj4        ,poetry1 compared with     
prose1 #baa-bag2        nature of1 #bae4
        ,point of departure1 #hc1 #adc4 
,point of view1 #hb1 #adi1 #ahj4        
,pope1 quoted1 #baa4        ,praise1 not
 to be given beforehand1 #gj2           
when wise1 #ga4        ,prose1 compared 
with poetry1 #bab-bag4          ,quicken
 tree1 #afh4          ,raleigh1 #be1    
#bf1 #fd1 #bae4        ,raphael1        
,dresden ,madonna1 #eg4        ,ray1    
#afh4        ,reading1 aloud1 #fa1 #aed1
 #agg2        final1 of play1 #ahf2     

first1 of play1 #agf-agi2        in     
concert1 #fb2        intelligent1 basis 
of study1 #fa-fg2        second1 of     
play1 #agi-ahf2        voluntary1       
#bbg-bcf4        ,readings1 disputed1   
#ahe4        ,reference1 books of1 #acf1
 #acg4        ,rembrandt1 #bjh2         
,the ,night ,watch1 #eg4        ,riche1 
,barnabie1 quoted1 #afg4                
,ridicule1 danger of1 #bcj4             
,roosevelt1 ,president1 #eg4            
,sarcasm1 forbidden1 #aii4              
,scott1 ,ivanhoe1 #cg1 #aeb1 #aei-afc1  
#afi2        ,lady of the ,lake1 #cg4   
,shakespeare1 #ac1 #af1 #df1 #dg1 #dh1  
#di1 #ec1 #eg1 #fi1 #gb1 #ij1 #aag1     
#aai1            #abi1 #adb1 #afh1 #agj1
 #aha1 #ahc1 #ahd1 #ahf1 #ahg1 #aia1    
#bjf1 #baa1            #bab1 #bac1 #bbe1
 #bci2        ,hamlet1 #gg1 #abg2       
ill-judged notes on1 #cb2        ,julius
 ,csar1 #cd2        ,lear1 #afh2        
,macbeth1 #c1 #e1 #cb1 #cg1 #dj1 #eg1   
#fc1 #fi1 #gf1 #gg1 #hc1 #he1 #aah1     
#abh1            #afe-aib1 #bjb1 #bci2  

,merchant of ,venice1 #f1 #ha1 #aah2    
,midsummer ,night's ,dream1 #cb2        
,othello1 #hc1 #afg2        quoted1     
#bje2        reason of greatness        
unexplained1 #ee2        ,richard ,,iii1
 #aff2        ,romeo and ,juliet1 #f2   
,tempest1 #aah2        ,troilus and     
,cressida1 #bci4        ,silas ,marner1 
#e1 #cg1 #ef1 #abg1 #aeb1 #aig2         
note on1 #cb4        ,sir ,roger de     
,coverley ,papers1 #abh1 #ach2          
study of1 #adf-aej4        ,speech on   
,conciliation1 #cg1 #fe2        study   
of1 #ach-adf4        ,stevenson1        
,treasure ,island1 #aeb-aei4            
,swift1 ,a ,modest ,proposal1 #bbd4     
,study of literature1 in lower grades1  
#cj2        must be deliberate1 #bag2   
not study about literature1 #dj2        
not study of notes1 #cd2        object  
of1 #bg1 #bi1 #ca2        obstacles to  
to-day1 #ci-fj2        overweighted with
 details1 #ahg2        puzzling to      
students1 #dg1 #dh2        test of      
success in1 #cj2        used as         

gymnasium1 #hh4        ,summary1 not a  
criticism1 #bjd4        ,supernatural1  
the1 #hd2        in ,macbeth1 #aha2     
in ,the ,ancient ,mariner1 #aha4        
,superstition1 about witch1 #agc2       
about quicken tree1 #afh4               
,synthesis vs4 analysis1 #ba4           
,teacher asks too much1 #da-df2         
ignores strain on pupil1 #hj2           
must have clear ideas1 #bg1 #di1 #adi2  
must take things as they are1 #ci2      
not clear as to object1 #di2        not 
equal to demands1 #ec-fj2        obliged
 to do work of home1 #bbg2        to    
lead1 not to drive1 #eh4                
,teaching1 helping to extend ideas1     
#baj2        method in1 #acf1 #bbd4     
,teaching of literature1 aim of1 #aa-bg1
 #fi-gj1 #bcf2        cannot be done by 
rule1 #hf1 #ach2        choice of       
selections in1 #ij-ib2        confused  
methods1 #f2        deals with emotion1 
#b2        educational1 #c1 #gd1        
#aji-abj2        examinational1 #c1 #gd1
 #aba-ace2        fine passages taken up

 in1 #hj2        importance of reading  
aloud in1 #fa2        inspirational1    
#di1 #gd1 #hh-ie1 #aag2        must be  
adapted to average mind1 #hi2           
preliminary1 #gd-hg2        uncertainty 
in1 #a-aj2        written work in1 #abf4
        ,technique1 instruction in4 ,see
 ,workmanship1 literary4                
,tennyson1 #di2        ,elaine1 #cg2    
,merlin and ,vivian1 #agj2              
,princess1 #cg2        ,revenge1 #bf1   
#bae4        ,text1 #acf2        model1 
#acg4        ,thoroughness1 #aai4       
,titian1 #ec1 #bjh4        ,translating1
 effect of1 #bah4        ,treasure      
,island1 study of1 #aeb-aei4            
,truth in literature1 #aab-aad4         
,vicar of ,wakefield1 #dd1 #ef1 #aeb4   
,vocabulary1 growth of1 #bji2           
,miss ,litchfield's view1 #gg2        of
 ,burke's ,speech1 #aci2        of      
,ivanhoe1 #afj1 #afb2        of         
,macbeth1 #afe-aga2        of prose1    
#acg2        of ,sir ,roger de          
,coverley1 #adg2        of ,treasure    

,island1 #aec1 #aee2        study of1   
#gf-gi1 #abe1 #aic2        to be learned
 first1 #gd1 #aaj1 n42        to be     
learned from reference-books1 #gf4      
,washington1 ,george1 #bb4              
,words1 value of1 #af4                  
,word-values1 #ag4        ,wordsworth1  
#di1 #bci2        ,lesson for ,fathers1 
#aie4        ,workmanship1 literary1    
#bjg-bba4        ,written work1         
#abf-acj2        comparison in1 #aij2   
description in1 #abg2        in study of
 ,macbeth1 #ahg-aia2        supreme test
 in1 #abi4                              
,the ,riverside ,press                  
,electrotyped and printed by ,h4 ,o4    
,houghton  ,co4                         
,cambridge1 ,mass41 ,u4 ,s4 ,a4         
,,transcriber',s ,,notes3               
,variations in spelling and hyphenation 
remain as in the original4    ,the      
following corrections have been made to 
the original text3        ,page #afe3   
,,xiiioriginal has ,,xii        ,page   
#agd3 gnaw till the ship springs a      

leakoriginal has      aleak        ,page
 #bde1 under ,examinations3 best        
prepared for by broad      teaching1    
#abb2original has a comma        ,page  
#bdg3 ,teaching of literature1 aim of1  
#aa-bg1      #fi-gj1original has a      
semi-colon #bcf