Special Method in the Reading of Complete English Classics Part 9

"Think me not unkind and rude That I walk alone in grove and glen; I go to the G.o.d of the wood To fetch his word to men."

And Lowell, in "The Bobolink":--

"As long, long years ago I wandered, I seem to wander even yet.

The hours the idle schoolboy squandered, The man would die ere he'd forget.

O hours that frosty eld deemed wasted, Nodding his gray head toward my books, I dearer prize the lore I tasted With you, among the trees and brooks, Than all that I have gained since then From learned books or study-withered men."

And Whittier says:--

"Our uncle, innocent of books, Was rich in lore of fields and brooks, The ancient teachers never dumb Of Nature's unhoused lyceum."

It would not be difficult to recall other pa.s.sages from Bryant, Shakespeare, Byron, and many others, expressing this love of solitude in woods or on the seash.o.r.e, and the wisdom to be gained from such communion with nature. This active retrospect to gather up kindred thoughts out of previous studies and mingle them with the newer influx of radiant ideas from master minds is a fruitful mode of a.s.similating and compounding knowledge. It may be advisable at times for the teacher to bring together a few additional pa.s.sages from still wider sources, expressive of a thought kindred to that worked out in the cla.s.s. Such study leads to a self-reliant, enthusiastic companions.h.i.+p with the thoughts of great men, and is most profitable.

4. There is a p.r.o.nounced value in dramatic representation of literary selections. The impersonating of characters gives an intensity and realism to the thought that cannot be effected in any other way. In some cases it is possible to provide a stage and some degree of costuming, to lend more complete realization of the scenes.

In favor of such dramatic efforts it may be said that children, even in the earlier grades, are naturally dramatic, and enjoy greatly both seeing and partic.i.p.ating in them. It gives scope to their natural tendency toward action, rather than repose, and proper verbal expression is more easily secured in conjunction with action than without it. In this connection it may be said that acting lends greater freedom and spontaneity to the reading.

Schlegel, in his description of dramatic art, says:--

"Even in a lively oral narration, it is not unusual to introduce persons in conversation with each other, and to give a corresponding variety to the tone and the expression. But the gaps, which these conversations leave in the story, the narrator fills up in his own name with a description of the accompanying circ.u.mstances, and other particulars.

The dramatic poet must renounce all such expedients; but for this he is richly recompensed in the following invention. He requires each of the characters in his story to be personated by a living individual; that this individual should, in s.e.x, age, and figure, meet as near as may be the prevalent conceptions of his fict.i.tious original, nay, a.s.sume his entire personality; that every speech should be delivered in a suitable tone of voice, and accompanied by appropriate action and gesture; and that those external circ.u.mstances should be added which are necessary to give the hearers a clear idea of what is going forward. Moreover, these representatives of the creatures of his imagination must appear in the costume belonging to their a.s.sumed rank, and to their age and country; partly for the sake of greater resemblance, and partly because, even in dress, there is something characteristic. Lastly, he must see them placed in a locality which, in some degree, resembles that where, according to his fable, the action took place, because this also contributes to the resemblance: he places them, _i.e._, on a scene. All this brings us to the idea of the theatre. It is evident that the very form of dramatic poetry, that is, the exhibition of an action by dialogue without the aid of narrative, implies the theatre as its necessary complement."

"The invention of dramatic art, and of the theatre, seems a very obvious and natural one. Man has a great disposition to mimicry; when he enters vividly into the situation, sentiments, and pa.s.sions of others, he involuntarily puts on a resemblance to them in his gestures. Children are perpetually going out of themselves; it is one of their chief amus.e.m.e.nts to represent those grown people whom they have had an opportunity of observing, or whatever strikes their fancy; and with the happy pliancy of their imagination, they can exhibit all the characteristics of any dignity they may choose to a.s.sume, be it that of a father, a schoolmaster, or a king."

In his book, "Imagination and Dramatic Instinct," S. S. Curry says:--

"Since dramatic instinct is so important, the question naturally arises respecting the use of dialogues for its education. There are those who think that all histrionic art is useless; that it is even deleterious to character to a.s.sume a part.

"The best answer to this is the study of the little child. The very first means a child adopts to get out of itself, or to realize the great world about it, is by dramatic action and instinct. No child was ever born with any mind at all, that had not some of this instinct; and the more promising the child, the more is it dramatic and imaginative.

Dramatic instinct is universal. It is the secret of all success; it is the instinct by which man sees things from different points of view, by which he realizes the ideal in character in contrast to that which is not ideal."

"Professor Monroe was once asked by a clergyman for private lessons. He told him that was impossible. 'Well,' said the minister, 'what can I do then?' 'Go home and read Shakespeare dramatically.' Why was such advice given? Because the struggle to read Shakespeare would get the minister out of himself. The struggle to realize how men of different types of character would speak certain things would make him conscious whether he, himself, spoke naturally. He would, in short, become aware of his mannerisms, of his narrow gamut of emotions, his sameness of point of view; he would be brought into direct contact with the process of his own mind in thinking."

The supreme value of a vivid and versatile imagination in giving full and rich development to the whole mind is now a vital part of our confession of faith. The question is how to cultivate such a resourceful imagination. The literature of the creative imagination is felt to be the chief means, and the dramatic instinct toward interpreting, a.s.similating and expressing human thought and feeling opens the avenue of growth.

Dr. Curry says:--

"Dramatic instinct should be trained because it is a part of the imagination, because it gives us practical steps toward the development of the imagination, because it is the means of securing discipline and power over feeling. Dramatic instinct should be trained because it is the insight of one mind into another. The man who has killed his dramatic instinct has become unsympathetic, and can never appreciate any one's point of view but his own. Dramatic instinct endows us with broad conceptions of the idiosyncrasies, beliefs, and convictions of men. It trains us to unconscious reasoning, to a deep insight into the motives of man. It is universally felt that one's power to 'other himself' is the measure of the greatness of his personality. All sympathy, all union of ourselves with the ideals and struggles of our race, are traceable to imagination and dramatic instinct."

He further emphasizes the idea that dramatic instinct has two elements--imagination and sympathy. "Imagination affords insight into character; sympathy enables us to identify ourselves with it." "Together they form the chief elements of altruism. They redeem the mind from narrowness and selfishness; they enable the individual to appreciate the point of view, the feelings, motives, and characters of his fellow-men; they open his eyes to read the various languages of human art; they enable him to commune with his kind on a higher plane than that of commonplace facts; they lift him into communion with the art and spirit of every age and nation. Without their development man is excluded from the highest enjoyment, the highest communion with his kind, and from the highest success in every walk of life."

Dramatization is the only means by which we can bring the reading work of the school to its full and natural expression. The action involved in it predisposes the mind to full and natural utterance. The fulfilment of all the dramatic conditions lends an impetus and genuineness to every word that is spoken. It has been often observed that boys and girls whose reading is somewhat expressionless become direct and forcible when taking a part in a dialogue or dramatic action. It would be almost farcical not to put force and meaning into the words when all the other elements of action and realism are present.

Educational progress is everywhere exerting a distinct pressure at those points where greater realism, deeper absorption in actualities, is possible. This is the significance of outdoor excursions, of experiments, laboratories, and object work in nature study. In geography and history it is the purpose of pictures, vivid descriptions, biographical stories, and the accounts of eye-witnesses and real travellers, etc.

In literature we possess, embodied in striking concrete personalities, many of the most forcible ideas that men have conceived and dealt with in the history of the world. It is very desirable that children should become themselves the vehicles for the expression of these ideas. The school is the place where children should become the embodiment of ideas. It would be a grand and not impractical scheme of education to propose to make the school a place where each child, in a well-chosen succession, should be allowed to impersonate and become the embodiment of the constructive ideas of our civilization.

We reason much concerning the educative value of carpentry, of the various forms of manual skill in wood and iron, of weaving, gardening, and cooking, of the work of shoemaker, basket-maker, and potter, and of the educative value of these constructive activities; for the purposes of universal education, is it not of equal importance that children become skilled in the histrionic art, in the apt interpretation and expression of good manners, in that deeper social insight and versatile tact which are the constructive elements in conduct? Or, putting it in a more obvious form, is it any more important for a person to know how to construct a bookcase or even a steam-engine, than to shape his speech or conduct skilfully in meeting a board of education or a business manager.

It is not the purpose of the school to educate players or public readers, any more than to train carpenters or machinists. But the reading exercises in school should culminate in the ability to sympathetically interpret a considerable variety of human life and character as presented in our best literature. Modern educators, however, are not satisfied, in any important study, with theoretical knowledge derived from books. They demand that knowledge shall pa.s.s over into some sort of practice and use. Reading pa.s.ses naturally and without a break from the interpretation of life to its embodiment in conduct. In this important respect it is the most practical of all studies. Its subject matter, derived from literature, consists largely of an interesting variety of typical and artistically beautiful character delineations from the hands of the supreme master of this art. Dramatic representation is the last and indispensable step in the art of reading; and the interest that naturally attaches to it, from early childhood up through all the stages of growth, removes one chief obstacle to its introduction.

Keeping in mind that wisdom, skill, and versatility in conduct are the natural and appropriate outcome of successful dramatic representation, it is not at all extravagant to say that the average child will have far more use for this result, both now and in all the vicissitudes of later life, than for skill in carpentry, or ironwork, or weaving, etc.

Nor have we any disposition to detract from the value usually attributed to manual training in its various forms by its advocates.

It is not uncommon for teachers generally to employ the dialogue form when the selection admits of it, and to a.s.sign the parts to different children. Our purpose, however, in the fuller discussion and emphasis of the dramatic element is to suggest a more liberal employment of dramatic selections, and to provide for a much fuller dramatic representation, using simple, inexpensive costumes and stage surroundings where possible.

When we examine in detail the number of dramatic selections in a set of readers, or among the masterpieces sometimes read in the cla.s.ses below the high school, we shall find a number of purely dramatic works. "The Merchant of Venice" and "Julius Caesar" are well adapted to seventh and eighth grades, and there are many selections in which the dialogue is an important feature, as in "The Cricket on the Hearth," "King of the Golden River," "Tanglewood Tales," "Lady of the Lake," "Marmion,"

"Pilgrim's Progress," "Grandfather's Chair," and many others.

"The Courts.h.i.+p of Miles Standish" has been published in a form specially adapted for school exhibitions by Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.

Longfellow's "Giles Corey of the Salem Farms," in the "Riverside Series," is a drama well suited to sixth grade. The story of "William Tell," derived from Schiller's drama, is adapted to sixth and possibly to fifth grade.

Some of the ballads are cast in the form of the dialogue, and can be easily treated so in the school, as "Proud Lady Margaret," "Robin Hood and the Widow's Sons," "King John and the Abbot of Canterbury," and many others. The Robin Hood stories are full of dialogue and could be easily dramatized, and so with "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and others.

An examination of our literature from this point of view will discover a strong dramatic element in a large portion of it, and the cultivation of this spirit will qualify the children for a better appreciation of many of the great works.

5. Treatment of the "Odyssey."

The "Odyssey" is probably as well known as any masterpiece in the world's literature. For the sake of ill.u.s.tration, therefore, we will enter upon a brief discussion of the mode of handling it as a unit in the school.

There are abundant sources in English from which the teacher can get an adequate knowledge of this great poem without using the original Greek.

A few of the leading books which the teacher may consult are as follows: "The Story of Ulysses" (Cook). A very simple, abbreviated narrative of Ulysses' wanderings, sometimes used as a reading book in fourth or fifth grade. (Public School Publis.h.i.+ng Co.)--"Lamb's Adventures of Ulysses." A pleasing prose rendering of the chief incidents of the story, more difficult than the preceding. Sometimes used as a reader. (Ginn & Co.)--"Church's Stories of the Old World," in which "The Adventures of Ulysses" forms a chapter. A good short treatment of the story in simple language. (Ginn & Co.)--"Ulysses among the Phaeacians," consisting of selections from five books of the "Odyssey" as translated into verse by Bryant. This seems well adapted for use as a reading-book in fourth or fifth grade, and will be discussed more fully as such. (Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.)--"The Odyssey of Homer" by Palmer, is an excellent prose-poetic rendering of the whole poem, and is of great service to the teacher. (Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.)--Another excellent prose translation, by Butcher and Lang, has been much used. (The Macmillan Co.)--Bryant's "Homer's 'Odyssey,'" a complete poetic rendering of the whole twenty-four books of the poem, is probably the best basis for school reference and study of the poem.--"National Epics," by Rabb, has a good narrative and introduction for the "Odyssey," and a list of critical references. (A. C. McClurg & Co.)--"Art and Humanity in Homer,"

by Lawton, has an interesting discussion of the "Odyssey." Other famous translations of the whole "Odyssey" were made by Alexander Pope, William Cowper, George Chapman, and others.

It is not unusual in schools for teachers to give children of the third or fourth grade an oral introduction to the whole story in a series of lessons. This requires skill in presenting and discussing the episodes, and should be attended by good oral reproductions by the children. Such oral work should be done in distinct lessons apart from the regular reading. Later, in fourth or fifth grade, the story is sometimes read in cla.s.s from one of the simple prose narratives of Miss Cook, or Lamb, or Church. In the fifth or sixth grade, "Ulysses among the Phaeacians" forms an interesting reading-book, with which to acquaint the children more fully with the poetic beauty and descriptive detail of the original, so far as it can be secured in English. In connection with such reading it may be interesting to choose from Bryant's complete translation other selected parts of the story, and encourage the children to read them, if books from the library or homes can be provided.

We may dwell for a moment upon those qualities of Homer's story which have commanded the admiration of the great poets in different ages and countries. The peculiar poetic charm and power of the original Greek are probably untranslatable, although several eminent poets have attempted it. But we have at least both prose and verse renderings of it that are beautiful and poetic.

Some of the critics have said that the whole poem is a perfect unit in thought,--much more so than the "Iliad,"--centring in the person of Ulysses. His wanderings and his final return const.i.tute the thread of the narrative. In the main it is a story of peace, with descriptions of cities, islands, palaces, strange lands, and peaceful arts and manners.

After their return from Troy we meet Nestor and Menelaus, dwelling happily in their palaces and surrounded with home comforts. Ulysses, himself, the great sufferer, is tossed about the world, or held captive on sea-girt, far-away islands. He pa.s.ses through a series of wonderful adventures, keeping his alertness and balance of mind so completely that his name has become a synonym in all lands for shrewdness and far-seeing wisdom. And it is not only a wise perception, but a self-control in the midst of old and new temptations which is most remarkable. This over-mastering shrewdness or calculation even overdoes itself and becomes amusing, when he tries, for example, to deceive his guardian G.o.ddess as to who he is. The descriptions of women and of domestic life are famous and delightful. The constancy of Penelope, her industry and shrewdness in outwitting the suitors, have given her a supreme place among the women of story. The descriptions of peaceful manners and customs, of public games, of feasting and music, of palace halls and ornament, are among the great literary pictures of the world.

The particular adventures through which Ulysses pa.s.sed with Circe, with the Sirens, with Polyphemus, with Eolus, with the lotus-eaters, and others, are plainly suggestive of the dangers which threaten the thoughtless minded, those who plunge headlong into danger without forethought. Ulysses does not give way to folly or pa.s.sion, is bold and skilful in danger, and persevering to the last extreme.

In the treatment of the "Odyssey," the teacher will need a general knowledge of Greek mythology, which can be easily derived from "Greek G.o.ds, Heroes, and Men" (Scott, Foresman, & Co.), and from several other of the reference books. Some study of Greek architecture, sculpture, and modes of life will be instructive and helpful, as given in Smith's "History of Greece" and other histories. Pictures of Greek temples and ruins, sculpture, and palaces will be pleasing and attractive to children. (See Lubke's "History of Art," Vol. I, Dodd, Mead, & Co.) Some of the children's books also contain good pictures.

A good map, indicating the supposed wanderings of Ulysses in the Mediterranean, is given in several of the books, _e.g._ in Palmer's "Odyssey," and fixes many of the most interesting events of the story.

The teacher should not overlook the geography of the story and its relation to this and later studies in history, literature, and geography.

In using "Ulysses among the Phaeacians" as a reader in fourth or fifth grade, the first unit of study is the voyage of Ulysses on his raft, from the time of leaving Calypso till he is wrecked by the storm and driven upon the island of Scheria, the home of the Phaeacians. We will suggest a few points in the treatment. The supposed places and the route of the voyage can be traced on the map. Let the teacher sketch it on the board in a.s.signing the lesson. Suggest that the children locate in the sky the stars and constellations by which Ulysses is to direct his course. The story of the construction of the raft on which Ulysses is to make this journey, just preceding this part of the story, could be read to the cla.s.s by the teacher, as it is not contained in these extracts.

In length of time how does this voyage compare with a voyage across the Atlantic to-day? Why is it said, in line 329, that the Great Bear "alone dips not into the waters of the deep"?

From previous studies, the children may be able to tell of Ulysses' stay upon the island with Calypso. What may the children know of Neptune? Why is he angered with Ulysses? A picture of Neptune with the trident is in place. Explain the expression "while from above the night fell suddenly." Was Ulysses justified in saying, "Now must I die a miserable death"? In spite of the desperate storm, in what ways does Ulysses struggle to save his life? How do the G.o.ds a.s.sist him? In what way does this experience of Ulysses remind us of Robinson Crusoe's s.h.i.+pwreck and escape?

With how many men had Ulysses started on his way to Troy? Now he alone escapes after great suffering and hopeless buffetings. In what way during this voyage and s.h.i.+pwreck did Ulysses display his accustomed shrewdness and foresight? After landing, what dangers did he still fear?

The nearly three hundred lines of Book V, which give this account of Ulysses' voyage and s.h.i.+pwreck, will require several lessons, and the above questions are but a few of those raised in its reading and discussion. When Neptune, Ulysses, or Ino speak, let the speaker be impersonated so as to give greater force and reality. In the next book (VI), there is more of dialogue and better opportunity for variety of manner and voice.

It would be tedious to enter into further detail suggesting questions.