STLJlES IN THE TEACHING Of POETRx by Moiree Scott Compere A THESIS Suomitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION School of Education 1952 STUDIES IN THE TEACHING Or1 POETitY By Moiree Scott Compere AN ABSTRACT Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION School of Education Year Approved JJL 1952 Moiree Scott Compere THESIS ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was (l) to determine the attitudes of college freslimen toward their experiences with poetry, and (2 ) to evaluate the theories obtained from the concensus of agreement among them in the light of expert opinion. From the pattern of favorable- onfavcrable attitudes found in the study, the author believed it possible to obtain data from which teachers, especially- instructors of beginning college classes in poetry, might draw principles of teaching, and gain an insight into the lives and thinking of their students, a procedure oeemed necessary in good pedagogy. The thesis of this study is that if the general unpopularity of poetry is a fact, teachers should know the factors which cause such a situation. The seeming ubiquitous acceptance of the inevitability of poetry neglect needs to be challenged by studies which examine facts and try to determine truths. This study of attitudes is a beginning of that catermination. The subjects of the study were 2500 freshmen in the Written and Spoken English Department of Michigan State College. A Poetry AttitudesInventory covering four aspects of poetry experience was constructed and administered to two sample groups of these freshmen. The Inventory attempted to ascertain attitudes toward (l) general contacts with poetry such as those caused by home environment, access to books, opinions of friends, etc., (2 ) textual material or the poetry studied by them, Moiree Scott Compere (3 ) techniques or teaching methods, and (h ) teachers. To this method of ascertaining student opinion was added that of personal interview. Interviews were held with members of tliree groups of students a (l) eighteen selected from those answering the Inventory, (2) eleven in an elective Oral Interpretation of Foetry class, and (3) nineteen in a beginning class in Oral Interpretation. The pattern of agreement on favorable-unfavorable attitudes was compared with opinions of experts. From the data obtained, implications were induced in regard to teaching poetry on the pleasure-principle. Analysis of the data showed a very definite agreement in regard to those factors wiiich make students like or dislike poetry, which make them want to read and stuay it, or abandon it forever. There was discovered an obvious traditional pattern in materials, methods, and teachers. Texts are largely what they have always been, containing the usual classics on which teachers insist, seemingly because of values uelieved to be inherent in them. Adults select classics which students "ought” to know apparently without regard to their emotional maturity, interests, or ability to comprehend. Relatively little modern poetry is included in books for study although students indicate their liking for the little they know. So little poetry is taught in schools that students remember almost no poems. Students require flexibility of plan ana extensive reading in poetry materials which must be made available for them in great variety and in easily accessible spots. Teachers must start where students are, accepting, if necessary, inferior Moiree Scott Compere verse until students want better. For any success in teaching poetry a definite change in materials is indicated. Data indicate that traditional methods of teaching are largely the same that they have always been. Twenty per cent of those most used were the typical ones of assignment in a prescribed text, question ana answer, discussion of historical, biographical, ana metrical mechanics. Of the thirty possible methods listed, twenty per cent of those most unused were the newer, more experimental ones. were: Methods will depend on goals. Other factors discovered A poor teacher can ruin any method, and a good teacher enhances any method. The oral reading method is very important. Memorization is the most hated of all teclmiques, and the most universal. It stiould either be avoided or made pleasant. Poetry cannot be learned, according to the witnesses in tliis study, without the proper guidance. Students claim they do not like poetry because they do not understand it, and a great majority claim that few teachers use effective methods. One fact is very evident: there must be a change in methods if students are to like poetry. The data show that teachers largely teach as they were taught. The evidence points out that they teach poetry if they like it or have toj they frequently leave it entirely out of the curriculum. Students feel that poetry teachers must not only have the abilities and char­ acteristics of other good teachers, but must have something over and above these. They do not care if the teacher is young or old, man or woman, if he or she is young in spirit, cooperative, interested, sym­ pathetic , and will consult students as to what they like. A teacher must Moiree Scott Compere consider student opinion, consistently allowing them to express their feelings in regard to the poetry studied. Even those who thoroughly dislike poetry, ana particularly the classics, feel that educated people should know something about poetry, that if students could under­ stand why classics are important they would be willing to try to read them, and that if pleasant methods of understanding were provioed, a great many students might learn to reau poetry with pleasure. ACKNOWLEDCMtNTS The writer is indebted to the many persons whose cooperation made possible the successful completion of this study. Acknowledgment is made of the contribution of Professor Paul Bagwell and his staff of the Department of Communication Skills. They generously gave their time to the administering of the Poetry Attitudes-Inventory. Their very efficient help is greatly appreciated. Dr. Louis B. Mayhew of the Board of Examiners gave, without stint, encouragement and counsel on the writing and construction of the Attitudes-Inventory. The writer is indebted to Mr. Robert Jackson and his staff, also from the Board of Examiners, for invaluable aid in the compila­ tion of statistics. Members of the guidance committee, consisting of Cecil V. Millard, Clyde M. Can^bell, H, W. Sundwall, and Wilson B. Paul were helpful throughout the progress of the study. Particular acknowledgment is due to Dr. Paul on whom fell the brunt of reading, counselling, and revision. To Thera Stovall Stearns there is great indebtedness for understanding, counselling, and careful reading and criticism of the manuscript. •JHHHHHHHI -JHfrfe •*«««* * TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. PAGE PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND OF STUD I ............................. Purpose of Study............... 1 State and Status ofPoetry Today......................... 2 Evidence of Lack of Interest in Poetry............... 2 Expert Opinions on the Value of Poetry............... 6 Poetry Provides Lasting Substance................. Poetry Provides Vicarious Experience.............. Poetry is a Prime Requisite to the Proper Function­ ing of Human Society........ Poetic Literature is Ideal for Imaginative.Communi­ cation......................................... II. 7 6 10 12 PROBLEM, SOURCES OF DATA, AND METHOD OF PROCEDURE.......... 16 Statement of Problem..................................... 18 Method of Procedure ................................ 19 Kind of Investigation............................. 19 Selection of Group to be Studied...... 21 Construction of Poetry Attitudes-Inventory........ 21 Administering Inventory. 23 Personal Parts III. 1 DATA ON .................. Interviews.............................. 2h I and II, Poetry Attitudes-Inventory............... 27a ATTITUDES CONCERNING TEXTUAL MATERIAL............. As Ascertained From Poetry Attitudes-Inventory....... Evidence from General Questions.................. Evidence from Record of Poetry Listed as Remembered by Each Student.......... 28 29 29 33 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued CHAPTER PAGS As Ascertained froirj Personal Interviews.................... 38 As Ascertained from Expert Opinion......................... 1*6 IV. DATA ON ATTITUDES CONCERNING TEACHING A EX'HODS................. 81 As Ascertained from Poetry Attitudes-Inventory........... . 62 As Ascertained from Personal Interviews.................... 97 As Ascertained from Expert Opinion.......................... 106 V. DATA ON ATTITUDES CONCERNING TEACHERS..........................127 As Ascertained from Poetry Attitudes-Inventory.............. 127 ns Ascertained from Personal Interviews..................... 132 As Ascertained from Expert Opinions......................... ll*0 VI. CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY...................................................... 157 Implications and Conclusions............................... 156 Recommendations............................................ 163 Suggestions for Further Study.............................. 167 APPENDICES APPENDIX A — APPENDIX B — APPENDIX C — APPENDIX D — TABULATION OF TOTAL ANSWErtS TO POETRY ATTITUDESINVENTORY....................................... 171 ITEMIZED RESUMfi OF ANSWERS TO THE POETRY ATTI­ TUDES-INVENTORY , ACCORDING TO A CATEGORICAL ORGANIZATION OF IDEAS........................... 180 PERSONAL INTERVIEWS WITH STUDENTS............... 221 ITEMIZED TABLE OF P O M S REMEMBERED AND REACTION TO T H M ........................................ 261 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................ 309 CHAPTER I CHAPTER I PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND OF THIS STUDY The purpose of this study is to attempt to ascertain the attitudes of college freshmen toward poetry and determine the significance of these attitudes to the teaching of poetry at the beginning college level. All colleges and universities offer poetry courses; study of poetry is, philosophically, considered valuable. No research, however, has been done on the subject of why so few students engage in so important a study. Importance and neglect are both seemingly axiomatic. There has been no research on the subject of why students like or dislike poetry and consequently why they study it or do not study it when there is any choice in the matter. Teachers have no factually determined data from which they can formulate principles for teaching, nor have they any factual knowledge of where their students are in their relation to poetry. Since such knowledge is the first step in good teaching of poetry, this investigation attempts to discover and analyze those factors which make poetry teaching successful or unsuccessful. Neglect of poetry seemingly stems from lip service to its value. Actually, there is a division of belief about the importance of poetry as an asset in the life of the student and the adult which he will become. It is necessary, first, therefore, to attempt to determine the value of poetry by discussing expert opinions. STATE AND STATUS OF POETRY TODAY To ascertain the place which poetry deserves, two steps will be taken. First, there will be presented evidence of lack of interest in poetry and, second, there will be presented comments of experts, poets, teacher, critics, and philosophers concerning the place that poetry should have— its value for study in the world of today. Evidence of Lack of Interest in Poetry Evidence of lack of interest in poetry is shown in studies which have been made. These demonstrate that few people are in classes, stu­ dents choose prose in preference to poetry, and they do not voluntarily choose poetry to read, as shown in the following examples. T. W. Sussams, Principal of Folkestone Emergency Training College, England, sums up in a recent book that which seems to be the attitude of students everywhere. He says his evidence gained from the replies of five thousand school cidldren, can be summarized as followst* 1. The poetry lesson, whatever its form, is relatively unpopular with older pupils. 2. Its unpopularity tends to increase with the years. 3. This tendency is most marked in the case of the intelligent pupils. U. The reading of poetry is least disliked* the recit­ ing of poetry increasingly disliked. 5. Girls are more interested in poetry than boys. Sussams quotes David Jordan, an English writer, who says* “Poetry seems to enjoy little popularity except among the younger b o y s H i s ^Sussams, T. W., Poetry and The Teacher. Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd., N. Y. and London, 19U9, p. 3&. 2Sussams, ibid., p. 79. statement is supported by it. A. Pritchard, another teacher in England, who quotes replies from his students of secondary school level. say of poetry* "I have never had any liking of poetry," They "Some of the poetry is toe highbrow," "Learning poetry is decidedly boring, useless and sentimental."^ Tliree studies made separately by Vergara, Cliristmore, and MacKintosh say the same tiling of American students. Inquiry maae of scores of people over a period of years confirms the fact tiiat not many read poetry. Some occasionally read news­ paper verse or selections with strong timely appeal, such as "The White Cliffs of Dover"' or "The Murder of Lidice," though more listen to such selections read over tiie radio or on records. Librarians also attest to the small numbers who avail themselves of poetry except to satisfy requirements in literature. At one university Palgrave*s Golden Treasury had not, been called for in ten years; at another no books of poetry haa been withdrawn for mere leisure reading in nine years .2 Christmore^ states that 73 per cent of the liigh school boys and girls questioned about their appreciation of poetry said they preferred prose to poetry, claiming it to be easier to understand, more exciting, and more interesting. Mackintosh says in summing up investigations from 1500 -193 U that if the conclusions reached in studying the reading habits ^■Sussams, ibid., p. 79. p Vergara, Aliys Dwyer, A Critical Study- of a Group of College W:omonts Kesponses to Poetry, Contributions to" Education ho. 923, Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, N. Y., 19U6, P. 2. ■^Christmore, Esther Clare, Oral Versus Silent Reading for Literary Appreciation. An Experimental Study. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Master*s Thesis, July, 1933, p. 2L. of children are checked it will be found the status of poetry at the present time is not high. Either poetry is not mentioned by subjects making the reports or it is given a very low ranking Writers agree with educators on this lack of interest in poetry. isorman Corwin, famous radio writer, says of poetrys It is the poor relative among the arts, having oecn sustained largely by the aesthetic charity of publishers . One of the reasons for thds is that poetry lias descended from its once iiigh position as a national art - a poetry of the people - and become the almost exclusive property and interest of poets themselves.2 Herbert ftead, writer ana art expert from England, said in 1939 that "the art of poetry is in danger of e x t i n c t i o n . L i o n e l Elvin, an Oxford Professor, agrees in these words: For every ten playgoers or every hundred readers of novels there is perhaps one reader of poetry. . . .The causes for the com­ parative neglect of poetry among the reading public today seem too complex for an easy generalization. But what may be stated with some confidence is that the audience for poetry is much smaller than it need be Randall Jarrel, American poet and critic asks: admit that anybody must know: "Why don*t people that here and now people can*t and don*t read poetry, that the stupidest shepherd or potboy of apy other ^■Mackintosh, Helen K. A Critical Study of Children's Choices in Poetry. Iowa University, University of Iowa Studies in Education, Iowa City, 1932. V. 7, ho. U. p. 23-21:. ^Corwin, horman, quoted in Donald Ogden Stewart*s Fighting Words, w. Y. Harcourt Brace and Co. 19^0. pp. 86-67. -^Read, Herbert, "Muses of the Air," Living Age, CCCLV (Jan. 1939) P. U71. ^Elvin, Lionel, Introduction to the Study of Literature , London, Sylvan Press, 1 9h9, p. lfs. age liked and understood poetry better than the average college student today?”! Muriel Ruckeyser, noted American poet, says that poetry has no acknowledged place in American life today; the barriers set up against it are strong; it is nothing that enters our lives or that is part of the social life as it is now organized. The resistance to poetry is an active force in American life. . . . We can see our own conflict and our own resource if we look now at this art, which has been made - of all arts, the one least accept­ able. The hatred of poetry comes through as boredom, as namecalling, as the traditional attitude of the last hundred years which has chalked in the portrait of the poet as he is known in this society which Herbert Read says, "does not challenge poetry in principle - it merely treats it with ignorance, indifference and unconscious cruelty."* Miss Ruckeyser quotes reasons for attitudes toward poetry as they have been given to her* one had no time for it, it bored another, one confesses a bad experience at school, a veteran returned to school and was compelled to recite "Bobolink, Bobolink, spink, spank, spink," a scientist cannot find a framework, it is wilfully obscure, men say it is effimiate - sexually suspect. Then Miss Ruckeyser draws a parallel be­ tween the answers and the age in which we live. have the quality of fear; She says these resistances the fear is a psychotic problem, A poem invites the reader to feel; his emotions must be used. In America, emotional feelings can be written but individuals are still afraid of Ijarrel, Randall, quoted by Harvey Breit, "Case for the Modern Poet," New York Times Magazine, Nov. 3, 19^6, p. 60. ^Ruckeyser, Muriel, The Life of Poetry. New York, A. A. Wyn, Current Books, Inc., 19u9, p. their personal expression. This author*s reactions she states in this ways In our schools, we are told that our education is pragmatic, that the body of knowledge is divided into various "subjects," that all these subjects on which we pour our youth are valuable to us in later life. We are told that our civilization depends on further and new uses for everything it has, the development and exploitation of these. We may go ahead and specialize in any of these usable fields. Except for one. There is one kind of knowledge that will be given us through school and high school which we are told is precious, it defies time, it strikes deep into memory, it must go on being taught, ho matter what cities fall, what languages are misheard and "corrupted" and reborn. This is here, to be passed on. But not to be used. Among all the pragmatic training, never to come into real and active life. That is what we learn about poetry.^ Expert Opinions on the Value of Poetry It would seem logical to suppose, following all the foregoing dis­ cussion of the dislike of or indifference to poetry, that perhaps there is no reason to try to teach poetry. If this large a percentage of people is hostile or indifferent to poetry, it might be wise to abandon any attempt to reach them with this form of literature. Therefore, before attempting to evaluate present teaching as reflected in the attitudes of college freshmen, before trying to elucidate conclusions from these princi­ ples, it is necessary to evaluate the worth of poetry, to arrive at some factual basis for deciding whether the teaching of poetry deserves study. Poets, teachers, literary critics, scholars, scientists, and states­ men pay tribute to the value of poetry in the life of the individual and 1Ibid., p. U. 7 the nation. They attest that (l) poetry provides lasting substance on which men may feed, that (2) it provides vicarious experience which broadens and deepens man's living, that (3) it is a prime requisite to the proper functioning of human society and especially so in a democracy, and that (L) poetic literature is ideal for imaginative communication. Poetry Provides Lasting Substance That poetry is a superficial thing seems to be a feeling among some; that it provides no real substance on which man can feed; that one must look beyond it to important things. But Robert P. Coffin, poet and professor, in his Substance That is Poetry takes the opposite viewpoint. For a great many people today, knowing ones too, think of poetry as a minor thing, a marginal thing. Caviar or olives at the feast of life. Yet the truth of the matter is that poetry is now, or can be, what it was to our remote ancestors for uncounted thousands of years, before they had any books to record their elipses, their laws, or their wars in, the center, the heart, the meat, the bread of the banquet. Something essential. As essential as salt. Of the two, the historian and poet, the poet deals in the really permanent solidities. The last will and testament of Villon lasts, whereas most of the deeds of Villon's time are dead letters now. The few ears of corn Ruth gleaned behind the reapers are safe, but the pyramids of Egypt sent to feed Rome are less than a handful of sand in today*s Roman Forum. . . . For all these things have escaped out of history into literature. Only the deeds and the houses and the grain that escape the ruins of years can continue to shape men's thoughts and actions. And poetry provides an escape into real life.^ Sir Rennell Rodd, diplomat and scholar from England, says in a lecture delivered to various American colleges, that we must never lose ^Coffin, Robert P. Tristram. Macmillan Company, 19 h 2 , p. L-5. Substance That Is Poetry, N. Y. The 8 sight of the poetry of life. In the modern world, especially in the epochs of great prosperity, inducing what is known as high standards of living, a thing which is no doubt desirable in itself, there may be a counterbalancing danger, a belief that we can dispense with poetry, a spiritual barenness, a tendency to reduce the average of a people to a common denominator of the commonplace and, as a result, to fail to appreciate in life the things which make it worth the effort of living.*" Robert Farren, Irish poet, raises his voice in defense of poetry saying* Poetry is neither a sham nor a snare; it is neither a folly nor a bore. Were it any of these could its age be the same as the world's - the recorded world's, at least? How could it have elicited the ceaseless dedication of men, both those that make it and those that merely love it? Unless it were for all men a tiling to test and weigh, how could it be for some a pearl beyond price - "the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge," a thing "more philosophic than history?"^ Poetry Provides Vicarious Experience The second reason advanced in the defense of poetry is that it pro­ vides vicarious experience necessary for broadening and deepening man's living. James Harry Staith, teacher at Culver Military Academy Junior College, and author of The Reading of Poetry, says in that book* In the first place, poetry, like literature in general, increases the amount of experience which we may have in a life time. Physically, we can have but one life; we can be but one person, we can be in one place at a time. Not so with the life of the %odd, Sir Rennell, "The Essence of Poetry," Dayton, Ohio, University of Dayton, 1929, p. 83. 2Farren, Robert, How To Enjoy Poetry. N. Y., Sheed and Ward, 19it8, p. 3. 9 mind. It is of undiscovered limits. Whether one be a king or a manual laborer, he can share in the course of the evening in the feelings of the lowest or of the greatest. Nor does time matter. He can be led to dream with Ulysses three thousand years ago or be drawn into a contemplation of the future with someone living in his own time. The pleasures of the Imagina­ tion are so various that here, perhaps, is reason enough for the reading of poetry. . . . Literature strengthens us and prepares us for living. One gains from it in the same manner in wiiich he gains from experience. . . . From participation in the variety of feelings of other human beings, he comes to understand humanity as it is, as it might have been, as it ought to be Elsa Chapin and Russell Thomas, authors of a text on poetry, champion the necessity for poetry in these words* The poet*s keen and true evaluation of the facts of human life and the power of transferring his evaluation to us by means of words used at their highest potential energy is poetry. It deals with every phase of existence; nothing is too big, noth­ ing is too low. It pierces to the heart of the matter and reveals to us its essence in words which inextricably entangle our own experiences with the poet*s version and make that vision an actual reality.2 John Drinkwater, famous English poet, discusses the prevailing dull­ ness of spirit which he says is the gravest penalty that we can pay for an over-specialized civilization. Routine and example have become blind paths for us, warping our imaginations. We cannot have absolute knowledge, he comments, but it is our experience which counts. It is the act of experiencing that matters, that exercises our nature in the only full and significant way. . . .[We must have a wealth of passionate experience to destroy lethargy of spirit.) To shape all our daily meditation and intercourse and the fertile activity of the natural world into sharp and intimately realized -^Sraith, James Harry, The Reading of Poetry. Chicago, N. Y., Houghton Mifflin Company, 1939, p . 372. ^Chapin, Elsa and Russell Thomas, A New Approach to Poetry. Chicago. University of Chicago Press, 1929, concluding paragraph. 10 forms in our own imaginations is the aim of every right disciplined mind. And in the accomplishment of this aim the poet is he who of all men can give surest help. . . . For contact with fine poetry is precisely contact with most vital and personal experience conveyed to us in the most persuasive medium invented by man for habitual intercourse - pregnant and living words . Pregnant and living* for here is the secret of poetry. . . . Poetry proclaims life* that is all and that is everything.1 Poetry Is a Prime Requisite to the Proper Functioning of Human Society There are many people who believe that poetry will contribute to the acquisition of right attitudes about good and evil, attitudes necessary in human society. They believe that a study of poetry if it is successful engenders ethical qualities in a student. This view is supported by Sussams who says* without preaching, without moralizing, without self-conscious rectitude the poetry lesson can make its contribution to the development of desirable character qualities in the child. Humility, gentleness, and sympathy are characteristically Christian virtues. A recognition at once of the many-sidedness of truth and the need for mental integrity is a characteristic­ ally Christian outlook. An indifference to material comforts and pleasures, a constant questioning of man-made values of force and size and power, a restatement of the importance of motives as well as of deeds, of feelings as well as of the intellect, of spontaneity and intuition as well as of the calcu­ lated judgment are characteristic elements in Christian philoso­ phy. ho one can study poetry without being compelled to ask himself searching questions. If his reading of poetry is deep the answers may not come easily, and when they come they may not be smooth comfortable answers. In early adolescence this is all to the good, for adolescence should be a time of soul search­ ing. . . . Children who have been made aware of spiritual values through their reading of poetry as well as tlirough more formal scriptxire lessons . . . will be ready to add their strength to the creation of a new interpretation of the Christian way of life, a task that must be performed by each age for itself.2 1Drinkwater, John, "Poetry and Conduct," Prose Papers. London, Elkin Mathews, MCXVII. p. 13. 2Sussams, op. cit., p. lUii-li$. 11 John Darwin is quoted as saying that he lost the love of reading poetry through an experience in learning in his early youth. He bitterly regretted this loss and in discussing his diminishing power to read poetry and hear music, he wrote* happiness* “The loss of these tastes is a loss of and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature The writers of Literature in American Education express the same idea in this fashion* The student of letters becomes aware, both with liis mind and with his emotions, of the laws that govern mankind. He learns that black is not white and evil not good. . . . He knows the dead Hamlet is greater than the living Fortinbras. . . . The power of the King James Version of the Bible has been, not merely in its precepts, but in its moving quality as literature. . . . Students who have felt the antithesis of Light and Darkness in paradise Lost, the crises of Shakespearean tragedy, or the spirit-testing decisions of Browning*s men and women know the meaning of the word choice. They have had a new experience in quality. For life has accent as well as substance. Single lines of poetry quietly working in the mind or stirring the heart like a trumpet, a great sentence unfolding itself as the perfect utterance on the matter at hand, educate men and make memorable the truths of history or social thought. . . .2 It would then seem logical to conclude that acquisition of ability to evaluate the things of the world is a necessary thing if students build a rich life for their own sakes and for the sake of a democratic government. Knowledge of poetry is education in humanity for the new ^"Darwin, quoted in Chapin and Thomas, 0£. cit., p. 172. 2Modern Language Association, Literature in American Education, Enoch Pratt Free Library. Baltimore, 19W±, p. 18. ' 12 human being as he steps forward in his time to learn both what he is and what he is to become. H. Garuth, an editor of Poetry, writes in an issue of that magazine! Now when death has conquered so much of the world, spreading abroad its destruction and futility, its unreason and untruth, its immorality which is the final ugliness, when so many people have been deprived by monstrous systems and sterile philosophies of the inherent privilege of aesthetic perform­ ances, now poetry is needed more than ever. Poetry is the only incorruptible antidote, one of the few unsullied arts left in the world. Poetry is the reason for all things that are true and beautiful, and the product of them - wisdom, scholarship, love, teaching, the sounds and the sights of the earth. The love of poetry is the habit and need of wise men, wherever they are, and when for some reason they are deprived of it they will be taxed in spirit and do unaccountable things. Great men will turn instinctively to the poetic labor of their time, because it is the roost honorable and most useful, as it is the most difficult human action. Every spirited faculty of man is a poetic one, and in poetry is that working of the spirit which engages man and his world in an intelligible career. Only in poetry is a man knowledge to himself. The values with which poetry is concerned cannot die* they are in­ dependent of local or temporary events.1 Poetic Literature Is Ideal for Imaginative Communication Part of the argument of the humanists for the necessity of cultural studies is that the imagination must be developed if the individual, as an individual or as a citizen, is to take his rightful place in today*s world. It is true that factual material is necessary! people must learn how to make a living; students must be trained in the use of the scientific method. However, many authorities contend that the development of the imagination is just as necessary to make a life as the development lCaruth, H. *Anti-Poet all Told* Poetry, Cliicago, August, 19^9, p. 282. present state of poetry.M 13 of skills is to making a living. Poetry magazine carries on its mast- head a quotation attributed to Whitman saying that if we would have great poets we must have great audiences, too. It seems fairly obvious that we will never have great audiences if imaginations have been stifled in favor of the so-called "practical" pursuits. Quotations have attested to the wide belief that the poet with his compressed, concentrated, highly emotionalized, and inspirational material can make a contribution that teachers cannot let students miss. Poetry contributes to making the "dreamer" who first thought up and aimed at what science can eventually achieve. ■ Shakespeare described the power of the poet in these words* The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven; And as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the peet,s pen Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a name. The power of poetry to perpetuate communication of values is ex­ pressed by Landor in an eight-line poem entitled* Past Ruin'd Ilion Past ruin'd Ilion Helen lives, Alcestis rises drom the shades* Verse calls them forth; it is verse that gives Immortal youth to mortal maids. Soon shall oblivion's deepening veil Hide all the purpled hills you see, The gay, the proud, while lovers hail These many summers you and m e . Again Shakespeare writes of the deathless quality of communication through the pen of the poet* Il l Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rime; But you shall, shine more bright in these contents Than unswept stone besmeared with sluttish time. When wasteful war shall statues overturn, And broils root out the work of masonry, Nor Mars his sword nor war»s quick fire shall burn The living record of your memory. •Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room Even in the eyes of all posterity That wear this world out to the ending doom. So, till the judgment that yourself arise, You live in this, and dwell in lovers* eyes. Marianne Moore, Pulitzer poetry prize winner for 1951, writes a defense of poetry in poem form. She defines poetry, meets some of the objections to it, and by a device of ingratiating herself with the reader, placates him in his dislike for poetry while she give a rebuttal of his criticisms. POETRY I, too, dislike it: there are things that are important beyond all this fiddle. Reading it, however, with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers in it after all, a place for the genuine. Hands that can grasp, eyes that can dilate, hair that can rise if it must, these things are important not because a high-sounding interpretation cam be put upon them but because they are useful. When they become so derivative as to become unintelligible, the same thing may be said for all of us, that we do not admire what we cannot understand: the bat holding on upside down or in quest of sometliing to 15 eat, elephants pushing, a wild horse taking a roll, a tireless wolf under a tree, the immovable critic twitching his skin like a horse that feels a flea, the base­ ball fan, the statistician nor is it valid to discriminate against *business documents and school-books'j all these phenomena are important. One must make a distinction however* when dragged into prominence by half poets, the result is not poetry, nor till the poets among us can be •literalists of the imagination* - above insolence and triviality and can present for inspection, imaginary gardens with real toads in them, shall we have it. In the meantime, if you demand on the one hand, the raw material of poetry in all its rawness and that which is on the other hand genuine, then you are interested in poetry. Any Lowell, the great American poet, pleads in "Poetry, Imagination and Education" for the cultivation of the imagination as a primary end in education because imagination is a primary value in life. In her Poetry and Poets she adds* The necessity for poetry is one of the most fundamental traits of the human race. But naturally we do not take that into account, any more than we take into account that dinner, and the next day again, dinner, is the condition of our remaining alive. Without poetry the soul and heart of a man starves and dies. The only difference between them is that all men know, if they turn their minds to it, that without food they die, and compara­ tively few people know that without poetry they die. . . .We should read poetry because only in that way can we know man in all his moods - in the most beautiful thoughts of his heart, in the farthest reaches of his imagination, in the tenderness of life, in ^Moore, Marianne, Selected Poems. N. Y., The Macmillan Co., 1935. 16 the nakedness and wonder of books to the intimate and and awe of his soul confronted with the terror the Universe. Poetry and history are the text­ heart of man, and poetry is atonce the most the most enduring Sir Rennel Rodd says* I would hazard the opinion that every age will have the poetry it deserves, and a survey of literature in relation to history would, I think, corroborate thejustice of this view, which does not exclude a virtue and a pathos from the poetry of de­ cadence.2 From time immemorial poetry has had an important place in literature; it has been counted as one of the necessary cultural assets of civiliza­ tion. Overwhelming evidence points out that while there is lip service to the idea of poetry in America, that although teachers, poets, scholars and philosophers agree on the necessity of poetry, nothing has been accomplished to make it popular enough so that students will study it of their own free will, or adults read it as leisure reading after they leave school. It behooves teachers to understand the slack between the ideal of worth and the reality of complete neglect. Therefore, this study' makes a first step in discovering what teachers can do to make poetry' enjoyable, 3 to the end that it may assume its rightful place. ^-Lowell, Amy, Poetry and Poets, Boston and K. Y., Houghton Mifflin Company', 1930. p. 3, 9 . 2Rodd, 0£ . cit., p . 66. -^Further important discussion of the values of poetry covered in books and articles oy the authors listed below. although not quoted here, are included in the bibliography reference. See the bibliography for full listing. 1. Spoerl Howard, Davis, The Status and Mission of Poetry, 21, bu-h? . may be dis­ These, for ready preface, pp. Footnote 3 - continued 2. 3. U. 5. 6. 7. 6. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. liu 15. 16. 17. 16. Wells, Henry W . Where Poetry Stands How, pp. vii, 79-61. Masefield, John, Poetry, pp. 30, 32, 37. Overstreet, Harry, About Ourselves t p. 286. Rittenhouse, Jessie J 3 . , "The Reading of Poetry As a national Asset,” pp. 814-85. Parsons, Kitty, "The Need of Poetry Today," Poet Lore, Vol. 2. p. 172. Pound, Louise, "The Future of Poetry," p. 180. Harris, Sydney J . "Do Schools Stifle Taste for Poetry?" in his column Strictly Personal. Chicago Daily News, Feb. 6, 1952. Drinkwater, John, **Poetry and Conduct," Prose Papers, p. 13. Farren, Robert, How To Enjoy Poetry, p. 3. 0* Donnell, Margaret J.. freet On The Ground , p. $ . Spender, Stephen, "Can't We Do Without the Poets?" N. X. Times Book Review, Sept. 2, 1951. Chambers, E. K., "The Timelessness of Poetry," from A Sheaf of Studies. p. 109. Housman, A. E., The Name and Nature of Poetry, p. 35. Millet, Fred A.. Reading Poetry, Appendix A . Read, Herbert, Education Through A r t , See Chapter 13,"Function of Poetry in the Schools." Stauffer, Donald A . The Nature of Poetry, p p . 12-15. Lewis, C. Day, Poetry for You, first chapter. CHAPTER II CHAPTER II PROBLEM, SOURCES OF BATA, AND METHOD OF PROCEDURE Chapter I presented the background and importance of the problem. Bibliographical evidence on two aspects was reviewed* (1) indifference to and actual resistance to poetry, and (2) the necessity for the study and reading of poetry for the good of the individual and civilization. Chapter II states the problem, gives the sources of data, and describes the method of procedure. The discussion in this chapter is organized under the following headings* Method of Procedure* I. Statement of Problem; II. (A) Kind of investigation, (B) Construction of Poetry Attitudes-Inventory, (C) Selection of group to be studied, CD) Administration of Inventory, (E) Personal interviews. Finally, copies of the two parts of the Inventory are included. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM The attitudes of college freshmen toward poetry and the significance of such attitudes in relation to teaching poetry are the subject of the present study. An endeavor will be made to discover what effect the teaching of poetry has had on students; to gain as complete a picture as possible of where students are in their knowledge of poetry and their attitudes toward it; and to ascertain facts which college teachers of poetry must know if they are to teach effectively. If a favorable atti­ tude toward poetry is desirable, as the evidence in the first chapter 19 points up, the teacher of poetry at the beginning college level will want a complete picture of the poetry experience of college freshmen, and the reasons for their disregard of poetry in order to devise methods which will alter unfavorable attitudes and create pleasure in learning. Such a study will involve* I. Investigation of what students remember of their total experiences of poetry learning, their likes and dislikes in regard to poetry, the methods of teaching it, and the teachers who teach it; II. Evaluation of these discoveries in the light of documentary or bibliographical research; III. Drawing of conclusions from agreements of these sources. Teachers should be committed to a search for appropriate educational methods of presenting poetry. step in advancing that search. This investigation is logically the first If experiences of students are annotated, their attitudes analyzed, and resulting implications made available for teachers, a step has been taken in the direction of discovering the best ways of introducing poetry so that the experience may be wholly enjoy­ able . METHOD OF PROCEDURE Kind of Investigation An Attitudes-Inventory was decided upon as the only possible method of investigation because of the nature of the problem. While it is true that personal opinion surveys have weaknesses which sometimes leave them open to criticism, this particular study demanded a record of personal opinion. Even if the students cannot make strictly realistic evaluations 20 of their attitudes in each instance, even if their limited experience fails to illuminate every facet of the whole problem, it is necessary to know their attitudes. If a student thinks he does not like poetry because a study of it is effiminate, that fact must be known if the problem is to be understood. If an over-all trend of thinking is dis­ covered by a general concensus that trend will be accurate. True, it is only what students remember, but education teaches that that is all they know. To supplement the Poetry Attitudes-Inventory, personal interviews were held with three groups of students* (l) nine students who in their answer to the attitudes-inventory said they disliked poetry very much, and a matched group of nine who said they liked poetry very much; (2) an advanced class in Oral Interpretation of Poetry, and; (3) a beginning class in Oral Interpretation. The advanced class was inter­ viewed because their presence in an elective course indicates their interest in and liking for poetry and it seemed wise to try to discover what makes them like poetry. The beginning class was chosen as being comparable for the most part to the group answering the inventory. Since student attitudes as sole criteria are not entirely defensi­ ble, it seems worth-wliile to compare their beliefs and ideas with those of people experienced in the fields of poetry, teaching, and writing. Therefore, the attitudes of experts have been reviewed in relation to textual material, methods of teaching, and teachers. and empirical studies have been included. Both experiential 21 Selection of the Group To Be Studied Since this study is limited to an investigation of the attitudes of college freshmen toward poetry, it was decided to use freshmen in Michigan State College as the group to be tested. Students enrolled in Written and Spoken English in the Basic College are suitable for this investigation because* (l) Written and Spoken English is required of all entering students and there is therefore the largest possible represen­ tation; (2) this course does not include any poetry and therefore a majority of students answering the questions would have only their grade and high school experience in poetry, furnishing a composite of attitudes of people who are eligible for a course in beginning college poetry; and (3) the students are not a picked nor selected group and are therefore representative of beginning college students. Approximately 2$00 students are enrolled in sections of 25-30 each. The students come from all sections of the United States. They register entirely at random in the sections; they are a representative crosssection of the ordinary high school graduate and an adequate sampling of their attitudes should reflect the attitude of the high school graduate toward the impact of poetry. Construction of Poetry Attitudes-inventory Two things were done in attempting to construct an objective measur­ ing instrument* (l) free responses in regard to attitudes toward poetry were sought from experimental groups, and (2) points to be considered were discovered by reading authorities, both experiential and empirical. 22 The opinions of both were combined and compiled into an inventory covering three main things* (3) teachers. (l) textual material, (2) methods, and This inventory was submitted to authorities on tests and measurements in the Board of Examiners, in Michigan State College, for approval. Following their approval, the inventory was administered to test groups. Five sections of beginning Oral Interpretation were used as experi­ mental groups for testing the Inventory because they most nearly corresponded to the freshmen to be finally used and because they were available. They were told that the full truth about their attitudes was desirable if the study was to be helpful to other students. The first step in this experimental process was requesting an essay from each student in the five sections entitled "Why I Like or Dislike Poetry." They were asked to be as detailed as possible and were assured that no penalty would result from any answer. A total of 103 replies were received and these were annotated, analyzed, and arranged in groups according to categories suggested by the ideas. In the meanwhile, a survey of literature was made and opinions annotated. A compilation of these expert*s opinions was added to tliose gleaned from the student essays. Opinions seemed to fall into four areas* (1) the general attitude toward poetry, (2) attitudes toward specific poems, (3) attitudes toward teaching and testing, and (L) attitudes toward teachers. the Inventory inquired about these four phases. Therefore, The wording of students was used wherever possible in constructing the questions for the inventory. 23 The second step in the experimental process was the administering of the Inventory to the same five sections who wrote the essays. help in correcting the faults of the Inventory was requested. Their About one-third of those participating varied from one to six or seven sug­ gestions as to puzzling expressions, ambiguous questions, more suitable wording, etc. There was a general concensus that the Inventory was too long. The Inventory was then re-written according to these suggestions, and in the light of all weaknesses discovered in administering it. To adjust the problem of length, the Inventory was constructed in two parts, the first to include all the questions about general attitudes and attitudes toward textual material, as well as a question about specific poems remembered and the attitude toward the poem. The second part of the Inventory included questions about attitudes toward methods and teachers. Administration of the Inventory The two parts of the Poetry Attitudes-inventory^ were given to two sample groups of freshmen enrolled in Written and Spoken English at Michigan State College. Teachers of sections chosen at random gave the tests according to directions furnished them. Sections are composed of about 25-30 people and the random choice resulted in the answering of Part I by 213 people, and Part II by 260 people. On the basis of past experimentation conducted by the Board of Examiners at Michigan State ^Copies of the two parts of the Inventory are included at the end of this chapter. 2k College it was felt that a study of 200 or more cases is adequate. Tabulations of the total answers to tlie Inventory are to be found in the Appendix. Appendix A is a mathematical list of question numbers with the total answers in figures. Appendix B is a detailed listing of totals according to ideas, i.e., general attitudes, attitudes toward textual material, attitudes toward methods, and attitudes towards teachers. Personal Interviews In addition to the attitudes-inventory method and the use of expert opinion, it was decided to complete the investigation by means of personal interviews. The people selected for these interviews were chosen by tlmee different methods* (1) a group of nine who answered the attitudes-inventory saying they dislike poetry very much, and a matching group of nine saying they like poetry very muchj (2) members of an advanced class in Oral Interpretation of Poetryj (3) members of a beginning class in Oral Interpretation. The first eighteen were chosen from those who answered the Attitudes Inventory because such a choice seemed a possible and expedient way of checking the accuracy of answers to the written inventory and at the same time choosing accurate samplings of people for interviews. To that end, all of the 213 papers which were answers for Part I were divided accord­ ing to answers on question 12 which reads* describes your attitude toward poetry?" "Which of the following best The five possible answers are* 1. Dislike it heartily; a form of punishment. 2. Neither like it nor dislike it because of lack of good background in reading and studying poetry. 3. Would like poetry if an easier understanding of it were made possible, familiar poetry. ii. Like poetry generally; usually prefer simple or 5. Like poetry very much; find it enjoyable, relaxing, and inspiring. Nine students chose answer 1 - they dislike poetry very much. Twenty-one students chose answer $ - they like poetry very much. A matched nine were chosen from the 21 by taking every other paper to the number of nine. Personal interviews were held with these eighteen. The answers of each of the eighteen in the Attitudes-inventory were personally checked item by item. A written profile was made giving a picture of the total reaction made up of reactions to individual items. This was done to determine whether there was concurrence in the individual and total reactions. In every one of the eighteen papers, without ex­ ception, the answers were carefully and accurately made and the only discrepancies found were small ones resulting either from opinion or from misunderstanding the question. Every paper proved to be most accurate, thereby leading to the belief that, on the whole, students answered carefully and accurately the entire inventory. The second metliod of choosing people for personal interviews was that of taking all the members of a class in Oral Interpretation of Poetry. This was a class in advanced Interpretation offered by the Department of Speech, Dramatics and Radio Education. These classes are always small as are other classes in poetry if evidence is to be believed. It is an elective course and it seems logical to assume that few would take it who were not interested in poetry. It was considered wise to choose students whose obvious interest in poetry might be used 26 as guides for formulating principles to interest other people. Some­ where they learned to like poetry and it might be that those things which interested them in poetry could be utilized to interest other people. The ttdrd group chosen was a beginning class in Oral Interpretation, numbering nineteen. This course is known as a "service" course, by which is meant it offers teaching in reading skillsfor any feels a need. majorsbut caters to students It is not designed for speech in all fields who need help in speech work. sophomores, but a few are upper classmen. Nearlyall the Half theterm is student who students are used in learning to read poetry, the other half in learning to read prose. It was judged that such a class would be a fair sampling of people who like and dislike poetry since they are not a selected nor a screened group but are simply members of one of several sections enrolled in this particular section because of their schedule needs. Appendix C is a detailed record of all personal interviews. Further expression of totals according to the ideas of textual material, methods, and teachers are found in Chapters III, IV, and V, together with summa­ ries of significant conclusions. Attitudes of college freshmen toward poetry in general, poems provided for study, methods of teaching, and teachers were studied through use of a written Poetry Attitudes-inventory, personal interviews, and biblio­ graphical evidence. Two sample groups from 2500 Freshmen enrolled in Micliigan State College were used to ascertain attitudes in written answers; eighteen of these were personally interviewed in a cross-checking of 27 results. Members of two classes were also personally interviewed to supplement evidence found in written answers. Appendices A, B, C and D. Totals are presented in A breakdown of totals according to the ideas listed above will be found in following chapters. S e c tio n X INVEMDRY 0 V FV/ORiPuu AND UNFAVORABLE PjKTR/ REACTfJPg This is an inventory, not an exardnation. There will be no grading of individual students because there is no one right and wrong answer. The purpose i? to gain information on attitudes of students concerning poetry. You are asked to cooperate in ascertaining how students truly feel about poetry. It is hoped that the study resulting from your answers will aid you and other students. Please remoter that you will not be penalized in any way for any answer. However, unless you answer thought­ fully and accurately you will defeat any benefit which .might be achieved. If you will read the questions carefully and answer accurately to the fullest measure of your ability, this study can be most profitable# It is hoped as a result of your answers that there will then exist some organized knowledge as to why students like and dislike poetry eventually making possible better courses planned in the .li^ht of this new knowledge. Please answer as honestly as possible after checking your thinking thor­ oughly in regard to your real attitudes. On the answer sheet indicate by blacking in one number from the numbers 1-5 as asked for in each question. Fill the space with black marking to show your answjr to that particular question. Be certain to ans i• I do not like or dislike poetry because I have not read or studied it nuchj think I would like to understand it 5 19, S e c tio n 1 Choose the answer which most accurately describes your experience in regard to memorization of poetry* 1* My approach to poetry is negative because I was forced to memorize it and recite it in class without understanding it 2, I like to memorize certain lines of poetry because they are easy to reae .iber and give one something to think about when there is nothing else to do 3, I like to memorize such selections as Laertes advice to his son because the thought will continue to live with me all ray life iu I never like to memorize poetry for whatever reason 5, I like to aenorizo tho poeras I enjoy 20# ’"Jhich ..ethod of learning poetry do you think makes (or wouldmake if you have had no experience) a poen most interesting to you? 1* 2, 3* b, £>» Heard overthe radio Read aloud by a good reader Read silently to yourself Read aloud to yourself R^ad aloud in a group called Choral Reading which is for poetry what a singing choir i3 for word3 • Questions 21-22 relate to your experience in studying poetry, Their purpose- is to ascertain if it is oasy or difficult for you to evalu­ ate answers in this inventory because of how much or how little poetry you have studied, 21* Indicate the amount of poetry studying you have done by cheek­ ing the answer closest to your experience, 1, I have studied alraost no poetry and find it difficult to answer questions because of lack of expori-mce 2# 1 have never studied poetry as a special course. It was included as a very short part of English courses 3, I have studied poetry extensively throughout ray grade and high school work It, Study or lack of it in school has never affected ray attitude toward poetry and I have learned it for myself 5, I had two or more courses in poetry in grade or high school and gained greatly from then 22, From your experience recommend one of the following about teaching poetry 1, Poetry as such Bhould never be taught in Jr, and Sr* High 2, Poetry should be a definite part of all English courses and should be given approximately the same time as prose 3, If poetry were well taught and encouraged by brousing rooms* free choice of material, phonograph records, etc, most students would learn to appreciate it and like it h. Study of poetry should be postponed until college when the student is nore mature and therefore more r^ady to understand it 6 S e c tio n 1 5* Since poetry his proved its worth through the ages as an emotional stimulant and a literary study it should bo a part of the course of stud* in all grades from kinder­ garten through college 17* Poetry Attitudes Inventory Beginning with question 23 you are asked to show your attitude toward poetry by choosing one of the four possible answers in the following key* Be sure that you answer each question even thoueh your attitude is not precisely described* Mark the answer nearest your attitude* KEY* 1* 2* 3* h* Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree 23* Most poetry seens like a .neaningloss jumble of words* 2U* Poetry should be read primarily for its ;aoral values* 25* The only thing that counts in judging poetry as good and bad is whether or not you like it* 26* oince poetry is not essenti 1 to warning a living, a study of it is a waste of ti.ee* 27* Modem poetry cannot be understood* 28. Poetry should express the truth of human experience* 29. Poetry is not interesting unless ittells a story* 30. That xvhich is good taste in poetry shouldbe decided by the literary critics* 31* Familiar poems arc th« only enjoyable ones* 32* Only poetry of popular tnste shouldbe written* 33* The form in which poetry is written aak-s an art forawhich the average person cannot hop-., to understand* 3ii* Classical poetry cannot serve as a guide for modern living* 35* Poetry has no practical or useful ideas* 36* Most poets write a language which only they understand. 37* Poetry is not the sort of reading for i red-blooded man* 30* More w^rks of poetry should be easily available to increase interest and familiarity* 39* Poetry can be enjoyed only after making a formal analysis of it* liO, Classical poetry offers oppo tunities for pleasant experiences* Ul* Th«re is no use to try to read poetry in which the vocabulary is out of your reach* k 2. Since rhythm is a basic clement in all of man's lifo it follows that poetry could mrke a large contribution to mental enjoyment* U3* No student is in a position to challenge the worth of a poem which literary authorities have declared a classic* Uk* The meaning of poetry should be perfectly clear on the first reading* kS» Most poems express nothing which cuuld not as woll be expressed in prose* ii6* Embarrassment is the only possible reaction to poetry expressing intense emotional feeling, ii7* Classes requiring only browsing in poetry would be more helpful than those requiring fornal study* - 7 KEY* 1# 2. 3* iu S e c tio n 1 Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree ii8* Since poetry was written to be read aloud there is no onjoy.ient in reading it silently* 1x9* poetry written by African authors should be studied :..03t of the ti.ie because such poetry fits the liv„s of the readers. 50. Poetry is important because it is an e.aotional stlriul-^nt. 51. Rcadin, poetry for leisure pas ti.no is iuprob:vle for any cxc-pt hi ghbrows. 52. Foetry is a pleasure because it broadens thinking by giving knowledge of ::tr,rty centuries of living. 53. Poetry is valuable to the reader because it expresses beauty in a lovely coubin'-tion of words beyond th~ power of the reiuer to express for hinself* 5h • Poetry is enjoyable because the beauty and inspiration help counter­ balance 3o.'.:6 of the drab r-.aliti;S of life. 55. Good oral reading of poetry b, the teacher without corv.vont, discussion, testing, and .larking would increase the pleasure and value of it. 56* In tines or stress with resulting poli tic'5! .-nd onytion^l upheaval the study of poetry should be abolished in favor of engineering; science, etc.; i.e. favor the practical over the i.aa iriative. 57. High school seniors and college fresh ion would enjoy poutry more if allowed to study poetry of their own selection. 58* Discussion of kinds of rhy nnu larkm,. poetry linos off into Mfev,tw, (the nu.iber of accented and unaccented syllables) htlps make the nusic of the poetry :.orj evident. 59. Every college freon .an shoaid bo required to study poetry* 60. Since poetry has proved its cultur’'l v/orth fro a the beginning,, of recorded ti.u., it is required of the truly cduc*,t«..G person that ho have a knowlod *o of poetry. 61* Present courses in poetry using t~xts l*>r.ely rdo up of classical Material juured by literary experts as worth studying are the ideal poetry classes. 62. Poets insist on saying things in a very r amd-abaut way, their comparisons .asking the leaning obscure. 63. The vivid and beautiful word pictures in poetry :okj the onjoyncnt of poetry inevitable. 6U. Poetry conveys thought in subtle and figurative words but the "leaning can be fo-.ind if the student attacks it in the right franc of nind. 65. Great poetry is a challenge to the student. 66. Because no two people can got the sa..e leaning or the authorfs exact Meaning fron a poo i, it loses its value as truth. 67. Poetry which is lyrical is no re enjoyable when read aloud. 68. Students like po=.try which conveys an idea. 69# When poetry is well road it pernits thi r^aaer to live a vicarious enriching experience shared with the creative nind of the author. 70. Students can enj ;y Chicago if they have been there only onco or not at all because Carl Sandburg crystalized its robust action in living words. - KEY* 1. 2. 3. lu 8 - S e c tio n 1 Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree 71. Sounds in poetry* like music, are pleasing to the ear and add leaning as does a crescendo of not^s in a symphonic move lent. 72. Poetry written in free verse form is hard to follow and therefore less enjoyable then other forms of poetry. 73. A good poem on "Spring" is better than any prose description. 7lu Imagination and talent of the poet emphasize colors, sounds, smells and everything in ordinary livin ; until all living is enlarged and more beautiful. 75. Beautiful words can give the most insignificant subject importance; 76. Too si iple poetry has little appeal* 77* Poetry expresses an inner « wtion, viewpoint, or mood in a creative arrangement of words which arc not cold and instructional but imaginative. 78* Poetry is an individual experience and is written by an individual to the individual reader. 9 IV* S e c tio n 1 This is a separate part of your inventory the answers to which are to be written on this sheet and not, of course, on the regular answer blank* The purpose of this question is to find out what poo as you reue.nber, like or dislike, and if you know the na.;v. of the authors* Please list below according to directions as eiany as you rone-aber. Title 1* 2. 3. U* 5* . 6 7. . 8 9. 10* . 11 12 . 13. Uu 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. . 21. 20 .kuthor (if you ri aoubor) Like Dislike (indicate by check) S e c tio n 2 INVENTORY OF STUDENT ATTITUDES TO'IARD POETRY T E E I N G This is an inventory, not an examination# There will be no grading of individual students because there is no one right and wrong answer# The purpose is to gain information on attitudes of students concerning methods of teaching poetry* You are asked to cooperate in ascertaining how students truly feci about poetry teaching at-thuds r i they affect their knowledge and their like or dislike of poetry* It is hoped that you and otner students will be helped by the resulting study* Please r~ »embwr that you will not be penalized in any way for any answer# However, unless you answer thought­ fully and accurately you will defeat any bon-fit which might bo achieved. If you will read the questions carefully and answer accurately to the fullest measure of your ''bility, this study can be most profitable# It is hop -d as a result of your answers that there will then exist some organized knowledge as to how methods of teaching and testing and teacher personality affect learning of poetry, eventually poking possible better courses plan­ ned in the light of this new knowledge# Please a n sw e r as honestly as possible after checking your thinking thoroughly in regard to your real attitudes# On the answer sheet indicate by blacking in one number from the numbers 1-5 as asked for in each question# Fill space with heavy black marking to show your answer to that particular question# Be certain to answer once for each question# In some cases no answer may fit your feelings exactly; even so, please answer that on*, which most nearly des­ cribes your attitude# Blank sheets are provided for your individual comments on attitudes differing from any provided here# For example* If no answer describes your attitude mark the one nost nearly fitting your case# Then on tho blank sheet nark the number of the doubtfully answered qu-stion and n >te your own attitude in your own words# Any oth«-r original comments will be v/elcomed# Use the sheets provided for those comments; do not U3u the inventory or answer blanks# I# Questions 1-U relate to yjur general background# the appropriate space# 1# 2. 3# Your class 1. H.S# Sr# Your ago 1. 16 2, 17 2# College PVoshman 3 . 18 Your sex 1# Male 2# Female li# 19 Koke one answer in 3* Sophomore 5. 20 or above U* Jr# 5# Sr# 2 U* 2 Kind of community where you have lived most of your life 1# 2* 3# ii. 5* 5, S e c tio n Farm Village, 250 to 2500 population Town, 2500 to 25,000 population City, 25,000 to 100,000 population City, over 100,000 population Indicate the amount of poetry studying you have done by checking the answer closest to your ^xp<-ri..nco» The object of this question is to determine how easy or how difficult it is for you to canswer the questions because of the experience or lack of it in observing teaching m-thuds. 1* I have studied almost no poetry and find itdifficult to answer questions because of lack of experience 2* I have never studied poetry as a special Course; it was included as a very brief part of English courses 3* I have studied poetry extensively throughout my grade and high school work h* Study or lack of it in school has n-v^r a fected my attitude toward poetry and I have learned it for myself 5* I had two or more courses in poetry ingrade or high school and gained greatly from thorn II. POETRY TEACHING METHODS Below are listed a number of ways poetry has been taught# You are asked to read each statement and to select from Key A the frequency with which your poetry teachers used each one. For this you will use answer spaces 6-35 on your answer sheet. k,.st of the possible ways of teaching poetry are listed so there are probably many you know nothing about. Simply mark number 1, "never used it,11 in such a case. A "‘ter you have marked the answers according to Key A, reread the questions .and answer them according to Key B which tells how the use or non-use of each method affected your likin_, or disliking of poetry# For this purpose use answer spaces 36-65. Notice that on the question sheets two numbers precede each state­ ment. Do not let these confuse you. The first number is for answer with Key A, the second with Key B. Answer according to Key A first, then start again and answer for Key D# —3 — S e c tio n 2 KEY A* 1# 2. 3* !*• 5* Never used it Sda.im used it Occasionally used it Frequently used it Used it almost exclusively KEY Bt 1* Since I never experienced this method I hive no reaction to it 2. Feel that h^d this method been used it would have helped in ny understanding •‘•nd liking 3# This way had no influence on my liking or disliking poetry !*• This way contributed to my favorable attitude toward poetry S , This way contributed to my unfavorable attitude toward poetry 6-36 Formal lectures from nut^s on poetry previously assigned in the text from which all poetry selections ware taken 7-37 Informal lectures without n^t.s on previously assigned po_try from the text 8-38 Class discussion on previously assigned poetry direct»d by teacher's questions 9-39 Assigned poetry studied individually in the classroom with the teacher serving as consultant 10-1*0 Individual students reporting on assigned poetry to assembled class with teacher and class criticism 11-1*1 Individual student-reading of teacher-assigned mtcrial such as the life of an author or authors, thu poems of a p j n m , etc* 12-1*2 Assignment of several poems and th -ir authors for report next day without pr-vious help or clarific^tion by th^. teacher 13-1*3 Silent reading of poems in cl^ss, qu_sti >ns allowed, with further assignment for discussion on the following day ll*-ul* Assignment of poems one day, these poems read aloud by students the following day, followed by discussion 15-1*5 Reading aloud by teach„r, assignment for further study, and discus­ sion and clarific.aoi.on on following day or days 16-1*6 Interpretive reaming by teacher v.lthout comment, discussion, testing anu marking 17-1*7 Interpretive reading by toach.r of stu. ent-chos^n postry followed by discussion led by students - U - S e c tio n 2 KEY A* 1. 2. 3. U« 5* ?T.~vor used it Soldo;:, us jd it Occasionally used it s’raqu-ntly used it Us-ed it a.L..ost exclusively KEY B; 1. Since I n .v>.r experienced this method I have n: r.-action t: it 2* Feal tb'O had Inis method been used it would have helped in my un. .-rstanding and liking 3« This way had no influence on ny liking or disliking poetry This way contributed to .ay favorable attitude toward poetry 5* This way contributed to my unfavorable attitude toward poetry 18-1*8 Compulsory memorization of poems required by teacher or by the course of study 19-1*9 Presentation of poetry by phonograph records 20-50 X browsing room or sh^lf with many available beoks of p o t r y for enjoyment of individual who is fr^e to report on anything he lik<~s 21-51 A listening room v/ith many p_ jtry pleasure of the individual reC ires avail:blc for the 22-52 Students present interpretive readings 23-53 Students act out iaea or plot v'hon such is suitablo 21-5U Poetry taught in Chornl beaming group in ’which interpretive reading is done by the whole class 25-55 Individual allowed to ch >->so his field of study in poetry making it available to the class when he fa^ls he has something worth­ while} teacher consult ... >niy when n. :ded 26-56 Poems from the text road aloud by an untrained poor voice teacherwith 27-57 Recording on wire or record of poetry read by each individual student 28-58 Students v/ith the onc-urnged and taught to rephrase poetryin prose fora bj.ct of making moaning easier 29-59 Assignments reported as of several to why the pages of po.try in a text on whichyou poems included wore "good poems.w 30-60 Requirement of written impressions on previously assignedpoetry together with a v/ritten study of author or authors a - 5 - S e c tio n 2 KEY A* 1* 2* 3* U* 5. N-vor used it Seldom used it Occasionally used it Frequently used it Used it alrust exclusively KEY Bt 1. Since I never experienced this method I have no reaction to it 2• Feel that had this method been used it would have helped in ..y understanding and liking 3* This way had no influence on my liking or disliking poetry U* This way contributed to y favora’ le attitude toward poetry 5.-This way contributed to my unfavorable attitude toward poetry 31-61 Poems studied with major j iphasis on grammvtical construction and rhyme and meter schemas (i.e. a—b, a-b, etc* ana r*.f^r^nce to iambic pentameter, sp nc.ee, etc.) 32-62 Poetry studied fr- ;i historical viewpointi history of poet, the poem in relation to the ti .c it was writt n, compared to other p>..ms of its time, placing it in a "pori.’d” or style of writing, po„t3 of a nation (tn^., i. ^rican, .tc.) 33-63 Study of poe.:s by typ-s - ball,aos, -dts, jpics, etc. 3U-6U Students present oral pro ra. s of po .try they have liked for assembly programs or for th^r classes 35-65 Study of p u by whol.; class foliom-.d by individual demonstration of understanding and appreciation such as one person memorizing the poem, another writing music for it, an ;thur illustrating it by drawings or wooa carvings, etc* III* POETRY TESTING METHODS Questions 66-78 are statements of testing practices sometimes used in teaching poetry* You are asked to read each statement and to select from Key A the frequency v/ith which your poetry teachers used each one* For this purpose use answer spaces 6o-78 on your answer sheet* After you have finished this first ruaaing go back through the list of practices and select from Key B the statement which best tells how the icthod affected you. For this purpose use answer spaces 79-91* Notice that on the qu stun she .ts two numbers precede each statement* Do net let these confuse you* The first nu..ibor is for answer with Key A, the secon^ with Key B* This iak-3 tv/o u t e of answers fer one set of ques­ tions. 6 S e c tio n 2 KEY kt 1* The usual practice 2# Sometimes used this practice 3* N -ver used this practice KEY Bt 1* This practice contributed to my favorable attituee toward poetry 2* This practice had no influence on ay liking or disliking poetry 3* This practice contributed to py unfavorable attitude toward poetry it* Feel that had this practice been used it would have helped in ny understanaing and liking 5# Since I never experienced this practice I have no reaction to it 66-79 Final examination usually covering entire terra*s work 67-80 Objective tests scored by students 63-91 Essay tests scored by students 69-32 Oral quizzes 70-93 Required interviews with students 71-3U .'ksk students to grade tho.asolVwS 72-85 Ask students to grade each other 73-86 Grades largely based on tern's assigned written work 7ii-37 Open book exa-oinrtion 75-88 Oral reading of poems or group of poems v/ith goals of clarity, meaning, enjoyment, etc# 76-89 No examinations or quizzes on the basis that poetry is means only to be enjoyed 77-90 Examination on detail of content* for instance, nane of hero's horse, color of heroine's hair, mrte^ial of footnotes 78-91 Examination practice chosen by students who write their own questions S e c tio n 2 IV. POETRY TEACHERS Below are listed triit3 ani personality characteristics as they are found in various teach..-rs# Spaco is pr-viced to answer these questions about two of your teachers. If you had only one outstanding toacher whoa you remember either favorably or unfavorably answer only the first group# If you reae.nber two teachers use both nnsver groups* For the first teacher use answ-r blanks 92-133 and 13U-175} for the second teacher use answer blanks 176-217 and 218-259# R e . b c r that this double set of answ.rs, as in previous qu-stions, sioply means that you answer each question twice, once according to Key A » >ncc according to Key B. R-md through the list of traits and characteristics as listed below one then nark on your answer shc-t from answers 92-133 according to KEY A v'hethcr or not the tencher you are describing possessed these traits# N-xt, read through the sa-.c list U3ing KEY B and .narking from answer 13U-175 show how those characteristics affected your liking or iisliking of poetry. Then follow the sane process for t-achur two if you re.no nber a second teacher# If you can re.nc.ibor more than two teachers select the two outstanding ones, either good or bad, who most affected your attitude toward poetry# KEY At 1# Yes 2. No Key Bt 1. Possession of this characteristic contributed te my dislike for poetry 2# Lack of this characteristic contributed to my dislike f r poetry 3# Neither possession or lack of this character­ istic affooted ay liking or disliking poetry h* Lack of this characteristic c mtriouted to my liking for p -try 5# Possession of this characteristic contributed to .iy liking for pi try FIRST TEICHER 9 2-131* Had a pleasant voice 93-135 Conveyed to the class meaning and feeling of poem when reading aloud 9it-136 Read all poems in same mannert monotonous delivery 95-137 Dressed well* was always well groomed 96-138 Held attention of class through a sense of sharing the meaning and feeling - 97-139 8 - S e c tio n 2 KEY At 1. Yes 2. No KEY Bi 1# Possession of this characteristic contributed to qy dislike for poetry 2# Lack of this characteristic contributed to qy dislike for poetry 3» Neither possession nor lack of this character­ istic affected qy liking or disliking poetry !*• Lack of this characteristic contributed to qy liking for poetry 5* Possession of this characteristic contributed to ay liking for poetry Painted word pictures vividly 98-11*0 Refused to read poetry aloud 99-11*1 Was patient and sympathetic with student difficulties 100- 11*2 Had sympathetic understanding of student interest in poetry choices 101-11*3 Could portray characters accurately 102-11*1* Exacted obedience through creation of interest 103-11*5 Facial expression was po^r 10l*-U*6 Mannerisms detracted from presentation of mtorial 105-11*7 Lack of confidence in ability caused close adherence to text 106- 11*8 Evidence of wide knowledge of subject matter 107-11*9 Was too easy-going 103-150 Had a quick temper 109-151 Seemed indifferent to class choice of material 110-152 Always found fault with everyone 111-153 Liked only the classical poems 112-151* Thought poetry ori^inetoc in heaven and had no relation to earthly matters 113-155 Lack of force of pbrsonality destroyed discipline 111*-156 Created love of poetry through infection of own interest - 9 - S e c tio n 2 KEY At 1* Yes 2. No KEY Bi 1. Possession of this characteristic contributed to .oy dislike for poetry 2« Lack of this characteristic contributed to ny dislike for poetry 3# Neither possession nor lack of this character­ istic affected ry liking or disliking poetry k* Lack of this characteristic contributed to .^y liking for poetry 5* Possession of thi3 characteristic contributed to :.iy liking for poetry 115-157 Never allowed students to r^aci in class poens by authors thought to be examples of poor writing 116-150 Failed to understand that stu ents are not as far advanced in ability to understand and enjoy poetry as teacher is 117-159 Thought stuecnts too dudb to bother with who failed to recognize and like "good" poetry 118-160 Had a colorful personality 119-161 Encouraged jtuoents to experiment and create 120-162 7/as usually active in presenting material to class* seeded alive, moved a great deal, was animated 121-163 Sc-.eed soured on the world 122- 161* '"as pretty (handsome) 123-165 Acted too .’ >1.: for young students 121-166 ’7as gushing, sentimental, and u .:otional 125-167 Treated students as if th^y were real people 126-168 Sincerely moved students to ac drat ion 127-169 Had a physical disability 123-170 Un^erstooc poetry in its proper relationship to all school work 129-171 Demanded perfection of memorized performance rather than enjoyment and appreciation 130-172 Expocted students to ii.de teacher's manner of roaming poems 131-173 Stimulated stuuents to d i further reading on their own 10 - S e c tio n 2 KEY A* !♦ Y s 2. No KEY Bt 1# Possession of this characteristic contributed to ray dislike f^r poetry 2# Lack of this characteristic contributed to .ny dislike for poetry 3* Neither possossi >n nor lack of this character­ istic aff'jctjd ray liking or disliking poetry U* Lack of this characteristic contributed to qy liking for poetry 5« Possession of this characteristic contributed to .:iy liking for poetry 132-17!* Was a nan 133-175 Was a woraan SECOND T31CHER 176-218 Had a pleasant voice 177-219 Conveyed to the class leaning and fe .ling of poe.a when reading aloud 178-220 Read all poens in sane .mnnort monotonous delivery 179-221 Dressed well* was always well groomed 180-222 Held attention of class through a sense of sharing the .iv.aning and feeling 181-223 Painted word pictures vividly 132-22!* Refused to reac poetry *loud 133-225 Was patient ane sy :ipathjtic with student difficulties 18U-226 Had sympathetic unoerst?ncinti of stuoont interest in poetry choices 185-227 Could portray characters accurately 136-228 Exacted obedience through creation of interest 187-229 Facial expression wa3 poor 188-230 Mann-risras detracted from presentation of material 139-231 Lack of confidence in ability caused close adh^r^nce to text 190-232 Evidence of wice knowledge of subject matter - 11 - S e c tio n 2 KEY \t 1* Yes 2* No KEY B» 1« Possession of this characteristic contributed to my aislike for poetry 2# Lack of this characteristic contributes to my dislike for poetry 3* Neither possession nor lack of this character­ istic affected liking or disliking poetry 1** Lack of this characteristic contributed to my liking for poetry 5* Possession of this characteristic contributed to my liking for poetry 191-233 Was too easy-going 192-23U Had a quick temper 193-235 Seemed indifferent to class choice of material 19U-236 Always found fault with everyone 195-237 Liked only the classical poems 196-238 Thought poetry originated in heaven and had no relation to earthly matters 197-239 Lack of force of personality destroyed discipline 198-21*0 Created love of poetry through infection of own interest 199-21*1 Never allowed students to r-ad in class poems by authors thought to be examples of poor writing 200 - 21*2 Failed to understand that students are not as far advanced in ability to understand and enjoy poetry as teacher is 201-21*3 Thought students too dumb to bother 'with who failed to recognize and like "good" poetry 202- 21*1* Had a colorful personality 203-21*5 Encouraged students to experiment and create 201*-21*6 Was usually active in presenting material to class} seemed alive» moved a great deal* was animated 205-21*7 Seemed soured on the world 206-21*8 Was pretty (hanasome) - 12 S e c tio n 2 KEY At 1. Yes 2. No KEY Bt 1. Possession of this characteristic contributed to r.y eislikv idr poetry 2* Lack of this characteristic contributes to ry dislik- f >r poetry 3. Neither possession nor lack of this character­ istic affected ::y liking or disliking poetry Lack of this characteristic contributed to qy liking for poetry 5# Possession of thi3 characteristic contributed to jy liking f,.r poetry 2C7-2h9 Acted too old for young stuu^nts 203-250 Was gushing, sentin-ntal, and amotiennl 209-251 Treated stuoents as ifth ,,y were r^al people 210-252 Sincerely moved stuents to - .miration 211-253 Had a physical disability 212-25ii Understood poetry in its proper relationship to all school work 213-255 Demanded perfection of memorized performance rather than enjoyment ana appreciation 21A-256 Expected students to mimic teacher*s manner of reading poems 215-257 Stimulated students t- do further reading on their own 216-258 ^as a r.an 217-259 Was a woman RAPTEH III CHAPTER I I I DATA OK ATTITUDES CONCERNING TEXTUAL MATERIAL Chapter II has stated the proolem which is the investigation of the attitudes of college freshmen in relation to poetry with the goal in mind of evaluating their experiences toward better teaching. Since the dearth of concern about poetry is so evident, it is the goal of this study to ascertain the factors which prevent enjoyment of poetry and to search for factors which will aid in vitalizing the reading of poetry, judged so necessary a part of the equipment of citizens if civilization is not simply to flourish but to survive. The method described in Chapter II induces the use of a Poetry Attitudes-Inventory answered cy freshmen in Michigan State College, the use of personal interviews with three groups of students, and the use of expert opinion. Chapter III annotates, summarizes and analyzes the data found in answers from all these sources on the subject of attitudes toward the poetry material whichstudents found in their texts or which was given to them oy tueir teachers , or which they studied by one means or another. Attitudes toward oraer: (l) data from textual material is discussed in the following answersin the Poetry Attitudes-Inventoryj (2) data from personal interviews} t3) data from expert opinion, both experiential 29 DATA ON ATTITUDE TOWARD TEXTUAL MATERIAL AS ASCERTAINED FROM POETRY ATT ITUDES-INVENTORY In the Attitudes-Inventory two types of investigation were made: (1) general questions about poems read or studied and resulting effect on likes or dislikes, and (2) listing by each student of all the poems he could remember, the author, if remembered, and his reaction. General Reactions To Textual Material The answers to the general questions elicited the facts that: Cl) the poetry studied was not understood and therefore caused dislike; (2) the content of a poem is an important factor in like or dislike of it; (3) the language of poetry can be a stumbling block to understanding; (1) classical material is not necessarily valuable merely because it is so judged by experts, and consistently put in text books, (5) the form of poetry is difficult for some, not difficult for others, (o) the poetic elements of rhythm, sound ana imaginative construction are valuable assets, and (7) that it is important to know poetry. Lack of Understanding Prime Cause of Dislike The most frequently cited cause for disliking poetry is lack of understanding it. r Questions 12, Id,* 16 and 18 refer to this problem. Question 12, giving five choices as to degree of like or dislike, had three possible answers related to lack of understanding: Cl) £2 said they neither like it nor dislike it because of poor background; (2) L9 say they would like it, they think, if easier understanding were made 30 possible, and (3) 81 who like poetry generally prefer only simple or familiar poetry. Only 21 of the 213 answering say they like poetry very much finding it enjoyable, relaxing, and inspiring - and, therefore, understood. Of the 213, only 21 therefore seem pleased with the choice of poetry. In question li*, 29 said the poetry they were given to read was un­ interesting and caused dislike; in question 16, 33 men answered that most boys who dislike poetry learn to do so in school because of poor choice of material and poor teaching, and 29 believe most boys who are indiffer­ ent to poetry have that attitude because of inability to understand it. In a similar question about girls, there were 16 who claimed poor materi­ al and teaching caused dislike; there were Ul who think poor understanding causes most dislike. In question 18, 77 people said they thought they would like poetry if means were provided for understanding. Content of Poem Affects Like or Dislike The pleasurable study of poetry may partially depend on the content of the poem* (l) 157 disagree that a poem should be read for its moral, (2) 132 favor its expression of the truths of human experience, (3) 12h want a story while 87 do not, (L) 167 think poetry should express know­ ledge of living through the ages, (5) 155 think poetry can transform drab living by its contents, (6) 177 want poetry with an idea. With these diverse interests, there must be a wide latitude of choice if there is a pleasurable journey into poetry material. 31 The Language of Poetry Makes it Difficult The language of poetry can be the stumbling block to understanding. Vocabulary in ordinary prose reading provides difficulties and mapy studies have been made on words and their relative difficulty for the various grades . Poetic language provides even greater trouble with words. In answering the Inventory, 6k claim that poetry i3 a meaningless jumble of words; 93 disagree that beautiful word pictures inevitably cause enjoyment of poetry; lli6 think there is no use to attempt to read poetry in which the vocabulary is out of reach, and 59 insist that poets write a language which only they can understand. There are 80, as opposed to lbO, who say that poets insist on saying things in a very round-aboutway, their comparisons making the meaning obscure. Evidently, the textual material provided for them is one element in their dislike since the vocabulary of the poetry they have studied is beyond their abilities. Classical Poetry hot Necessarily Valuable Students were almost evenly divided in their opinions that classical poetry cannot serve as a guide for modern living. There was almost exactly the same proportion of disagreement on this idea stated affirma­ tively, "classical poetry offers opportunities for pleasant experiences A strong majority express themselves as against the idea that present courses in poetry made up of poetry judged by literary experts as worth studying are ideal poetry classes. Form of Poetry Difficult for Some Two questions about form of poetry elicited the fact that a strong majority do not blame poetry form for their dislike. While 52 think it 32 doss cause difficulty in understanding, 176 disagree. The same opinions were obtained on the statement "poetry written in free verse form is hard to follow and therefore less enjoyable than other forms of poetry. It is not poetry which is difficult, but poems. Effect of Poetic Elements Tiiree statements about rhythm, sound, and imaginative construction of ideas, questions U2, 71 and 77, reveal strong agreement that these are valuable and imaginative assets. Importance of Studying Since mind-set or the will to learn on the part of the student is an important factor in determining difficulty and resulting pleasure or displeasure, it therefore strongly affects choice of literature. State­ ments from three angles tried to determine attitudes of students toward the importance of studying poetry. Statements 69 , 70 , 7h and 78, show that a decidedly high number of people feel that poetry is an enriching vicarious experience and that the art of the poet enhances beauty. There is less agreement on the emotional impact of poetry} they agree that the emotion of poetry causes no embarrassment, but a large number are not moved at all by reading poetry. This is probably true because of lack of identification with the living in the poem due to study of poetry be­ yond their comprehension and vicarious participation. The fact that they do not read poetry vicariously also probably accounts for contradictory opinions about the worth of poetry and com­ pulsory study. They do not agree on compulsory study and they do not 33 voluntarily study poetry while admitting its worth. A stronger motiva­ tion must be found than a mental acknowledgment of value. The acknowledgment of the worth of poetry as it is different from prose is expressed in answers to 73 and h 5 . There is about equal division of opinion on "a good poem on *Spring* is better than apy prose descrip­ tion." However, a strong majority disagrees with the statement that most poems express nothing which could not as well be expressed in prose. Results from Record of Poems and Authors Remembered The group of 213 freshmen answering the first part of the AttitudesInventory was asked to list the titles of all the poems they could re­ member, the name of the author, if remembered, and to indicate if the poem is liked or disliked. In Appendix C will be found a complete record of the replies. There is listed (1) titles of poems according to students who remembered one poem, two poems, etc. and (2) a summary of total references to poems and authors revealing comparative representation of remembrance. It was considered revealing, and a part of this study, to reproduce the exact titles as given and the spelling thereof. with regard to authors. This was also done While exactness as to title is not necessary, and the fact that the students were asked to list titles rather than identify lines is a weakness, still the haziness indicated in the list­ ings shows such a complete lack of remembrance about poetry as to prove amazing ignorance. The first significant fact is the low percentage of people remember­ ing poems, and the small number of poems remembered by each student. 3k Of 213 people answering, 17 could remember one poem each, 21 could remember two poems each, 22 remember three poems each, 18 could remember four poems each, 15 remember five poems each, 12 remember six poems each, 12 remember seven poems each, and 32 could remember eight or more poems. This totals 150 people. It is presumed since the remainder of the 213 did not list any poem, that 63 could rememoer none at all. That this is probably true was corroborated by the personal interviews. Most of the students could remember no poem at all until by prodding and sug­ gestion, they could possibly remember one or two, or recognize names suggested to them. Those who dislike poetry vociferously are likely to know names and authors and to hate them articulately and specifically. Others who are totally indifferent and ignore poetry could remember no details. In written statements accompanying the answers, commenting on the fact that he could not remember any poems, the student was likely to say he was indifferent. This is a most important indication since poetry is such a highly emotional form of literature. Ignoring poetry might seem more deadly than hating it. Comments concerning poetry remembered, written in by students on the answer sheets, reveal attitudes toward poetry, explain why they list no poetry, or why they know no titles*^* I do not remember the poems I have read. The reason for this is that I was never interested in the subject and never felt it im­ portant to me to remember them, The only author who I enjoyed in the least was Carl Sandburg, but I can(t member the names of his poems. •^The exact form of their replies is reproduced. 35 I dislike m o s t poetry because, to me, it is meaningless. The only poetry I enjoy reading is that written by Edgar Allen Poe. Poe's writings told a story and have a 'sensible' feeling to the characters involved in the poems. Usually, I think, a poem written in time of dismay or sadness can only hold mean­ ing for the person who actually underwent the saddening experi­ ence. I'll read Poe aiytime, but cannot stand whimsical poems. I don't think any of Poe's poems which I have read are whimsi­ cal. It has been some time since I have done any real poetry read­ ing, that the titles slip my memory. Titles are only names anyway. One can remember faces better than names and still like the person. I haven't had the opportunity of reading poetry and so I'm not sure whether I could read very much of it or not and still like it. I don't think poetry should be left out in a high school curricula but it shouldn't be forced down the students throats with tiireats. Perhaps it could be presented in an interesting way, students putting different expression into the selection, etc . I did not have poetry in my high school years so I am not capa­ ble of answering questions. There would be no point in trying to put down my individual favorites so I have listed some of my most read authors. (Note* it is impossible to tell if this is merely an excuse, laziness, or compensation) I can't remember the titles exactly. (Note* this on an entirely empty page) There are quite a few more that Ive read and like but names I can't remember. (Note* this went with two names which were as follows* 1. Mac Beth Poe Like 2. The Highwayman Longfellow Dislike) Implications For This Study 1. Since 63 people presumably could remember no poem at all, and 60 more could remember only 1-3 f it seems safe to say that the amount read is inadequate. Poetry is not being taught in any amounts sufficient to make any impression on the minds of most students. 2. Since such paucity of remembrance is indicated, it must be con­ cluded that there was little worth to the student in the poetry studied and liis mind has dropped or never included poetry which meant nothing to him. This points up a need to give students, through one means or another of selection, poetry which is to them wortli remembering. 3. Outside of Shakespeare, by far the largest majority of poetry remembered is that commonly studied around the seventh, eighth or ninth grade. It seems important in light of this fact to try to decide if that is the age when students best remember poetry, if it is the time when most poetry is offered to students, or if these particular poems are most consistently offered. U. The spellings of titles and authors, the titles guessed at in relation to what they can remember of what the poem is aoout, the rather general distortion of titles and names of the roost familiar classics offered to students, indicates a haziness of knowledge about poems con­ sistently taught to students throughout the years. If there is such haziness about the best known poems, the fact is significant enough to warrant study with a. view toward changing something. Evidently there is a great waste somewhere. It would seem that there could hardly oe any profit in continuing along the same lines. 5. The list of poems remembered divides itself into two kinds of poetry* Cl) classics found in the texts, and (2) sentimental poems like "Trees," "Fool*s Prayer," "If," "White Cliffs," and "Flanders Fields." The few exceptions are Sandburg, Frost, Millay, E. E. Cummings, Amy Lowell, and T. S. Eliot. Even Noyes and Riley might be counted classics of their kind if inclusion in many books is the criterion. Comparative representation is shown below* Accepted Modern Writings Classics 1. 2. 3. u. 5. 6. 7. 6. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. U4. 15. 16. 17. Longfellow Poe Shakespeare Coleridge Whittier Chaucer Tennyson Bryant Keats E. B. Browning Milton Keats Kipling Gray Shelley Burns Homer 92 62 58 U17 15 13 13 12 12 10 8 8 8 6 6 h 1. 2. 3. U. $. 6. 7. 8. Sandburg T. S. Eliot Frost E. E. Cummings Millay Vachel Lindsay Eugene Field Amy Lowell 3k 6 6 h 3 2 3 1 Popular Poetry 1. 2. 3. L. 5. Trees Casey At the Bat Edward R. Sill In Flanders Field Edgar A. Guest 23 13 k L 2 37 16. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. Marvell R. Browning Omar Khayyam Beowulf Van I)yke Holmes 3 2 2 2 2 2 The same proportion of classical, sentimental and good modern authors exists in other scattered titles. It seems logical to conclude that continued study of these classical poems has weaknesses. The evidence shows that these are what students study and since they are largely in­ different or hostile to poetry, a change is indicated. 6. The small number of modern poems referred to here indicates that teaching in the grades and high school includes almost all classical poetry. Sandburg is almost the only person who might be called a modern poet who makes any appreciable impression, or has been studied enough to be remembered. If any real approach is to be made to the problem of understanding, consideration must be given to wide inclusion of poetry written about the present world where the student finds himself, and with which he is familiar to some extent. It seems obvious that the very worthy goals of presenting the living of ages to a student, of acquaint­ ing him with other worlds and other peoples, of broadening liis outlook and horizons by acquaintance with literature of all times and all climes are being surely, but not slowly, defeated by not first presenting poems about the world of the student which he finds hard enough to understand without going far afield. 7. A large proportion of the selections mentioned are marked as being liked. Probably the fact that they are remembered would indicate that fact. In light of the general discoveries of attitudes toward poetry several things must be taken into consideration in an evaluation of this fact. 1. Is familiarity likely to make a favorable impression on the student as he looks back? 2. What effect on attitudes does the often repeated inclusion of these poems have? Had other and more modern poets been taught, might thecomparison have made these seem disliked? 3. It is true that a majority in the Inventory stated that the familiar poem does not have the most appeal. May not that be theory in light of the facts? If they know no more poems than represented here, how do they contrast the familiar and those that might be read? If they would like a new poem, why does not that fact motivate them to reading beyond the list of the very familiar? 38 li. What weight does the approval and accent of the teacher, and social approval of the classics, together with accepted inclusion in texts carry when a student con­ siders what he likes? Does he persuade himself that he likes what he has been told he ought to like, and uncon­ sciously discard poetry for the reason that he does not like the choice made for him by society? It seems in­ dubitable that since he has read as little as he says he has, there is little spread in choice. He accepts what seems to him the best of a bad lot and says he likes that best, but is indifferent to poetry because of the part he knows. That part leaves him cold, so he leaves poetry, as such, alone. DATA CONCERNING ATTITUDES TOWARD TEXTUAL MATERIAL AS ASCERTAINED FROM PERSONAL INTERVIEWS Three groups of people were interviewed personally for the purpose of ascertaining their attitudes toward poetry* eighteen people who answered the Inventory, eleven members of a class in advanced Oral Interpretation of Poetry, and nineteen members of a class in beginning Oral Interpretation. Their attitudes toward kinds and amount of poetry read are given in this chapter. Attitudes of Eighteen People Who Answered the Inventory* Of the eighteen, nine like poetry very much. The following is true of these nine* 1. The first student always had poetry around, parents read to her, she made her own collections, has collections now, and reads frequently. 2. The second student in early life owned many poetry books and enjoyed reading widely. Now does not own mapy nor have books of poetry around and so does not read much, although she likes poetry very much. read mostly in the classics because they are in the texts. She has 39 3. This student had little poetry at home but seemed always to like it. She had little in the grades but nothing happened to influence her negatively. One teacher in the high school surrounded her with poetry, and thus set her liking for it. She has no objection to the texts be­ cause, since she lias never read much, the texts gave her wide enough choice. h. This fourth student had many poetry sources at home but little poetry was taught either in the grades or in high school. One course highly emphasizing poetry gave him necessary acquaintance so that he continues his liking for poetry but now reads little. 5. This student likes poetry very much but still does not read much be­ cause of lack of understanding of much poetry. almost no poetry study in school. One teacher who coached a play, evidently some Shakespearean performance point), helped him. He has remembrance of (although he is hazy on that Two personal incidents motivated him to study on his own and take a survey course in college. The survey allowed him choice wliich was a pleasing feature to him. He chose difficult poetry because he likes challenging material on which to work. He feels he would read poetry if he had time. 6. This student reads little because he has no time. He liked the litera­ ture texts because they contained nthe most famous** or best-known poems. He has no objection to the texts he studied as they gave him wide enough choice for the small amount he has read. 7. Student number seven reads little but he likes poetry. One course in high school is his only real acquaintance with poetry but great interest was stirred up by the course, and he enjoyed reading "on his own” so much that he continued the writing of poetry which the teacher first demanded of them. When he says he likes poetry, he uses "Trees” as an example, saying it is meaningful. Then he reiterates his interest in well-known poems, but today he neither reads nor writes poetry because of lack of time. 8. Student number eight had many library resources out never liked poetry and had unfortunate school experiences. It was necessary to come to a post-graduate high school course before any teacher provided any variety of poetry and did good enough teaching so that he began to explore on his own. He does not yet like all poetry, and his reading is limited. 9 . An emotional cataclysm drove this man to reading, but even with miraculous accomplishments he did not find poetry until as a senior in high school one teacher introduced him to it. His extraordinarily wide ana constant reading has been on his own, stemming from thenecessity to read, and motivated to poetry by the one teacher. Attitudes of the nine people who dislike poetry* 1. This first student hates the classics which shecanremember indreary succession, read monotonously, forced on her, and meaning nothing. Suffered over "On His Blindness." Shakespeare is not poetry; it is a story. 2. Few poetry materials were available at any time in her life. her study she can remember only "The Bells" and "The Raven." In all Sven thou$i she thoroughly dislikes all poems she has read, she feels that an educated person ought to know about poetry. It is her feeling that if students hi understood why classics are considered valuable, and if they were ex­ plained to students instead of being forced on them, that learning might be both possible and pleasant. 3. This tiiird student had few books around and nobody read to him. never learned to read anything and doesn't read a book a year. He He can rememoer only three poems which impressed him because they were stories. He never learned to understand ar$r kind of poetry and dislikes the dis­ torted rljymes and twisted lines. h . This man never had poetry materials around, and while he had a regular English course every year and poetry was roughly one-fourth of it, he never learned to understand it or like it. nit has no value." His explanation is that He has no objection to the text saying that since all people have to learn the same tiling that is as good a way as any. 5. The fifth student had no poetry in liis home and reads little of an y thing even now. He feels that the choice of poetry he was given to read had a great deal to do with his dislike. poetry in grade school to remember. Seemingly there was not enough He had an excellent teacher in high school who had to follow a prescribed text but allowed students as much choice as possible. Still this student didn't like poetry. remember only Poe and Chaucer. He can Poe he calls "light reading" and doesn't mind too much; Chaucer was once too difficult because of the language and then when he found out the words, it was too simple a story to suit him. 6. This man never has liked poetry and thinks he never will but can't remember details as to what selections caused the dislike. All he can U2 remember is "The Ancient Mariner," which he dislikes probably because of length, and "The Raven" which he could not understand. He says classical poetry does not deal with his living and is therefore not valuable. The "stuff" is above the heads of students. If students were taught to realize the value of classics they might learn them whether they liked them or not. 7. This man had no material or poetry in his home, has almost no acquaint­ ance with it at all, had such a little of it in school that he can re­ member no details, and his total impression is that all he had was very bad. 6. This man had no materials in his home; he can remember a few "little poems" in the grades; he thinks he had "Ancient Mariner" in the tenth grade, which is much later than other students usually study it. did not like it for any reason. He In his senior year they covered a "thick book" from which the teachers assigned endlessly. He never managed to find a single poem which he thought possible or passable. 9. This student had no poetry in ids home, never read any which he liked, and can remember reading almost none. He never read as a child. He thinks of "catchy little poems" in the grades, but can remember no de­ tails. He remembers "Trees" as one of these which he possibly learned about the age of twelve. He thought "it a pretty nice poem" but it didn*t interest him. He could give no definition of "interest" but kept repeat­ ing the word. He had "quite a few poems" in American Literature but they also had no interest. Despite the fact that he graduated from a Detroit high school and thus must have had some exposure to poetry, he could give u3 only the aoove as his entire reaction. wc ulo interest him. He thinks there is no poem that All he is interesteo in reading are sports magazines Implications For This Study: 1. The students who like and read poetry have usually had it around them in quantities, and have grown up with it as a matter-cf-course. £. Failing wide resources , students who like poetry have oeen introduce:; tc texts containing enough variety no please them . o. Students who oecome interested in poetry in high school or later, usually find some specific poem, or types of poetry, or outside motiva­ tion which moves them to lining. u. It seems apparent tnat onlywhen students have a aeep emotional xieec they can turn to poetry, or that the small amount of poetry they u- ret., am: enjoy eaters to ar. emotional need of some kind. . Peer selection of classics monotonously forced on a student is likely to make him hate .poetry. o. It seems quite evioent that students who have no contact with poetry car hardly cs expected to find pleasure in it. All evidence points to the fact that an almost unbelievably small amount is taught. ?. Liking for poetrycar: depend greatly on a sense of values. t . iuost people, even those whoclaim tolike poetry, have no time to road i t . I t is evidently of little importance to their lives even :hey l i x e it. 7 . Even the nine students chosen from those answering tne Inventory wno profess tc like poetry* very much, know comparatively little about it, read almost none now, ana never read it haoitually. Most of them case their liking for poetry on a scanty Knowledge of a few poems in the usual text. If they can like poetry under such circumstances, what might be their reaction if they nad oeen provided wide sources of poems written aoout their own world? It could be possible, it seems, tc bring up habitual poetry readers with the right environment and encouragement. * -ttitudes of Memoers of a Class in Oral Interpretation of Poetry Of the eleven people in tids elective ccurse, nine were surrounded oy poetry in their youth, their parents read to them, or sisters were responsible. If they did not have poetry in grade school, every suitable kind was at home and they always had the kind of poetry right for their ages. They gradually progressed in their reading so that when they read classics they found them neither boring nor beyond understanding on the whole. One man got started wrong in college through inability to adjust and could not enjoy nor comprehend the poetry given him. But in the years when he dropped out of school, he evidently began to read what pleased him, chose what he liked, and made such progress that when he came back to school, he was a very fine student. The two who had no poetry are just now learning it. One is flounder­ ing for lack of background but keeps struggling because she wants to learn. The other has found the right pace for himself just this year and is reading in great gulps to catch up with what he normally should have had through the years past. All of them, at one age or another, have been properly introduced to poetry, have browsed at will where wide choice was possible and have not been confined to classics encased in a text. As a result they read the classics with pleasure, although, of course, they have favorites. They have always had their opinions which they freely express and are not and have not been confined to the opinions of others. Attitudes Toward Poetry Material of Members of a Class in Interpretive Reading (l) Had set material with no choice, studied little, even mentions Silas Marner seeming not to know the difference. (2) Had choice, teacher started with light material and led up to heavier; likes Carl Sandburg. hS {j,) Likes L. H , Cuirjnings and Walt fciiixman for unique style and the message out learnec id for himself 3 can absolutely remember nothing ne studied in school. (n) Knew much poetry from his roms, out can remember on-V/ Macbeth from school. They were given no choice in poetry. (;.) Al­ ways likea poetry because of having much ir. his home; grade school was :aa; he detests Longfellow ana drowning from school experiences. Likes ;•Ifrod Kayes. ( ;-•) Can remember no poetry until Vtn or c-th grade, de­ tests "ancient Mariner" which.is all ha can rememcer. any poetry given to him until lie got to college. Lever understood (7) Had poetry in her home j likeu what she had in grades because it was "animated** : "hide of Haul hevere ," "If," etc. Hethoa made all of it enjoyable. (6) Likes poetry from naving ic reaa to him constantly— crowning, Longfellow, etc . Jeachers liked American Literature best in high school, so he got most of that. (9) had poetry reac to him; rememlers none in grades; hated it in junior high; in high school, teacher talkec aoout poetry rather than reading poems . (11) Hao a lot and likes it, remembering "In ldemoriam "Seven ~ges of nan," "^11 Tne World's A Stage," hamlet's speech, etc. .(12) hememoers poetry from her youth; liked Stevenson's "My Shadow" in .grades, etc., "Lvangeline" was a class project, remembers "Canterbury iales," Browning, Poe, etc. Likes poetry. (13) Likes poetry but can remember the names of no poems. Hated memory work but has come to like poetry in college, (lb) Did net like poetry in school; no choice allowed tocame interesteo in poetry through reading it in Saturday livening Post. (Id) Owned the "book House" ana reac it constantly; no poetry in grade scno',1; liked "The highwayman" from junior high; was allowed choice in be high school and remembers Whitman anc Milton. (16) Can remember only memorization in both junior and senior high school of poems selected by teachers, put on board and memorized although words never understood. She memorized "Prologue," "Thanatopsis," and ’’Ancient Mariner." (17) Remembers little definite information; liked poetry on whole except where memory and analysis were required without understanding; could think only of T. S. Eliot as a poet; she did not understand him. Remembers "Little Boy Blue" in grades. Likes Edgar a. Guest. English poetry but can remember nothing about it. (16) Memorized (1?) Remembers only one pleasant experience since she had to memorize and answer questions on all the poems in a given text. She enjoyed John Brown1s Body. Implications For This Study* 1. Students have had so little poetry that they can call Silas Earner a poem and never recognize the difference. 2. In nearly every instance, no student choice of poetry is allowed. 3. Other tilings being equal, the more poetry a student knows about or studies or reads, the more likely he is to like it. h. Students like poetry that is animated, interesting, and within their range of living and understanding. $. Teachers are likely to teach the kind of poetry wliich they like and so influence the student for good or bad in that direction. 6. Nearly all students were given the same classics to read and few were introduced to modern poetry. DATA ON ATTITUDES TOWARD TEXTUAL MATERIAL AS ASCERTAINED FROM EXPERT OPINION George R. Garlsen seems to summarize the opinions of experts in relation to choice of materials for teaching. Our present selections probably have much to do with the fact that students leave elementary schools with a real liking for stories and poems and leave high school with a rather active dislike. If literature is going to help students gain an in­ creased awareness of the goodness of living, it has to be selected in terms of its presentation of the experiences that young people are having. Carlsen claims that literature teachers are responsible for maturity in use of language. A man* s ability to think is tied up with his command of symbols. To help students become mature tiirough the reading of literature of which poetry is an essential and important part, is the goal of literature teaching. All good teaching starts where a student is, but the eye must be steadily on the goal of maturity which is the real education. We accept the fact which is obvious that we must use literature within the experiential grasp of the students in any elementary school, but we stubbornly refuse to accept it at the secondary level JLouis Macneice, well-known British poet, writing in his Modern Poetry, describes his own youthful experiences in relation to material given him to study. When I went to an English preparatory school at the age of ten [in 1917] I was given Palgrave*s Golden Treasury and this was my chief reading for two years. During this period I underwent a coarsening of taste and a growing preference for what feats calls those "crude, violent rhythms as of a man running." Like most boys of that age I liked the flashier heroics - "The Burial of Sir John Moore," "Hohenlinden," "The Battle of Narsby," "The Execution of Montrose." He further discusses the contents of Golden Treasury in its difference from the natural verse of nursery rhymes. While it is an excellent ^Carlsen, George R. "Literature and Emotional Maturity," English Journal, Vol. XXXVII Ho. 3, March, 1 9 h 9 , p. 1 2 k . i* e collection it has too narrow a range for boys; there is too big a gap "between the formal self-conscious poems11 and the rhymes of earlier years. "Blake*s songs might have helped to bridge the gap, and I should also throw in a quantity of light verse and of modern folk-poetry such as the ballads of the American cow-boys.1* He says that the great majority of poems related events and emotions with which he had no experience. As examples he used the martial poems which were at best means of escape. He recommends The Poet*s Tongue by John Garrett and W, H. Auden as con­ taining the light verse needed, saying it has too great a proportion of tliis type of verse, but at least it is a more catholic conception of poetry and saves boys from "Noli Me Tangere L. A. G. Strong, English poet, teacher and writer, says of his own ejqieriences in studying poetry* I was forced to read Milton when I was fifteen. He bored me stiff. I was urged to persevere by some kind but foolish pedagogue. I rapidly came to hate Milton and rebelled. Some years later, when I had to read him at Oxford, I started with misgiving, and was at once swept off my feet. I read on with astonishment and delight. To have slogged on at the first attempt would have put me off for life. Great literature exists for our enjoyment, not for punishment. The man who wants to force it down unwilling throats is merely showing that he understands neither itself nor its uses.2 Arthur H. R. Fairchild who wrote a book in 1911*, The Teaching of Poetry in the High School, which was referred to frequently in books read for this study, shows how teachers were even then facing the same %acneice, Louis, Modern Poetry, Oxford University Press, N. Y., 1935, p. Ul. 2 Strong, L. A. G. Common Sense About Poetry, Knopf, h. Y., 1932, P. 130. h9 problems that we are today* surprise that a twelve year contact with good literature brings no abiding results, the new type of student in the crowded high school looking necessarily to a commercial and in­ dustrial existence devoid of poetic feeling, the solution of a situation where the teacher provides almost the only opportunity for development of literary taste. He says tliat teachers have lived through many violent discussions on progressive education, motivation, interests of students, etc.— phases of teaching born in the philosophy of John Dewey. Such a situation is likely to reveal, sometimes with startling suddenness, the futility of much of our formal, academic teach­ ing of literature. When the teacher at last perceives youth, dutifully but mechanically, gathering information about poets, poetic forms, and themes of poetic compositions, without once being fired with intrinsic interest in poetry itself, he loses his assurance. At the same time he is a bit vineertain whether the way out of the difficulty is tobe found in the reconstruc­ tion of his own teaching practice, or in frankly admitting that some students are doomed never to care about poetic interpre­ tation of life."-^ In further discussion of the importance of the pupil, Fairchild says a teacher must recognize that every student is the "history of his inner life up to the present moment." Between these aims and the poetry in hand, if only the poetry has been judiciously selected, there is always some connection possible, some point of attachment discoverable, some line of approach open. ItIs the teacher*s task to discern this point of attachment, and to affect a union, inknowledge and ideals, between the pupils and the content of the poem.2 (italics mine) Note Fairchild*s words* selected." "if only the poetry has been judiciously Then he proceeds to discuss his own selections for students. ^Fairchild, Arthur H. R., The Teaching of Poetry in the High School, Boston and N. Y., Houghton Mifflin, 19li4, p . ix. 2Ibid., p. 11 50 He began a high school course with narrative poems* "The Pied Piper," “How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix," "Herve Riel," "Incident of the French Camp." These were followed by patriotic poems* "Cavalier Tunes," "Home Thoughts from Abroad." dealing with Italy* Next they studied poems "The Italians in England." the City," "Love Among the Ruins," "De Gustibus." "Up at a Villa-Down in Personal poems in­ cluded "My Star," "Summum Bonuxa," "Why I Am a Liberal," "The Lost Leader," "Prospice," "Epilogue to Asolando." Finally, philosopliical and ethical poems included "My Last Duchess," "Childe Harold to the Dark Tower Came," "Rabbi Ben Ezra," "Saul," songs from "Pippa Passes." Fairchild used "Andrea Del Sarto" as an example of a poem on which he spent much time, and for which he develops his method of teaching in full. If any of the writers on interest are correct, high school stu­ dents should never be given such a poem. selection and defeats his own philosophy. Fairchild advocates judicious High school pupils have not lived long enough to grasp the emotions presented in the life story of a weakling artist who allowed an unscrupulous wife to make him an ingrate, a traitor, and a wastrel. Nor does it seem on the surface particularly good taste to introduce to students the more sordied aspects of an artiste life. Fairchild spent the third day of study on "Andrea Del Sarto" dis­ cussing attitudes toward old age and comparing them to Browning*s, and to what he had Andrea say on that subject. This seems a direct refuta­ tion of all the studies in interest which point out that young people simply are not interested in the subject of attitudes toward old age. 51 It is important to this study to compare what was taught in 191U, by a reputable teacher and author, with what is taught today. To that end, the investigator inquired from curricula authorities names of literature texts most used in Michigan today. Six texts, three in American literature, and three in English literature, are most commonly used. They are * American Literaturet 1. Miles, Pooley, and Greenlaw (Eds.) Literature and Life (American Lit.) N. Y., Scott, Foresman and Company, 1936, 2. Sharp, Tigert, Mann, Dudley, and Abney (Eds.), American Life in Literature, N. Y., Laidlaw Bros., 1938. 3. Barnes, Bessey, Gambill, Green, Baber, Knox, Seay and Shattuck (Eds.), The American Scene. N. Y., American Book Company, 19^0. English Literature* 1. Miles, Pooley, and Greenlaw (Eds.), Literature and Life, (English Literature), N. Y., Scott, Foresman and Co., 1935. 2. Cross, Smith, Stauffer, and Collette, (Eds.), English Writers, Boston, Ginn and Co., 19U5. 3. Cross, Smith, Stauffer, and Collette, (Eds.), Writers in England. Boston, Ginn and Co., 19^9. A compilation of all titles and authors in the six texts revealed a number of vital facts. First, practically every poem taught by Mr. Fairchild in 191U is now included in our texts. Every one of the English Literature texts included "Home Thoughts from Abroad." One included "How They Brought the Good News From Ghent to Aix," "Incident of a French Camp," "Cavalier Tunes," "Up at a Villa-Down in the City." "My Star," three, "Prospice" and "My Last Duchess." Two included "Childe Harold" 52 merited two and "Pippa Passes" three. "Epilogue to Asolando" was in two books. Moreover, these same texts out-did Mr. Fairchild on the subject of old age, and added death for good measure. Beginning with the first of the listed titles can be found Byron's "Adieu1 . Adieu!", Sassoon's "Aftermath," Tennyson*s "Break, Break, Break," "Crossing the Bar," and "Charge of the Light Brigade." These are followed by Shakespeare*s "Come Away* Come Away* Death*", Sassoon's "Does It Matter?," Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard," and "Epitaph on Charles II." Shelley's "Dirge" also appeared. Further listings are proportionately inappropriate subject matter for high school people, and follow the typical pattern of traditional selection of material. The American books avoid these subjects for the most part and in­ clude such modern authors as Benet, Frost, Lindsay, Sandburg, finily Dickinson, Amy Lowell, Untermeyer and MacLeish. Except for Sandburg who is represented by several poems, these modern poets have from one to three or four poems each. at all. Nobody more modern than these is represented Not more than one-fourth of the poems could be called modern, and there is no discernible standard for selection. The traditional pattern is clear throughout. This comparison of new texts with selections made in 1911* leads to the query, "what good are interest studies if there is no progress from 1911* to 1952 in providing literature in which students are interested? What good does it do to give lip service to the old and tried educational principle of interest motivation, and fail to give texts or other books of poetry to students based on their interests?" 53 Faircliild further commented that after they finished studying Andrea del Sarto students blithely undertook “Ulysses" or Shelley's "Stanzas Written in Dejection Near Naples," and Hilton's "Sonnet on His Blindness." If his students were blithe about these two, they refute the testimony of the freshmen at Michigan State College, and are probably the only adults today who like poetry. It is too bad that one can think of the attitude of students as being "blithe" when reading such selections and have no way to check on their later poetry reading. Ezra Pound in his ABC of Reading says that the first decision to be made in every beginning class in poetry is the purpose of that class. Is it for criticism, history, or just pleasure? He wonders what we can expect of college freshmen in the line of critical analysis. Poems in­ cluded for study in amy book must be selected with the purpose in mind. When he talks of Whitman he says he is "Certainly the last author to be tried in a class room." Yet fifteen selections from Whitman were in­ cluded in the three American Literature texts mentioned as being most used in Michigan high schools.^ Carl Niemeyer, a professor, writing in College English on the sub­ ject of what to teaush in beginning courses of college poetry defends and asks for the use of recent poetry. Recent poetry he defines as that of W. H. Auden, Stephen Slender, Louis MacNeice, Cecil Day Lewis, Archibald MacLeish, Muriel Ruckeyser, and perhaps also T. S. Eliot whom he calls their ghostly father because he believes that Eliot probably influenced a&l of them. ^Pound, Ezra, The ABC Of Reading. New Directions, Norfolk, Conn., He says the characteristics of their verse ares a keen awareness o f the contemporary scene and a consequent use of contemporary subject matter, a tone of disillusionment, and a tendency to experiment in matters of poetic technique, as shown by the use of devices like sprung rhytlim and of assonance in the place of rhyme. Urging their suitability in terminal courses in junior college, or in introductory courses in a semester’s required work in poetry, Niemeyer names the two main objections to the use of modern writers and discusses why these two objections are not valid. The two objections usually made to this kind of poetry are pedagogi­ cal and literary. Teachers say it is too difficult to teach. Mr. Niemeyer admits freely that there is modern poetry too difficult to teach to stu­ dents of high school and beginning college age and cites some poems of Hart Crane as examples. Then he names Ruckeyser’s "Boy With His Hair Cut Short" as a very good example for use. As she snips, encouraging her brother to tliink he will soon be able to find a job, the boy from the corner of his eye looks at the "precision" of the "successful" neon sign visible through the window. No poem I can immediately recall presents so economically and so clearly a typical contemporary subject the fumbling of man and the superiority of man’s gadgets} and no class to whom I have presented the poem has failed after a careful reading to grasp the implications and the significance.1 hiemeyer names Spender’s "And I Can Never Be a Great Man," "Different Living is Mot Living in Different Places," Auden’s "Law Like Love," Kenneth Fearing’4 "X Minus X," as being good recent poetry suitable for study. ^Niemeyer, Carl, "Recent Poetry in Terminal Courses," College English, University of Chicago Press, Vol. 3, Mo. U (January, 19l*2) pp. ii03-U,6. 55 In showing comparable difficulty between recent poetry and the classics he quotes Shakespeare»s A barren-spirited fellow: one that feeds On abject arts, and imitations, Which out of use and stal'd by other men, Begins his fashion: do not talk of him But as a property. Of this selection Mr. Niemeyer asks: How many minutes will it require a class to understand Antony's opinion of Lepidus and the figures in which he clothes it? Is it slovenly teaching to dismiss the passage by saying simply, "Antony does not approve of Lepidus"? To the objection that recent poetry is not literary, this writer says: The objectors do not so much deny the merits of the poetry I am discussing as believe that other, traditional poetry has greater merit. Once again their objection is valid in part. From the hierarchy of English poets our classics, the Miltons, the Donnes, the Wordsworths, are unshakable. The place of the moderns is unsure. Who knows what posterity will think of even Housman, or Hardy, or Yeats, all now safely dead and in the pantheon? But the question is not wliich poetry is greater - at beat a futile question - the question is which poetry is better suited for presentation to students in freshman and sophomore courses. The appreciation of English literature is the reward of a long and exacting discipline. How many years of reading has it taken even English teachers to understand a page of Shakespeare, a poem of Andrew Marvell, or a book of Paradise Lost? That these skills are not for the terminal student in freshmen English or in a course in the introduction to poetry let us frankly confess. Rather than teach him the classics inadequately (and in freshman English we no longer even attempt to teach them), let us intro­ duce him to poets already of his own background, with whom he may be presumed already to have some sympathy Mr. Niemeyer thinks that modern poetry needs little defense: . . . its virtues today are what ttie virtues of true poetry have always been: economy, precision, imagery, and emotions. 1Ibid., p. L05. 56 Is there ar$rthing fresliman writing needs more than the first two; is there anything better than poetic imagery to awaken a student*s perception of the relation between the world of men and tiling and the world of language? And what better than poetry can give him an example of emotion which finds it powers in self-imposed discipline?! The Harvard Consnittee which wrote General Education in A Free Society says that the principle to be granted is "that nothing less than the best practicable literature is good enough for school study. How to judge or grade what is the best is the problem. discussed and entirely unsettled point. It is a much The Harvard Committee calls it a "vast and downtrodden topic ,** and lists three points in this connection* Under-grading. With a view to “establishing the reading habit** great numbers of lower-level texts are now written in words and construction which exact no reading effort from a learner, beyond his endurance of verbal boredom, and offer him in content nothing whatever to strengthen his mental bite . Is it any wonder that he is at a loss later when he meets sentences which are trying to say something worth saying? Sub-English. The texts in literature are written in intolerable English. Unconsciously they serve as models, and since they are such poor models, they have a baa effect. Pre-mature formulation. They spend too much time, too soon, formulat­ ing material and summing up ideas which the student should do for himself. He could not see the trip for being buried in the guidebook. Nor can selection of poetry be based on choice of that which is merely easy. Difficulty may be a matter of preliminary steps. The Harvard Committee says that relatively simple narrative (The Odyssey) and poetry of fairly open and uncompacted meaning will naturally come early. They go no further on suggestion of poetry, although they mention ■*-Ibid., p. U06. ^Harvard Committee, General Education In A Free Society, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 19^ 6, p. lib. , 57 oible narrative, myths, travel and adventure, as well as simple character studies in prose. in poetry form. These might well, then, be the subjects to be used The Harvard group suggests the five books of the Cambridge Readings in Literature as containing samples of great writing for provoca­ tive study from twelve years up. They suggest endless variety kept on the highest possible level The Harvard Committee also says that material and methods have been much under discussion and cast their report on the choice and ordering of text in a summary form as follows* The limits of available time to be kept in mind. Less to be studies rather than more. Omissions to be planned, not settled by the accident of the shortage of time. Old and new writing to be proportioned with regard to a two-way traffic between* (a) The new as more immediate and leading to the more remote. (b) The old as explaining the tradition on which more difficult modern writing depends. The values of American and English literature and of other literature in translation to be balanced. Texts for classroom study to be supplemented by less difficult books for outside reading. Guidance is to be provided since a chief end sought is extensive and discriminative private read­ ing. Proper liberty to be secured for teachers in choosing the texts they cam handle best - with enough organization to prevent unde­ sirable duplication. Historical sequence to be followed only if illuminating to the literature read.^ 1Ibia., pp. 109, 113. 2Ibid.. p. 111. 56 The report of the Harvard Committee decries numbers of books since the teacher might tliink that with so mapy he and the class could have a good time. It counsels looking into what "is a good time," saying wiiile valuable class work is often, even usually, enjoyable, it does not follow that enjoyable times in class may be valuable. As tilings are, however, so sad a proportion of time spent on literature is plain boredom that attachment to anything which amuses is very understandable. A safe test perhaps might be this* let the teacher ask himself, "Am I needed for this enjoyment?" If the answer is "Ho, they would read it as happily and as fully without me," then some other text wliich will not be enjoyed without the teacher's help should replace it. The choice unfortunately cannot be left to the pupil. He does not know the alternatives to be considered.^ May Hill Arbutlinot, writing in the Proceedings of the Annual Con­ ference on Reading. 1 9 k 9 , on the subject of the teaching of poetry says* As for the choice of poetry for different ages who shall say what is desirable? One person repsonds to a poem with in­ difference or even distaste, while to another that same poem brings a little shiver of delight that marks the impact of authentic poetry’-. Is it not, then, the responsibility of adults who guide the reading of children and youth to expose them to a wide variety of poetry from nonsense verse and story poems to the best of our dramatic and lyric poetry . . .? Young people of all ages like ballads and story poems from "The Night Before Christmas" and "The Pied Piper of Hamlin" to the latest Burl Ives records. . . . Young people like the heroic too which they find in some of the ballads and Walt Whitman. . . . Somehow, .valt Whitman, with his cheerful earthi­ ness and his concern with the individual and the cosmos, seems to prepare young readers for some of the modern poets which many oldsters are finding rather hard to take.* 1Ibid.. p. 116. *Note difference of opinion between Arbuthnot and Pound, previously quoted, p. 53. 59 The personal quality of poetry young girls enjoy in the cryptic poems of Emily Dickinson and the more romantic earlier books of Edna St. Vincent Millay. On the whole, our youngsters are fair­ ly catholic in their poetry tastes, but they seem to shy away from the continual descriptions of nature with which we used to assail them almost to the exclusion of any other type of poetry. The humorous, the dramatic, the heroic, and the personal these remain permanent interests in any poetry wliich "reads aloud" well and "listens well."3Leland B. Jacobs, writing in the same proceedings about teaching literature comments that the early school experience of teachers of today was vastly different from that of children whom they teach. Their school experience took them very early to what was remote, past, even adult. There was a dichotomy between their real learning out of school and their vicarious learning in school. {Modern children1s books] show clearly how unrealistic the curriculum of the past was in terms of the developmental and aspiration levels of the young children who were then being "schooled. Jacobs contends that chance lias operated largely in getting the right book to the right individual at the right time to be understood, cause a lasting impression and create delight. The danger, then, of a tempting to generalize for whole groups of young readers on what was individually developed is quite obvious. Every individual develops within his own growth pattern and liis unique cultural context. His reading must approximate his developmental level as well as his individual aspiration level. His purposes affect his reading; his back­ grounds of experience affect the meanings which he can get from printed symbols. As great stories are made available for children to read, teachers and parents must be realistic about some problems of understanding that may arise. ^Arbuthnot, May Hill, Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Reading. University of Chicago Press, 19^9, pp. £32-83. 2Jacobs, Leland B. "Great Stories and Classic Material," Classroom Techniques in Improving Reading. Supplementary Educational Monographs, University of Chicago Press, 19u9, p. 85. 60 Since the classics, to have reached this status, have had to stand the test of time, they are already removed in various conceptual relations from today's children and youth. Modern living is, in anc of itself, an intensive and extensive ex­ perience. . . . classic material, rooted as it is in the past, frequently imposes semantic obstacles that impede understand­ ing, obscure meanings, and slow the rate of reading for pleasure and entertainment. Changes in cultural designs for living, in mores, and customs, make some of the major concepts in these stories from the past difficult to read meaningfully Changes in living bring changes in vocabulary; styles of writing have changed; stories written for adults mean the young reader must stretch up toward the intellectual concepts presented. He must be able to reach out toward greater maturity than he actually possesses. Even if he is able to pronounce and get some meaning from most of the words, he may still be left on just the fringes of the central thought or total meaning becuse of the mature insight necessary to unlock the ideas as an organic whole. A young person can read avidly and assidulously on a high level of taste, and choose almost exclusively from good books for children and youth that have been published in the past ten years. Should he periodically stop this reading that orients him to his world, past and present, and read a classic? Are any of these children's classics so priceless that every child in every community in America should, some time in their school life, read them? If so, who will consti­ tute the board of experts for making this decision? Jacobs concludes that probably the best the teacher can do is to provide a lush environment of reading materials. Luella Cole, teacher and author of numerous texts on educational subjects, states in her Psychology of Adolescence in the chapter dealing with the High School Curriculum* Ijacobs, Leland B. "Great Stories and Classic Material for Children And Youth," Classroom Techniques in Improving Reading. Supplementary Educational Monographs,'Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 19U9, pp. 72-73. 2Ibid., p. 73, 7U. 61 The details of curriculum development are, however, not as important as the conviction that what is taught in class really matters. The method of presentation also matters. Both method and content should be adapted to the nature of adolescent needs, adolescent abilities, and adolescent atti­ tudes . Classwork ought to be about something that boys and girls want to hear because it is important to them, either immediately or in the future. And classes ought to be fun. When these two conditions are met, the curriculum has a chance to be a vital force in adolescent life.l Students and authorities agree (l) that students do not like and do not generally read poetry, and (2) that the material offered for class study follows the traditional pattern and is largely that v M c h has been includea in text books at least since 1900. Students claim that they are given material in which they are not interested and which does not fit their lives. Authorities, from the first advocacy of John Dewey, around 1900, agree that interest motivation is necessary; that poetry must be about the experiences of the student, or something comparable. then, is nothing done? Wliy, Can no adequate change in textual materials be made in fifty-two years? H. Hoyt Norris, a publisher*s representative, writing for the English Journal says* Publishers, like leaders in education, have noted that there is a great discrepancy between what is recommended and what is being done in the schools. As Professor Hedrick, speaking of high-school mathematics once said, "Everybody renders lip service to the reform, but nobody does anything about it,"2 ^Cole, Louella, Psychology of Adolescence t h. Y. Kinehart and Company, 19^2, p. 626. ^Norris, H. Hoyt, "Textbooks and the Changing Curriculum," English Journal, Vol. XXXVIII, No. h (April, 191*9) 62 n r . !\orris, because of his occupation, is interested in changes in taxt-ooks. lie claims that teachers do not want change. In a recent convention, according to iir. Norris, a woman teacher naa made an im­ passioned speech on the suoject of literature texts ana demanded more like the one she waved aloft widen proved to be one published before iorie Viar I containing all the tried and never-ending classic selections. r. 1 orris cited tiiis woman ant then referred to an article op Elizabeth ..re' .a;., which sai r* Ev=rt day manges come. as ug not necessarily improve in Sc the experienced are cautious, believing caution is intelli­ gence . We literature teachers are cautious lest in embracing the new. w„ lose basic values in the tried and tested content. ,.5 ar= cautious lest, in compromising with: the pressure of time an.: popular appeal, we introduce trivialities and thinness; cautious lest in our experimental schools we substitute surface contacts, shortlived, for deep arm abiding experiences, charged with emotional significance; cautious, lest in the adding of . . . current journalistic articles, we ueprive the inexperienced unenriched boy and girl of the literature which has great know­ ledge of human neurts ,1 It is no wonder tnat 'At . Norris and the firm he represents do not wani t: .--amcle on teachers like these two. It needs repeating that interest . Livati-n has teen an established fact almost since Dewey first wrote in the early 1900s; any study of material proves the great disinterest ir. and aislike of tne poetry students have had, am- yet these two women •i- O .ill clinginr to the old material , while the roor tried student finds _ng true in what 'he reads so far as his experiences are concerned. •^Iraharn, Elizabeth, "what Literature Shall We Teach how?", English irnal, XXXIV Upril, 19ny) , 190. op There is one statistic in education which is irrefutable ana needs no further proofi these school teachers would never be picked as gamblers, -ioh every evidence of fifty years pointing to the contrary they cling to t];i old. Ine American Council of Education report on "What the High Schools Ought To Teach," says "actually these recent studies (of secondary educa­ tion [all of wiiich advocated changes]) have had relatively little effect upon the schools Charlotte Peterson who analyzed the then existing studies concerning placement of literature in secondary schools, in 1931, came to substantially one same conclusions as writers of today’-. fno curriculum shoula sake the best from prevailing practices, recognize the play activities of youth, retain desirable selections ana eliminate the undesirable qualities in litera­ ture , and consider the reading tastes of the students . . . . The most desirable cooks in the opinion of ootli teachers and students are those which are full of action and adventure anti have interesting plots and characters. The most common reason fcr placing a selection on the "black list" is because of over­ maturity or immaturity of content. A true picture of student's reading tastes is found in their reactions to the classics and their choices in voluntary read­ ing. Eating of classics aepend largely upon the classroom presentation of the selections. . . . The investigations of Crow and Safarjian indicate that only a small group of classics are being effective in realizing some of the general aims of literature. In addition, the classics are more adapted to the interests of girls than for boys.2 ■^American Council of Education, "What the High Schools Ought to leach," Washington, D. C., 19U0, p. 6. ^Peterson, Charlotte, An .analysis of Objective Studies Kelating to the Teaching of English Literature in Secondary Schools, H. A. Thesis, university of Southern California, 1931, P* 17^. 6h As early as 1922, Hubert Corvell, studied extensive reading, using only books recommended by the boys who were his students. books into three types* These divided those no boy should miss, worth-while but not of such high value, and time-killers. The investigator found that their choices were so accurate that teacher intervention would have been like "sand in a gear-box." His study indicated that full student participation in selection of literature makes a much richer experience for them."*" In Chapter I reference was made to the Mackintosh study "A Critical Study of Children's Choices in Poetry." She surveyed the studies made from 1696-1931 and concluded that they all prove the failure of present courses of literature to provide poetry within the range of children's interests and experiences. survey are* Other conclusions reached by reason of the (1) Reasons stressed for dislike were* work," "no story," "too long," etc. "too mature," "hard Reasons for liking were* interest­ ing action and character, adventure, humor, easy content, easy diction, portraying of supernatural, kindness, faithfulness and loyalty. (2) Materi­ al stressed and studied must deal with situations common to the age group which is doing the studying. (3) Adults select most of the poetry in texts, lists are compiled by adults, and perpetuated by adults. Studies show there are many poems, possessing literary merit and value and which are not included in adult prepared courses of study, that are more interesting to the children than the ones in the books. This conclusion Corvell, Hubert V., "What Books Do Boys Recommend to Each Other?" Outlook, Vol. 131, (August 16, 1922) pp. 6US-6. 65 was outtressed by another study which found that expert opinion differed little from inexpert opinion and that actual experiment should determine poems for use in schools. iiacintosh concludes as a result of her own study that* Literary merit is not necessarily an indication that a poem will be liked by childrens that is, literary merit in its present accepted sense. Some objective measure should be developed for the elementary school level so that valuable new findings in the field of poetry for cliildren will not have to be subjected to the test of time, out may at once be available for use with children .•*EXPSRIEN TIA L STUDIES ON TEXTUAL MATERIAL T. W. H. Irion writing on Comprehension Difficulties of Ninth Grade Students in the Study of Literature concluded that the literature given to high school pupils is too difficult for them. He devised ana adminis­ tered English tests to first year senior high school pupils and found uis study emphasized the fact that appreciation cannot take place without comprenensio n .^ Joseph Shachtman in Elements of English Related to the Judgment Of Poetry in Grade Eleven, concluded that "as poetry is taught in the high scnools today there is little guarantee that after several years of study the pupils will be able to discriminate in their choice of poetry.^ ^Mackintosh, 0£, cit., p. 116. ^Irion, Theophil William Henry, Comprehension Difficulties of Ninth Grade Students in the Study of Literature , N. Y. Teachers College, Columbia University, N o . l o 9 , 1925. ^Shachtman, Joseph, Elements of English Related to the Judgment Of Poetry in Grade Eleven, Teachers College Contribution to Education, No. 373, Columbia University. 66 A study entitled Attitudes of An Age Group to Poetry, a thesis done in the University of Glasgow, investigated children*s preferences for different kinds of poetry by giving there twenty-five lyrical poems divided into five groups. Differentiated according to subject matter they were (l) exciting narrative, (2) humorous, (3) description, (U) love, (5) the supernatural. Fifty children were tested by a questionnaire and a memory test of poetry previously read as to their likes and dislikes. The most important results were* (l) ninety-six per cent said they liked poetry, (2) the poems best known to these children because most read to and by them in school, were descriptive poems. A probable cause of this was divulged by an examination of school anthologies, seven of which con­ tained an average of 63% of descriptive poems. (3) These children preferred humorous, exciting narrative, and supernatural poems almost equally but probably in that order. They had relatively little liking for descriptive poems and expressed little liking for love poems, but whan taken off their guard in a memory test, they betrayed a significant interest in them. All, both boys and girls, preferred humorous; the boys liked exciting narrative most, the girls, love poems L. V. Cavins attempted to ascertain grade placement of poems by testing over 3000 children in grades ii-8 on the central thought of 66 popular poems. His conclusion was that the most used poems were taught at inappropriate age levels. If boys and girls cannot grasp the main •^Martin, D. R. Attitudes of An Age Group to Poetry an Ed. B. thesis in Glasgow University, September, 191*6. 67 thought of the poem, it is probable that the rest of the poem is not understood or appreciated. If the main thought is not grasped by a grade group, the poem should not be taught in that grade In an attempt to review the literature on poetry materials studied in school, Helen Welch Painter*s Synthesis of Research on The Placement of Reading Material in Secondary-School Literature written in 19iil will be discussed here to find out what she discovered about the placement of selections in literature according to student*s interests and comprehen­ sion. The Painter study is limited to grades 7-12 and to experiential studies written from 189$ to 1939 inclusive. Details as they pertain to this study are as follows* 1. Necessity for scientific study of placement problems. In the National Survey of Secondary Education a forceful statement is presented* Obviously there is paramount need for determining through scientific investigation the relative difficulty of classics and the years in wliich they have their greatest appeal . . . There is no doubt that the problem of proper selection of content in classroom reading is receiving more serious con­ sideration by curriculum makers today than ever before. There is imperative need for abundant materials to be read with ease and understanding. 2. Why The Need for fielative Placement of Materials? Poems placed too early in a grade repel the pupil because of their over-maturity of sentiment and difficulty of mastery. If placed too low, there is a similar effect because it is too juvenile. bavins, L. V. Standardization of American Poetry for School Purposes, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1928. 68 Proper placement reduces dislike, and increases enjoyment and wider reading. Successful teacliing of reading depends much on the fitness of selections for the grades in which they sire to be taught. Fluency and a real love for reading can be developed when children have plenty to read at their own level of ability. Poor placement results in little realization of objectives, in short-lived interest in poor taste for good literature, and ignoring of a book Decause of lack of experience or blocking of comprehension or because of boredom at its child­ ishness. There must be no inflexibility nor rigid selection. Children need extensive reading materials. In one study it was dis­ covered that only 57 of 156 courses of study agree on any one classic to be studied by all children. "Who shall say which classic is necessary to the soul*s salvation?" Children1s interest in a book gives a legitimate basis for placement. Teacher training institutions should give scienti­ fic training in children^ interests and difficulties as re­ liable guides to standards of placement and selection.* 3. Proportion of Modern and Classical Material in Literature. In actual practice, most of the material studied in secondaryschool literature is traditional, with the bulk of the selections written before the twentieth century (five studies). There is probably more recent material included in books of American literature than of English literature, Modern selections are preferred by pupils (ten studies). Modern authors, themes, or settings are also preferred (three studies). In view of the statement that most of the material presented in the classroom is traditional, it would seem that the present literature curriculum is contrary to student preferences. Two procedures seem necessary. First, some consideration should be given to what children like to read, if we are to adhere to our psychological principles. This does not apply however that too much emphasis should be given over to student opinions. Extremes IPainter, (Mrs.) Helen Welch, Dissertation, Indiana University, June, 19hl, A Synthesis on the Placement of Reading Material In Secondary-School Literature. p. 2. 69 along the only what should be bility of line of letting students they like are definitely considered in curriculum offering seems to be the do what they like and read not advocated. Still they making and revision. Flexi­ solution. If few modern selections are to be included, methods of teach­ ing should consider childrens attitudes with regard to modern and classical writing and make an even greater effort to arouse interest in things that are old. Such a procedure is necessary in view of the bulk of classical writing, some of which un­ deniably has quality and appeal. It would seem wise, in general, to include some modern selections in accord with pupil preferences, and at the same time to include some of the classical writings, with methods of teaching adapted to arousing children to their value and charm Mrs. Painter's thesis synthesizing studies on interest and comprehen­ sion also made the following discoveries about poetry* There is little interest in poetry Interest in poetry increases with age and schooling Most children dislike poetry More girls than boys read and like poetry Girls like poetry Boys like poetry (tiiree studies); boys dislike poetry (2 studies) Each sex dislikes the other's choices The majority of poems disliked are disliked consistently by all Reasons for disliking poems were dull, uninteresting, don't like ar\y Memorization of poetry is most unpopular Children resent so-called appreciation lessons Children like action, plot, and humor in a poem Poetry which is liked has sentiment, action and romance Poets liked best have obvious sound effects, commonplace subject matter, and obvious humor The most frequently named poems are largely narrative and lyric, war-like and moral in theme, and individualistic in point of view (traditional in subject matter and type) Patriotic poems decrease in interest in higher grades Modern poetry is preferred Modern poems are listed as favorites Poems read are limited to those read in school Boys like poems of the sea and girls, of nature The only poetry read is that of Edgar A . Guest 1Ibid., p. 75. The poetry read is mostly that of Riley and Field Factors determining reactions to poetry are sex, age, mentality, cultural history, and immediate environment In general, in Grade 7, poetry read contains satire, more romance and bloody encounters and fewer hero poems; in Grade 6 , the themes are romance, tragedy and retribution; and in Grade 9, they are introspective - the reader seeks the cause of tilings A variety of interests is found in each grade in poetry Most pupils seem to prefer poems below their grade level Teachers rate poetry higher than pupils Poetry is interpreted with greater accuracy than the essay Reading comprehension differs with types. Poetry is the hardest Few pupils showed signs of appreciating the real value of poems A poem of stronger personal appeal than L*Allegro should be used Teaching improves appreciation of poetry Situation in actual practice* Most selections studied are traditional (written before the twentieth century) Textbooks in American literature contain twentieth-century writings in about half their content. Those in English Literature have less than one-sixth of their content devoted to present-day writing. Of 91 anthologies recommended by 17 courses of study published about 1930~3li, only 10^> were published after 1930, ana 1922 is an average date Modern Selections Modern selections are preferred by pupils Tew fiction is read in higher grades Modern authors, themes or settings are preferred Modern poetry is preferred by teachers Reasons for liking modern poetry are simple, familiar language, and interesting thought A course in modern literature was judged by pupils as more important, interesting, and enjoyable than other courses books by contemporaries were in the lowest quartile of those read Recent books have no "special attraction" Classical Selections Many of the classics are among the popular books Classics are seldom read except when required If a book is liked, its age has no effect Only a few liked the classics 71 Wot one child said he liked to read ary book usually read in the English course Books most often listed as difficult were classics Most classics are easier for girls than for boys Literary classics are third choice for girls and fourth for boys In general, more girls than boys rate classics as valuable, especially poetry*Professor I. A. Richards undertook an experiment with his students at Cambridge to find out what part of the poetry they studied was under­ stood by them, or if they understood any at all. He tested people whom he says represent Ma high standard of critical discernment” but who could not make out the plain sense of poetry. most disturbing ana impressive fact." Richards calls this Ma He says not only could the students not interpret tiie symbolism of the poems but that they could not inliibit their own concepts. Instead they read into poems meanings of their own. Stock responses, mnemonic irrelevancies, their individual biases, are expressions which Professor Richards uses to describe their answers. One poem would elicit everything from praise to overwhelming condemnation. He came to the conclusion that nineteen or twenty is too early- an age for students to make sympathetic contact with the subject matter of a large part of our poetry-. He feels that tlieir life experience is too limited for students to read accurately. He says that we must cease to regard a misinterpretation as a mere unlucky accident but to look for it as the normal thing, and to judge a successful interpretation as a gamble against o odds. 1Ibid., pp. 6^-66. ^Richards, I. A. Practical Criticism, London* Trubner and Company, Ltd., 1^29. Kegan Paul, Trench, 72 Sussams summarizes the findings in relation to the materials of textbooks or the poetry to be given to students to read by saying: Keluctantly, then, on the evidence of the children themselves we are driven to the conclusion that much of what a conven­ tionally educated schoolmaster would regard as the typical expression of English poetic genius is, for the time being, beyond the scope of his pupils.1 He further states* (l) reactions are higlily individual; attitudes are affected by age, sex, intellectual capacity, and circumstances of their environment and upbringing. and predictable factors: (2) Sex is one of the mostimportant girls like nature lyrics and since they like poetry more than boys, texts are overloaded with nature lyrics. Boys are indifferent or hostile to such verse; they want adventure, the sea, stirring deeds, prefer dogs to cats and like jungle animals - and loathe fairy sleighbells! Poetry that deals with experiences beyond this narrow range, or that express adult emotions, leaves the secondary modern school student bored and restless. Unfortunately for such pupils most truly great poetry falls within this category. Poets do not write for school children; they write for themselves and the like-minded. Their finest verse is born of the experiences of their manhood and womanhood; it is essentially aoult. Thus with very few exceptions the flower of English poetry, the nature poetry of Wordsworth, the great odes of Keats and Shelley, the dramatic lyrics of Browning, the romances of Tennyson, and the love poetry of Swinburne, is outside the range of the secondary modern school. ^Sussams, o£. cit., p. 127. 73 The exceptions are ail the more precious. Where a teacher finds that verse which by common consent has stood the test of time ana makes an appeal to his class, that surely is the verse to be got by heart. The adult, says Sussams, can deal with archaisms in poetry or even find it an added attraction. But the younger generation living in a world so fundamentally different from past worlds cannot possibly sur­ mount the double hurdle of mature thought ana a remote setting. He goes on to say that we cannot be tempted to swerve from this decision by the artless simplicity of the language of some lyrics, "for the simpler the language the more does it rely on its evocative power, the greater the dependence of the lyric on its reference to a basic field of human experience." He says that the familiar love lyrics can only appeal to somebody who has been in love. "Otherwise they seem commonplace and trivial, no different from the banalities of the danceband crooner, ho ^eacher has any right to introduce such poetry to his class until he hears his pupils spontaneously singing the latest love ditty." The older girls may feel at home in such an idea but the modern school boy is em­ barrassed. The result is that he curses poetry because of his embarrass­ ment Mr. Sussams advises letting the cliild find his own poetry, browsing in large collections so he will be spared "the sense of immodesty and humiliation that comes when people insist on talking to him about emotions the existence of which he suspects but of the nature of which he is ignorant. 1Ibid., p. 127. My own conviction is that a systematic study of the English heritage should be left until the middle years of adolescence. Until boys are sixteen or seventeen they have not the requisite experience of life to make contact with great poetry. . . . Boys and girls will not be fobbed off with the excuse that one day they will understand. That day, they know, will never dawn; for if poetry is branded for them as the most tedious lessons of their school days, they will escape from it forever as soon as schooldays are over. Nor does the argument that such and such a poem has been acclaimed by the greatest critics in the land carry much cogency with ordinary boys and girls. They are just not interested in our literary heritage as such; they never will b e .1 ho one offers algebra to children struggling with the four rules or puts plates on map projection into a first atlas; yet something of this nature is happening in the realm of poetry. The anthologies are veritable gallimaufries, containing anything from tongue-twisters and limericks to the songs of Shakespeare and the lyrics of Blake. . . . Offering children everything without first obtaining some indication of their preferences may upset those children who for the time being are allergic to cer­ tain kinds of poetry. The few indisputable facta that we have disclosed are that poetry has ceased to attract the average eleven-year old, that the tastes of girls and boys differ, that boys dislike poetry lessons more than girls and that fairy poems are anathema to almost all boys at the top of the junior school.2 William S. Gray says of the nature of reading materials that the content of what is read should be inherently interesting and challenging to the reader. When promoting competence in reading for specific ends, the materials should relate to purposes that appeal to pupils as signifi­ cant and worth-while. The difficulty of material also merits study. He also speaks of the difference between knowing words and being able to make correct implications from ideas involved. 1Ibid., p. 128 2Ibid., p. 89# Students can read 75 ideas beyond their comprehension, but materials which they cannot at least partially experience will hardly appeal as worth-wliile and significant.1 Peterson has the same viewpoint as the others quoted* It is not enough merely to hope that the literature presented in the classroom will influence the reading habits of adult life; rather, it is necessary for the reading of the school period to make such a strong contribution to the life of the student that the habits developed will remain throughout life. [The curriculum maker] must consider the reading habits in wiiich a high school student now engages and also the reading activities in which he is likely to practice as an adult.2 A. 3. Weiser and E. J. Ashoaugh writing on the subject of what junior and senior iiigh school students read say* Reading should be a leisure interest for children and adults. Childrens reading interests are the basis upon which adult appreciations in literature are developed. Children do read for experience; they should read for desirable experience. As they are guided to select reading materials that will give them desired and desirable experiences they will develop appreci­ ation of life and literature. Opportunity for children to choose reading materials that they like is the starting point for adult guidance of their experiences in reading and in living tlirough reading. One of the important guides to the selection of read­ ing materials which will give children desirable and desired experiences at any stage of growth is found in their own inter­ ests .3 Implications For This Study* In Chapter III are four presentations of data concerning attitudes toward poetry material provided for students to read. Viewpoints of ^Gray, W. S. "Group versus Individual Instruction in Promoting Growth in Interpretation," Classroom Techniques in Improving Reading, Supplementary 3d. Monograph, University of Chicago, 19U9, p7 56. 2 ' Peterson, o£. cit., p. lU. ^Weiser, A. B. ana Ashbaugh, E. J. "What Bo Junior and Senior High School Pupils Read?" Educational Research Bulletin. Ill ( 1 9 2 h ) , p. 23. 76 freslimen students answering the Attitudes-Inventory are summarized, attitudes of students seen in personal interview are added, and the opinions of two groups of experts, one subjectively, and the other objectively arrived at, are listed. The following agreements are evident* 1. The material given students is largely traditional. All four groups are agreed that the material included in texts for students is largely that which has been taught from 1900 regardless of the fact that Dewey introduced and advocated the principles of appeal­ ing to interests around that time. All writers, students, and experien­ tial studies show that the factor of appealing to interests is very important; all the summaries show that students have not been interested in what they studied; and, yet, publishers continue to turn out textbooks with few ctianges because that follows most nearly the demands of teachers. 2. Classics are taught to students because they "ought” to know them, almost without regard to their ability to comprehend. Adults have traditionally listed and included for study those socalled classics wliich they studied, which custom has said are important, and which "society” feels it is the duty of children to know. Such a poem, universally referred to by all groups, is Milton*s "Sonnet On His Blindness" wliich is hopelessly beyond the experience, and therefore the interest, of nearly all young people. Not only do they hate the poem because of lack of comprehension, but Milton and all poetry eventually is included. 77 Too much of the poetry included, even where it attempts to cater to the interests of young people, is selected by adults without an objective study of the wishes of students. These adults select poetry about children, or with simple words, or with seeming artlessness, a great deal of wliich is deceivingly rich in symbolism, experience, or ideas beyond the grasp of the student. 3. Relatively little modern poetry is included in books for study. Students profess to like modern poetry; it is necessarily about a world wliich they understand rather than some remote world long gone by; the language and symbolism is that to which they are likely to be accustomed; archaisms and liberties taken in the name of poetic license are largely absent; the rhythm of the spoken word of today is usually found and is therefore more contributive to understanding. Still modern poetry is not provided for students to study. Students who have read any modern poetry say they like it, but teachers say that they must become acquainted with the treasures of the past, regardless. They dwell upon the sacredness of nclassicsw and make little attempt to create any measuring rod or standard for good modern poetry. Teachers almost blindly accept poetry to which they are accustomed, which lias been taught to them as "good," and wliich is found in the books. Either through lack of knowledge on their part, inaccessibility of materi­ al, curriculum requirements, or laziness they have not made access to modern poetry easy. Only a few names are known, and they stand, in the mind of the student, for only one or two poems. 76 It is acknowledged by all, that classics, in and of themselves, are not bad. hating it. It is not poetry but a poem which starts the student to A classic within his field of interests and experience can be a valuable study; beyond his interest ana experience it is a positive menace to all his future reading habits. it. Students require flexibility of plan and extensive reading in worlds which they themselves choose. Even if students like Edgar A. Guest and Robert W. Service, they must not be discouraged by teachers and experts. Teachers must begin where the students are, in worlds they understand, then lead them gently and expertly to reject for themselves the less literary and the spurious. Arbitrary formulae and pronouncements of worth will never convince a student of value. He must be led to experience all poetry, however good or bad, and learn to adjudge on the basis of the experience which is real. 5. Poetry materials of every kind must be made easily available. People who like poetry have been consistently surrounded with poetry, have grown up accepting it as part of their reading world, and usually make no great transition from another kind of literature to poetry because it has always been an accepted part of their world. The only other students who like poetry, somewhere along the way found some­ body who introduced it to them in rather large quantities, led them to pursue their own interests, flicked their interests, and more or less turned them loose on their own. skillful guidance is a necessity. Prescribed reading is largely proscribed} A great majority of students feel 79 that it is not difficult poetry which they mind. Sufficient leads must oe given them, and comprehension made possible, so that with understand­ ing will come enjoyment. 6 . For any success in teaching poetry a definite change in material is indicated. No person, whether student or professional, presumes to say what should be included in books for study. The uppermost point agreed on is that there must be many varieties provided. Texts must not discard the values of the classics, but they cannot be taught without careful discrimination as to interests, experience, and comprehension. Some method must be agreed upon to determine the worth of modern poetry so that the best of it can be included. made. There must be objective studies These have been done for children and seemingly, of late years, resulting finds are largely included in books for children. school teachers stubbornly resist change. But high They will not admit that the same principles apply to them as to the younger children. Nothing has been done by way of change regardless of the studies already made in which all agree on the general miles for choice of poetry. Experts make known the results of research, but teachers teach the same thing they have always taught regardless of the conclusions. 7. Growth in literary appreciation and enrichment of experience through reading do not conflict with student*s interests in reading. To teach poetry to students toward the end of enjoyment does not preclude literary appreciation. But it does preclude arbitrary choice of material by the teacher, presentation of material without special £0 attention to method, and lack of recognition on the part of the teacher that he is facing a group of people who do net like poetry, have a mind­ set against it, and do not actually know anything about it. If the teacher indulges in wishful-thinking and bases his teaciiing on where he thinks his students ought to be, he perpetrates and perpetuates dislike of poetry. Chapter IV will deal with the methods of teaching poetry. There will be presented data on attitudes of the same four groups of Chapter III: (1) students answering the poetry Attitudes-Inventory, (2) students inter­ viewed personally, (3) bibliographically expressed attitudes of experts, and (h) findings of experiential studies. CHAPTER IV CHAPTER IV DATA ON ATTITUDES CONCERNING TEACHING METHODS Chapter IV deals with data on attitudes toward methods of teaching poetry. These include both recitation and testing methods. There is presented first the attitudes of students toward poetry teaching methods as these are expressed in the poetry Attitudes-Inventory, second, attitudes of students toward poetry teacliing methods as expressed in personal interviews, and, finally, attitudes of experts as these have been ascertained from both subjective and objective writing. Method of Obtaining Information Through Attitudes-Inventory Two hundred and eighty freshmen in Written and Spoken English in Michigan State College were used as a sample group from the 2500 enrolled freshmen. This was done by giving the Inventory to random sections of students, numbering 25-30, until that number more than represented the 200 adjudged an adequate sampling by previous tests. Thirty methods of teaching were listed and answers requested on a double key basis. The first key was* 1. never used it, 2. seldom used it, 3. occasionally used it, A*. frequently used it, 5. used it almost conclusively. In this fashion the student indicated methods his teachers used, and the frequency of use. Kay B was* 1. Since I have never experienced this method I have no reaction to itj 2. Feel that had this method been used it would have 82 helped in my understanding and liking; 3. This way had no influence on my liking or disliking poetry; k. This way contributed to my favorable attitude toward poetry; 5. This way contributed to iqy unfavorable atti­ tude toward poetry. Attitudes Toward Teaching Methods as Expressed in the Poetry Attitudes-Inventory Of the 30 listed ways, 265 out of 280 had never experienced na listen­ ing room with poetry records available for the individual." The next greatest number, 2ii8, had never experienced a method of teaching in which the study of poetry was followed by individual demonstrations of under­ standing and appreciation such as writing music for the poem, or illus­ trating it. The twenty-fifth way listed "Individual allowed to choose his field of study in poetry making it available to the class when he feels he has something worth-while; teacher consulted only when needed" had not been experienced by 232 people out of the 280. Almost that many, 230, had not experienced the method of "recording on records or wire the poetry read by each individual student." Method 3k "students present oral programs of poetry they have liked for assembly programs or for other classes" had never been experienced by 218 people. There were 20k people who said they had never experienced "formal lectures from notes on poetry previously assigned in the text from which all poetry selections were taken." "Poetry taught in Choral Reading group in which interpretive reading is done by the whole class" has never been experienced by 187, and "presentation of poetry by phonograph records" has never been experi­ enced by 166. This constitutes approximately twenty per cent of the 83 thirty methods listed which shows the trend of experience in relation to methods of teaching poetry. On the other hand, twenty per cent of the methods most experienced are as follows! 77 students indicated frequent or almost exclusive use of "class discussion on previously assigned poetry directed by teacher*s questions” 5 llil indicated frequent or almost exclusive use of "study of poems by types - ballads, odes, epics, etc.”j 106 indicated constant use of the historical method; 113 indicated the same for "assignment of poems one day, these poems read aloud by students the following day, followed by discussion"; "individual student-reading of teacher-assigned material such as the life of the author, poems of a period, etc." and "poems studied with major emphasis on grammatical construction, rhyme scheme, etc." had 91 people indicating their frequent or almost exclu­ sive use. Eighty-six people said that this was true of the method of compulsory memorization. Seventy-nine people said they had, frequently or almost exclusively, the method of "reading aloud by teacher, assign­ ment for further study, and discussion and clarification on following day or days." These two studies of least and most used methods, charts of which are shown on pages 8I4. and 85, are as clear an indication as it is possible to get of the sharp cleavage between the use of traditional and experimental methods. Traditional materials are almost exclusively taught in traditional fashion regardless of the results. There is scarcely any teacher who could not have phonograph records or a record­ ing machine, or who could not equip a simple browsing room where PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS NEVER EXPERIENCING TEACHING METHODS AS DESIGNATED BELOW 100 - 90 • 80 o> Percenta hfl - 70 • 60 ■ So ■ LO • 30- . 10 . 20 1 2 3 h 5 6 Designated Method of Teaching TABLE I Key* 1. 2. 3. h. S>. 6. 7. 8. 9. Browsing ~oom Creative activity Individual choice Individual reading assignments Oral presentation by students Formal lectures Poems poorly read Choral reading Phonograph records. 7 PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS MOST FREQUENTLY TAUGHT BY TEACHING METHODS DESIGNATED BELCW 1 2 3 1* 5 6 7 Designated Teaching Methods TABLE II Key i . . . . . Study of type of poem Rigid day-to-day assignments Informal lectures on text assignments Study of the history and period of the poem Rote memorization of the poem Schematic or structural study of the poem ] Poem read by the teacher followed by discussion i Biographical study of the author. 86 students could easily find poetry instead of digging it out of dusty libraries, or who could not teach poetry by Choral Reading methods, instruction in which is possible at almost any good college and the popu­ larity of which is easily provable. Certainly any teacher could motivate a class by letting it present an oral program of its favorite poetry to some group, yet this is evidently seldom done. There is a lack in the knowledge, ingenuity, or aggressiveness of the teacher which should be investigated. Lack of use of many methods points clearly to deficiencies in teacher training in colleges. The top number of answers in relation to methods which made students like poetry are* 1. Class discussions on previously assigned poetry directed by teacher*s questions - 13^ 2. Assignment of poems one day, these poems read aloud by students the following day, followed by discussion - 110 3. Study of poems by types - ballads, odes, epics, etc. - 109 L. Reading aloud by teacher, assignment for further study, and discussion and clarification on following day or days - 91 5 . Poems studied with major emphasis on grammatical construction and rhyme and meter schemes - 62 6. Individual student-reading of teacher-assigned material such as the life of an author, poems of a period, etc. - 70 7. Presentation of poetry by phonographrecords - 70 The top number of answers in relation to methods which made students dislike poetry are* 1. Compulsory memorization of poems - 125 2. Assignment of several poems and their authors for report next day without previous help or clarification by the teacher - 79 3. Poem3 studied with major emphasis on grammatical construction - 75 L. Interpretive reading by teacher without comment, discussion, testing and marking - 72 5. Poems from the text read aloud by an untrained teacher with a poor voice - 61 87 6. Recording on wire or record of poetry read by each individual student - 57 Several facts are immediately apparent here. First, since students have experienced so few methods, the choice as to like and dislike has to be made among those few. Their likes would probably be different had they experienced various methods. The authoritarian viewpoint is clearly represented. The first six choices involve specific assignments from a definite source and include teacher help and direction. Students want to be told what the poem says, how to get the meaning, and what are the specific facts which they should remember. Even the sixth method, poetry presented by phonograph records includes the idea that they will receive help in understanding what they hear. The direct opposite is true in those methods which cause dislike. Compulsory memorization, which has a high number of votes as causing dislike and from which there is a sharp drop to the second answer, in­ volves individual effort without aid from anybody. It clearly puts the student on liis own with nobody telling him what to think or how to under­ stand. Two, four, five and six also represent this thought. The third * highest reason for dislike is the same as one reason given for liking— poems studied with main emphasis on grammar, etc. Since personal interviews which are reported later clearly indicate that the detail of such study is highly objectionable, we have two choices of reasoning* (l) having experienced so few methods, this choice could be made by both those in whom it causes liking and those in whom it causes dislike, and (2) since there are different kinds of people, some do not mind detailed study and others do. Since so many are accustomed to stucfcr 68 by detail in the very small contact they have with poetry, somestudents accept it as part of study, others rebel. With few exceptions, students say that poetry is difficult. Since they are little accustomed to the form in which poetry is written, their minds say it is difficult almost before starting reading. The evidence on lack of poetry readers in America shows a majority opinion to this effect concerning the poetical form of literature. Also, al­ most without exception, those people who like poetry because they under­ stand it, have had good help. been fortunate to guides. They have Almost no student says he can learn it by himself. haveteacher Implicit in each of these answers is the student attitude toward guidance. He must have help in poetry reading or perish as a poetry reader. Since preliminary discussion with students, all bibliographical reading, and incidental discussion with professors, etc. point up the fact that memorization is the most hated method in teaching poetry, as is shown clearly in the answers here, a question was also included in part one. It read as follows* Choose the answer which most accurately describes your experience in regard to memorization of poetry* 1. My approach to poetry is negative because I was forced to memorize it and recite it in class without understanding it. 2. I like to memorize certain lines of poetry because they are easy to remember and give one something to think about when there is nothing else to do 3. I like to memorize such selections as Laertes advice to his son because the thought will continue to live with me all my life k . I never like to memorize poetry for any reason 5 . 1 like to memorize the poems I enjoy 89 To answer 1 there were 29 responses, 32 to answer 2, 27 to answer 3, b8 to b, and 75 to 5. Certain facts are implicit here* not necessarily be bad. (l) Memorization in itself need It has good points. of the right kind of teacher help. Again, comes up the issue With help in memorizing, by various methods, memorization might occur pleasantly. (2) Students forced to memorize words the meaning of which they do not under stand will never like memorization, poetry, the poem being memorized, or the teacher. If the student sees a reason for memorizing, and knows what he is doing, memorization is a useful method. Otherwise, it is a sure means of making students hate poetry. Since poetry was written to be read aloud, and because sound is so vital a part of any poem, specific questions on oral vs. silent reading were framed for answer in section 1. Question 20 of section 1 was stated! Wliich method of learning poetry do you think makes (or would make if you have had no experience) a poem most interesting to you? (1) Heard over the radio had 7 answers, (2) read aloud by a good reader received 139, (3) read silently to yourself, 3U, (U) read aloud to yourself, 31, (5) read aloud in a group called Choral Reading which is for poetry what a singing choir is for music, received 10 answers. Most of the students in section 2 indicated no experience with this fifth, Choral Reading, method, so it is presumed the same holds true for section 1. Statement 55 is "Good oral reading of poetry by the teacher without comment, discussion, testing, and marking" would increase the pleasure and value of it. Agreement and disagreement are rather equally divided, a few more being against the method. Diagnosis of the reason for the answer in light of other answers, and in light of personal interviews, discloses that those who are against this type of presentation are not against the oral reading but against that part of the statement which indicated to them that the teacher would not give them any help; they would simply listen and be called upon to be responsible for meanings or ideas which they could not get solely through hearing the poem. They never want to be responsible for meaning without leads. Statement 67, "poetry which is lyrical is more enjoyable when read aloud" had a very large majority agreeing with the idea. Statement 71, "sounds in poetry, like music, are pleasing to the ear and add meaning as does a crescendo of notes in a symphonic movement," had an even larger number of agreements. Evidently, students like to hear poetry well read. They do not like it monotonously read by a person with a poor voice; they do not want it read to them without further clarification; they would probably like it over the radio if it were well done but they have too little experience to know. Since only 166 of the 200 indicated no experience with listening to poetry on records, quite a large number have had some con­ tact with that method. Those with experience are divided on the subject of the worth of this method. Since the records are not always good and because it is possible that students simply listened and received no further clarification, the prejudice against records in some cases can be easily understood. Poor reading defeats its own purpose; poor se­ lections for reading would also be a prejudicial factor against liking to hear poetry on records. 91 Attitudes About Testing Methods Thirteen methods of testing were listed and answers requested accord­ ing to a double key. pattern* Key A asks about the frequency of use on this (l) the usual practice, (2) sometimes used this practice, (3) never used this practice. Key B was framed to ascertain how the use of these testing methods affected liking or disliking poetry* (l) this practice contributed to my favorable attitude toward poetry, (2) this practice had no influence on my liking or disliking poetry, (3) this practice contributed to my unfavorable attitude toward poetry, (U) feel that had this practice been used it would have helped in my understanding and liking, (5) since I never experienced this practice I have no re­ action to it. The five most frequently used methods of testing are* (l) final examination covering the term*s work, answered by 195; (2) grades largely based on term*s written work, answered by 83; (3) oral reading of poems or groups of poems with goals of charity, meaning, enjoyment, etc., answered by 7k; (li) examination on detail of content* for instance, name of hero *s horse, color of heroine*s hair, material of footnotes, answered by 51J (5) oral quizzes, answered by I18. A chart giving these percentages is shown on page 92. Charts are also given on pages 93 and 9U for the methods causing like and dislike of poetry. The largest number, 109, like oral reading of poems or group of poems with goals of clarity, meaning, enjoyment, etc. Oral quizzes were second best liked, Sh people indicating that this method caused a favorable attitude. Thirty liked the examination method PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS MOST FREQUENTLY TESTED BY THESE DESIGNATED METHODS 60 70 -1 60 50 -I iiO 30 ^ 20 10 2 3 U Designated Testing Methods TABLE III Key: 1. Final test on whole term*s work 2. Grades based on assigned written work 3. Final was oral reading h . Examined on detailed content of poem 5. Grades based on oral quizzes 93 PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS WHOSE LIKING FOR POETRY WAS INCREASED BY THE DESIGNATED TESTING METHODS 5o - R5 Ro H 35 30 25 ?0 - 15 10 - 5- 1 2 3 R 5 Designated Testing Methods TABLE IV Keys I. Grades based on oral reading final 2. Grades based on oral quizzes 3. Students allowed to choose own examination R. Examination on detailed content of poems 5. Final examination on entire term's work 9h PERCHWTAGE OF STUDENTS WHOSE DISLIKE FOR POETRY WAS INCREASED BY THE DESIGNATED METHODS OF TESTING U5. hO - 3530 25 -I 20 - 15 10 J 5 1 2 h 3 5 Designated Methods of Testing TABLE V Key: 1. 2. 3. h. 5. 6. Oral reading without comment Final examination on whole term's work Grades given on written work Oral quizzes Students grade each other Essay type tests scored by the students 95 chosen by students who write their own questions; 2$ indicated liking for examination of detail, and 25 like a final examination on the term's work. Dislike for poetry was increased for 100 by use of "no examinations or quizzes on the basis that poetry is meant only to be enjoyed; for 56 because of final examinations on term's work; for 53 because grades were largely based on term's written work; for 32 because of oral quizzes; for 2U because students graded each other; for 23 because of essay tests scored by students. The first striking fact in this summary of answers is the evidence of very few methods of testing in use. The fifth answer, no reaction because of no experience with the method of testing, varied from 23 to 181t. One hundred and eighty-four had never had a personal interview on poetry; 165 had never had a course in poetry studied only for enjoyment with no examinations; 161 had never taken an essay test scored by another student; lit8 had never been allowed to choose their own kind of exami­ nation and write their own questions; 13h had never had an open book examination, and 132 had never been allowed or requested to grade them­ selves . While the use of these methods listed in the questionnaire may not be important, as such, certain trends in poor teaching are very evident. This list of thirteen covers most of the possible testing methods; it includes most of the traditional as well as the experimental methods. The data shows that few teachers are using anything except traditional methods; fewer still are using even varied traditional methods. 96 Teachers with so little imagination and ingenuity can hardly be ex­ pected to turn out students with enough imagination to like poetry. Teachers who are bound to realize the apathy toward or dislike of poetry either find it boring or uninteresting enough to adopt a “donH-care" attitude in their teaching, or are so untrained and inexpert themselves that they merely seize upon the method used on them, or the one most used, and let the rest go untried. On the one subject requiring the most imagination, they seem to use the least in methods. The answers here also show that students are so well-drilled in the authoritarian method that they answer, to the number of 100, that studying poetry for enjoyment without examination, makes them dislike poetry more. could be made. On the surface it sounds impossible that such an answer In the light of personal interview comments, the answer seems to be explained by the fact that the student thinks he will have to be held responsible for the knowledge in the poetry; he will have to answer questions some way at some time; he is not willing to be held responsible unless somebody explains to him or gives him verbatim what he is supposed to think about the poem. Also, he is so accustomed to being forced to study in order to answer questions that he doubts his own ability to force himself to make any adequate preparation unless a day of reckoning is coming. Host students seem to be unable to compre­ hend the fact that they could get interested enough or understand poetry sufficiently to be willing to study it without coercion. It is a tragic comment that the student seems to believe that value lies only in facts to be handed back verbatim to a teacher. 97 Attitudes of Students Personally Interviewed Concerning Teaching Methods Eighteen Students Answering the Attitudes Inventory Of the nine people who like poetry, the following was discovered in regard to their attitudes toward methods of teaching* Student number 1 had poetry read to her constantly, first by her parents, then by two teachers whom she remembers as good readers. One teacher offended by her looks and dress but was forgiven because of her reading. This teacher*s method was reading aloud followed by a dis­ cussion. This discussion should follow the reading, not ruin it by being indulged in right in the middle of the idea and the beauty. student feels that difficulties should be cleared. The Another teacher using the detailed method ruined poetry for the student by analyzing, memoriza­ tion, too much discussion and too little emphasis on the beauty of the whole poem. The second student has only one remembrance of the grades when a teacher read and acted out the poems requiring students to memorize and act the same poems for the following week. The students hated this. The high school teacher read aloud mostly, following with explanations, and since it sounded "nice when he read it** even theboys enjoyed poetry. This student also likes to hear it over the radio. The third student remembers a pleasurable experience when she en­ gaged in a "project* about "Snowbound" which consisted of a booklet made by herself, with history of author, pictures, drawings, etc. It was a creative activity in which the urges engendered by the poem were worthily 98 expended. One of the high school teachers who taught her tliroughout the student*s entire iiigh school life, had an unpleasant personality but Decause she was a good reader and followed the reading oy discussion ;nade poetry good for this student. thinks tiiis helped. She had little memorization and Listening is difficult for her so she wants explan­ ation added. The next student remembers nothing in high school except memoriza­ tion which he did not like. He learned almost nothing about poetry; one fine man teacher didn't like it and therefore taught none except Julius Caesar wliich was done for regent's examinations. A post-graduate high school course in wliich he had to "dig in" to get meaning challenged him. Biographies entranced him; he feels human interest studies about authors should be made. He likes to hear good oral reading and admires Charles Laughton on TV; feels that he himself would never be a good oral reader, out that method followed by discussion is best. The next student likes poetry with vague reasons since he has had * so little. But he became interested through the biography of a poet so that method evidently is good with him. in novel form, The biography was written He likes difficult poems so he has something to get his teeth into; he likes a survey of poems which gives a wide range and adequate choice. In this fashion, comparison can be made and "you learn even by the bad ones." He has no patience with metrics and close analysis saying you don't start driving the car by taking apart the carburetor. He, too, insists that students must have help in classes contending that the student cannot make a report on the analysis of a poem he has never learned to read. 99 The next man likes poems for the rhytlan and is interested in study of that factor; he is interested in memorizing only "famous" poems; he likes the "new1* in poetry he has not heard and likes for the new to be read to him although he prefers to read the familiar poetry to himself. A teacher read to him, likening poetry to music and causing students to learn enough metrics to begin writing for themselves. Thus the music of poetry got through to this student who still likes it for that. The next student had two good teachers both of whom assigned a poem, read it orally the next day a few lines at a time, and stopped frequently to explain. Time was divided between oral reading and explanation which seems a good method to the student. Biography is important to him - he saw a picture about Joyce Kilmer and became very interested. This student likes to memorize. The next student still likes only certain kinds of poetry - humorous and light verse. He prefers to explore on his own and thinks the best assignment is student study first, teacher discussion the next day, and personal help whenever needed. His teachers taught poetry for enjoyment which this student approves as a goal. The final student in this group gives all credit to a teacher who was utterly feminine but firm; she gave them a wide choice for reading, never imposed her own ideas, and became so close to the students that they liked poetry partly through their complete respect for her ability. Student opinion was important to her but she required thorough work on their part. 100 Attitudes of Nine People who Dislike Poetry The first student cannot understand the compressed meaning of poetry. She liates compulsory memorization; she hates the teacher who punished her by locking her in a room because she didn't get her lessonf she hates a teacher who monotonously read "Beowulf" hour after hour; she hates the teacher who made her analyze every word and comma in the poem; she didn't like it that she had to find a deep thought and wasn't given time. She likes only Macbeth ana Hamlet which are "stories." The next student remembers only "The Bells" and "The Raven" neither of which were enjoyable, and the latter understandable only in parts. She wants only poetry easy to interpret or feels that the teacher must help with the meaning. The teachers who read aloud did it in such a fashion that it sounded unreal. She found no method which was good; didn't even enjoy recordings probably because lack of facial expression, etc. took away from the interpretation. The next man has no understanding or liking of poetry, remembering only three poems because they were stories . He feels that if the meaning were first written in prose it would be understood. The next student remembers only one methods that of reading aloud by teacher and student-answering of printed questions at the end of each poem. He couldn't make sense of any of it and felt the teacher should have explained. to him. He was forced to memorize that which didn’t make sense Poetry has no value to him. The next student can remember only one teacher whom he admired greatly and whose method he judged to be good although he confesses it 101 did not work on him. The teacher read aloud, and he thought it good. He believes the student must later do some silent reading if he learns it. Memory work he disapproved of at the time but now approves. He believes written work clarifies the thinking of the student. He believes in liberal student-choice. The next student generally does not like to read and poetry least of all. He has heard some reading aloud. The one teacher who made an impression assigned a poem one day, read it to them in class the next, "kinda went over it and asked questions." He took the memory work as just a part of an unpleasant job, to be got over with and forgot. The next student thoroughly dislikes poetry, a lot of which is due to memorization. He said he could understand the poetry but saw no reason for being compelled to memorize it. One older woman teacher, seemingly the only one he could remember, forced both poetry and meaning on him; he was not allowed any choice. The next young man can remember no method, either good or bad. teachers were boring and didn't make poetry "interesting". The An assignment would be made and next day the teacher would go over it in some fashion he could not remember, but no amount of study got any meaning for him. The final young man had good teachers in a large city high school; they read parts of poems aloud, asked questions, played phonograph records, and tried all methods to no avail. Attitudes of a Class Which Likes Poetry The students who like poetry have, on the whole, always had poetry read to them, have had teachers who read well, and who read often. Some 102 of them heard phonograph records as well; all of them like biography for its human interest effect; most of them like to read aloud them­ selves, enjoying the fact that they read well. analysis and technicalities were boring. Courses emphasizing They especially liked the teachers who had a broad background, led them to wide exploration through guided choice, and not only permitted but encouraged student discussion and opinion. Memorizing was usually of lines chosen by the student as being valuable and enjoyable. They like help but not too great analysis nor too much tearing apart of lines so that little is left to individual imagination. Often these students make their own anthologies because certain poems are very important to them and become increasingly so as they learn to be analytically critical. Attitudes of A Class In Interpretive Reading These are students who, on the whole, compare to the freshmen group answering the Attitudes-Inventory. They are a little older but have had little study of poetry in college; their experience in grades and high schools is about the same. Student 1 had no poetry until high school where phonograph records started her interest; otherwise there was a set method with assignment of textual material one day and question and answer the next. Student 2 also has no recollection of poetry until high school where the methods of a good teacher gave him permanent interest in poetry. Many methods were used including full explanation, starting with light verse and building on tliat enjoyment and reading aloud in an interesting and soft 103 voice which was appealing. The student has learned to read aloud and finds it very enjoyable. Student 3 has learned for himself any poetry he lias read. He blames on poor material and methods the fact that he can remember nothing he studied in school. Student 1* always had poetry around; the teacher used varied methods (he remembers only a high school instructor), acting out parts of the story, playing phonograph records, making full explanations. However, there was no choice of poetry which he feels is detrimental. Student 5 always had poetry and read anything he wanted to which gave him interest. A junior high school teacher dissected poetry, forgot beauty, and knew nothing about teaching. poems so learned. Memorization made him detest the Student o can remember only MAncient Mariner" in all of schooling; feels no poetry is sufficiently eaqplained; has come to like poetry since entering college because of oral reading of it. Teachers take too much for granted about understanding and interests of students. Student 7 has pleasant memories of animated poetry read to her in grades; enactment of the story; infection of interest from the teacher* In high school she remembers wide choice; a teacher who was a good reader; methods of oral reading and Choral Reading. Student 8 remembers being read to in childhood continuously; in grade school he re-read for himself, incited to interest by vivid methods of teaching such as acting out stories In high school,English Literature was lost because of disinterest on part of the teachers; American Literature made a unit with other things so that the living apparent in it made it enjoyable; there was infection of enjoyment from teachers. Student 9 remembers his mother reading poetry to him; hating memorizing in grade school; disliking teacher talking •'about'* poetry in high school; learning to like poetry in speech class where teacher and student read orally. Student 11 memorized a great deal but does not mind titis method, rather liking it when she likes the poem; likes wide selection she had in high school, remembering vividly a large number of authors and particular selections she memorized. Student 12 had parents who read to her; remembers only 6th grade when teacher read to pupils; made a "project" of "Evangeline"; used restricted text in high school but teacher read and explained well. Student 13 had no poetry at home; in grades, student and teacher read together, with explanations; in junior high school, teacher chose poems, forced memorization, and did not explain, which was very bad to student; no poetry in high school; memorized it and hated it in college. Student 111 was surrounded by poetry at home; in grade school had memory work; junior high did not stress; in high school teacher read; became interested in poetry by reading poems in Saturday Evening Post because that is poetry he understands. Does not like to read in front of a class. Student 15 had poetry frequently read to her at home; had her own set of books; can remember little in grade school; memorized "The Highwayman" in junior high but didn't mind because it was "fun"; in high school allowed some choice and did not mind memory work because they learned what they enjoyed. Student 16 had little poetry either at home or in school until junior high school where all memorized and recited the same tiling, the same way; poems copied from board and memorized without help or explanation. In high school selections were made entirely by teacher who did give help and 10$ explanations, but analytical method left them far from any understand­ ing and therefore bored accordingly. Student 17 remembers little poetry until seventh grade where read­ ing aloud with no discussion made her dislike itj stressed meter, rhyme, etc. while student missed meaning completely. In high school the approach was better because of an interested teacher who did the best he could in using a prescribed text and made explanations so that this girl found knowing a few poems helped her understand others on her own. Student 19 had a few "childish poems", liked Edgar A. Guest which he seems to have studied in a guidance class; in high school memorized assigned number of lines, given no choice, no explanation, no means of evaluating poetry; teacher read and forced her interpretation on student and then compelled memorization of a certain number of lines. Student 19 has unpleasant memories of compulsory memorization in grades; assignment of pagenumber with no explanation; no choice. In high school they read all the poems in the book on which they were quizzed by the teacher, and her hatred grew as she was continually asked to explain poetry nobody ever helped her to understand. She had only one pleasant experience, of John Brorfn’s Body read orally and made vivid as a story. Implications For This Study* 1. On the whole, students have a memory unfavorable to methods they have experienced. A change seems to be necessary. 2. Students want a full explanation where needed. 3. Ubiquity of poetry materials is a large factor in the liking of poetry. Students who have grown up with poetry all around them are more likely to accept and like it. 106 h . Memorization by ordinary methods is the largest single factor in making students hate poetry. 5. Oral reading, when good, is the preferred method. reading the students want explanation when it is needed. With the oral . 6 Students condemn set methods with prescribed material. They like variety, change, and a chance to choose their own poetry, and express their own opinion freely. 7. Teachers must not take too much for granted about the interests and knowledge of students. They must find out definitely where students are in their thinking and build on that, rather than doing wishful think­ ing and beginning where they think students should b e . 8. Dissection is not helpful. poetry. It is boring, and death to love of 9 . Poetry is properly taught by infection of interest. Attitudes of Experts Toward Teactiing Methods Methods of teaching poetry have not changed with the times. have changed far less than methods of teaching other subjects. They Curricula and teachers perpetrate and perpetuate a way of teaching born with the education of the leisure class, the aristocrat, and those people eventual­ ly entering college and the professions. There has as yet been found no adequate system to provide for pervasive culture in mass education. culture died and we have not developed a culture appropriate to urban society. Democracy may be excellent as a system of government; but col­ lective Judgments, workable compromises, and shared responsi­ bilities do not favour the arts. The Industrial Revolution and the rise of democracy killed the aristocratic culture of the eighteenth century, and so far our industrial democracy has failed to produce another culture with standards as high or as consistent, . . . scholastic concern does not necessarily re­ sult, in effective action. There are certain tendencies inherent in a modern urban civilization which are definitely hostile to Folk ib7 the creation of appreciation of poetry, and the practice of the schools has sometimes been quicker to honour the poets of a past generation than to fulfill the emotional needs of the children of the present.1 Some teachers have retained a vague sentimentality over the old ways} this sentimentality is augmented by aesthetic stirrings felt some­ where to the effect that that which has been beautiful will always be beautiful} some learned poetry in the old way, know no other, and are either unwilling or incapable of learning better ways. Factual materials they might cope with} inspirational education leaves them baffled. There are teachers who conscientiously believe still in the intel­ lectual discipline imposed by a detailed study of the classics. When the classics were a unique educational tool, and the method of pondering each syllable was used to gain the habit of close study, precision, clarity, and intensive knowledge, they were rightly valued. Classics still have a value today but not for the old detailed, analytical, gram­ matical, metrical discipline, and only when rightly chosen for the emotional needs of the child. Ratings of classics depend a great deal upon the classroom presentation. A great number of articles on experi­ mental classroom procedures are written but if one believes the evidence of students, few of the suggested methods are ever utilized. George S. Counts reports that, according to the methods of litera­ ture instruction in fifteen cities, the traditional analytical methods are used. This he decides upon the basis of the number of class periods •^Sussams, oj>. cit.. p. lU, 16. 108 given to one selection. His reaction is* In their formulation of the purposes of English instruction, teachers state very explicitly that their great object is to develop in their pupils an interest in reading, but many of the methods they use are hardly calculated to achieve this end.l Peterson agrees with Counts. She says of methods* The student*s reactions to a selection, whether pleasant or un­ pleasant, depend largely upon the manner in which the selection is presented by the teacher. Appreciation comes only through a pleasurable experience and in literature this is especially true, for upon this first contact depends the future reading inclinations of the students.2 Intensive V s . Extensive Reading The old, analytical method of studying favored, of course, the in­ tensive method of reading. Nearly all of the studies for twenty-five years have proved that extensive reading is as good if not better than intensive study of material in class, but all the evidence from students shows that teachers are still concentrating on intensive reading. Nancy Coryell endeavored to determine which method, extensive or intensive, was more effective for securing comprehension and appreciation. She dis­ covered that (l) the extensive group made as high scores in comprehension of required material, (2) they were as well prepared for the State Regent*s Examination, (3) scores showed equal appreciation, although the extensive reading group calls for wider appreciation in its objectives, (h) extensive group covered six times the amount of material, (5) extensive method is ^Counts, G. S., The Senior High School Curriculum, Supplementary Educational Monograph, Chicago, University of Chicago, No. 29, 1926, p. 1*3. p Peterson, 0£. cit., p. 132. 109 practical for low (mentally) groups, as it allows for more individual guidance, (6) on the basis of stenographic reports, there was greater readiness in expression and more pupil activity in the extensive group, and (7) in general, it is believed that a deeper and more satisfying experience comes with the results of extensive reading. Peterson says* The movement of extensive or free reading is regarded by mapy educators as the solution to many problems in the teaching of literature. In the first place, extensive reading would elimi­ nate the analytical methods which are so detrimental to literature. The emphasis would be placed on the wide and varied reading in order to provide rich eaqperience for the students. Greater responsibility and versatility in individ­ ual guidance are demanded of a teacher under this plan, but the returns in realizing the aims of literature are worth the added effort. Ralph R. Williams studied two hundred ninth graders in paired sections by alternating methods with the same teacher. He tested extensive and intensive reading for (l) comprehension, (2) recall, (3) improvement of comprehension and word knowledge. He used classroom recitation, anony­ mous pupil comments, and reading records as evidence, finding* (The extensive group) discovered more material to hold their interest and had a greater store of ideas, greater intensity of interest, greater freedom. . . . and the teaching Was more in accord with the objectives of education. [The extensive method received more favorable comment from students than the traditional, and many students said they had developed habits of reading for pleasure.] Extensive reading methods are more effective in achieving the aims of instruction in literature than are intensive study methods .3 •kioryell, Nancy, An Evaluation of Extensive and Intensive Teaching Literature. Teachers College Contribution to Education, No. 275>, Columbia University, 1927. 2Peterson, o£. cit.» p. 132. 3williams, Ralph R. ♦•Extensive Reading Versus Intensive Study of L i t e r a t u r e School Review. Nov. 1929, p. 678. 110 Yet there are teachers who believe in intensive reading of litera­ ture. A recent text Reading Poetry, written b y Fred B. Millett, director of The Honors College, Wesleyan University, says in the fore­ word! The purpose of this book is to train young people in the intensive reading of literature. I have spent all my adult life teaching English, but only within the last decade have I come to the con­ clusion that we, as teachers, can help young students most by training them in the technique of close reading. Most of them will learn to read rapidly without our help, although every Eng­ lish course should furnish some guidance in the acquisition of this important skill. But unless we train students to read in­ tensively, no one will, and their understanding and appreciation of literature will always be superficial. Emphasis on the in­ tensive reading of literature may help to keep primary the most appropriate and meaningful approach to literature, the aesthetic, the study of a work of art as a work of art and not as a footnote to biography, social or literary history, philosopliy or ethics. Mark Van Doren, famous poet, professor and critic, teaches by the intensive method leading to what he considers the goal of literature study - critical analysis. judged by his standards. His latest book contains ten great poems Three of them were written by Homer, Dante and Chaucer wlio are the only ones he considers wholly beyond criticism. In this book he attempts to answer for these ten poems these questions! What is a given poem about? What happens in it? too little of the world is in it, why is that? there, by what miracle has this been done? What exists in it? If If all of the world is Is tragedy or comedy at work, and what is the difference brtween those two, and what the resemblance? Are the facts of life accounted for in the unique way that poetry accounts ^Millett, Fred, Reading Poetry. Hew York, Harper & Brothers, 1950 p. ix. I ll for them, and is this poem something therefore that any man should read? Does its author know more, not less, than most men know?^" The writer of this investigation asked three sections of an oral reading class to consult Van Doren*s book for help in selecting a poem and getting meaning from it, in order to read the poem adequately to a class, transmitting meaning in as rich a fashion as possible. Not one student would admit he found any help; not one would say he liked any poem in the group. Replies of the students who made the best grades and generally comprehended meaning more readily were jotted down for future reference. One girl said the poems were not about a single thing in which she was interested; a man said the explanation made him more con­ fused than ever; others said they could not find one interesting enough to try to read to the class. Literary criticism is evidently beyond a freshman or sophomore class, or it must begin with poems within their esqjerience, which they are capable of enjoying. Literary merit is no guarantee that a poem will have value for a student. Necessity For Variety of Methods The Society for the Teachers of English in their book, Teaching Poetry. says that from the diversity of the nature of poetry springs the diversity of method necessary. In fact, they say poetry cannot be taught the teacher can only create conditions in which a poem may have its full­ est significance for the pupils reading it. Saturday Review of Literature. January U, 19li7, advertisement of The Noble Voice, Mark Van Doren, N. Y . , Henry Holt and Company, 1951, P. 6. 112 The poem is the method, and no two poems are treated alike, but there are ways of approach which have proved particularly stimu­ lating, and which may be used again with profit. The methods of treating poetry must therefore be as infinite as poetry it­ self s words, feelings, images, rhythms, and associations all contribute to what is essentially a unit--a poem. It is some­ times tempting to develop a technique of approach which hardens by habit into something stereotyped and therefore deadt to study first the logical meaning or "story", then the meaning of difficult words, followed by the apt use of adjectives and figures of speech with a short talk on rhythm by way of con­ clusion. The danger of such a technique is that it does not begin with the po^m but with itselfj and it may easily become as escape from poetry rather than an approach to its fuller appreci­ ation.^They recommend the method of concentration on the poem itself, usually choosing a well-known poem from an anthology and using with it others of a like theme less well-known and asking the students to study them in comparison. This same method is used by Marguerite Wilkinson who presents to students three poems on the subject of an old lady. One is good, one mediocre, and one bad poetry according to her judgment. But by actual study of the three poems, teaching is more efficient than through judging the good poem by itself. James Harry Smith, author of a text, The Reading Of Poetry, modifies the comparison idea, using not several poems but several choices of expression for the images in the poem being studied. The original ex­ pression of the poet is one of three similar choices given with the idea that the student compares all three anti learns to recognize the best. 1Society for the Teachers of English, Teaching Poetry. London, Oxford University Press, 1937, p. 2, 8. Wilkinson, Marguerite, hew Voices, fi. Y., The Macmillan Company, 1929, pp. 212-21U. 113 Traditional methods of teaching poetry exclude student-evolved or approved methods. Experimental teaching welcomes any approach which seems to involve the student, his interests, and his living. Eunice Helkamp is of the opinion that enlisting student criticism of teaching methods ana devices is always an exciting and valuable practice. In an eighth-grade English class the students were asked to give their frank evaluation of fourteen longer narrative poems. Their evaluation of various techniques, the worth of the poems, designation of methods which had fallen flat, and personal reactions were very helpful. A boy new to the school who had dreaded this poetry unit commented on the pleasure he got from it because of "the teacher*s discussing the poems with me and emphasizing the interesting parts instead of giving assignments, testing me, and tlien just forgetting about it."^ L. A. G. Strong asks, when a teacher is 50 blood-thirsty, ten-year old savages, to do? faced with a class of iiO or what is the poor poetry teacher These are the secrets he reveals as he found them out from his students— 1. Pick poems on subjects that will interest the pupils. 2. Stress sound and rhytlims (Vachel Lindsay will help a great deal) . 3. Don*t be afraid of noise (let them say it with all the ferocity they can manage.) h . Keep explanation and annotationto a minimum. (I have heard more than once a heartfelt cry, **0h, sir, please. don*t ex­ plain it.**) 5. Never do violence to a child*s feelings or sense of reticence. 6. Be sparing in expressing opinion. ^Helkamp, Eunice, "In Junior and Senior High Schools," Classroom Techniques in Improving Reading. Supplementary Educational Monographs, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1 9 h 9 , p. 222. Ilk 7. Put enjoyment first, second, third and fourth.^* Ezra Pound sayst 1. Stop analyzing the metre and get the feeling of poetry. 2. Sense its relationship to music. 3. Concentrate on imagery until it is sharp to you, as it was sharp to the Chinese ideographist who invented symbols for abstract ideas by combining the symbols for several concrete objects which illustrated the abstraction required.^ While students say they want to understand, ana lack of comprehen­ sion seems to be the greatest single barrier to liking poetry, there seems to be some poetry which is liked in spite of not being understood. It is a parallel to the feeling of the student who insists he likes poetry but he doesn*t know why. It is a necessary corollary to the study of anything as intangible as poetry. Matteson says of approaches to teaching poetry that his suggestions are not original but are the result of trial and error and the expenditure of nervous energy. He has gleaned them from experience, fellow teachers and study in his efforts to make poetry meaningful. Since there must be many approaches because of many kinds of poetry, he discusses six teach­ ing techniques. The first, »didactic" , he uses when the poem contains a moral or great truth, but he warns the teacher against carrying that to an extreme. Students, he says, do not like these memorable capsules any better than they like sermons. Adults are likely to feel quite pleased when they have found a great truth and tuck it away for future ■^Strong, L. A. G. The Teaching of English in Schools. London, Macmillan and C o ., L t d . ^Pound, o p . cit. 115 referencej youth will often resent it unless rightly presented and the moral of a poeir. is not alone sufficient reason for its teaching. He discusses iiis historical approach to poetry which is, according to research, seemingly the most used. He says it sometimes helps for students to see poetry as a changing and devrloping art of any nation but that if this approach is overemphasized, poetry becomes secondary to history and students dislike poetry. One way of getting boys to see that poetry is not a weird form of activity appealing to grownups and eccentrics is to read and study seme poetry njust for fun." warns that not all poetry can stand this method. He again He has found parapliras- ing fairly successful in senior but not in junior high school. He warns against It as a dangerous technique saying he uses it not more than twice a year. The sociological approach to poems such as "The Kan With The Hoe," "Anne Rutledge," etc. helps pupils increase their knowledge of people because they get such exact pictures. He warns again against overemphasis even though students are sometimes led to understand current life problems better. The final method is the analytical one where pupils are led to study the ideas set forth by the poets. This includes a study of rhyme, metre, imagery, etc. The aim is to let the student see how the mechanics contribute something to the total impression. ever, pupils quickly tire of this method. How­ They will accuse the teacher of tearing poetry to pieces and spoiling their pictures. The important thing is to vary the approach. Don*t try to build a house with one tool* If you expect to hold the interest of your pupils and if you hope to instill a love of poetry, you must chose your approach according to the characteristics of the poem, 116 your own objectives, and the knowledge and ability of the pupils in your class .-L (.italics mine) Memorizing Memorizing is easily the most unpopular and fruitless method which teachers use. It is not that it is bad in itself, nor that there can­ not oe good result from it. The trouble lies in the method of memoriz­ ing, and the selection of lines. Students hate rote memorizing of lines they neither like nor understand, and no possible good can result. If pleasant methods of memorizing are found, and there are several, and if students memorize what they like or what they find significant, great good may occur. But until teachers are willing to observe these two inescapable rules, they are causing students to hate poetry because of compulsory memorization. In Teaching Poetry (published by the Society for Teachers of English) we are told that "repetition" , wliich is the English term for memorizing, is one of the most potent causes of that dislike of poetry in school wliich makes so much gpod work by teachers of so little effect. By a quaint turn of phrase, the secondary name f o r this exercise is "learning by heart," often a most inaccurate description of a process by which, against their hearts* desire, pupils cram into themselves a collection of lines for no reason other than the need to reproduce them on the fol­ lowing day. They say that unless the student has a reason to remember the lines, they are merely one further addition to the burden of accumu­ lated fact which robs education of its significance. •^Matteson, R. Albert, "Poetry in Junior and Senior High Schools" Annual Proceedings. University of Chicago Press, 19^9. 117 If memory work seems desirable the drudgery may be taken from i t . The teacher can show the student how to avoid line-by-line repetition, and how to get at the whole. Part of the learning may be done in class where pupils can enjoy the chorus and the chanting.^ (See Choral Reading) J. F. Hosic discovered that the analytical treatment of literary selections persists to a large extent. He found in one experiment that testing and memorization of facts occupy approximately one-fourth of the time. There seems to be a considerable discrepancy between educational theory with, regard to the study and enjoyment of literature and the methods actually employed by teachers in their classrooms.^ Several writers have warned against ineffective methods of learning, particularly in memorizing. The special importance of a learning technique is most evident when we discover how inefficient students are in learning. Practically all investigators attest to the inefficiency of student learning. Even college-trained adults are not exceptions. What may be called a case of "poor memory" may be nothing more than poor methods of study.3 Kate Gordon attests to the importance of knowing the meaning of that which is memorized! We shall never have a complete account of memorizing so long as we leave out of our experiments the very factor, meaning, which is most effective in bringing about memorizing. We need to know more about the memorizing of particular instances of mean­ ingful material.** ISociety for Teachers of English, ojj. cit., p. 15. 2 Hosic, J. F. Empirical Studies in School Reading, Teachers College Contribution, Vol. llif, N. f. Columbia University, , p. 55. ^Sailer, H. Carl, A Comparative Study of Various Methods of Memo­ rizing Poetry, Ed. D. Dissertation, School of Education, N . Y. Univer­ sity, 1^36, p. h. ^Gordon, Kate, "Some Records of the Memorizing of Sonnets," Journal of Experimental Psychology. Vol. XVI, Oct., 1933, p. 10. lie Gordon quotes from a study by Keumann to the effect that the in­ creased demands of the present age require children to master a much greater body of knowledge than was deemed necessary in former generations. Keumann believes that improvements in methods of learning is one way of avoiding overburdening the pupil. If he must memorize, the instructor must be acquainted with all the known facts, foresee his students* difficulties and lessen them.^" Sussajns quotes from two of his students who replied, when they were asked to give criticism of poetry' they had studied and the methods used, by saying* 1. Poetry lessons do not appeal to m e , and I shudder at the thought of having to be present when a poetry lesson is to be taken. I do the latter because I think of verses ana verses to be learned by heart and then recited out aloud in front of any army of critics, my classmates. 2. As regards the poetry lessons, in jay opinion they are awful. I dislike especially learning poetry by heart and then saying it aloud. Even learning a poem I like bores me. I think if teachers ceased making their pupils learn poetry by heart it would become more popular among the boys. Instead I suggest that teachers should give a poetry lesson, and with the aid of books explain the poem and then answer and ask questions upon it. I am confident if this method was adopted the school poetry book would not be such an instrument of torture as it Is now.^ Oral Vs. Silent Reading Marguerite Wilkinson, a poet, expresses what seems to be the majority opinion that **all good poetry is written to be read 1Ibid., p. 12. 2Sussams, 0£. cit., p . 60. ^Wilkinson, Marguerite, o£. cit., p. 11. a l o u d ."3 1X9 Ivor Winters writing on ’’The audible reading of poetry," says* The rhythm of the poem permeates the entire poem as pervasively as blood permeates the human body; remove it and you have a corpse. It is for this reason that the audible reading of poetry is quite as important as the philosophical understanding of poetry; without audible reading the adequate audible reading, you simply do not have poetry.1 Stephen Vincent BenSt represents modern poets in this statement* For poetry is a rhythmic thing. In books, all writing, it con­ sists of words printed on a page. But these words are meant to be heard with the ear as well as read by the eye. Unless you can find and listen to the rhythm of the words of a poem, you are missing half the poem. [To learn to appreciate poetry] we must train our ear for it, as we train our ear in music to appreciate counterpart and har­ mony. We can do so best by remembering first of all that poetry is meant to be heard as well as read.2 Paul Farmer agrees with all the others* Despite widespread practice to the contrary, writers on the technique of reading poetry seem to agree completely on one point; namely, poetry should be read aloud. Indeed, long be­ fore books were printed, poetry was widely enjoyed; and its composers as well as its reading performers were sure to find welcome in the palace or in the market place. People loved to hear them and eagerly learned the new songs and stories. What strong contrast exists todayi Silently poring over the book, the high school or college reader of poetry is frequently found searching for figures of speech, identifying metres, or frantic­ ally memorizing the thirty or forty lines assigned for tomorrow's recitation. Reading poetry in silence is almost identical with a musical artist's appearing in concert and passing to the audience printed copies of the compositions instead of playing them. The two-fold duty of words in poetry - that is, the achievement of harmony in sense and sound, together with the numerous contrivances which the poet employs ^Winters, Yvor, "The audible reading of poetry," Hudson Review. Quoted in Quarterly Journal of Speech, April, 1952, p. 9 Cadv.) 23enlt, S. V. The Magic of Poetry and the Poet's Art. Chicago, Comptonls Pictured Encyclopedia, F. E. Comton & C o ., 1936, p. 27. 120 to achieve this harmony - presupposes the reading of poetry aloud. Earl Daniels says* Mo one ought to tliink of feeding a six-months-old baby with corned beef and cabbage; no one who cares for poetry ought to confuse beginners with what are the arcana, the mysteries of the craft, proper only to one who has learned already to read, and read well. The general reader doesn't need to know the name of a single verse foot, need never scan, in the world's accepted sense, a line of verse, in order to enjoy poetry as it was meant to be enjoyed.2 Coffin agrees entirely with these views* Poetry began and poetry existed for thousands of years before there was the written word. It was kept alive by lips thousands of warm lips passing it on warm to later ones. It began as a public function, a public exercise of man's nobility, It was a man's voice and the passion and calm on a man's face before it was books, before it was moods and musings or intellectual gymnastics.^ Richard Church expresses it even more strongly* It is really a most extraordinary, a most abnormal state of affairs that the matter I am discussing in this article should need to be discussed at all. To me, it is just as trite as if I were to go to a body of orchestral players to point out to them the necessity of music being performed rather than merely read from the printed score. . . . What does the poet wish for if not to make a music of consonant and vowel, a patterns of verbal shapes with length, depth and thickness. . Hirman Corson, the great teacher, lecturer and reader who wrote The Voice and Spiritual Education said* ^Farmer, Paul, "On The Reading of Poetry," English Journal. Vol. XXXII, No. 3, March, 191*3, p. ll*9. ^Daniels, Earl, The Art of Reading Poetry. N. Y . Farrar & Rinehart, 191*1, p. 31. 3coffin, Robert P. Tristram, o£. cit. p. 67. ^Church, Richard, "Spoken Poetry," in Speech of Our Times. Sansoro, Clive, London, Hinrichsen Ed., 191*8, p. 135"! 121 A poem is not. truly a poem until it is voiced by an accomp­ lished reader who has adequately assimilated it - in whom it has to some extent been born again according to his individual spiritual constitution and experience. It must give life to the letter .1 Helen Ogg»s dissertation, A Critique of the Oral and Silent Reading of Poetic Literature sums up attitudes in this way* . . . We belive it possible to say that for full aesthetic en­ joyment and appreciation, poems should be read aloud rather then silently. Since our public schools are introducing more and more of aesthetic education to supplement the assimilation . of factual material and to broaden the students general outlook on life, we believe that the oral reading of poetry should in­ creasingly supplant, or at least supplement, the silent reading which has of late been the main type of reading in our s c h o o l s . ^ Ogg further states* If, in spite of these conclusions, the fact remains that many excellent appreciators of poetry testify to their preference for silent reading, the explanation of the fact must be looked for in their rather extraordinary powers of auditory imagery and in the accidents of education. It is believed that if the same emphasis were placed upon oral reading of poetry that is now placed upon appreciation of music thought that has been called creative listening, by far the greater number of people would prefer oral to silent reading of poetry, and poetic appreciation would be much more wide-spread than it is at p r e s e n t .3 Choral Reading Choral Reading is group interpretive reading. what a singing choir is for music. It is for words This method is as old as the Greek ^Corson, Hiram, The Voice and Spiritual Education, N. Y. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1911*, p. 111. ^Ogg, Helen Loree, A Critique of The Oral and Silent Reading of Poetic Td terature t Ph. D. Dissertation, University of Southern California, June, X93$» P. 177. 3rpid.. p. 139. 122 chorus, was revived successfully in 1922 by Marjorie Chilian, in England, where there were many verse-speaking choirs, and spread rapidly in many countries. Its use in America has been sporadic seemingly due to the fact that it is either very successful or very unsuccessful according to the skill and knowledge of the teacher using it. Teachers in the grades have used it very widely at times but lately there have been few evi­ dences of its employment as a method of teaching. The scarce employment of such a method is evidence of lack of ability, knowledge and skill on the part of the teacher since all arti­ cles, books, etc. written on the subject point to highly successful attainment of goals of understanding and liking poetry through use of Choral Heading or Verse-Speaking, There are many values* (l) it is a highly democratic form of teaching since the group must necessarily work together, (2) it is an effective method of engendering appreciation since the use of many voices gives requisite variety, (3) the consultations between teacher and pupils cause more vivid comprehension of essential meaning, (U) it relieves the individual of any possible embarrassment since he is part of a group, and ($) it is a painless and efficient method of memorizing. Sussams discusses the values of Choral Heading thus* It is now much more common for recitation to be a creative experience for the normal child. Sunk in the anonymity of the semi-chorus or chorus he can let his feelings go, sensing the disciplined utterance of the group as a whole yet contributing his individual voice to the total orchestral effect. Further, this group recitation - so different from the mass-mouthing of verse which results in little more than an unmusical sing-song is a powerful aid to appreciation. 123 A sympathetic recognition of one anotherfs enjoyment by the individuals making up a group enhances the quality of the ex­ perience for each individual, even though no comment is offered afterwards and no request for a special effort is made before hand. Indeed the experience is probably all the more profound for being accepted without the fuss of teachery flourishes and fanfares. Song and dance are group activities; ballad poetry through its use of simple refrains recognizes the importance of identifying the tale and the teller with the group. Choral speaking performs a similar function for the young primitives of today. It is a disciplined expression of the emotions through group activity; well done it can be aesthetically as well as emotionally satisfying.^Mr. Matteson says choral reading is more than a technique* I find it one of the most effective ways of making poetry live. The more senses we lend to any experience we have, the more vivid and rich it becomes. This is true with poetry. When we lend it eye, ear, and voice, we make it yield a fullness of reality that is rare and unforgettable. I have had pupils say, "It gives me a feeling of happiness inside that I have never had before." Choral speaking gives the retiring child who would never dare speak alone an opportunity for participation In a group, and it provides an opportunity for self-expression with­ out self consciousness.2 Not all poems lend themselves to the choral reading method. not a solution for all teaching problems. It is But it is one very effective method, it can be learned by any teacher who has ability to teach poetry, and it should be employed whenever suitable. The neglect of any suit­ able method is a reflection on the imagination and ingenuity of the teacher. "^Sussams, 0£. cit., pp. 109, 139. ^Matteson, op. cit., p. 96. 12U SUMMARY Thera is decided agreement among all the sources quoted as to the proper methods of teaching poetry, and the methods which should be avoided if the goal of poetry appreciation is to be reached. 1. There must be a variety of methods. The teacher who does not provide variety is asking his pupils to drink from stagnant pools when they should be drinking from swiftly flowing streams. 2 . Methods will depend on goals. Modern educational goals include aid for problems or interests, search for values, ways of checking comprehension, and checks for validity of conclusions. students to engage in proper behavior and attitudes. These enable If a teacher does not believe in these goals his methods are likely to reflect other goals or lack of apy. 3. There must be a change in methods if students are to like poetry. Overwhelming evidence points to the fact that students generally do not like poetry; they do not like the methods used, and they associate the methods with the poetry. Since all the evidence points up the fact that we have taught poetry the same way at least since 1900, it seems axiomatic that change is desirable. Change is unavoidable unless we desire to perpetuate the present general dislike and apathy. It would seem almost impossible to make things worse; at least experiment is called for. ii, A poor teacher can ruin any method, and a good teacher can en­ hance any method. Methods are not important in themselves alone. The right kind of teacher personality can make almost any method enjoyable, 125 out such a personality must almost necessarily include calling for creativity in approach to reading poetry. 5. The oral reading method is very important. cludes oral reading but not always imagination The usual methodin­ good oral reading. The teachermust be a good reader or provide examples of good reading through records, or some such fashion, if the student is ever to appreciate poetry properly. Poetry was written to be heard and will never be really liked until it is really heard, o. Memorization should either be avoided or made pleasant. This almost universal method of teaching has probably caused more dislike of poetry than all the other methods put together. memorization in itself is bad because it is not. This is not true because It is called a bad method because students are forced to bolt great lumps of undigested mental food, regurgitate it, and have a memory of sickness forever attach ed to learning poetry. Learning painlessly in groups, expert help from the teacher, understanding before memorization, all are vital and necessary aids if memorization is to do anything but harm. 7. Students cannot learn poetry without guidance. Evidence points to the inevitable conclusion that poetry is difficult; that for most people it is a foreign language; that there is a mind-set against it from the beginning. Therefore, there must be better teaching of poetry than in any other subject if the teaching is to be successful. Students, almost without exception, claim that the main reason they dislike poetry is because nobody taught them how to understand it. While some poetry is enjoyed without complete understanding, most of it must appeal to the mind of the student. When it has no appeal he cannot like it. 126 6. The best method seems to include the followings (1) Popular study of the author with human interest facts orient­ ing the student to the writer. (2) Assignment for reading one day followed by oral reading of some or all of the poem accompanied by helpful discussion. The reading must be good and the discussion cover only those points likely to be difficult. Some poems will require more discussion, some less. (3) Students want help in getting meaning but not so much detailed help as to make the method odious and boring, Nearly all students with enough imagination to learn poetry want to be left to realize beauty and meaning for themselves . CU) Class discussion should be a free expression of the student*s mind, for good or ill. (5) The whole thing must be kept alive and moving; static methods and not the age of the teacher is the bane of a student*s life. (6) Make memory incidental, occurring through mental compulsion or curiosity on part of the individual and of favorite lines only, or of lines completely understood before the process of memorization starts. 9. Use of traditional methods without regard to reading readiness of student is inevitably death to poetry. 10. Intensive reading of some poetry in class; extensive reading outside from many sources provided for easy access; and study of the poem itself seems to lead toward the goal of student enjoyment of poetry. CHAPTER V CHAPTER V DATA ON ATTITUDES CONCERNING TEACHERS OF POETRY In Chapter IV attitudes on the subject of poetry teaching and test­ ing methods were annotated and discussed with the goal in mind of arriving at principles of teaching which might be important for teachers of a beginning college class in poetry. Chapter V deals with attitudes about teachers of poetry. It will follow the pattern of Chapters III and IV in summarizing the attitudes of students and experts as expressed in the Attitudes-Inventory,in person­ al interviews, and subjective and objective studies. The final step is a summary of the conclusions reached on the subject of what a poetry teacher should and should not b e . Attitudes About Poetry Teachers From Poetry Attitudes Inventory* Personality traits and characteristics of poetry teachers as listed by experts, expressed by students in preliminary tests, and mentioned in essays on poetry written by students, were compiled and listed in forty statements. These were designed to cover every important aspect of a teacher*s personality and equipment for teaching. Students were asked in the Attitudes-Inventory to state their reactions to these forty statements by use of a double key, Key A simply indicating whether the teacher had that trait or characteristic, and Key B showing whether 128 possession or lack of the characteristic affected the student's like or dislike of the poetry and to what extent. Space was allowed for answer about two teachers but so few indicated their attitudes toward a second teacher, results were used for the first teacher only. Two sets of tables which are shown in charts on pages 129 and 130 show percentages of students affected in their like or dislike of poetry because a teacher possessed or did not possess certain personality traits or characteristics. Those who were affected in their liking for poetry listed the following as top favorable characteristics in a teacher. 1. Conveyed to the class meaning and feeling when reading a poem aloud 2. Had a pleasant voice 3. Showed evidence of wide knowledge of the subject matter h . Painted word pictures vividly 5. Was patient and sympathetic with student difficulties 6. Held attention of class through a sense of sharing the meaning and feeling 7. Could portray characters accurately 8. Was usually active in presenting material to class* seemed alive, moved a great deal, was animated 9. Had a colorful personality 10. Understood poetry in its proper relationship to all school work Those who were moved to dislike for poetry by characteristics and personality traits of their teachers, indicated that the following most contributed to that feeling* 1. Demanded perfection of memorized performance rather than enjoyment and appreciation 2. Mannerisms detracted from presentation of material 3. Seemed indifferent to class choice of material li. Read all poems in same manner* monotonous delivery $. Expected students to mimic teacher's manner of reading poem 129 PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS WHOSE LIKING FOR POETRY WAS INCREASED BECAUSE OF THESE TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS 50. hS. UQ— 3;>302 - 20- 1 2 3 U 5 6 7 8 Teacher Characteristics TABLE VI Key* 1. Good oral expression of poems and connotation 2 . Pleasant voice 3. Knowledge of subject matter I*. Painted vivid word pictures 5. Patient and sympathetic 6. Shared sense and feeling of poem with students 7. Portrayed poems characters vividly 8. Active and animated presentation 9. A colorful personality 10. Awareness of poetry*s relation to other school work. 10 PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS WHOSE DISLIKE FOR POETRY WAS INCREASED BECAUSE OF TH&SE TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS 55- 50 , Lo. 3530 - 2520-) 15- io. 5* 1 2 3 ' U 5 6 7 Teacher Characteristics TABLE VII Key* 1. 2. 3. L. Read poems monotonously Demanding memorization rather than allowing enjoyment Required students copy teacher's manner Adhered to textual presentation due to lack of knowledge of subject matter. 5. Possessed distracting mannerisms 6. Authoritarian in selecting reading 7. Failed to understand students' lack of knowledge. 131 6. Failed to understand that students are not as far advanced in ability to understand and enjoy poetry as teacher is 7. Lack of confidence caused close adherence to the text 8. Had a quick temper Almost all teachers read aloud and most of them had pleasant voices according to the opinions of their students. Yet the fourth reason for dislike of poetry ^s the monotonous reading of poetry. Therefore, it can be safely saia that teachers of poetry need to have training in Oral Interpretation. Facial expression seems to have been a fairly neutral factor, or it may be that students are unaccustomed to analyzing facial expression as part of meaning being projected to an audience. They objected to mannerisms which might well have arisen from nervousness or a feeling of inadequacy and could be eliminated with proper training. Those factors which they did like, vivid word pictures, vividness of feeling and meaning, character portrayal and aliveness in presentation are all definite goals in oral interpretation and ought to be required as part of the training of all teachers of literature who will eventually find themselves teaching poetry. There were four times as many women teachers as men. By far the greatest majority said this fact made no difference. Those factors in which the students are interested are an interesting personality, vivid and alive, a sympathetic person understanding their problems as individuals and their difficulties with the study of poetry, a person who considers their opinions and choices important, somebody who knows what he is doing and demands good work from tiiem without being unreasonable in his de­ mands . 132 The general trend in their attitudes is that, with few outstanding exceptions, they had teachers so colorless, so lacking in any particular aoility and knowledge, so geared to the time-honored selections and methods, that they do not remember the teacher at all. Time after time students made the comments that they simply do not remember any teachers it is "too long ago,” One would presume that a fresliman could remember on e o r two years ago if a teacher were worth remembering, or if he had ability to give poetry any value whatever. It seems that teachers wed to tradition and without proper evaluation of modern pedagogical methods are discarded along with the poetry wliich they perpetrated. From Personal Interviews With Eighteen Students Answering Inventory* The nine people answering question 12 of the inventory saying that they like poetry very much disclosed the following about their teachers* The first student remembers two teachers* one too old and narrow in thought for young people and too plain of dress, but forgiven for all of it because she could read poetry wellj the second wlovely,w welldressed, popular, helping with extra curricular activities, old in years but young in spirit. The second student remembers two teachers* one a younger woman who recited and acted poetry and made the students do like­ wise . They disliked her. the boys liked poetry. The second was a man who read so well even The next student had. the same English teacher through three years of a small high school. The woman had such peculiar mannerisms, such a poor teaching personality that she alienated all the boys and was eventually asked to leave. This woman student said she did not however object to the teacher and liked to hear her read. The next 133 stuQsnt can remember no good teacher and no interest in poetry until a post-graduate course after high school. In his sophomore year he had as teacher a “swell guy" and “a regular fellow** who didn't like poetry and therefore didn't teach it except the little they had to have for an examination. The woman who finally woke him up to poetry in this fifth year of high school was **a honey"j she "was so wrapped up in poetry her­ self that you couldn't keep from liking it. The next student can remember only one teacher and that was a man who coached a play, wtiich evidently must have been in poetry form, and was able to help the boy get at meaning. Otherwise his interest in poetry has been caused by reading a novel depicting the life of one poet, and hearing one lecture. Teachers had no influence on him. The next student can remember only one teacher, a Catholic father who read well and had the students begin writing poetry. By helping them write it, he taught the fundamentals of poetry leading to enjoyment. members two teachers* The next student re­ the first, a young, friendly and sympathetic man whom students liked very much and who helped them with baseball, etc. However, he knew his poetry, required them to be on their toes in class, and if they were not, cut them down as fairly as he called signals in football games. They liked that. He liked the other teacher who was a woman but gave no details as to her personality. The next student, a man, remembers three teachers in grade school all of whom he considered poor. Students felt that poetry was forced on them; the teachers had no feeling for it and were merely performing their teaching assignment. They "just gave a stiff assignment and didn't 13k bother ." They were neither sympathetic nor accommodating and he feels they probably didn't understand the material themselves. school work he had one teacher entirely opposite. In his high Because of difficulty he consulted the teacher whom he came to know so well that he volunteered to check papers, etc. for the man's good will. All M s high school teachers, he felt, were outstanding, teaching poetry for enjoyment, try­ ing to interest the students and having such pleasing personalities that the students enjoyed them in class. The ninth student in this group learned nothing about poetry in school until his senior year in high school. A small, feminine woman with an iron will which rarely showed taught students by her great love of poetry. She led students through love of her to find for themselves understanding in poetry. Writing an assignment, made by tliis teacher, "I Am A Part of All I Have Ever Known" affected him greatly both because of his own thinking in regard to his life and because he was close enough to her that he helped grade the papers. He thus realized the confidence of students in her sympathy and understanding. He insisted that they would and did tell her anything and everything. He found that made her a "wonderful in­ structor ." Nine People Who Dislike Poetry The first student claims she never had a good teacher of poetry. In the grades a terror, a "battle-axe, and a man-hater" locked her in a room one lunch hour for some infringement. totally without help and understanding. student said that did not matter* She made them memorize, This was an older woman but the "she was just a woman who had no 135 business in school with young children; she starts you off all wrong; she loved it, knew a lot about it, but didn't have the faintest idea how to teach young children.1* In high school she had a teacher whom she supposed react well but she wouldn't know, having no experience. But the teacher demanded delving deep into the thought, covering material so fast, and giving so little help that the student couldn't find out what it was all about. The instructors of the second student made the poems seem unreal to her; they seemed to read something false into the inter­ pretation. She remembers one lecturer who visited the high school read­ ing ids own and other poems. only enjoyment of poetry. She does not know who it was but it was her Her ideal teacher, she said, could be either man or woman, young or old, but would be well dressed, very sympathetic ana cooperative. Any person who "is cranky tears down what the students say, and does not pay attention to the students," is a bad teacher. She wants a teacher who teaches poetry for the enjoyment of the student. The next student does not remember teachers at all, saying they must have been bad because he never learned to read. He does allright in college because "they threw him in to sink or swim" and he reacted to the competition and challenge of this method. The next man remembers four teachers in high school who all seemed alike to him, reading a poem and asking questions about it. hothing they did appealed to him. next man can remember only one poetry teacher. The He liked the fact that he was a man and was "human, got along well with students, helped with extra-curricular activities, was smart, knew his material, seemed to know everything, the one man who seemed brilliant." The teacher read aloud, 136 allowed choice, and tried to create a mood of enjoyment but failed on this one student. Another man remembers only one poetry teacher, a woman, who read poetry aloud and he liked that because he could understand it by that method. The teacher "kinda went over it ana asked questions” after she read the poem but this is all he can remember about it, except the classical "stuff” is hard to understand and he wants none of it. The next student can remember only one teacher whom he seems to nave had early in high school about whom he says "she was about sixty, and looked ancient, was very bad, and should have retired much earlier," Nobody liked her because she taught poetry that she liked and tried to make students like it because she did. The next young man remembers little of poetry until high school where "all the teachers made it boring." When unable to define what he meant when he insisted poetry teachers were not interesting, he finally said that history teachers were "more lively-like," "they taught like they enjoyed teaching it." Finally, he said of one sophomore teacher who was "a lot of fun in class," that it was not that she made the work easier but more interesting, "she didn*t give a lot of tests," "she didn*t force it on you," "she took into account the fact that we didn*t like it and let us argue." opinion seemed very important to him. Being able to express his true The last student in this group went to a big city high school, said he had good teachers, and they taught well but it didn’t help. He described a good teacher as one "who can communi­ cate and hold attention," "he would solve our problems" (meaning that he was sympathetic, and he would help students). 137 Attitudes Toward Poetry Teachers As Expressed by A Class Liking Poetry The first girl remembers two teachers unfavorably, the first requir­ ing rote memory of Shakespeare without providing any understanding of it, the second teaching "iambic pentameter" instead of poetry. The second girl also had poor teachers, one in eighth grade requiring rote memoriza­ tion, one in junior high who "had a distorted view of life and wanted her poetry hard and bitter." In high school an intelligent but unemotional woman cancelled the good of her able presentation by being "tall, bony, skinny, angular and totally unemotional." The fact that she was a widow with two small boys to support may have affected her personality. The third girl remembers a "marvelous" teacher who when she coulrinH change a text, made assignments in the library. She read well and brought to them by this method any poem she felt they might not find or would be un­ usually interested in. She made the author interesting, let them read poems they enjoyed even if it were "Casey At The Bat," and played phono­ graph records. Always the students were allowed to express their opinions. The fourth girl had a remarkable poetry world evidently. She re­ members nothing definitely about the grades but had four courses in Literature in high school from the same teacher, who must have been a rare person. She was intelligent and able and led them through a great amount of material; she always made an author interesting and oriented the class in his world; she was personable and interesting; she was so sympathetic with student viewpoints that this student says all her former students always look her up when they go back home. The fifth girl also went to a large, good high school, but cannot remember any of her teachers 138 and learned almost no poetry. work. She can remember only compulsory memory The next student had her work in a fine private school where she had individual help from well-trained teachers. She particularly liked to talk about poems in private sessions with her instructors. The only teacher the next girl can remember taught her in Junior high school. She was a gawky, unprepossessing, tall and awkward person who could not influence any one except to riot but when she started to read poetry the class never breathed. This student can remember vividly the im­ pression, the great difference in the personality of the woman when she began to read. She made poetry a living experience for the students so that they all liked it and forgot any shortcomings she h a d . A man student had little poetry until college and can remember no teachers until then. He learned oral reading of poetry* from a teacher who could read, well and that started his interest. The next man can remember only one teacher before college . He had as teacher when he was a sophomore a nun whom he remembers as vivacious, witty and quite young. She was "good fun"; taught the students square dancing; helped on the school paper, was most sympathetic. She was very able and her love of poetry so great that they could love poetry, too, through in­ fection from her. In college he became even more interested through the oral reading method. The next man remembers little poetry in schools; in the grades memorization made him dislike poetry then; in the ninth grade memorizing Lady of the Lake which he still hates as a result; in the tenth grade a teacher who was better because she made poetry' "fun" and let the students express their opinions. Then he got into a speech class and while he seems not to remember the teacher, that class provided the 13V method of enjoyment that he still has. The final student of this group had a third grade teacher who was "terrific." She read to them for half an hour every afternoon, stories or poetry or anything she thought they would like. She gave him such a wide knowledge of poetry that he has liked it since. A fifth grade teacher is the author of a famous children*s story which she read to them as she was writing it. She also had a child’s version of Shakespeare and would take the children to her home where they put on plays using these stories. He has no memory of poetry in high school but a minister reading poetry affected tiim greatly. He believed in the oral reading method because when you hear a poem well read it "gives you a sense of rightness." Attitudes Toward Teachers As Expressed by a Class in Oral Interpretation One man had a good teacher who gave him interest in poetry. She was from the South, had a soft, gentle voice and a manner which was con­ ducive to learning. She read aloud well; used varying methods, started with light verse and built up their interest before attempting more difficult poetry. Another doesn’t like poetry because of poor teaching methods but is not specific. varied methods. Another teacher interested students with The next student was very scornful of a teacher in junior high who had charm but no ability at teaching poetry* she picked out and assigned, she dissected it to see what made it tick, she made them memorize, and did not show a wide knowledge of poetry. Another man said Ixis teachers were "all right" but he could never be interested until college. He says teachers take too much for granted as to the understanding, 1U0 age, and interests of students who are consequently indifferent to poetry which doesn*t live for them. A girl remembers a teacher in grade school who read "vivid11 poems to them; they enacted them as plays; the teacher infected the children with her love of poetry. In liigh school a man was a good reader and net only read to them but taught them by the Choral Reading method wliich made them like poetry. The next student seems to remember methods rather than the teachers who used them, liking acting of the poems in the grades, and a "unit" experience of poetry tied up with history, etc. in high school. "caused him trouble." method was memorizing. The next student, a man, had a teacher who He disliked her. She allowed no choice; the In high school the teacher talkeo about poetry, did not let them stuoy poems. who made her like poetry. The next girl simply remembers a teacher Another girl remembers a teacher who read well. The next girl liked poetry in the grades because the teacher and students read it together with full explanation. Several students remember methods, not teachers; one girl said her instructor was so interested in poetry that the students became interested. The next man judged a teacher bad who forced her interpretation on the student and required memory work. The same thing is true of the last girl reporting. Attitudes on Teachers as Expressed by Experts Rating scales for good teachers are numerous. There have been mar$r usea for judgment of the good instructor. general ideas. Usually they include the same A rating scale for students to judge instructors used at Micliigan State College for some years included fourteen points and. liil asked for general comments from the students. are: Those fourteen points (1) objectives clarified by instructor, (2) organization of course, (3) knowledge of subject, (^) range of interests and culture, (5) pre­ sentation of subject matter, (o) assignments, (7) ability to arouse interest, (6) ability to stimulate thinking and independent work, (9) ex­ aminations and grading, (10) willingness to help, (ll) recognition of his own limitations, (12) speech and enunciation, (13 ) mannerisms, (lii) gener­ al estimate - superior, average or poor. Another evaluation sheet stated only seven points leaving spaces for favoraole and unfavorable comments. The seven are* (l) were important objectives met, (2) does instructors presentation of subject matter enhance learning, (3) is instructor's speech effective, (U) how well does the instructor work with students, (5) does the instructor stimulate independent thinking, (6) do grading procedures give valid results, (7) how dees instructor rank with others you have had? In order to encourage good teaching, the most outstanding teacher of Michigan State College is selected each year and given not only an accolade but a money award. The school year 1951-52 was the first year for this practice. A.n all-college committee prepared an evaluation in­ strument which was given to each faculty person in the college who voted according to this evaluation for the person in his department most fitting the described characteristics . Each department presented its candidate and then an all-college group chose from these. The evaluation sheet was entitled "Characteristics of a Good Teacher" and was as follows* I. One who has enthusiasm for his course and teaching. A. One who transmits his enthusiasms for his subject to his students. B. One who inspires his students by his own enthusiasms for his course and for teaching to more than a superficial interest in the subject. II. One who lias a thorough knowledge of the subject he teaches. A. One who is well acquainted with the literature of his field. B. One whose knowledge of the subject goes far beyond the text and the course outline. III. One who is sensitive to the quality of student work and who maintains a high standard. A . One whose examinations require analytical tliinking instead of pure memory and whose grades are discriminating but who is fair in both. B . One who holds his own work to high standards and who stimulates students to their own highest standards. IV. One who has skill in applying instructional techniques. A. One who presents his material fluently and coherently, and is not unreasonable in his demands. B. One who makes effective use of classroom time. V. One who stimulates his students intellectually. A. One who arouses the intellectual curiosity of his students. B. One whose teacMng opens vistas and enlarges the student*s perspective. VI. One who demonstrates in his teaching the relationship between teaching and research. A. One the B . One new who understands the values of research and demonstrates relation of f’esearch to the continued progress of mankind. whose teaching is constantly refreshed by the flow of ideas drawn from literature in his field. VII. One who is sincerely interested in his students and their problems. A. One who is regularly available for student conferences . B. One who is interested in the intellectual achievements of liis students. VIII. One who is mature in M s personal and professional life. Ih 3 A. One who has ’’put away childish things.” B . One who is respected by students and colleagues alike maturity of judgment. IX. for One who demonstrates in his daily teaching the relationship be­ tween what he is teaching and the democratic society in which both teacher and student operate . A. One who is aware of the great values of personal,spiritual and intellectual liberty of a democratic society. S. One who strives to integrate his subject insofar as possible with the principles of a democratic way of life. A well-known rating scale was constructed by H. H. Remmers and D . h . Elliott. It is known as the Purdue Rating Scale for Instructors and is published by Purdue University. It contains twenty-six items, ten of which refer specifically to the teacher, and the others to a list of factors which the scale says is often beyond the control of the teacher. These items are* (l) interest in subject, (2) sympathetic attitude toward students, (3) fairness in grading, (U) liberal and progressive attitude, (5) presentation of subject matter, (6) sense of proportion and humor, (7) self-reliance and confidence, (8) personal peculiarities, (9) personal appearance, (10) stimulating intellectual curiosity, (11) suitability of method or methods by which subject matter of the course is presented (recitation, lecture, laboratory, etc.), (12) suit­ ability of the size of the class (consider the subject matter and type of class - lecture, lab., etc.), (1 3 ) "the degree to which the objectives of the course were clarified and discussed, (111) the agreement between the announced objectives of the course and what was actually taught, (1 5 ) suitability of the reference materials available for the course, (16) suitability of laboratory facilities available for the course, 11*1* (17) suitability of the assigned textbook, (18) the use made of tests as aids to learning, (19) amount of freedom allowed students in the selection of the materials to be studied (considering the subject matter) (20) how the rourse is fulfilling your needs (consider your ultimate as well as your immediate goals), (21) range of ability in class (are there too many extremely dull or extremely bright students), (22) suitability of the amount and type of assigned outside work, (23) the weight given to tests in determining the final grade for the course, (2i*) coordination of the tests with the major objectives of the course, (25) frequency of tests, (26) the overall rating of the instructor. In an attempt to determine the characteristics of an effective teacher, the reactions of 10,000 high school seniors were tabulated, with the following most often noted* Helpful with school work (1950), cheerful, good natured, sense of humor (11*29), human, friendly, as one of you (1021*), interested, understanding of students, (937), makes work interesting, creates desire for work (805).^ A study of attitudes of 221* high school students elicited this list* clearness of explanation, tolerance of other*s opinions, sincerity, impartiality, interest in pupils, knowledge of subject, and common sense. 2 A radio program on a nation-wide basis, repeated three years in succession, (191*6-1*8) encouraged students from grades one through twelve to write letters on "The teacher who has helped me m o s t A n a l y s i s of ^Hart, F. W .. Teachers and Teachingt N. Y. Macmillan and Co., 1936 p. 131. 2Englehart, Max D. and Tucker, L. K. "Traits Related to Good and Poor Teaching," School Review, January, 1936, p. 3 1 . 1)6 more than 1U ,000 letters the first year, twice as many the second, and spot checking the third showed these as higlily rated characteristics* (.1) cooperative, democratic attitude, (2) kindliness and consideration of the individual, (3) patience, (8) wide interests, (5) pleasing personal appearance and manner, (6) fairness and impartiality (7) sense of humor (8) good disposition and consistent behavior, (9) interest in pupil problems, (10) unusual proficiency in teaching a subject.^ Since a poetry teacher will necessarily be judged by his speech characteristics, two sources are quoted on this factor. Albert B. Becker made a study of "The Speech Characteristics of Superior and Inferior high School Teachers as Revealed by Student Reaction." He found that: A teacher who is rated high in teaching ability by students will usually be rated high in general speech proficiency, even though the teachers may have a few disturbing traits. The characteris­ tic assets of the superior teacher will more often be found among the items of "intelligence," "language," "explanations (organization)," "Audibility," "Likeableness," and "Poise," than among the other items. The more mechanical aspects of speech (use of voice and body) seem to be less significant in the superior teacher than are the creative aspects (thought process, language and personality traits.)^ A controlled experiment at Ball State Teachers College in Indiana, on the relationship between speech proficiency and effectiveness of teaching, was made by dividing senior students, who were preparing to teach, into two groups. other was not. One group was given speech training and the Both groups were judged on effectiveness of teaching at ■Vitty, P. "Some Characteristics of Effective Teachers," Educational Administration and Supervision, Vol. 36, 1950, p. 110. ^Becker, Albert B., "The Speech Characteristics of Superior and Inferior High School Teachers as Revealed by Student Reaction," unpub­ lished Doctor*s dissertation, Korthwestern University, August, 19U9. P. 117. 1J;6 the beginning and at the end of their practice teaching period during which the speech training was given to the one group. The study found: All methods that were used for analysis of data indicated definite and often significant relationships between change in speech proficiency and change in student teaching com­ petency . There is a closer relationship between speech and student teacliing proficiency than there is between student teaching ana intelligence, grades in academic majors, grades in edu­ cation courses, and choice of teaching materials. There is a closer relationship between change in audible speech characteristics and change in student teaching than between change in visible.speech characteristics and change in student teaching.1 Clarence Simon in discussing "Speech Training for the English Teacher" says "literature is experience: past, held in a pleasing medium. for the student. the best experience of the This experience should be made to live Hence the student should be encouraged to use all possible sense channels in his re-experiencing of the content of litera­ ture . Therefore, says Simon, the English teacher needs sufficient speech training to make overt the knowledge and appreciation of literature which he has as a covert possession. If the teacher has gained an understand­ ing of literature and an appreciation of it, he must project that tinderstanding and appreciation or fail to teach. training. Hence the need for speech He mentions the necessity for voice training as voices are ^Huckleberry, A. W., "The Relationship between Change in Speech Proficiency and Change in Student Teaching Proficiency," Speech Mono­ graphs , November, 1950, p. 386. 1U 7 naturally likely to be poor, as they become harsh with the strain and stress of teaching, and as they become didactic because of teacher habits. To have expressiveness of voice enough to read literature well there must not only be good voice quality but the teacher needs training in emotional expressiveness. College and graduate study inhibit vigorous expression of any kind; teachers tend to be over-intellectual and therefore to present literature in a dull, cold and decidedly un­ interesting manner. This lack of emotional expression on the part of the teacher handicaps the student's appreciation of the true content of literature as living experience The importance of the teacher in presenting literature can hardly be over-estimated, Nearly all literature by nature of its emotional quality and vocabulary is beyond the immature student. The teacher is the channel between the living of the poem and the life of the student. Without that channel, never the twain shall meet. Preceding chapters on material and methods have shown discouraging facts. Teachers are the only people who can change the equation; the right kind of teacher is the only person to solve the problem in the schools; the personal element in presenting literature is so vital that it deserves discussion in ary study of poetry. Between the reader and the poet stands the teacher; for most people go to school, and it is there that most of them read poetry for the first time. It is hardly surprising, there­ fore, to find many people who associate their indifference towards poetry with the dislike they felt towards the poetry ■^Simon, Clarence, "Speech Training for the English Teacher, "English Journal. Vol. XXX No. 2 Part II, Feb., 19lil. li* 8 lesson at school; and although this opinion may do injustice to teachers, they cannot be freed from all responsibility, inasmuch as to them is entrusted the early introduction of poetry to the developing personality. It is easy to over­ simplify the teacher*s task, and to imagine that all that is needed is a happy and attractive approach to something which is essentially joyous and simple and elemental. Poetry is not simple, not even those messages which live in the imagi­ nation by virtue of their simplicity alone. It is the most liiglily charged form of expression of which language is cap­ able , and one of the blessings to an age of uniformity is that it eludes definition Allan Abbott agrees with the idea of the vital importance of the teacher * In real literature teaching, the vital thing is often not the center of the lesson but the periphery; and how far that may extend will depend on the radius of the teacher*s own m i n d .2 Essie Chamberlain, as far back as 1921, made a study of classics to discover their popularity out found that so many factors entered into students* opinions that making conclusions was difficult. Her report showed that a classic may be liked in one room and disliked in another, showing that the teacher factor was a more vital one than the material itself .3 That teachers are often not the vital link between the poem and student that they ought to be is strongly pointed out by students and experts. R. Albert Matteson writing on "Poetry in Junior and Senior High Schools" talks about the sins that English teachers commit, sins 1Society for Teachers of English, ££. cit., p. 1. 2Abbott, Allan,"What The English Teacher Should Know," English Journal (College Edition), April 1928, p. 320. 3chamberlain, Essie, "Literary Attitudes and Reactions of Boys and Girls," Illinois Association of Teachers of English, Bulletin 13, January 1, 1921. 1U9 that will kill pupil*s love for this finest of all literature. He says the first sin is indifference. "The teacher committing this sin looks upon poetry as a medium for giving marks to his students. He gives a mark for writing a sonnet, for making a collection of favorite poems, for paraphrasing Wordsworth* s *Intimations of Immortality," or for a parody on Chaucer*s "Prologue,'*1 The second sin, says Matteson, is suspicion of emotion. Teachers stifle pupils* love for poetry because they do not let them experience deep feeling and powerful expression of it. "I sometimes wonder if it is because they (the teachers) have had to curb their own (emotions) for so many years that they believe if one of their charges has an emotion he is tliree-quarters of the way down the primrose path to the everlasting bonfire .'* Dislike is the thiru sin: certain types, certain authors. "Many times a teacher dislikes an author*s poems because the poet has lived an uproarious life. These little dislikes color the teaching, and pupils are quick to adopt an older person's point of view." effervescence or gushing. Then there is "The teacher goes into a sort of ecstatic trance, utters ridiculous *oh's* and *ah*s' and exclaims, *Isn*t this a beautiful thought?' Little Johnnie sitting in the back row mumbles, ’Ain't she stupid*.* This teacher may love poetry, but she does not know how to inspire her pupils to love it. She is likely to assign poems for her pupils to memorize because she loves 'their beautiful ^Matteson, R. Albert, oj}. cit. p. 9k. 150 thoughts.* The children learn to hate poetry because they have net been led to master the thought content of the assignment L. A, G. Strong, a well-known poet and teacher in England, agrees largely with Matteson and makes a similar summary by listing six common deficiencies in poetry teachers* poetry. first, he says, the teacher dislikes He feels that a great deal of the current British hostility to poetry dates from the careers of Byron and Shelley, reinforced by that of Oscar Wilde. These connected poetry with effiminacy, goings-on, incapacity for sport. A teacher who feels this hostility may conscien­ tiously try to hide it. He is the more dangerous in that he will enforce poetry as a discipline. Second, says Strong, there are the teachers who are embarrassed, by poetry, hothing is so contagious as embarrass­ ment, and although the teacher may not be highly respected, the embarrass merit comes to be associated, however vaguely, with the subject which gave rise to i t . The next deficiency of a poetry teacher, according to Strong, is taat he is suspicious of emotions. Here again iie agrees with Matteson. This seems, he says, to be a vice of women more than men. teachers are indifferent to poetry. Also, some "This teacher is every bit as dangerous, because he has nothing at all to restrain him. . . . He makes poetry yield dividends. He gives marks for it. He asks his pupils to parapiirase it. . . . Ask anyone to paraplirase a poem and you suggest that a poem is a sort of fancy dress for a statement that can be made equally well in plain prose." ^Ioid.. p. 9U. 151 Then there is the teacher who loves poetry uncomprehendingly. "Like a man who falls in love, not with a real girl, but with his own picture of one. . . . this sort of poetry lover fastens his own emotions upon a poem and then believes that the poem has created them. . . . He misreads the poems.1' Finally there is the teacher who genuinely loves poetry but cannot communicate his love to others. "I am inclined," says Strong, "to believe that this is the worst of the lot. He loves poetry - obviously - but all he can do is to make it sound ridiculous. 'Listen to this, boys,' he says, 'Isn't it beautiful?' and he proceeds to quack or mouth or bleat out something which is a travesty of the beauty which had truly moved him. . . . tc learn by heart. . . He is addicted to giving classes poems I was put off Milton for years by a fool who made me learn the sonnet On His Blindness when I was eleven,"'*’ Henry Simon agrees with the others saying that there are mar$r methods of teaching: some teachers have succeeded by reading the lines beautiful­ ly, some by showing the pupils how to read them, some by telling the pupils what the poetry meant to them. He says, however, that there is one common element. it. The teacher must know the poetry and genuinely love Students will be likely to accept a genuine love of poetry, not by expression of maundering sentimentalities but tlirough the evident sinp cerity of the teacher's affection for poetry. •^Strong, L. a. G., 0£. cit., p. 56. ^Simon, Henry W., Poetry Appreciation, Teachers' Lesson Unity N. Y. Series, Ho. H, Bureau of Publications, Columbia University, 1931. There stands out prominently than the proolem of finding the right teachers for poetry. It appears that there has generally been a sup­ position that anybody could teach poetry; no aptitude tests are given to English instructors - any of them are simply turned loose on the luckless students. Such aptitude tests might well result in partially weeding out the inept. Personality tests might eliminate a few of the others who range from the over-emotional to the coldly analytical. Last, out certainly not least, tests with the goal of ascertaining the amount of knowledge of the sucject, range of reading, ana acquaintance with the literary field (at least in the age level where they teach) would point up the weaknesses of existing teachers, perhaps even to the point of discouraging ooards and superintendents from letting just anybody teach poetry . Teachers who do not have a broad knowledge of poetry suit­ able to cue age levels they teach, whose literary vocabulary is limited, who lack intimate acquaintance with the greatest writers of modern times , whose oral reading ability is limited so that they convey mean­ ing poorly, will never effectively reach students where they live with X.1i0 JLife experience of poetry. Helene V.7. Hartley, on the premise that comprehension of poetry is the first essential of the reading, appreciation, or criticism of poetry, and is therefore necessary to possible teachers of it, devised tests using parts of poems wliich had independent meaning and which came from outside the range of reading of those who were tested. She used the tests first on a group including English majors, nonrr.ajors, and advanced students. the majors the biggest. The non-majors had the lowest median, She next tried the test on a poetry class taught 153 by Dr. Allan Abbott composed of teachers, English majors, and many nonmajors. Again the English majors made the liighest score thus seeming to indicate that understanding of poetry can be taught, and pointing up the fact that teachers do not know all the factual material which they shoulo know."*Dora V. Smith administered tests to seventy-eight junior high school teachers in a summer session of the University of Minnesota. These teachers were asked in the first test to place well-known people in literature used for junior high school people. The results caused her to reach the conclusion that teachers themselves are not familiar with the material they teach. name known to all. Of twenty-one characters, Penrod was the only The list included John Silver, Sir Launcelot, and the like. The teachers also made low scores on information about animal stories . Familiar names in stories were not known to them. When parallel tests about modern material were given, they evidenced ignorance and lack of experience in both English and American literature. even know the names of writers in the juvenile fields. They didn*t Smith concluded that courses in such literature should be given to teachers in schools of Education. 2 Laura Kennon found that most of the academic requirements for litera­ ture teachers required a knowledge on their part of types of literature, hartley, Helene Willey, Tests of the Interpretative Beading of Poetry for Teachers of English, Teachers College Contribution to Education, No. 1*33, Columbia University~1930. ^Smith, Dora V., "Extensive Reading in Junior High Schools," English Journal, June, 1930. 15k thus necessitating the possession of a technical vocabulary. This vocabulary she proposed to test by checking their knowledge of words drawn from famous passages, technical terms, words associated with historical periods, history, etc. She found* (l) there was little cor­ relation between test scores and ages of teachers or degrees held; (2 ) there was a slight correspondence between scores and kind of position anc experience, and (3 ) there was close correlation between general intelligence and English grades and department examinations. It seems logical that the amount of the teacher*s knowledge would affect his ability to teach literature in such a way as to make it effective.^Peterson found that in spite of the trend toward extensive reading in junior high schools, that teachers are not familiar with the content 2 of juvenile and adolescent literature. Aerol Arnold discusses methods of teaching saying that advanced students siiculd be capable of teclmical analysis of high order. But, says he, In the hands of a poor teacher who is not able to see the re­ lationship between the ideas and emotions and the form they take there is always the possibility that technical analysis can be pretty deadly. But there is no protection against poor teachers except not to have them. Those who believe that the experience approach to literature is a "safe method” should have learned by now that in the hands of a poor teacher it descends into merely passing on emotional confusion.3 ^-Kennon, Laura H. V. Tests of Literary Vocabulary for Teachers of English, Teachers College Contribution to Education, N o . 2^3, Columbia University, 1926. ^Peterson, o£. cit., p. 173. ^Arnold, Aerol, "heading for What?” 19h2 , p. 388 . College English, January 155 Implications for this Study* There is definite concensus on the subject of teachers of poetry. Students and experts agree on personality and ability characteristics. The outstanding tenets in this agreement are: 1. Poetry is taught by infection, and not by rules. The teacher must have a true love of poetry and an ability to make that love apparent, right, and non-obvious. It cannot be expressed by gushing, sentimentality, or insincerity. 2. The poetry teacher must not only possess the assets of a good teacher, but must have something over and above these. He or she must have a colorful, vivid personality which sparkles and attracts. Even factual subjects need good personalities to engender interest, but an imaginative subject like poetry absolutely requires an imaginative person. 3• This personality must be warmly sympathetic and considerate at all times of student opinions and problems. One of the most strongly expressed reasons for dislike of poetry was the fact that the teacher imposed liis own meaning, failing to listen to the arguments, reasons or opinions of students. Had they been able to express their sincere dislike, some explanation might have been given to take it away, or if they were made to understand that liking poetry does not mean liking every poem, the results could have been vastly different. h. Students want to know their teachers better. This is especially true of the teacher of an emotional subject like poetry. If students read about amotions, are required to -understand words expressing emotion, and to some extent must express their lives and hearts out loud for the puolic to hear, they want to know that a most understanding person is listening. Over and over students used in this study expressed the fact that they liked teachers who participated in out-side activities, who allowed them to get close enough for confidences, who respected confidences, and understood problems. 5. All peetry teachers need ability in interpretive reading. Since poetry is written to be read aloud, that reading must be good if the poem is to be truly appreciated. Dull, monotonous reading is one of the great enemies of love of poetry. 6 . It is not important that a teacher be a man or woman, nor that he be young. In some specific instances, students are affected by the age or sex of a teacher; on the whole, they are mostly affected by the personality of the teacher; age is a matter of spirit; ability is the keynote, not sex. 7 . There are some important donHs for teachers: a. Do not force teacher opinion on student. b . Do not stick to prescribed text and fail to allow choice of reading matter. c. Do not pamper students; explain, help, sympathize and understand, but require good work. They respect a teacher for it. d. Do not take knowledge on the part of the student for granted. Learn first, last, and all the time that the ordinary student knows nothing of poetry and begin where he i s . e. Do not teach poetry as an assignment; do not punish by using poetry; do not penalize for not liking or not learning poetry. f. Do not be over-intellectual and pedantic; be properly emotional. CHAPTER VI CHAPTER V I CONCLUSIONS, RDCQMMENDATIONS, AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY The purpose of this study is to discover the attitudes of college freshmen toward poetry* the effect that the teaching of poetry has had on them, the place where they now are in their knowledge of poetry, the reasons for their neglect of poetry, and these factors which have lea to pleasurable experiences with poems. It has been stated that the discovery of these things should be of great value to the teacher of a beginning college class in poetry. Such knowledge gives him the over-all picture of his students so necessary to efficient teaching and leadership. The data discovered here, and the implications, should also be valuable to every teacher of poetry, giving grade and high school teachers a clear map of trends and some indication of directions in which to go and not to go. The method of discovering favorable and unfavorable factors in poetry learning has been that of ascertaining from students their atti­ tudes which are the result of experience in reading and studying poetry. These attitudes were ascertained in two ways* (1) administering a Poetry Attitudes-Inventory to two representative groups of 250C freshmen in the Written and Spoken English Department of Michigan State College, and (2 ) personally interviewing three groups of students* eighteen selected as a cross-check from those answering the Inventory, eleven in 158 an elective class in Oral Interpretation of Poetry, nineteen in a beginning class of Oral Interpretation. Since it was considered wise not to depend for accuracy on attitudes of students only, bibliographical evidence of the opinions of experts was reviewed and compared with the attitudes of the students. The opinions of poets, educators, philosophers, and others have been pre­ sented as parallel evidence to the data acquired from students. Tliree aspects of poetry learning have been examined* (1) textual material or the poetry which the student studiea or read, (2 ) techniques or the methods of teaching, and (3) the teachers of poetry. Data on attitudes of students toward these tliree aspects were annotated and analyzed in three chapters, each of which was summarized by a detailed statement of implications relevant to this investigation. Therefore, the conclusions which follow will deal with broad aspects of the study, and will cover what might be called the philosophy under­ lying teaching poetry for pleasurable learning, as that pliilosophy seems to be suggested by the facts ascertained. Conclusions I . Textual Materials* Data from both the Inventory and interviews show that a great majority of students neither like nor dislike poetry. They have such paucity of knowledge of poetry as to indicate almost no study or reading of it. Stu­ dents remember little from the early grades; the largest amount from junior nigh; and perhaps some few poems from a literature course in high school. Shakespeare is the exception, most students remembering at least one play 159 The outstanding fact apparent here is that nobody can like what they have not known; students do not so much like or dislike poetry as ignore it. They repeat again and again that poetry is simply not a part of their lives; seemingly nobody makes it so in spite of the theory that it should be. Poetry, is neither seen, heard, spoken of, read, nor written acout in sufficient amounts for any appreciable number of the students to learn much about it. Published opinions of experts reveal their feeling that poetry ought to be a possession of cultured,people. It seems to be the feeling of students that they ought to know it. Answers to statements in the Inventory and personal interviews reveal a sort of wistful recognition that poetry should be a part of their cultural equipment but they cannot quite see their way clear to acquiring it without too much trouble and distaste. Evidence points to the fact that the kind of material used in texts is largely to blame for lack of interest in poetry reading. Text books are much the same that they were thirty and forty years ago. Classics decided upon by adults as being those which children must learn are forced upon students almost regardless of results. Study of placement in the grades has changed text books for children. Little study has been done for the high school level and that which has been done is shown by data in the investigation to have been largely rejected and resisted. Classics for use in texts must be graded to the interests and maturity of the reaaers. Those teachers who blindly go on teaching the 160 old classic selections are heavily obligated to help their students see the values they insist are there but which it is impossible for the student to recognize. By some means, standards for judging modern poetry must be set up so that more and more poems from contemporary writers may be included in books for student reading. Students will first find value in those works of art expressing their own lives, and second discover the classics and their place in our tradition. Few m o d e r n p oets are represented in poetry texts and they are usually represented by one to three poems each. Carl Sandburg is the only modern poet remembered if evidence can be trusted. Popular, senti­ mental poetry is remembered by students, but not included in texts as it is judged unworthy of study. Students grow up scarcely knowing that the poetry which they like and school poetry are the same thing. Data make one fact very evident* since the same poetry has been taught from time immemorial and since students either dislike it or ignore it, nothing is to be lost by experimental change. II. Poetry Teaching Metliods* Scientific methods of teaching comparable to those used for other subjects have not been discovered and used. Prevailing exoteric and general "other world" approaches to reading and teaching poems have ceveloped stultified, traditional ideas, and blocked knowledge generally. Poetry as a cultural activity, as an expression of personal and social experience, and as a creative activity has no comparable place with 161 other literature today. It is the stepchild, par excellence, of the whole field of literature, and Cinoerella must either achieve a beautiful glass slipper that fits beyond question, or, if the pattern of the past continues, remain forever in the ashes of disdain. It has been assumed in this study that poetry must be taught on the pleasure principle. It can logically be believed that students will read poetry for the same reason that they do everything else - because of the satisfactions or values they obtain from it. Data on teaching methods have shown that such a pleasure principle lias been little used; that students find little or no value in poetry and therefore they do not read i t . They have testified that teachers are not acquainted with goals based on the life interests of students; that because poetry is particularly rich in overtones and implied meanings they miss the mean­ ings unless they get the right kind of help; that the help they need is missing, or that it is given according to a pattern of the teacher*s choosing, not according to a pattern designed to give the student satis­ faction. It has been discovered in this investigation that methods are traditional, that they largely are the methods by which the teachers were taught. methods. Too, there is very little variety even in the traditional Most of the students had experienced few, if any, of the experimental methods. Even when no equipment and no extra training were required, few teachers had tried anything new. Most of the students had experienced the method of hearing poems read by their teachers. A large majority liked this method; a few did 162 not. From other evidence, it was assumed that these few had heard poor reading and were therefore not favorable. A few had heard phonograph records and liked the method* the few who did not also were presumed to have heard bad recordings or poor selections. On the whole, hearing poetry well read was considered the best method. Compulsory memorization of material beyond their comprehension was rated by students as the worst method of teaching. Memorization, in itself, is not bad; some students like to memorize favorite lines or poems they like. However, they almost universally disparage rote memory. It was discovered that a variety of methods is needed for teaching poetryj that the teacher must use one method for one kind of poem, another method for another kind. It was also discovered that a poor teacher can ruin any method, and that a truly good teacher can succeed by almost any method. One of the most important facts ascertained from the data was that learning poetry can be brought about only with the cooperation of the learner; that the characteristics of the learner cannot be safely for­ gotten. Comments showed that high school and college students are impatient of monotony; they want an ever-shifting variety and excitement; they like opportunities for mental effort (many said they liked difficult poems - found them a challenge); they like subject matter approached through emotions and imagination rather than logic; they like intriguing assignments. 163 III. Teachers of Poetry* If the evidence can Da believed, teachers of poetry are, on the whole, very conservative people. They tend strongly to remain static in their choice of materials, and in their use of techniques, At least part of the evidence points to the supposition that they are probably not well grounded in the material they teach, that they seem to be using the methods by which they were taught, and that they fail to be interested in experimenting with new methods. All evidence points to the fact that they have a heartbreaking task and it might well be that judgment of them by students is harsh in light of the overwhelming odds against the successful teaching of poetry to any large numbers of people. It seems safe to say in light of present evidence that mass education and poetry scholarship will probably meet later than East and West. Students have said that neither age nor sex have any in insuring a good poetry teacher. real importance They want a young spirit, a coopera­ tive person, an understanding human being, a sparkling and vital personality, a well-dressed individual, and one who knows his subject and demands their best of the students. Any teacher can probably teach poetry best by infection; he must love it and impart love as well as knowledge. Recommendations 1. The first remedy for the almost universal neglect of poetry is wide acquaintance with it. Probably even Ted Malone's selections and 16U Saturday Evening Post, poems (and their like) should be encouraged, oecause if pleasure is derived from reading such verse, and people accustom themselves to associating pleasure with a rhymed form, they will begin to accept the concept "poetry" as a pleasurable one. Popular poetry like "Casey at the Sat" and "Trees” will have to be explained away or grown away from instead of being forbidden. If a young person is thrilled or entertained by a second or tenth rate poem there is no profit in telling him he is a moron, or lacking in culture. Let him enjoy it, play with it, and hope that he moves through it by a process of growth just as he has done with his wornout clothes. When a teacher expresses horror at his choice, he will associate the teacher ana all poetry in the resulting disillusion. Certainly all good teachers would like to teach good poetry, but the spark of life in love for poetry is so small that fanning it with almost any kind of poetry is better than letting it die completely. Popularizing poetry means starting where students are. teacher covets promotion of scholarship in students. no use to indulge in wishful thinking. Every good However, there is Evidence proves that few of the best educated can get even meaning from poetry; literary criticism must be properly confined to the upper reaches of college and graduate study. But, if teachers will be content to begin where they can; if they will discard all prejudices about methods to be used, and experiment for pleasurable onesj if they will pioneer and persevere in providing wide source material so that personal choice is pleasantly possible; if they will encourage all efforts, and lead gently toward better choices, there is a definite possibility of interesting larger numbers of students. 165 2. To make people want to read poetry, materials for convenient reading must be everywhere. All the data points to the fact that students who like poetry usually have it in their home and read it along with everything else. Failing material in their homes, the ones who like poetry have often had a teacher who proviaed the poetry in some variety, and motivated them to extensive reading. Poetry is such an intensely personal literature that wide acquaintance is necessary for individual satisfaction. Student reactions prove that all kinds of resources must be pro­ vided: browsing rooms with poetry books on every wall, poetry records to oe played, material about poets placed handily instead of being buried in inaccessible stacks, record programs played not only to classes but in every place where music record programs may be heard, poetry records included for distribution in every place where records are available. All these and more must be used. pioneering in reading poetry on TV. Charles Laughton is Hearing him and encouraging other readers should be a part of the teacher*s work. Poetry appreciation must be begun as music appreciation was twenty-five or more years ago. At every opportunity, poetry roust be heard, must be taken for granted as good to know, must be presented by artists who make it good, and therefore enjoyable. Little children must have records of poems suitable to them as they now have stories and music . Poetry for all ages must be handy for the people of each age} it must be well read to them by their teachers} arranged for in programs by students and experts} presented 166 on every possible occasion. Choices must stem from students who will either be guided tiirough to good choices by skillful teachers, or left where they are by poor ones. 3. Whatever method of teaching is used must be cooperative and experiential. Class and instructor must work together to discover the kind of literature to be shared. Within reasonable limits, students should be allowed to plan their own courses, decide their own methods of study, look for values they consider good. Since they are at an age which wants to know "why*, they should be allowed to ask questions and express themselves freely. Together the students and teacher must explore inchoate life given form and meaning by the form and music of the poem. Heading must be intensive enough in class for clear under­ standing; extensive enough outside of class to create a lively and persisting desire to continue to read. Those aspects of a poem which are susceptible of discussion and analysis should have proper explana­ tion and evaluation on the basis that pleasure increases with under­ standing. Pleasure will also increase with the recognition of the goal of finding meaning geared to the student*s interests and needs. U. Since students like to hear poetry well read, it is necessary for the good teacher to get training in Interpretive Heading. With such training the teacher can not only read better, but can help her students to read aloud intelligently and well. The aims of interpretive reading teaching are those which develop in the learner the qualities which students say they like in a poetry teacher* vitality, good voice, 167 freedom of expression, freedom from mannerisms, ability to transmit emotion and meaning, clarity of understanding, and personal knowledge ana appreciation. The method of teaching poetry by teaching students to read well is recommended because it is a method calculated to help the student experience literature. It is a good method also because poetry was written to be read aloud. With such a method, there can be less atten­ tion to academic knowledge as such, less emphasis on historical back­ grounds of writing, and less stress on metrics and forms. Data show these methods as among those which usually lead to dislike of poetry. Good aral reading can provide the things which students like in poetry. It gives the student a chance to demonstrate before Ids fellows. This is a part of the experiential learning previously discussed. Oral reading is important because it emphasizes sound which is an integral part of the beauty of poetry. Without sound, meaning diminishes; with sound, nuances of color, flavor of words, depths of meaning are more likely to be experienced. Suggestions For Further Study Admittedly, attitudes in themselves are subjective. This investi­ gation has discovered attitudes, but several important factors have contributed to making it a scientific study* (1) a concensus broad enough to prove factual indications, (2) the use of personal interviews with a sufficiently large number of people to insure accuracy of Inventory material, and (3) an almost complete agreement in the pattern 166 of attitudes secured from the data in the written Inventory, the personal interviews, and bibliographical evidence. It was necessary to make such a study of attitudes as the first step in the study of poetry methods, materials, and teachers. These aata must be known before other studies can profitably oe made. However, this is only the basic study and many other studies must follow if there is to be a scientific body of knowledge on which to base poetry teaching. Throughout this investigation questions have arisen over and over. Can we continue to accept the literary judgment (aesthetic criticism) of the so-called authorities - that is, the people who compile anthologies? If we accept the principle of literary criticism, do we necessarily con­ clude that those who set themselves up as critics are infallible in their choice of good poetry for young people to study? Is it setter to make students like poetry without strict adherence to "absolute" aesthetic judgments? Since critics are not infallible, and adults do not agree, cannot we first start with student's choices? Having started with student's choices, must we submit them to literary critics for judgment? What type of standard, what measuring instrument, must we give to students on which to base their ratings of poems? If they consistently vote high for a poem does that necessarily give "value" to the selection? Are we trying to develop powers of literary criticism in readers? If so, do we start where they are, with a goal of leading up to a higher standard, or do we start where time and/or critics have put us? Should poems studied in school be "classics" or is there a measur­ ing rod, a standard of values by which contemporary poetry can be judged 169 and utilized while it is "life" for the student? Do we have to wait until poets are dead and safely ensconed in a critics heaven of praise , or is there some way we can judge contemporary poetry as worthy of being studied by the students of the era in which it is written? Since evidence points up rather conclusively the fact that literary criticism is not possible to apy great number of students before advanced study in college, what methods can be devised, what study-guides can be created to help teach recognition of the difference between good poetry and bad? If we admit that the material in the usual texts is a poor choice, how can we determine scientifically the poetry to be put in a good text? Evidence has proved that adults largely make up present texts, and even when students are asked to choose, they choose between or among what was originally chosen by adults. to determine student choice? what sources? What kind of study can be made Who compiles the original list, and from Who is capable of determining what percentage of old ana new material is suitable? If it is not to be just another choice from among previous choices, where does the investigator start? If stu­ dents are allowed to pick the poems they study, will they not, in their lack of wide acquaintance with poetry, narrow the selection rather than widen it? If we accept the principle of pleasurable learning of poetry, how far can we carry that and still make study profitable? enjoyable and still contain little or no value? Can study be Can the student get enjoyment for himsalf, and does he need the teacher for deeper values? 170 Students liave shown in the data of this investigation that they like a challenging problem, that they like a teacher who really knows his material and who requires good work on the part of the student. What method or methods can embody the principles of pleasure and discipline at the same time? Data in this investigation has shown that few teachers are prepared to do experimental teaching of poetry . They either do not or cannot use methods different to the traditional ones, and they do not even vary those much. What study-guides could be constructed tc help such teachers teach experimentally? What audio-visual aids might be ’'packaged11 for the untrained teacher with little equipment, to give him the benefit of up-to-date techniques? Would the preparation of such guides and furnish­ ing of material make for a stereotyped method lacking in imagination, or could it somehow be adapted to the needs of the untrained teacher in a tangible, usable form, and still be flexible? .PPEKDICa S 171 APPENDIX a The following is a tabulation of total answers to Sections I and II of the Poetry Attituaes-Inventory. This table makes possible a quick reference to each individual question by number and is included because Appendix B does not tabulate answers in numerical order but shows answers to several questions grouped in relation to the same idea. TABULATION OF TOTAL ANSWERS TO POETRY ATTITUDES-INVENTORY Question Number 1 2 3 6 5 6 7 5 9 10 11 12 13 111 15 16 17 lb 19 20 21 22 Answer 1 151 16 1 77 23 100 63 22 3b 9 13 k 187 6 6 1*8 29 7 22 7 Section I Answer Answer 2 3 201* 16 62 25 105 31 136 98 166 32 13 52 37 16 6 33 12 26 32 139 138 57 Answer 6 Answer 5 6 100 3 56 59 96 1 53 17 6 107 b h9 9 3 6 29 6 15 27 36 16 116 59 11 9 103 16 51 81 1 29 2 29 16 36 68 31 10 13 72 21 12 32 6 50 61 77 75 10 30 17 63 65 Continued next page *Copies of the Inventory may be found at the end of Chapter II. 172 Answer 1 26 25 26 27 25 29 30 31 32 33 36 35 36 37 3c 39 60 ia U2 63 66 1a5 66 a? 66 69 50 51 52 53 56 55 56 57 56 59 60 61 62 63 66 65 6 3 22 5 2 17 13 2 11 1 3 10 2 5 h 33 10 13 29 22 6 6 5 3 16 6 1 6 3 22 27 21 36 7 60 17 6 13 6 6 17 7 21 Section I Answer Answer 2 3 56 56 63 13 19 115 76 26 32 30 69 66 17 56 22 162 59 136 117 165 63 37 50 11 93 12 52 116 21 165 162 136 56 27 115 130 37 106 36 76 106 176 135 131 136 52 126 113 70 106 102 166 161 139 96 136 126 123 35 119 60 76 63 113 126 116 1d£ 96 155 139 62 132 63 60 56 96 103 57 61 108 82 163 116 87 20 52 Answer 6 Answer 5 27 23 61 72 56 11 16 83 36 62 17 22 65' 31 66 6 32 6 7 5 66 66 62 56 13 63 26 5 59 1 6 3 27 5 6 11 62 10 26 12 6 3 5 C o n tin u e d n e x t p a g e 173 Answer 1 oo 67 08 69 10 71 72 73 78 75 76 77 76 6 15 22 25 13 22 6 13 18 9 21 16 Section I Answer Answer 2 3 36 152 165 168 111 188 79 90 139 156 52 167 106 Answer Answer 6________ 5 182 66 26 87 72 63 115 105 59 37 83 62 77 30 2 2 5 12 2 10 9 2 2 20 3 179 8 69 71 16 2o 70 25 68 51 90 56 9 6 72 122 32 17 56 39 60 87 66 11 15 72 17 16 3 11 13 9 / 0 Section II 1 2 3 6 5 6 7 6 9 10 11 12 13 16 15 16 17 16 19 20 21 22 23 26 25 26 27 163 85 21 208 76 12 118 180 35 98 89 52 39 155 161 29 166 158 265 139 155 187 232 208 230 273 20 117 ul 228 65 53 18 06 72 83 78 78 88 68 86 62 76 68 67 8 76 61 56 29 66 19 56 68 77 96 28 39 91 69 37 6 61 68 27 15 18 23 «-J 5 8 7 32 67 17 1 11 55 16 11 7 26 13 2 3 16 2 2 6 1 1 6 1 C o n tin u e d n e x t p a g e 171* Question i;umber 28 29 30 31 32 33 3b 3? 36 37 36 3y 1*0 61 k2 hi 134 hS 1*6 1*7 1*5 h9 50 51 52 53 51* 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 o3 61* 65 66 67 66 69 70 Answer 1 68 102 83 50 26 26 216 21*6 187 70 6 102 121 1*1 66 80 1*3 1*5 133 117 30 109 121 161 98 112 11*6 153 171 11*5 69 92 70 35 20 22 197 167 195 26 26 1*8 11) Section II Answer Answer 2 3 70 96 91 1*5 1*8 27 1*5 17 17 31* 25 25 30 27 11 25 26 35 10 52 1* 56 60 65 1*3 36 21 56 7 62 51 19 16 17 20 12 1*3 1*5 60 121 52 161 1*0 80 52 58 93 98 8o 12 13 38 78 79 72 61* 65 62 66 56 66 52 88 61 16 51 6 58 50 1*1 19 22 22 1*1* 61 76 77 71 92 15 17 26 131 202 71 226 Answer Answer r' h 0 28 29 1*2 65 81 106 5 1 7 67 13l* 1*0 23 70 20 1*0 110 91 23 52 1*0 70 21 6 39 50 25 21 12 U* 56 1*3 1*6 62 109 61* 23 13 10 1 5 16 27 33 1 1 7 17 20 22 37 79 7 21 20 62 6 123 5 2 2 9 13 13 7 61 2 25 29 57 75 31 19 1 17 Continued next page 175 Question Liumber 71 72 73 7iu 75 7o 77 76 79 Answer 1 Section II Answer Answer 2 3 12 116 7 63 9 71 25 51 126 10 136 106 125 27 165 66 60 20 156 113 Cil 82 83 22 66 56 13 86 20 6^ &o 67 93 27 62 92 21 122 62 61 25 17 109 69 90 91 92 93 96 95 96 97 9& 99 100 101 102 16 25 30 206 215 66 209 162 176 16 172 Jo 196 167 63 33 • 57 66 75 66 212 106 207 50 67 65 27 33 13 51 113 1 23 12 102 11 9 19 25 16 11 161 62 166 132 26 53 7 16 16 9 10 27 59 59 100 6 12 22 106 105 112 193 56 19 23 32 66 106 113. 86 88 197 182 110 156 135 61 16? 77 217 88 66 108 109 6 Answer 5 51 5o 216 53 96 85 2 an 103 107 Answer 66 207 166 169 225 220 239 201 C o n tin u e d n e x t p a g e 126 52 136 69 165 72 168 176 Question Aumber Answer 1 Section II Answer Answer 2 3 116 115 llo 117 116 119 126 57 65 32 15& 13& 126 191 183 205 88 106 120 161 121 62 122 66 123 126 123 68 67 206 80 209 2 a) 126 192 137 116 127 32 126 176 o9 69 160 53 185 129 130 131 132 133 136 135 136 137 13& 139 37 26 13 23 Answer Answer 6___________5 50 211 08 172 191 102 166 50 19 25 16 67 65 66 7 7 79 161 10 22 132 87 51 83 57 162 11 26 66 8 7 160 a 6 8 38 30 13 10 7 163 i6 u 165 25 59 11 28 60 15 20 166 22 15 167 16 11 85 82 78 58 10? 98 73 76 85 82 83 33 168 7 11 3 13 16 10 8 169 150 151 152 153 156 155 28 18 16 6 10 6 9 16 10 156 lu 21 9 6 6 5 68 15 1-: 55 57 63 16 37 55 53 65 101 122 11 62 96 102 23 96 83 91 57 16 10 15 101 11 6 10 6 62 6 50 38 9 6 C o n tin u e d n e x t p a g e 15 66 177 <1. ... Question Number .... Answer 1 7 ia lo ia ia 16 16 17 19 157 15 b 159 160 161 162 163 166 166 166 167 166 169 13 170 13 171 172 173 17u 175 176 177 176 179 160 161 162 163 i6a 165 166 167 166 169 190 191 192 193 Section I I Answer Answer 2 3 7 r/■ „ 3 6 12 10 10 8 tv u 9 a 1 6 17 a 27 20 6 5 7 30 13 29 20 26 3 22 6 10 13 O 17 10 7 69 a 2 6 61 69 123 78 79 36 65 6 sa 50 57 122 11 s'-' 36 59 67 125 117 5 5 28 5 10 17 26 6 35 62 7 6J4 5 35 25 26 197 196 199 5 9 91 a 3h 196 a 10 a 33 ia 33 36 36 31 61 6a 65 10 6 sa 6 aa 61 6 ao 22 19 ia 6 12 12 16 21 195 13 63 lo 2a 16 17 10 53 16 30 21 19a U6 Answer 5 16 26 25 11 12 29 12 19 75 57 55 55 73 Answer a Continued next page 176 S e c tio n I I test: iamb 200 201 202 203 206 205 206 207 206 2oy 210 211 212 213 2Hi 215 216 217 216 21? 220 221 222 223 226 225 226 227 226 229 230 231 232 233 236 235 236 237 236 239 swer I 12 12 26 20 27 13 13 9 9 2b 20 6 29 15 12 16 13 26 2 3 6 > 2 6 3 3 3 3 2 3 6 6 6 2 2 2 5 260 2 261 5 Answer 2 Answer 3 Answer 6 Answer 5 30 16 19 22 15 33 30 36 36 17 21 37 16 27 31 26 28 13 6 3 1 5 7 2 2 21 12 17 1 10 15 16 3 13 21 1 6 15 0 16 1 7 7 5 3 6 6 2 6 5 7 5 2 5 3 6 3 17 12 20 26 16 16 12 21 20 16 18 23 17 20 21 19 1 1 2 7 10 11 3 6 5 9 11 6 9 5 6 C o n tin u e d n e x t p a g e 13 17 3 10 12 12 5 13 13 15 6 1 3 3 16 6 2 1 2 6 3 3 7 2 6 5 h h 2 3 3 U 5 ro a>-^ ro wu) jr h vn m t" Section II Answer Answer 2 3 h jr w 0' Answer 1 3 U 3 3 3 2 5 5 2 10 17 17 Answer h 12 11 2 16 12 16 26 16 15 11 19 26 16 12 13 20 30 23 2 11 h 16 10 3 3 3 A 10 11 1 1 1 1 1 10 12 15 3 3 1 h 16 6 2 11 h U 9 2 160 APPENDIX B ITiM12ED RESUME Of ANS/fEoS TO THE POETRY ATTITUDES-IhVENTOhY, ACCORDING TO A CATEGORICAL ORGANIZATION OF IDEAS The following is a tabulation of all the answers given in Parts I and II of the Poetry Attitudes-Inventory copies of which may be found at the end of Chapter II. It is a written summary analyzing total re­ actions and is organized according to the ideas which they answer, as N follows* Part I General information— age, class, etcj questions 1-5 General likes and dislikes in all reading* questions 5-23. Specific prooleins in likes and dislikes of poetry* questions 23-76 Part II General information— age, class, etc.* questions 1-5 Specific problems on likes and dislikes of poetry caused by poetry teaching methods * questions 6-65 Specific problems on likes and dislikes of poetry caused by teachers* questions 13U-259. Inventory of Stuaent Attitudes Toward Poetry Two hundred and four college freshmen, six sophomores, and three juniors answered the first section of the Inventory of Favorable and Unfavorable Poetry Reactions. This total of two hundred and thirteen students, studying in the Department of Written and Spoken English, was made up of one hundred and forty-eight men and sixty-four women, eighteen of whom were 17 years old, one hundred were eighteen years old, fifty-two nineteen years old, and forty three twenty years or older. Eighteen had lived on farms most of their lives, twenty-five in villages of 250 to 2500 population, fifty-nine in towns of 2500 to 25,000 population, fifty seven in cities of 25,000 to 100,000 population, and sixty-five in cities over 100,000 population. Questions 5-20 were on general likes and dislikes in reading. Not all students answered each question because the men only answered one question pertaining to their opinion as to why boys dislike poetry if they d o , and the women answered the same question about girls and women. Also, if their answer in question 9 indicated that they never read poetry they skipped the next three questions pertaining to enjoyment or lack of enjoyment in reading poetry. This accounts for the fact that there are not the full number of answers to these questions. The totals also show that in spite of the fact that directions were clear, some ooys answered the question about girls, and some of the girls answered the question about boys. One person said he reads none (of apy kind of reading) for pastime, one hundred and five indicate little pastime reading, ninety-six read often, and eleven read constantly. Of those who read for pastime, seventy-seven prefer fiction (novels, plays, short stories, etc.); thirty-one read biography, history science, magazines such as Harper1s , Atlantic Monthly, etc.; one person reads poetry for pastime; nine read movie magazines, "true stories," comics, detective stories, and one hundred and three prefer newspapers and such magazines as Header»s Digest, Ladies* Home Journal, Cosmopolitan and Saturday Evening Post. 182 Twenty-three students said that no poetry materials (books, magazines, etc.) were available in their homesj one hundred and thirtysix said a few such sources were availaole, while fifty-tliree said many such materials were available in their homes. One hundred said their parents never read poetry either to themselves or aloud to the family. Ninety-eight said this happened infrequently, and seventeen answered frequently. Forty-three said that they never read poetryj one hundred and sixtyfour read it infrequently, and eight read it frequently. Of those who read poetry, twenty-two read it with little or no enjoyment, thirty-two with indifference, one hundred and seven with a fair amount of enjoyment, and eighteen with great pleasure. Thirty-four read poetry for the moral or sentiment involved; thirteen for recognition of such elements as similes, metaphors, rhyme schemes, etc.; five read it for the purpose of making a careful examination of the formal elements, structure, ideas and their relationship; fifty-one read it for the fun of reading poetry and seventy-two for the beauty of the words and the ideas they express. In question twelve, nine said they dislike poetry heartily finding it a form of punishment. Fifty-two neither like it nor dislike it be­ cause of lack of good background in reading and studying poetry; fortynine felt they would like poetry if easier understanding were made possible; eighty-one like poetry generally but prefer usually the simple or familiar poetry. Twenty-one said they like poetry very much finding it enjoyable, relaxing, and inspiring. 163 In question thirteen there was an attempt to find out why those who dislike poetry do so. Students were instructed to omit answering tins question if they like poetry. Of those who dislike poetry, thirteen aislike it because of their general dislike of all reading; thirty-seven oecause they find poetry uninteresting and difficult; nine oecause they have read little or none of it; one because he never studied it in school, and twelve because their study of it in school was unpleasant. Question fourteen was also for those who dislike poetry and asked which of five elements best accounted for the dislike. Four found com­ ments of parents discouraging; sixteen had teachers who didn*t like poetry or whose method of teaching it made it seem "silly"; three had a feeling poetry is effiminate and that studying it is a "sissy" occupa­ tion; twenty-nine saic that the kind of poetry given them was uninter­ esting to read, and tliirty-two said they do not know why they do not like it— just never seemed to. In question fifteen the attitude of like or dislike was approached from the standpoint of attitudes of friends. One hundred and eightyseven felt that the attitude of friends influenced them neither way; eight felt that they began to like and understand poetry because many of their friends liked it; eight first got the idea that poetry was "poor stuff" and uninteresting to red-blooded people from attitudes of friends; two liked poetry as children and feel they would probably have gone on liking it if their friends had not sneered at them for the liking, and six have always liked poetry and still like it so much they would not change regardless of the attitude of their friends. leit Question sixteen was the one to be answered by men only on the subject of why they thought ooys who do dislike poetry feel this dis­ like. Six feel that most boys instinctively dislike poetry; thirty- three believe that most boys who dislike poetry begin unfavorable attitudes at an age when they get the idea that poetry is "sissy," that is, about the time they begin to want to be cowboys, policemen, mounted police, etc .; twenty-nine answered that most boys who dislike poetry learn to do so in school Decause of poor ciioice of material and poor teaching, while another twenty-nine believe most boys who dislike poetry do so Decause they were forced to learn it and revolted against compulsion. Fifty men believe that most boys who are indifferent to poetry have that attiuude because of inability to understand it and woulo probably like it if provided means of understanding. Women were to answer question seventeen about girls. Six feel that most girls instinctively like poetryj twelve believe that most girls go through-a period of disliking poetry similar to the reaction of ooysj six say that most girls continue their natural liking of poetry oegun in their childhood because it is the general opinion of society that poetry is suitable for girls; seventeen think that most girls who dislike poetry learn to do so because of compulsory choice of material or poor teaching, and forty-one believe that most girls learn to like poetry when they understand it. Since this number totals more than the number of women answering the inventory, it is evident that some of the men answered it, contrary to the directions. 165 When asked to choose the answer in question eighteen which most accurately described their experience with poetry, forty-eight people said they nan always likea poetry and could not remember any particular time when they' began liking it; twenty-six had never liked poetry, had had no experience with it which enabled them to like it, and felt they never would; fifteen liked poetry as young children, lost their pleasure in i t , and only re-gained it after a rewarding experience in high school; thirty-eight remember no reaction tc poetry as young cliildren but good teaching caused them to learn to like it, and seventy-seven say tuey do not like or dislike poetry because they have not read or studied it much out think they would like it if they understood it. Question nineteen attempted to ascertain attitudes toward memoriza­ tion of poetry and its effect on like and dislike. One hundred and sixty-six people said their approach to poetry is negative because they were forced to memorize it and recite it in class without under­ standing it. Forty-eight say they like to memorize certain lines of poetry because the lines are easy to remember and give one something to tiiink about when there is nothing else to do. Forty-nine like to memorize such selections as Laertes advice to his son because they believe such a thought will live with them all their lives. Nineteen never like to memorize poetry and no reason is sufficient to make them like to memorize. No answer was given to the fifth choice ”1 like to memorize the poems I enjoy.” Question twenty dealt with the method of learning poetry. It asked what makes (or would make if the student had the experience) a poem most 166 interesting to him. Seven feel that hearing it over the radio would be oest, one hundren and thirty-nine prefer hearing it read aloud by a good reader, thirty-four prefer to reao silently to themselves, thirty-one like to read aloud to themselves, and ten like reading aloud in a Choral Reading group which is for poetry what a singing choir is for music. Question twenty-one points up the lack of poetry study in schools or elsewhere. Twenty-two had studied almost no poetry and said they find it difficult to answer questions because of lack of experience; one hundred and thirty-eight or almost t^iree-fourths the total number had never studied poetry as a special course but their experience of it was in English classes where poetry was a very sliort part of the work; fourteen had studied poetry extensively through grades and high school; ten felt that study or lack of it had never affected their attitude toward poetry as they had learned it for themselves, while thirty said they had had two or more courses in poetry in grade or high school and gained greatly from these. When asked, on a basis of personal experience, to recommend one of five things in relation to teaching poetry, seven feel that poetry as such should never be taught in junior and senior high school; fiftyseven feel that poetry should be a definite part of all English courses and should be given approximately the same time as prose; one hundred and fourteen feel that if poetry were well taught and encouraged by Drowsing rooms, free choice of material, phonograph records, etc. stu­ dents would learn to appreciate it and like it; thirteen feel that the 187 study of poetry should be postponed until college when the student is m o r e /nature and therefore m o r e ready to understand it, and seventeen believe that since poetry has proved its worth through the ages as an emotional stimulant and a literary study it should be a part of the course of study in all grades from kindergarten tiirough college . Questions 23-78 inclusive are in the form of statements to wliich response was requested according to a keys agree, (3) disagree, (1) strongly disagree. (l) strongly agree, (2) For purposes of deducing principles from the answers given in the inventory, statements have been grouped in categories. More than one question was usually asked on the same idea so that a cross-checking might be a double surety of accuracy, or that there might oe profitable comparison when answers did not exactly jibe. The questions fall into the following categories* I . Content of the poem Questions 21 - 28 - 2 9 -52 - 51 - 66-66 II. Critical judgment of poetry Questions 25-30-13 III. Language of Poetry Questions 23-27-36-11-53-62-63-75 IV. Kinds of poems Questions 23-27-32-31-10—11-19-61— 61-65-76 V. Forms of poetry (effect of) Questions 33-72 VI. Practical vs. the imaginative Questions 33-72 let VI1. ufiee.c of poetic elep-.er.ts questions i.2-71-77 VIII. Importance of studying 1 . Enlarges living Questions e9-70-7u-7c 2. Emotional impact ^€ try 2.3 SLli 2.2222.V2_C.21.3j. SX2TS2*2.SI2CG ■rut- a large runner disagree wit;* tils viewpoint. In personal interviews it was uisocverec tnat this Question ’was rather suetie for understar.rir.s:, involves in individual versus universal ior the student t O implications. eCT=-c Therefore, it is likely there is hot enough significance in the answer to To to rake it a worthy guide. i£.) includes the following statements in relation to emotional impacts ho. its brbarrassment is the only possible reaction to poetry ex­ pressing intense emotional feeling, ho. 30: Poetry is important because it is an emotional stimulant. Wit;, statement _c i r e s students say they strongly agree, eleven agree, one hundred and forty-sioht disagree, and fifty-four disagree strongly. With statement 50, eight scuaents say they agree strongly, one nur.drsd and sixteen agree, eighty-two disagree, and five disagree strongly. A large majority therefore disagree with the idea that the emotion of t o etry is embarrassing out there is also a large runner wno go not fine it am. emotional stimulant. (3) deals with the value of poetry to students and includes state­ ments 39 aiao cO. ho. 39* Lvery collems fresictar. should oe requirec to study poetry, ho. tOi 3ir.ee poetry has proved its cultural worth from the begin­ ning of recoroed time, it is required of the truly educated person that he have a knowledge of poetry. 'nit:. 5k, six strongly agree, thirty-seven agree, one hundred and eight oisagree, ar.d sixty-two strongly disagree so that there is an over­ whelming majority agains: compulsory study. With cO, thirteen strongly 1 99 agree, one hundred and eight agree, eighty-two disagree, and ten strongly uisagree. Tiius there is a fairly close vote on the subject of the truly educated person who must have a knowledge of poetry. Over half agree that there is need of poetry in the life of an educated person but a great majority are against requiring its study. They give honor to the idea but are cold to the implementing of it. IX. Poetry Vs. Prose IX is made up of two statements about the difference between prose and poetry. ho. 73* A. good poem on "Spring" is better than any prose description. ho, h?i Most poems express no tiling wliich could not as well be ex­ pressed in prose. ’With 73, eiglxt are in strong agreement, ninety agree, one hundred and five disagree, and nine strongly disagree so there is fairly even division of opinion. With 1*5, five strongly agree, fifty agree, one hundred and eighteen disagree, and forty-two strongly disagree, so a clear majority is against the fact that prose expresses everything as well as po etry. X.Methods Section X deals with methods CD being on the subject of formal vs. informal study of poetry and (2) dealing with the method of oral read­ ing. ho . 36: More works of poetry should be easily available to increase interest and familiarity. 200 h i* Classes requiring only browsing in poetry would be more helpful than those requiring formal study. No. 57* High school seniors and college fresiimen would enjoy poetry more if allowed to study poetry of their own selection. N o . 39* Poetry can be enjoyed only after making a formal analysis of it. SBs Discussion of kinds of rhyme and marking poetry lines off into ’'feet,1* (the number of accented and unaccented syl­ lables) helps make the music of the poetry more evident. 'With statement 38 tliirty-tliree strongly agree, one hundred, and fortytwo agree, thirty-five disagree, and four strongly disagree; therefore they strongly believe that works of poetry should be more readily avail­ able. With statement 1*7, fourteen say they' strongly agree, ninety-tiiree agree, ninety-four disagree and thirteen strongly disagree so there is an evenly' divided opinion. The reply would seem to indicate that brows­ ing would help but that some aids in the way of teaching and explanation might implement self-direction. With statement 57 forty strongly agree, one Hundred and fifteen agree, fifty-seven disagree and four strongly disagree. Here a large majority clearly agrees that students would enjoy poetry more if allowed to do their own choosing. It seem permissable to deduce from these expressions that students would like better a greater leeway in the choice of poetry which could be implemented greatly by adequate browsing rooms . Their own choices could then be brought to class for the aid of the teacher who could increase the understanding of cQl the stueent who would then browse further because of more mature knowieo~e ana interest. Statements 39 and 56 deal with a formal study of poetry. With 39 sen strongly agree, fifty-nine agree, one hundred an.i nineteen disagree mo thirty-two strongly disagree. With 56 seventeen strongly agree, one hundred and thirty agree, sixty-one disagree, an- eleven strongly isagree. '*~ eet" Thus, strangely, alarge majority vote for the formal study of inpoetry out in 39 they say strongly that poetry ooes not need a formal analysis for enjoyment, but n eds informal study insteaa. Since in later personal interviews, almost without exception, students spoke of hating "iambic pentameter" and their lack of comprehension of what it was all about, it seems lik-dy that they are advocating here some means to aa~m nt understanding, and lack an exact knowledge of what the question indicates. Most students sale they cannot learn it without help and per­ haps this is, in their minds, one way of getting help. Oral reading as a method of learning poetry is discussed in state­ ments p6, 55, and 67. No. lib: Since poetry was written to be read aloud there is nc enjoyment in reading it silently. No. 55: Good oral reaoing of poetry by the teacher without comment, discussion, testing, and marking would increase the pleasure and value of it. No. o7: Poetry which is lyrical is more enjoyable when rear aloud. h’ith u S ,' four strongly agree, twelve agree, one hundred ana fiftyfive oisagree, and forty-three strongly disagree. With 55, thirty-six 202 j a g r e e , fifty-six agree, ninety-four uisagree, ano twenty-seven strongly disagree. This Keans that there is a majority who would like the oral reading method but a sizeable number 'would not like this method. ,‘. i t h c 7 , fifteen strongly agree, one hundred and fifty-two agree, forty- four cisagree, ana two strongly disagree. prefer lyrical poetry read aloud. Therefore a large majority At the same time the high disagreement with statement u6 shows that students also like to read poetry silently, or at least since they have probably done mostly silent reading tltey are in the habit of so reading it. Inventory of Student Attitudes Toward Poetry Teacldng Two hundred and eighty students enrolled in the Written and Spoken English course of Michigan State College ansv;ered Section 2 of the Inven­ tory of Student Attitudes Toward Poetry Teaching. Of these, two hundred an: seventy-three are freshmen, three are sophomores and four are juniors. One hunored ana sixty-three are males and one hundred, and seventeen are females. Twenty are 17 years old, one hundred and seventy-nine are 18 years old, forty-nine are 19 years old, and thirty-two are 20 years or older. Forty-five have lived on farms most of their lives, forty-one in villages from 250 to 2,500 population; seventy-one in towns from 2500 to 75,000 population; fifty-six in cities from 25,000 to 100,000 population; and, sixty-seven in cities over 100,000 population. As with those students who answered Section 1 of the Inventory, these were asked their experience in stuaying poetry so that a check could be made of their ability to answer questions. Twenty-one had studied 203 clmost n: poetry ana found it difficult to answer questions because of lack cf experience. Two hundred and twenty-eight have never studied poetry in a special course but only as a very brief part of English course oixt-ean had studied poetry extensively throughout grade ana high school work. Nine felt that study r lack of it in school had never affected their attitude toward poetry as they learned it for themselves. Finally, seventeen had two or more courses in grade or high school and gained greatly from them. This indicates that the overwhelming majority of stu­ dents have had comparatively little teaching about poetry. Poetry Teaching Methods Questions 6-65 inclusive are on poetry teaching methods wliich were answered on a double key. The first was in regard to the use of the method designated and the second was in regard to the student's opinion of the method. Kay A is* 1. Never used it, (2) Seldom used it, (3) Occasionally used it, (U) Frequently used it, (5) Used it exclusively. Key 3 is* 1. Since I have never experienced this method I have no re­ action to it; 2. Feel that had this method been used it would have helped in my understanding and liking; 3. This way had no influence on my liking or disliking poetry; h. This way contributed to my favorable attitude toward poetry; 5. This way contributed to my unfavorable attitude toward poetry. For statements 6-36 "formal lectures from notes on poetry previously assigned in the text from which all poetry selections were taken" two nundrea and four said teachers never used it, forty-five answered seldom, twenty-six answered occasionally, five frequently, and one exclusively. 20k Only 2US answered according to Key 3. Of these, one hundred and eighty seven indicated no reaction since they had no experience, seventeen felt that the method, if used, would have helped understanding and liking, thirty-eight indicated no influence, and seven said it contributed to a favorable attitude. On questions 7-37, seventy-four had not eaqcerienced "informal lectures without notes on previously assigned poetry from the text," fifty three seldom, seventy occasionally, seventy-two frequently, and eleven exclu­ sively. Only two hundred and fifty-six students answered 3? about which seventy have too little experience for reaction, thirty-fcur would have liked to try the method, seventy-eight say the method had no influence, sixty seven feel it contributed to their liking, and seven feel it con­ tributed to their dislike. "Class discussion on previously assigned poetry" is statement 8-38. Of 228 answering statement 6, twelve never experienced it, fourteen selcorr., twenty-five occasionally, one hundred and twenty-two frequently, and fifty-five exclusively. Eight students had no reaction; twenty-five would have liked it; seventy felt it had no influence; one hundred and thirty-four felt it added to liking; and, seventeen felt it added to dislike. "Assigned poetry studied individually in the classroom with the teacher serving as consultant" (9-39) elicited llli never, 68 seldom, 60 occasionally, and 32 frequently. Of 259 answers to Key B, 102 had no re­ action, 25 would have liked it, 72 felt it had no influence, UO indicated it added to their liking, and twenty said it added to their dislike. 205 MIndividual students reporting on assigned poetry to assembled class with teacher and class criticism” is the statement of 10-1*0. One hundred and forty never used itj seventy-two seldom; fifty-one occasionally, and seventeen report frequent use. sively. Nobody had known it to be used exclu­ One hundred and twenty-one had no reaction because of no experi­ ence, thirty feel it would have helped, sixty-four feel it makes no difference, twenty-three that it added to their favorable attitude, and twenty-two to their unfavorable attitude. "Individual student-reading of teacher-assigned material such as the life of an author or authors, the poems of a period, etc." is number 11-1*1. It was given thirty-five never, eighty-three seldom, ninety occasionally, fifty-six frequently and sixteen exclusively. Of these forty-one had no reaction, twenty-seven would have liked it, eighty-five felt it had no influence, seventy said it added to their liking and thirty-seven said it their dislike. This totals only 260 answers out of the 280. "Assignment of several poems and their authors for report next day without previous help or clarification by the teacher" was 12-1*2. Ninety- sight never, seventy-eight seldom, fifty-four occasionally, thirty-nine frequently, and eleven exclusively were the answers. Of 258 answers to Key B there were eighty-six with no reaction, eleven would have liked it, sixty-two indicated no influence, twenty felt it added to liking, and seventy indicated it added to their dislike. Questions 13-1*3 dealt with "silent reading of poems in class, questions allowed, with further assignment for discussion on the following day." This elicited eighty nine never, seventy-eight seldom, sixty-eight occasionally, forty frequently, and seven exclusively. Of two hundred an? forty-nine answers, eighty indicated no reaction, twenty-five would nave liked it, sixty eight indicated no influence, fifty-six felt it added to liking, while twenty felt it added to dislike. "Assignment of poems one day, these poems read aloud by students the following day, followed by discussion" was the method of lli-ljli eliciting fifty-two never, forty-eight seldom, seventy-seven occasionally, eighty*? seven frequently, and twenty-six exclusively. For UU, forty-three in­ dicated no reaction, twenty-eight felt it would have helped, fifty-3ix feel no influence either way, one hundred and ten say it added to their liking, and twenty-one say to their disliking. Questions 15-^5, "Head aloud by the teacher, assignment for further study, and discussion and clarification on following day or days" drew t-liirty-nine never, sixty-eight seldom, ninety-four occasionally, sixtysix frequently, and thirteen exclusively. For answer to Key B there are fcrty-five never, thirty-five seldom, sixty-six occasionally, ninety-one frequently, and twenty exclusively. "Interpretive reading by teacher without comment, discussion, testing and marking was statement 16-Uo. Students answered one hundred and fifty- five never, eighty four seldom, twenty-eight occasionally, eleven fre­ quently, and two exclusively. For reaction one hundred and thirty-three indicated none, ten thought they would have liked it, fifty-two feel it has no influence, twenty-three feel it addea to their liking, and sixtytwo to their disliking. 207 "Interpretive reading by teacher of student-chosen poetry followed by discussion led by students" are questions 17-U7. These elicited one hundred and sixty-one never, sixty-two seldom, thirty occasionally, fif­ teen frequently, and three exclusively. Students to the number of one hundred and seventeen indicated no reaction, fifty-two might have liked it, eighty-eight felt it had no influence, fifty-two feel it added to their liking, and eight to their dislike. Statements 16-li8 are* "Compulsory memorization of poems required by teacher or by the course of study." Twenty-nine students never memorized, seventy-four seldom, ninety-one occasionally, seventy-two frequently, and fourteen exclusively. Thirty have no reaction to memorization because of lack of experience, four think it might have helped, sixty-one felt it had no influence either way, forty feel it added to their liking, and one hundred and twenty-three feel it added to their dislike. "Presentation of poetry by phonograph records," statements 18-1+9, elicited one hundred and sixty-six never, forty-oight seldom, forty-nine occasionally, seventeen frequently. Of these one hundred and nine had no reaction, 58 think it might have added to liking, eighteen feel it is of no influence either way, seventy indicate it added to their liking, and five to their dislike. "A browsing room or shelf with many available books of poetry for enjoyment of individual who is free to report on anything he likes," statements 20-50, was answered never by one hundred and fifty-eight, seldom by sixty-seven, occasionally by thirty-seven, frequently by sixteen, and exclusively by two. No reaction was the answer of one hundred and 208 twenty-one, thought it might have helped 60, feel no influence either way 51, added to liking 21, and detracted from 2. "A listening room with many poetry records available for the pleasure of the individual1* was the statement of questions 21-51 which received as answers an overwhelming majority of two hundred and sixty-five never, eight seldom, four occasionally, and three frequently. Incomplete answers to statement 51 show one hundred and sixty-one had no reaction because of lack of experience, eighty-five think it would contribute, eight feel it does not affect liking either way, eight feel it added to their liking, and two that it took away. Statement 22-52 was answered* "Students present interpretive read­ ings," elicited lack of reaction on the part of one hundred and thirtynine j seventy-six think it would have helped, sixty-one feel it had no influence, eleven think it might have been good, and two feel it contributed to their dislike. To statement 23-53, "Students act out idea or plot when such is suit­ able there were one hundred and twelve with lack of experience enough to have no reaction, thirty-six who think it might have added, fifty who feel it would not influence either way, fifty who feel it added to their liking, and thirteen that it took away. "Poetry taught in Choral Reading group in which interpretive reading is done by the whole class," statement 2i+—5^U-1 gained one hundred and eightyseven never, fifty-six seldom, twenty-seven occasionally, nine frequently, and one exclusively. No reaction was indicated by one hundred and forty- eight, twenty-one think it might have helped, forty-one feel it had no 209 influence, twenty-five that it added to liking, and thirteen that it added to dislike. "Individual allowed to choose his field of study in poetry making it available to the class when he feels he has something worth-while; teacher consulted only when needed," statement 25-55, was never experienced by two hundred and thirty-two, seldom experienced by twenty-nine, occasionally oy fifteen, frequently by five, and exclusively by one. To this method one hundred and fifty-three had no reaction, fifty-six think it might have helped, nineteen feel that it had no influence, twenty-one like poetry more because of it, and seven dislike it more. Statement 26-56 was "Poems from the text read aloud by an untrained teacher with a poor voice," This received answers of two hundred and four with no experience of this method, forty-six who seldom experienced it, eighteen who occasionally experienced it, eight who frequently experi­ enced it and four who experienced it exclusively. method were* Reactions to this one hundred and seventy-one with no reaction, seven who feel it might have helped understanding and liking (showing an evident lack of thought on the answer), twenty-two who felt it affected them in neither liking nor disliking, and twelve who felt it made them like poetry better. The answers to such a statement indicating that it did not affect liking, or might have made poetry more attractive show up part of the weakness of trying to get opinion of students. That maijy, at least, were not using their brains and were obviously putting down answers at random. it does not affect the total pattern of the answers. However, 210 "Recording on wire or record of poetry read by each individual stu­ dent," statement 27-57, received the answers* never used it, two hundred and thirty; seldom, nineteen; occasionally, twenty-three; frequently, seven and, exclusively, one. Since they lacked experience with the method one hundred and forty-six expressed no reaction, sixty-two think the use of it might make poetry more likeable, twenty-two feel it would not affect the liking or disliking, forty-four believe it made poetry better for them, and two said it affected them adversely. "Students encouraged and taught to rephrase poetry in prose form with the object of making meaning easier," was the method questioned in 28-56, eliciting eighty-eight never, seventy seldom, eighty occasionally, twentyeight frequently, and ten exclusively. Of these, sixty-nine had no re­ action because of lack of experience, fifty-one think it might have made them like poetry more, forty-four feel it would not influence either way, fifty-six that it increased their liking for poetry, and twenty-five that it decreased their liking. * "Assignments of several pages of poetry in a text on which you re­ ported as to why the poems included were *good poems,1" was the phrasing of statement 29-59. Never received one hundred and two answers, seldom ninety-eight, occasionally fifty-two, frequently twenty-nine, and exclu­ sively one. To this method ninety-two had no reaction, nineteen feel it might have helped them like poetry, eighty-one feel it would not matter either way, forty-three feel it helped them like poetry, and twenty-nine that it helped them dislike it. 211 Statement 30-bG was wordedi "Requirement of written impressions on previously assigned poetry together with a written study of author or authors." To question thirty eighty-three answered never, ninety-one seldom, fifty-eight occasionally, forty-two frequently, and five exclu­ sively. To this method seventy had no reaction, sixteen feel that it might have been helpful, seventy-eight that it would not influence either liking or disliking, forty-six that it helped them like poetry, and fiftyseven that it added to their dislike. "Poems studied with major emphasis on grammatical construction and rhyme and meter schemes (i.e. a-b-,a-b, etc. and reference to iambic pentameter, spondee, etc.) statement 31-61, elicited fifty never, fortyfive selaom, ninety-three occasionally, sixty-five frequently, sixteen exclusively. To this thirty-eight had no reaction, seventeen think it might have added to their liking had it been used, seventy-seven feel it had no effect either way, eighty-two feel it added to their liking, and seventy-five that it added to their dislike. "Poetry studied from historical viewpoint* history of poet, the poem in relation to the time it was written, compared to other poems of its time, placing it in a *period* or style of writing, poets of a nation (English, American, etc.), statement 32-62, was answered never by twentysix, seldom by forty-eight, occasionally by ninety-eight, frequently by eighty one, and exclusively by twenty-seven. Twenty answered that because of lack of experience they had no reaction, twenty feel it might have added if used, seventy-one feel that it makes no difference either way, one hundred and nine said that it added to their liking for poetry, and thirty that it added to their dislike. 212 Statement 33-63 was "Study of poems by types--ballads, odes, epics, etc.” elicited never from twenty-six, seldom from twenty-seven, occasionally from eighty-six, frequently from one hunared and eight, and exclusively from thirty-tliree. at Use of this method affected twenty-two not all because of no experience, twelve think it might have been good, ninety-two that it made no difference, sixty-four that it added to their liking, and nineteen that it added to their dislike. "Students present oral programs of poetry they have liked for assembly programs or for their classes," statement 3^-6U, was answered by two hundred and eighteen that they never used it, forty-five seldom, twelve occasionally, five frequently, and one exclusively. One hundred and ninety-seven expressed no reaction because of no experience; fortythree think they might have liked it; fifteen feel it would neither add nor detract; twenty-three that it added to their liking, and one that it caused more dislike. The final method, statement 35-65, "Study of poem by whole class followed by individual demonstration of understanding and appreciation such as one person memorizing the poem, another writing music for it, another illustrating it by drawings or wood carvings, etc." received two hundred and forty-eight never answers, seventeen seldom answers, thirteen occasional answers, one frequent, and one exclusive. One hundred and sixty-seven had no experience and resulting reaction, forty-five feel that it would have helped, seventeen feel it would make no difference, thirteen that it added to their liking, and seventeen that it added to their dislike, Evidently an overwhelming majority of this group never 213 -aere taught so that any creative work resulted as a product of the learn­ ing of poetry. Inventory of Student Attitudes Toward Testing Methods Numbers 6o-76 are statements of testing practices sometimes used in teaching poetry. The student was asked to comment on the statement, or answer the question, by marking according to Key A* 1. The usual practice; 2. Sometimes used this practice; 3. Never used tliis practice. Statements 79-91 were these same statements to be answered accord­ ing to Key 3* 1. Tills practice contributed to my favorable attitude toward poetry; 2. This practice had no influence on my liking or dislik­ ing poetry; 3. This practice contributed to my unfavorable attitude toward poetry; U. Feel tliat had this practice been used it would have helped in my understanding and liking; S . Since I never experienced this practice I have no reaction to i t . These double answer statements are discussed in the following pages. The first testing practice was expressed* covering entire term*s work." "Final examination usually This was the statement of questions 66-79, the first of which elicited one hundred and ninety-five answers that this method was the usual practice, sixty that it was sometimes used, and twenty-six that it was never used. The attitudes toward it were thus expressed* twenty-five that the practice contributed to favorable atti­ tude, one hundred and fifty-four that it had no influence, fifty-six that it contributed to unfavorable attitude, one person felt that he would have liked poetry more if this practice had existed in his study 21 h I,which leads to suspicion of his carelessness), and twenty-three had no reaction oecause of no experience with the method. Of the stucents answering the 67-60 statement "Objective tests scoreci by students," twenty-eight said it was the usual practice, one hundred and twenty-one that the method was sometimes used, and one hundred and thirty-one that it was never used. scncols use objective tests in their poetry teaching. Evidently few high Twenty saidsuch a practice made a favorable attitude; one hundred and thirteen claimed no influence; nineteen say it made an unfavorable attitude; 12 feel they might have liked it; one hundred and two have no experience. Statement 66-61, "Essay tests scored by students," received twentysix replies that it was the usual practice, fifty-two that it was some­ times used, two hundred and two that it was never used. Of these, twenty-two feel it contributed, forty-six that it had no influence, twenty-tliree that it made an unfavorable attitude, nine feel that it might have helped, and one hundred and sixty—one have no reaction. "Oral quizzes* was the method of 69-62 to which expression of atti­ tudes was requested. Xt received forty-eight answers of usual practice, one hundred and sixty-one of sometimes, seventy-one never. Of these fifty-four think it contributed to their favorable attitude, ninety-three that it had no influence, thirty-two that it contributed unfavorably, nineteen feel they would have liked this practice, and sixty-two that they have no reaction. Statement 70-63 was "Required interviews with students* eliciting fourteen answers that it was the usual practice, forty that it was 215 sometimes used, ana two hundred and twenty-six that it was never used. There seems little douot that this method is unpopular with teachers. For the answer of 8 3 , thirteen said that this method contributed to tneir favorable attitude, twenty-seven that it had no influence, eleven that it contributed to an unfavorable attitude, twenty-five that it might have helped, and one hundred and eighty four had no reaction because of no experience. ~ To statement 71-8U, "Ask students to grade themselves," twelve answers were received that it was the usual, one hundred and fourteen that it was sometimes used, and one hundred and fifty-four that it was never used. Twenty i'elt this practice added to their favorable attitude, eighty-two that it had no influence either way, fourteen that it added to an un­ favorable attitude, eleven that it could have been helpful, and one hundred and thirty-two have no experience. "Ask students to grade each other** is the practice in 72-85 to which two hundred and sixty—six people replied, seven saying it was the usual practice, one hundred and twenty-four sometimes used, and one hundred and thirty—five never used. Seventeen feel this practice contributed, ninety—two feel it had no influence, twenty—four tliat it contributed to an unfavorable attitude, nine that it might have helped, and one hundred and twenty-four that they had no experience. "Grades largely based on term*s assigned written work," statement 73-86, received eighty-three replies of usual practice, one hundred and •thirty—six sometimes used, and sixty—one never used. Of these, twenty- one feel it contributed to their liking, one hundred and twenty-two 216 that it had no influence, fifty-three that it contributed to dislike, ten that it might have helped, and fifty-two had no reaction. "Open book examination," the practice mentioned in statement 7U-87 received nine answers that it was the usual practice, one hundred and four sometimes used, and one hundred and sixty-seven never used. reactions weret The forty-two that it contributed, sixty-one that it had no influence, seven that it added to unfavorable attitude, twenty-seven that such a practice might have helped, and one hundred and thirty-four had no experience . "examination on detail of content! for instance, name of hero*s horse , color of heroine*s hair, material of footnotes," statement 77-90, received fifty-one answers that it was the usual practice, one hundred ana forty-five sometimes, eighty four never. Of these, twenty-five felt it contributed, fifty-seven that it had no influence, one hundred that it contributed to unfavorable attitudes, four that it might have helped, and seventy-two had no reactions because of no experience. The final testing practice, "Examination practice chosen by students who write their own questions," 78-91, received ten answers that it was usu­ ally used, sixty-eight sometimes, and one hundred and ninety-three never. Their attitudes to this were* thirty think it contributed, forty-four that it had no influence, twelve that it contributed to unfavorable atti­ tude, and twenty-two that it might have helped, and one hundred and fortyeight had no experience, therefore no reaction. 217 Inventory of Student Attitudes Toward Teachers Traits and personality characteristics of teachers as well as their knowledge of the subject and their ability to present that knowledge is conceded by the experts to be an important factor in whether or not stu­ dents like poetry. A list of these traits and abilities was made and the students were asked, first, if the teacher possessed them, and then how the possession or lack of the characteristic or ability affected the student*s liking of poetry. In the experimental inventory, space was allowed for answers about only one teacher, the students being asked to evaluate the teacher most remembered for good or ill. But students said it was confusing, that some could remember two and to talk of only one was not likely to be accurate under such circumstances, Therefore, in the final inventory space was provided for the student to tell about two teachers with the direction that if he could remember well only one to omit the second. That accounts in part for the re­ duced number of answers after question 175* the number of answers here was that of time. Another factor which affected In spite of the fact that all the questions were double and need be read only once,although answered twice, comparatively few finished the entire section 2 of the inventory. Its length proved to be a weakness. Because the student had to answer first "yes" if the characteristic as stated was a possession of the teacher and then say how it affected him, or to say “no" if that were the right answer, and then say how that affected him, it proved confusing. It was necessary to check each individual answer. Totals proved nothing. 2X 8 They were given in the previous table but, as such, could not be inter­ preted. Therefore, each question which was answered nyes** was counted separately from the same question which was answered nno.n ing table clears up the difficulty. The follow­ It also shows i*ow many people quit because of lack of time and on which question. In the individual check-up four or five people were found to be consistently confused in their answers. However, their valueless answers did not affect the total picture. Neither did the percentage of opinion about the second teacher deviate in any great way from opinion about the first although there were fewer answers. YES 1 2 3 1* 5 1 2 5 2 1*6 3 12 8 1* 97 113 5 2 1* 2 1* 3 6 1* 5 1*0 83 90 13 8 11 2 1 26 11 99 26 26 21 33 22 30 1*9 20 28 10 1*2 25 37 22 3 3 1* 3 6 11 11 10 2 31 27 9 18 21 20 17 9 9 7 1 10 5 5 10 8 131* 135 136 13? 136 139 11*0 11*1 li*2 11*3 11*1* 11*5 11*6 11*7 9 16 10 11*8 5 11*9 150 151 1* 152 153 15*4 155 6 2 1 6 3 6 10 ii* 8 1* 2 7 5 5 5 9 1* 3 2 3 5 6 2 3 2 1* 19 5 3 6 1* 2 7 6 10 1 3 6 5 88 36 82 1*1* 1 2 92 5 2 1 11 13 3 11* 2 2 1* 1 6 1* 6 6 1* 1* 5 6 6 5 6 8 1* 3 6 6 6 1* NO 3 11* 11* 1* 1 73 51* 33 17 1* 1 25 69 1*5 22 1* 1 33 1 17 37 3 62 52 55 1*7 67 51* 15 3 82 38 55 51 1*8 1*6 61* 61 69 59 77 60 68 1*3 £ Number Stopping on Question 1 3 9 12 6 9 9 1*1* 9 13 13 8 13 8 1 2 2 3 1 2 2 5 1* 6 8 5 7 16 7 1 1 2 1 C o n tin u e d n e x t p a g e 219 1 15o 157 158 159 100 161 162 163 16U 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 17 h 175 218 219 220 221 222 223 YES 3 2 k 11 5 5 3 3 6 1 7 6 3 1 2 7 17 12 3 2 7 1 2 2 3 U 6 10 5 1 6 3 2 3 3 3 a 2 2 8 3 1 3 2 1 1 2 1 1 22 12 9 7 16 28 22 15 30 8 12 26 2k 7 1*5 ia 10 35 20 102 11 5 6 15 5 7 22k 225 1 226 229 230 231 232 233 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 23k 3 235 3 1 227 228 236 237 238 239 2 2 3 1 2 2 2 3 6 9 9 6 3 3 5 7 a 9 3 6 2 2 2 1 3 3 2 2 h 1 5 7 8 k 3 1 1 7 1 3 1 3 2 a 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 53 2 3 62 5a 72 2 9 2 83 53 3 56 a 2 a6 5 5 13 15 1 7 9 10 1 9 1 3 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 9 12 8 15 1 1 1 1 2 NO 3 2 a 3 a 7 2 2 2 a 6 a 3 1 5 1 9 8 8 3 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 1 2 2 18 7 6 11 ia 13 15 7 6 6 7 12 11 6 9 5 5 11 11 9 1 7 2 6 1 2 a a 6 a 1 3 2 2 2 2 3 1 2 50 59 38 as 37 aa 25 53 85 69 58 11 37 112 15 a3 as 3a 95 ia 7 1 10 7 6 8 11 6 8 3 13 20 ia 15 a 16 10 11 13 20 13 16 h 5> 18 aa a7 63 3 1 8 12 10 10 16 8 5 2 58 6 a9 a7 2 3 9 3 ai 56 6 6 1 1 13 1 1 1 ia 1 1 a 8 7 1 3 a 7 9 8 8 5 C 5 a 8 a 5 7 a 6 1 1 Number Stopping on Question a 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 5 103 2 1 2 a 2 5 3 2 2 1 3 2 3 2 1 1 3 1 1 1 C o n tin u e d n e x t p a g e 220 1 2h0 2hl 2h2 2/i3 2U; 2U5 2U6 2ii7 2h8 2k9 250 251 • 252 253 2$U 255 256 257 256 259 XKS 3 2 2 5 2 2 C 3 1 2 2 1 1 3 5 1 2 2 1 7 1 k 3 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 9 8 5 2 6 3 5 8 8 2 11 ii 2 7 10 15 no k 1 £ 5 l l l 3 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 8 7 11 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 10 l 1 1 2 1 1 1 a 5 i 1 10 5 2 3 2 1 1 3 3 2 1 2 2 3 2 3 3 2 2 5 3 1 3 13 17 11 16 7 10 7 15 17 11 9 2 11 22 5 8 11 12 ie 7 ii 6 10 9 2 1 8 2 12 3 2 1 1 1 7 10 1 5 Number Stopping on Question 2 2 1 1 3 3 1 2 1 h h 1 2 1 2 3 3 3 30 221 APPENDIX C PERSONAL INTERVIEWS WITH STUDENTS Interviews With Eighteen People Who Answered the Attitudes-Inventory Nine People Who Like Poetry Very Much These nine were chosen by taking every other answer sheet of the twenty-one who said in the Inventory that they like poetry very much. There were three women and six men. First Woman This student is twenty, a sophomore, and lives in a town in the 2500 to 25,000 population group. poetry as a pastime. She likes to read and often reads She has always had around her collections of poetry and keeps them with her in college because of her fondness for poetry, believing that if more poetry were easily available, more people would at least try to read it. At least part of this springs from the fact that her parents read to her continuously until she learned to read although she says they were too busy to read poetry for themselves. makes her like to hear poetry read aloud. This habit of hearing poetry This liking was augnented by a teacher in high school who was a very good reader. She did not like the teacher whom she considered too old in ways and too narrow in thought for young people. She did not like the teacher*s plainness in looks, but since she read poetry well nothing else mattered. Another teacher in the eighth or ninth grade was a "lovely" person who dressed well, was popular with the students who enjoyed her classes. 222 This teacher was active in extra-curricular activities with the young people who did not mind that she was old in years because she was young in spirit. Her method of teaching was to read to students. The student can remember "Snowbound," "Ancient Mariner," "Vision of Sir Launfal." Among some modern poetry she remembers "Chicago." The teacher would lead a discussion with the students thus clearing up any difficulties. This student says this is the method she woulc recommend today for all study. Students cannot adequately learn entirely by themselves so they need help; they do not want detailed and boring discussion. This discussion should not be in the middle of the reading and thus interfere with the loveliness and the mood, but should follow as students ask for it or as the teacher feels certain difficulties should be cleared. She has had all. one class in poetry in collegeand did not like it at They had a prescribed textbook but she liked that and considers the teaching at fault. Detailed analyzing, memorization or rhythmical methods, prevalence of discussion rather than reading the material took away all the pleasure. This student feels that class work ought to give a picture of the whole poem with leads from the teacher as to the mean­ ing, details of which should be secured through private reading. She feels that the music of poetry can easily be apparent without analysis. The student believes that poetry reading is more difficult than prose but that the results are worth it. One discrepancy in her answers was that she agreed with the statement that poets write a language only they understand. When asked how she understood this statement, she ex­ plained that she thought it referred to the fact that no two people 223 can get the same meaning, or that no one can get the exact meaning of a poet. She remembers studying poetry only around 7th, 8th, or 9th grade, and the one other high school teacher. is all she has learned in school. That plus the one college course She feels that all people should study poetry but resents compulsion; says that she has no electives left and therefore cannot take another course. Second woman This student is a fresliman, 18, who lives in a city of over 100,000 population. She reads often for pastime but not poetry because it is not easily available. The early habit of owning books of poetry has evident­ ly been broken because she has only one personal copy which she bought as a gift for a room-mate and kept when she became interested in reading it. She feels that more people would read poetry if books were avail­ able and handy. As early as five years of age parents and friends gave her books of poetry with pictures she remembers vividly. gifts were of this variety. Many Cliristmas That fact, coupled with her father*s recit­ ing to her many favorite bits of poetry, started her liking for poetry. She remembers little teaching in, the grades. In the sixth grade of a parochial school a woman came in and recited poetry using gestures and acting it out. She required the students to know the poem the following week and also to act it out. This left an unfavorable im­ pression. In high school, teachers mostly read poetry aloud from books. tenth grade English instructor "loved" poetry and read it aloud A 22k frequently, following the reading by explanation. He explained the difficult words not demanding that students look them up. He did not do any detailed explanation of "feet” and rhythm in poetry saying that would come later. There was a small amount of memorization which this student enjoyed, remembering "Little Boy Blue" vividly. in the text. That poem was She says all the boys liked the teacher and enjoyed poetry although they would not admit it. The teacher liked it so much and read it so well that they said "it sounds nice when he reads it," The student has heard poetry on the radio and likes that method of listen­ ing also. Much of the poetry read and studied was by American poets; some by English poets which she likes also, She feels nationality makes little difference. She likes j&nily Dickinson whose poetry she calls "light" poetry and thinks it quite simple. She says she has read little modern poetry, however, but is familiar mostly with classics because they were in the books used as texts. She thinks simpler books would be better as a beginning text. She remembers Longfellow and Poe because they were included often in the literature texts; she also knows Tennyson, Browning and Whitman on whom she once wrote a paper. She believes that at least one compulsory course would be advisable because most students are too busy to have time to read poetry and without the required course they will never get acquainted with poetry to know if they like it or dislike it. When re­ questioned about her own lack of reading poetry in spite of her love of poetry she reiterated that lack of time and books prevented her reading, 225 Third Woman This student, a fresliman eighteen years old, living in a village in the 250 to 2500 population group, reads little for pastime, and likes fiction when she does read. There were few poetry materials available in her home and her parents read it infrequently. always read it, occasionally, with great pleasure. She has She thinks that girls go through a period of disliking poetry as boys seem to d o . She has always liked poetry and can remember no influence wliich seemed to cause this liking. She seems to remember none in the grades but had quite a lot of poetry in the very small high school which she attended. Somewhere along the way she studied ’’Snowbound'* about which she made a book con­ taining pictures, the life of the author, character sketches, etc. She still owns this book which she did as a project. The English teacher was very fond of poetry and consequently gave at least half of the English course to studying it. The teacher was a good reader and followed her oral reading to the class by discussion. Unfortunately, the teacher's personality was much le3s pleasing than her oral reading ability. The boys in the class had a negative attitude because of her although this girl said she didn't mind. Since in her small tdLgh school they had the same teacher all the time, this student studied with her three years, and results were not good. Outside the class, the student says, the teacher seemed to be allright. In the class she became another person giving special attention to the boys but doing it in such a ’’silly'* way that it was most 226 objectionable. Her "very poor teaching personality" was marked by severe mannerisms such as sitting on the desk and crossing her legs conspicuously, snapping her girdle, and like manifestations. The stu­ dent did not know her previous teaching experience nor her personal background but there were rumors and she was eventually asked to leave. The boys were in a continual state of disturbance, scorn, and resentment. Very little memorization was required, and this student feels she would not like that method of studying poetry. She emphasized the need for understanding which she felt was achieved by this teacher»s method of first reading aloud ana then discussing difficulties. She feels that listening pleasure probably would be augmented after studying the poem for understanding. Listening is fairly difficult for her although there was one radio program entitled "And The Night Shall Be Filled With Music" which she enjoyed. However, although saying she enjoys reading poetry, and feels that facilities for browsing would greatly aid enjoyment, she reads little and does not make opportunities for herself. She had no objection to thechoice of poetry in her literature book saying that since it was a big book there was a great deal of choice, and that students choose what they understand. A wider choice in a browsing room would be good, but even her satisfaction with what she knows has not driven her to further reading. First man This freshman student, nineteen, went to school in a small rural grade school where he had the same teacher from grade 1-L, ana another 227 teacher from grades 5-8. There was little time for poetry here. However he had many poetry reading sources in his home and his parents read poetry frequently. He learned to read a great deal for pastime and, while he enjoys fiction most, is now a reader of poetry which giveshim great pleasure. This was not always so as he feels he went through the stage which boys often do of feeling that liking poetry was "sissy." This was aug­ mented by the fact that there were seven girls to one boy in his school and because they liked poetry he associated their liking with a girl's weakness. So it was not for him. Too, the impact of going from the small grade school to alarge 'nigh school with a graduating class of one hundred and forty-three made so abrupt a change that he was not ready for the great difference. says he didn't study too much because he didn't know how. When studying poetry in his freshman year he didn't pay much attention to it. to memorize it and didn't like that. He had The final examination was memoriza­ tion of twelve lines from "The Ancient Mariner." moment and "that was that." He He learned it for the Probably, he says, he didn't mind the memorization but resented being forced to learn it. In his sophomore year the teacher was a "swell guy" and "a regular fellow* who didn't like poetry and therefore didn't teach any but con­ centrated on novels and prose of other kinds. In the junior year they concentrated on Julius Caesar because the regent's examination was coming and they had to pass it, so crammed for the necessary knowledge. senior year they had two or three week's study of Hamlet. In the 228 A l s o , in the senior year he took a speech course studying public speaking, learning to recite "My Last Duchess" and participating in some radio plays. and talk. This gave him enough courage to stand on his feet However, poetry still was unpopular with him. For some reason he had to go to high school for a fifth year. He leisurely perused an English course where he learned to like poetry. Someway, he scarcely knows how, he found there was worth in poetry. . He began "to dig in" and when he got it, he liked it. Wordsworth had great value. "There is so much more in poetry than the average person realizes," he says. because the idea was "terrific." He likes to read "Paradise Lost" He doesn*t pretend to know what it means in places but likes it anyway. reads, he says, are obvious. Shakespeare and Most of the things that a person Poets "beat around the bush and hide mean­ ing" and he finds it worth-while to look behind it and know what they mean. He likes to study an author and his history, finding the personal element interesting and an aid to understanding. The fact that Shelley had tuberculosis ("a pretty rough life") made him more appealing to study; Wordsworth "changed his style between 1802 and 1605** and it was good to know why. Biographies, he feels, should be included in texts for ready reference. He has heard little poetry on records or radio but thinks he would like it. He saw Charles Laughton on television for about two hours and was immensely impressed saying "I never heard poetry recited like that." He says this would increase liking because people could then go back over what had been read and study it for increased meaning. For himself, he 229 is afraid he would never be able to read aloud. His teachers read it orally and then gave help on difficult points which were discussed with the students in class. He thinks this a good method as he "probably wouldn*t have done an assignment" in the days before he became interested. The woman who taught him poetry, in an English course "was a honey she "was so wrapped up in poetry herself that you couldn*t help from liking it." She didn*t give tests and that helped. But he feels the ordinary student would have to be forced to study the text by some means or method as he would not voluntarily study. Second man This sophomore, nineteen, lives in Battle Creek. He has learned to enjoy reading "quite a bit," and often reads for pastime, reading poetry occasionally with great pleasure. He likes biography, science, history, etc. He says the reason he does not read poetry more often although he likes it is because he cannot understand a great deal of it. pared it to his not grasping modern art. He com­ He says the time element is the biggest thing; he has no time to take classes; and when he has an hour, no poetry seems to be around to read. He feels that if there were a browsing room in the library, recorded poetry available, etc. that he would use the spare hour in reading or listening. There were no poetry materials in his home; his parents never read; friends probably influenced him; he believes that boys do not like poetry because they do not understand it; but, that teaching and experiences of late years have caused him to like it. 230 He can remember little poetry study in grade school. He had to memorize "Night Before Christmas" which caused an unpleasant reaction. In ninth grade he also memorized and feels that this method does not help appreciation. He never had a poetry course, as such, and can re­ member only Hamlet which he studied "a little." He remembers his teacher, a Hr. Aiith, whom he credits for his liking of poetry. coached a play in which he took part. This teacher This helped by showing him how to get meaning. Two events seem to have influenced him more than any other. He read the novel written about the life of Walt Whitman which started him studying that poet. He likes difficult things and feels obvious mean­ ings have no appeal so he continues to read poetry which demands thinkh ing and studying saying he looks up the words if there are not too mapy, and delves deeply. He has greatest respect for the writer who creates in such a fashion as to cause interest at first reading and thought about the poem in later contemplation. The other incident which impressed him most was a visit to a poetry class at Harvard the professor of which must have been very good as the student can detail all the class procedures. The instructor read well and showed the difference between the rhythm the author used and the way some people read it. He handled the situation humorously. when it was read like prose, it fell flat. He showed how, He discussed metre, the history of the author, and such things but made them vital so that they motivated. The student has since taken a course at Michigan State College in Literature and Fine Arts and finds it the best thing he ever took. The 231 method was a survey one, a comparison of many things. Many poems were read and the student felt that hearing many gives a great appreciation of a few. "You learn even by the bad ones." He has no patience with intri­ cate study of metre, division, analogies, etc. poetry but is starting backward. Says that is not teaching He says that "when you are learning to drive and enjoying it you do not worry about the carburetor." Technical knowledge will not bring the music of the poetryj it is already there and enjoyment comes first. Later technical knowledge may be of value. He insists that students must have help in classes. "How can you take apart a poem you never read before, for which you have bad no explanation and know no explanation? You, at that rate, will never have an explanation." Third Man This freshman, over twenty, lives in Lansing and reads the little he reads for pastime in biography, history, etc. He had no poetry at home, his parents never read, and now he occasionally reads it with great pleasure for the beauty of the words and the ideas they express. He says it is a matter of time. He has seemed to like poetry since he could read it for himself. Rhyme has always attracted him. "Sing-song" fascinated him as a child; it compared in his mind to music and he found it most enjoyable. He found himself growing to like more complicated rhythm to match a more complicated life. He says he likes "Trees" because it brings out the meaning and when you look at a tree you remember the words and see in a real way what the tree is like. When reminded of the question "too 232 simple poetry hag little appeal” with which he disagreed, he said he didn't understand "too simple" and in addition "Trees" to him is not too simple. It means something! He likes "The khyme of the Ancient mariner" because that "tells a story, tells about life." The first he can remember about poetry in school is a teacher read­ ing aloud to the class. He liked it; it was "something new." He likes oetter reading to himself but if a new poem is presented he likes it read to him, then he reads it to himself for study. He feels it is not necessary to memorize although he has no particular reaction against it. He likes to memorize if it is a "famous" poem or one "well-known" like Gray's "Elegy." He concentrated on the poems in the literature book because they were most often heard about; the few "famous" ones not in the book he found elsewhere. He never stuaiea Shakespeare very much; he liked the story of it; liked the slow music of it which he said was "thoughtful." A Catholic father in a parochial high school who liked poetry very much and knew the subject well read a few poems to the class. stirred up interest. He thus The student said when he got students interested, he assigned other poems to read on their own. The teacher emphasized scanning; brought out the form of the poem and compared it to music; then he had them begin writing poetry of their own. At first it seemed to the student insuperably difficult but when he got the hang of it, he loved it. He was grateful for the training in metrics and technique. He wrote quite a lot in high school, one of his poems being the one read on graduation day. He remembers his laborious start on four lines with 233 an a b a brhyme scheme which he thought very difficult. Eventually he liked the whole process and feels that teachers do not matter so far as liking poetry is concerned. You get an impression when you are young; a teacher stirs it up, and you really learn to like it when you start writing it. He does not often write now but when he starts, spends hours on a single poem. He has no objection to the classics having read them almost exclu­ sively and finding in a large book or books enough choice. He says if students pick their own in a wide choice of classics, enjoying them is a natural thing. Fourth Man This freshman who is nineteen years old lives on a farm. He reads little for pastime and when he reads prefers newspapers, and such magazines as Reader*s Digest, Ladies* Home Journal, etc. He had few books of poetry in his home and his parents read infrequently while he, himself, reads occasionally with the greatest of pleasure. He remembers no influence in his liking for poetry and his first real remembrance of any poetry is from the eight or ninth grade when he studied Lady of the Lake. He liked both the instructor and the method. The male instructor was young, played baseball, was friendly and sympathetic and understood personal problems. However, students seemed most to admire him for his philosophy of life which showed plainest in school when it came time to work. and did not excuse laziness. He required work, was not lenient, Although usually a good student, this stu­ dent fooled around one time and did not study. The teacher promptly 23b marked him down from an "A" to a "C" and gained the student's admiration by so doing. He also remembers another instructor who was a woman and he liked her very much. He had both in the eighth and ninth grades which was his "main time for poetry." Both teachers used the method of assigning the poem ahead of the class discussion. Then they read orally a few lines at a time stopping to explain in detail wherever needed. They related historical stories of Loch Lomondj they provided pictures to make places vivid. had to write a brief narrative summary of each Canto. Each student The man teacher also read "The Pit and The Pendulum" to which he gave a dramatic value. He divided his time between oral reading and explaining previous assign­ ments where they had been difficult. This student actually likes to memorize. The philosophy in a poem when it suited him made it fun to remember. He also particularly likes "Trees." He saw the "Fighting 69th" a movie on the life of Joyce Kilmer and this made the author and his poems live always in the mind of the student. The poems stand out because he heard them read orally. He likes the 23rd Psalm very much also and says that the same quality of beautiful words in prose are attractive to him. This student feels that nearly all the reasons stated in the in­ ventory as to why boys dislike poetry are partially true. But he thinks tliree reasons are strongest* (l) the idea that it is "sissy", (2) poor choice of material and poor teaching, and (3) their inability to under­ stand it which likely stems from poor teaching. He says they are no more likely to revolt against compulsion in learning than girls, and that 235 memory work will not make them hate poetry. They have to memorize Gettysburg Address also and they do not hate it, Fifth Man This freshman, nineteen years old, lives in a town in the 2500 to 25,000 population group. He had a complete library of poetry at home and his sisters liked to read, but his parents never did. He started out with indifference and has only unpleasant memories of grade school where he remembers tliree teachers who all seemed bad tc him. Students felt poetry was forced on them; teachers had no feeling for it; they were merely doing their duty teaching it. and didn* t bother." They "just gave a stiff assignment They were not accommodating and would not help students. This man is not sure they really understood the difficult parts themselves. The student still is indifferent to some kinds of poetry; he prefers "humorous," "easy to read," that from which you "can get a clear under­ standing," and avoids "some that is fairly dry." "The Raven," and "Trees." He likes Shakespeare, He started liking poetry in late grade school and in high school where he studied it in English courses. The school year in English classes was divided between a study of grammar and fine arts; two weeks of grammar and then two weeks of litera­ ture. He liked this because it provided good variety. read on his own and still likes this exploration. He learned to He thinks the best method is an assignment one day so the student studies for himself; then the next day in class the teacher asks questions and if there are places not mastered, gives help. The teacher augments this by personal 236 interviews if there is need. This the student particularly liked. In the first term the student was not doing too well; he iiad a personal interview and through knowledge of the teacher learned to like him; he eventually came to the place where he volunteered to check papers, etc. to create good will. The student feels appreciation of poetry largely stemmed from teachers. All his high school teachers were particularly outstanding* tried to please the students; presented material as a thing to be enjoyed; if poetry was difficult were always ready to help on every point; had such pleasing personalities that students liked being in their classes . Sixth Man This man, a freshman, 19, living in a city in the 25,000 to 100,000 population group, came from a family where he says the cultural back­ ground was only fair and that neither his mother nor father could have made much contribution to liis knowledge of poetry. described as having a negative influence. His parents would be The only thing he can remember in relation to poetry in connection with his mother is that in her grade school work she memorized "Charge of The Light Brigade" and still re­ cited it at intervals. For many years he associated memorization with poetry, thinking the two were synonomous. He can remember that in grade school there was poetry but he had no interest in i t . He feels that there is actually an age when boys dis­ like poetry, not instinctively, but because of the cultural atmosphere. He had a poor introduction to poetry at that time because of the poor choice of material provided; he says that teachers and texts provided poor poetry. 237 He was not a very responsible student when in the grades; his parents allowed him almost complete freedom of which he took advantage to the extent of running away from home many times, hitchhiking once to New York, and many similar things. At fourteen he got into such serious trouble that the juvenile authorities gave him into the custody of his father who was responsible to the law for him. He was confined to his home, being required to be in at ten every night. After two months and in complete desperation he turned to reading. Rather blindly he went to the bookcase and picked out Tolstoy's War and Peace which he doggedly read for two months and one hundred pages without the slightest understanding. Finally, he conquered that book and now says that the first book he ever read was War and Peace. He learned in the same way to read poetry to which he turned for what he says was absolutely necessary emotional release and escape. There was no religious belief in his home and in his struggle he turned to poetry for a philos­ ophy of life. About 16 or 17 he began to think what a wonderful thing it would be if we "could see music like a picture" and then gradually poetry came to mean to him the picture of music. As a senior in high school he had a teacher to whom he gives credit for most of his added interest and his knowledge of poetry. This teacher was a small, frail, very feminine type of woman who had never married because she had a mother to support and because as the student says "she fell in love with Byron." She was a smart and able woman, head of the English Department, and he admired the steel control under the very feminine exterior. 238 Her method was to give them wide choice; she listed a series of tilings and they chose from the series. She never tried to impose on them her likes and dislikes; the student thinks they would have had a mind set against such a choice just because the teacher insisted. She had them write a theme which he still remembers vividly, ”1 Am A Part of All I Have Ever Known.” He came to know her so well he helped read and grade these papers and found the revelations in them amazing. He com­ menced that the students would tell her anything, and did tell her everything about themselves, in these papers, because they trusted her. He found that admirable in a "wonderful instructor." He studied "Paradise Lost" with her and came to appreciate the ex­ pression of her opinion on it. expression. She allowed student opinion and its He was rather shocked, since he thought he knew her so well, and she had allowed such a wide latitude of choice, to have her give a very complete and "stiff" examination. Of her he said, "Until I studied with her I had no attitude toward poetry. I can't remember what I felt like before because I had never related poetry to school; school poetry and the poetry I knew were two different things." This man likes poetry because it is a mature expression of his liv­ ing. He knows what it means because he has lived, however disastrously, and perhaps largely because of disaster, and he recognizes the wisdom of a master mind writing from insight and inspiration. His vocabulary and method of expression are immeasurably beyond the others interviewed; his knowledge makes theirs seem puerile; he does not merely quote long 239 passages of poetry because he has memorized them but because they have tiirust themselves upon him through necessity. His knowledge and love of poetry are not results of surface-imposed cursory covering of material, but engendered by emotion desperately searcldng for an outlet and a discipline. Perhaps the greatest tenet to be learned from his experi­ ence is that poetry to be effective must be about the experience of the person reading it; that it must touch upon the emotional problemsof the reader with force; that if he realizes that it meets his needs hewill be motivated so that no compulsion is necessary. Since most students fortunately lack tliis violent experience, good teaching will show them how they gain experience through reading, and gain maturity to weather future experience. Interviews With Nine Students Who Dislike Poetry In this group there were two women and seven men. First Woman This woman is a freshman, eighteen years old, who lives in a city of over 100,000 population. fiction. She reads often for pastime and prefers She says she can easily understand many or nearly all types of prose but never could understand poetry, cannot understand it today, and can see no reason for trying to read it. The novelist has more room to put down things; more space to include complete ideas is possible; the compressed form of poetry leaves no chance for meaning; the inverted word order makes it hard to understand and takes any possible sense away from it. She says it is impossible for her to understand how anybody can find what a poet is thinking in eight to fourteen lines. She remembers vividly Milton*s "Sonnet On His Blindness" and the innumerable nights she spent trying to figure some sense out of it. doesn't classify Macbeth as poetry. She When asked if there was any modern poetry at all that she liked she said she could understand Carl Sandburg. "His poetry is most like prose"; -'It is about things that I myself know"; I have been to Chicago and can see what he says She claims that she never had a good teacher of literature and poetry. In the grades she had a woman teacher who was the terror of the school. "She was a battle-axe, a man-hater, and thought of nobody but herself." She made than memorize and recite all the poetry with the result that the student "didn't care a hang about it, didn't understand it and was self-conscious." When asked about the age of the woman she replied that she was an older woman but they would not have minded that. She concluded maybe it was because the teacher was a woman"who had no business in school with young children." She "starts you off all wrong; she loved it and was crazy about it, knew a lot about it, but didn*t have the faintest idea how to give it to young children. I remember the actual occasion when she locked me in a room one time without lunch. I held it against her as much as if she purposefully persecuted me." A teacher in high school spoke in a monotone. She read "Beowulf" to them for an entire hour time after time in a complete monotone. The student didn't understand it and the teacher did nothing to help her understand. Beowulf was followed by Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, Shakespeare, Chaucer and Milton. She hated them all. She says she enjoyed Macbeth because it had a plot, a story, actors. didn*t get in her way. screen. The poetry She also enjoyed Hamlet which she saw on the She remembers nothing of what she learned; she worked for a mark, and that was a l l . In M o d e m Literature it was the same thing, according to her version. This teacher could read fairly well, she supposed, but since she never heard poetry well read she was no judge and does not now know if she would like that method. main thought. She made the students explore deeply into the Since they covered a lot of ground the amount of time allotted to getting the thought was not enough and students remained permanently lost. This girl does not want any critic telling her what to read nor what she likes. "If you like it, you like it no says unless you are a wishy-washy person." leading to a final goal. matter what some man "People look for some worth Poetry does not lead to anything. It must have something to do with my living now, and I never find any which does." Second Woman This freshman, eighteen years old, lives in a city over 100,000 popu­ lation, constantly reads for pastime such materials as novels, plays, short stories, etc. Few poetry materials were available in her home, her parents never read poetry and she never reads poetry. it heartily ana finds in it a form of punishment. which she likes but not often. She dislikes She has found some She said she could not remember names because she had not studied for so long a time. In high school she had a few poems the only one of which she can remember is "The Bells" which 21*2 she did not like, and she only remembers not enjoying all the others also. She remembers nThe Raven” , parts of which she liked and parts she did not like. She disliked what she called the ’’sinister” parts which others enjoyed because of the dramatic quality. She thinks that poetry must be easy to interpret or that there must be someone to read it aloud who knows how to interpret. ”If a student is reading for enjoyment and can’t interpret, the enjoyment is gone and dislike occurs.” The instructors she can remember reading aloud made the poem seem unreal to her; they seemed to get something false into the interpretation. "Poetry is something someone has seen or read or felt and must be read like that.” that was good. She can remember no method She heard a few recordings but didn’t enjoy them "maybe because facial and bodily activity helps the interpretation and meaning was thus lost,” She can remember a lecturer at high school who read his own poems and others. He talked about them in such a way as to make everybody appreciate the poems more. was. She cannot remember who the man It is her only pleasant memory of oral reading and she thus prefers to read by herself, if ever* She described her ideal teacher. woman, or if young or old. It made no difference if man or Rice dress is one of the best influences but personality makes a great difference. Any person who "is cranky, tears down what the students say, and does not pay attention to the students," would be a bad teacher. Any teacher who fails to realize that the student is not as far advanced as the teacher is and who demands 2h3 perfection of memorized performance more than enjoyment is a total loss, according to this student. She believes that an educated person should know something about poetry and therefore students will probably have to be compelled to study it. She says you cannot shock them into learning classics by force but if the material is well presented, if sufficient explanation is made to aid understanding, and if the students know wlqr it is good for them to learn it, they will likely learn. First Man This freshman, aged 16, is the son of a teacher in Lansing who has an M. A. from Columbia University and writes poetry. They had few books on poetry in their liome and the parents never read poetry to him. He never liked itj could never seem to get started at understanding it. He reads little for pastime and likes only newspapers and such magazines as Reader *s Digest, etc. He hasnft read a book in a year which was not assigned; probably never read ten books in his life; his pastime is movies. He had recently seen Quo Vadia which he considered "wonderful." He thinks a large part of his trouble stems from the fact that he never really learned to read. He probably had a poor teacher at the beginning; he could call words but could not read. In grade school, two or three people could read well and they would set examples for the rest. Since he could not do as well he was discouraged; he felt the unspoken criticism and would not compete. He says he is competitive only "in important things." He is inter­ ested in making a living; in engineering and learning to build. He can Gee ceauty in concrete things but can't see it in words. This competi­ tive feeling has caused him to learn to read much better in college . Here he "was thrown in to sink or swim," he had to learn. to succeed and didn't want to get ditched." He "wanted Therefore his reading has improved greatly and he is doing well in his field. The way poetry was written caused part of the difficulty. He didn't like it because of "distorted rhymes, twisted lines for poetic license." Also, he said he didn't like it because he could not understand it. The only tliree poems he can remember were in story form so they left an impression. The others did not. He feels that if the meaning were first written in prose, the poetry writing would become clearer. He feels that students probably ought to be compelled to stucftr poetry since it really is a part of education. But for himself there is no tiling that could motivate him now to study poetry which lie considers a waste of time. Second Man Tliis freshman, aged 18, lives in a city over IOC ,OCX) population. He often reads newspapers, magazines sucli as Reader's Digest, etc. reads poetry none and does not like it at all. He There were no books and poetry materials in his home and his parents never read it. He answered the inventory saying there was value in poetry in the moral, for story telling, in truths of living; in the interview he reiterated his belief in a reason for studying poetry but didn't want any for himself. He does not want a critic to tell him what is good; "the wortli of the poem is what the student thinks." However he would not 2hB disagree with the present kind of texts containing classics saying that it is possibly a good way "because probably other people like those poems and that is the way everybody studies the same." He used a regular text in school which was equally divided among ciography, poetry, short stories and novel selections. He cannot remember any of them. Nor can he remember studying any poetry in Junior High school. He liked short stories "probably because they were short," "came to the point quicker." He had four different high school teachers who all seemed to him to teach the same way. Somebody read the poem and at the end students had to answer "them" questions printed at the bottom of the poem. "I couldnft answer them questions but had to make a stab. reading them over and over to try to make sense . Had to keep It is better for the teacher to make explanations." He was forced to memorize a lot which probably had something to do with his dislike. "It didn*t make sense." "I couldn*t figure out what they intended to drive a t ." In his first three years of high school he had a "C" average which was raised to a "B" in his senior year because he liked his subjects better and had a better choice. He said he chose bookkeeping, economics, and typing but English was required. to him but poetry has no value. The first three subjects had value It does not help make a living ana he is interested in learning to make a living. Third Man The freshman, a young man of eighteen lives in a city in the 2h 6 25,000 to 250,000 population group. He reads little for pastime and that from newspapers, magazines such as header*s Digest, Ladies1 Home Journal, Cosmopolitan and Saturday Everting Post. There were few books and maga­ zines of poetry in his home, his parents never read poetry and he never reads poetry now. He feels that the choice of poetry he was given to read had a great deal to do with his dislike. He also remembers several teachers, one of which seemed to be outstanding. He knows that he had a little poetry with his language or English courses in grade school but can remember nothing about them. In fact, he says that his memory of poetry in M g h school is dim "because that was two years ago.*' The one teacher most vividly remembered is a man and he believes he liked the fact that he was a man. He had a good personality which the student described as"human, got along well with students, helped with extra-curricular activities.” He was also described as "smart, knew his material, seemed to know everything, the one man who seemed brilliant." The boy says the teacher tried to teach the students to like poetry, feeling that was the best method but he didn’t succeed in this case although the student believes it is not the fault of the teacher. There was a course of study which had to be followed but he allowed student choice as much as he could. Of all the poems studied the student can remember only one and that indefinitely. He likes Edgar Allen Poe be­ cause he calls it"light reading" and doesn’t look upon it as poetry. Consequently, all the reading in poetry he has done, unless required, is Poe. The teacher read aloud and was judged by the student to have read well. He thinks oral reading is very helpful. Later, he believes the student should read the poem silently for liimself unless it is a poem like "The Raven” which was meant for reading aloud. There was no listen­ ing to recordings or radio and he knows only the reading of the teacher. He was required to do some memory work which he disliked at the time, but later approved of, thinking it had value for the reader. He approves of written reports by the students believing that clari­ fies their thinking. A group of high school students asked his help, after he graduated, on writing a report. He thinks their professed in­ ability to understand was caused by mere laziness as he is able to understand poetry if he tries . He never particularly objected to the written report method simply considering it one of the necessary evils of study and sometliing which had to be done, so he did it. In discussing why he does not like poetry he says he finds it hard to think why he doesn*t. It is not a lack of understanding because he can understand it if he tries, and, also, he enjoys a poem which demands something of him. He likes poems with a philosophy or story. He says of Chaucer*s "Prologue" that at first he didn*t understand it but he "loved to spout it," and he still does. He just likes the sound of the original but now that he has translated the original into meaning it is "too simple" for him. He does not like that kind of story telling. His trouble, according to him, is not that he doesn't know how to read. He claims that he does know how. He also says he has a limited vocabulary but looking up new words is a sort of challenge. He feels 2ii8 different from other people about that and likes to accomplish a diffi­ cult job. The main trouble is time. There simply is no time to do all this. He has the idea that people who know poetry are above the level of other people and are smarter; that probably students should be forced to know something about poetry Decause of need; that wider acquaintance might help, with choice largely left to the student, although probably the student has need of certain poems which should be required. But he says that if choice were left to him he would choose a historical novel and no poetry. When he answered the attitude inventory concerning the poems he can remember, he did not list even one poem and said in the interview with prodding that Poe and Chaucer were all he could remember from any source. Fourth Man This fresliman is eighteen, lives in a village of from 250 to 2500 population, and recently came from a Southern environment which shows definitely in his speech and his attitudes. He was brought up in a re­ ligious atmosphere and when he approves of poetry at all, which is most infrequently, he thinks it ought to have a good moral, an uplifting philosophy, or be the kind that helps one "do some good to others.” On the whole poetry to him is "stuff." He does not like "real long" poems like "The Ancient Mariner" wliich didn't make sense to him. a story but he couldn't follow it. It told He likes a moral more than a story. He didn't like "The Raven"; he could understand it but it didn't concern anything he cared about. He cannot remember any poems wliich he does like« he said he >ias read poems about basketball which were On bexng prodded good but he couldn't ^ 2U9 remember anything about them although he thought one was named "The Champion.11 He likes sports and plays baseball. He says "if the poem is about things you are interested in or really tells something" he likes them. He is not against poetry as such but just against some poems. He studied mostly classical material in school although lie cannot remember details, simply repeating that he is sure most students do not like long poems like "The Ancient Mariner." He does not feel that „classical poetry deals with his experiences and is therefore not valuable. He feels he had too much poetry but that might have been just because he disliked it so much. "The classical stuff" was too much' above the heads of the students . He does not believe that poetry should be required in college, as students by that time are mature enough to make choices . If they need to study poetry, it should be in high school, and if the claims of poetry as a necessity for cultural background were rightly presented, the stu­ dents would probably try harder and like it more. He generally does not like to read and when he does read is inter­ ested only in sports magazines. He thinks lack of training in reading is largely responsible for that attitude. He didn't have enough training in reading in either the grades or high school, remembering no special help in reading, and after the fourth grade just didn't bother to read. Ha was required to read books for book reports and managed on those allright because a choice allowed him to pick stories about baseball or other sports. He reiterated many times the narrow limit of M s interests. 250 If the method included letting him choose what he liked it was a good method and he inevitably chose one thing--something about sports. He heard some reading aloudj some reading he had to do himself which made him react resignedly saying that he didn't mind it, it was just something he txad to do and the fact that he didn’t enjoy it was just part of the struggle. The only teacher he seems to remember was a woman who read aloud wliich he liked. She assigned the poem, read it to them in class, ”kinda went over it and asked questions.” While he com­ plained that ”classical poems are tough to understand” the method of reading aloud and helping the student to understand was good, although he thinks other students would just as soon learn it for themselves . He had quite a bit of memory work but said he didn’t mind too much— ”It was just a part of the job.” He stutters rather noticeably and while it seems not to bother him now, that probably enters into his problem since he says he stuttered very badly as a young boy. He had a private teacher to help him and from his accounts has made a remarkable improvement. He liimself stated tliat he felt his poor reading was partially caused by stuttering but he wasn't seriously bothered by it. The student likes music and thinks he would listen to poetry if there were records around handy. But he prefers song to poetry if given a choice of listening. Fifth Man This frestunan man, eighteen years old, lives in a town in the 250 to 2500 population group, and often reads for pastime such things as 251 newspapers and popular magazines. Few materials for poetry reading were in his home and his parents never read poetry. He never reads poetry except under compulsion and is rather vociferous in his consistent disapproval of all poetry about which he can say nothing good. When check­ ed on a seeming inconsistency in an answer in the inventory, he having said that familiar poems are not the only interesting ones, it was found that he meant that familiar or not familiar, no poems are interesting. He agrees that boys dislike poetry and is not sure that it is a certain age or because of psychological attitude. He feels mostly that it is because they have been forced to learn and resent the compulsion. This was particularly true about memorization. He was forced to memorize it not because he liked it but because the teacher thought it was good for Ixim. He could understand it, he said, but couldn*t see why he should have to memorize it. He cannot now remember the names of the poems he had to memorize but he says he memorized "about half of Macbeth" and accompanies this statement with a great groan. hone of his early experiences seems to be too specific in his mind except one instructor whom he claims was a woman "about sixty who looked just ancient, was very bad, and should have retired much earlier." one liked her" but it was because of the way she taught, "No "she tried to make us like the poetry she liked instead of trying to find out what we liked." He seems to have had her as teacher in early high school. That added to an absolute dislike which he had had from the beginning, so he could not and now cannot find any good in poetry. He says there are no 252 interesting poems, no red-blooded man has any reason for reading them, they are not practical, and have no worth. They do not affect him emotionally, and the form is difficult so that understanding is too hard to come by with no commensurate results worth the effort. Sixth Man This fresionan, a young man of eighteen, lives in a city of over 100,000 population. He was one of two who broke engagement after engagement and literally had to be hunted up during summer school to got an interview. When found, he proved to oe a most engaging and courteous person, very personable, very nice, but limited in his inter­ ests so that he was unwilling to put much effort into anything not in the scope of those interests. When explanation was made as to why his response was valuable he proved to be very cooperative on the basis that he was needed. He was entirely vague about his poetry experiences; so totally un­ interested in the subject that no experience seemed to have struck him enough to remember, his vocabulary was enough limited that he could find no words to describe his reactions. He is neither a dull nor ndumbw person and makes a 2.1 all-college average but both his experience and interests are limited enough that when he searches for words to describe interest or lack of it he gets stuck. He neither hates nor dislikes poetry— he is so entirely indifferent that his ignoring of poetry is colossal. Poetry just doesn^t exist in his world. enough to dislike. It isn^t important 253 There were no books in M s home; his parents didn't read. He him- self reads little for pastime and that mostly no vie magazines, etc. is an addict of the twenty—five cent Took. he likes only biographies. He Of the serious pocket books Movies are his mental pursuits; sports, especially swimming, his pastime. He can rememoer nothing about poetry in the grades but has a dim recollection of "little poems." In high school a little poetry was part of the English course but he can remember almost none. He finally remembered "Ancient Mariner1* which he says he studiea in the tenth grade ano can remember nothing about it except certain lines. He could not understand it; "just read it over and over” and got it over with as part of a job. The teacher would make an assignment and then go over it in class out still it didn*t help. In his senior year they "covered a thick book." coring in every year "and didn*t make it interesting." The teachers were The whole subject of literature was boring and he doesn*t think anytMng would have helped. He first said they never studied any works of Shakespeare but only the poet himself but finally remembered Macbeth which "wasn*t too bad," "was a pretty good story." When he kept insisting that all his teachers were boring he was asked if he had any good teachers outside of literature and he finally got around to saying the history teachers "were more lively-like," taught "like they enjoyed t e a c M n g it," but that was as far as his description could go. Eventually he thought of one sophomore teacher who was "a lot of fun in class." She didn*t make the work easier but made it interesting. 2$h dow^vcr, he found it impossible to say what was interesting. Other teachers gave a lot of tests but this one didn^t, "she dicta1t force it on .you," "she was pretty broadminded about it," (presumably meaning that she let them have ideas and opinions), "she took into account that we didn* t .Like it and let us say why and argue ." This last seemed to be the strong­ est thing in his mind relative to good methods of teaching. This student has made no choice of field of study as yet, but thinks will major in police administration. Seventh Man This man, a freshman, over twenty, lives in a city of over 100,000 population, he reads little for pastime and prefers fiction, reading no poetry at all. There were no poetry material available in his home, his parents never read ana. he has never read poetry. teresting and difficult. He finds poetry unin­ He does not really know why he doesn*t like it— tie just doesn*t, and keeps repeating "it is not interesting." din Friends not influence him and he feels boys instinctively dislike poetry, he has studied as little poetry as possible, and read none not required, so he can answer few details. He said in an answer on his questionnaire that he thought free choice, browsing rooms, phonograph records, etc. would help make students like it out in the interview he seemed to feel nothing would. Xn the grade school he had "a few catchy, little poems." "Trees" is remembered half favorably as a "nice, little poem" but it had no interest for h i m . He had the regulation number of literature courses in a high school in Detroit but can remember absolutely nothing except Macbeth which 25p .is? claims they must have stuoiea for half a semester anc. still he hadn*t tne vaguest iaea what it was all aoout. Teachers read parts of it aloud, asked questions, piayea it on phonograph records, and generally tried all the methods to involve his interest to no avail. He says he had all good teachers out that nothing they could have done would have helped. When asked to describe a good teacher, his reply was "one who could communicate and hold attention"; he "would solve our problems" by which he meant that the teacher was close enough to and sympathetic enough with the student that lie would help on personal prob­ lems . The poetry teachers were as good as any other teachers but to no avail in his case. All that he wants to read are sports and adventure stories . Interviews .l r a m Leaves 7 . Ancient Mariner Thanatapsis Captain, M y Captain Leaves of Grass 8 . Macbeth Ancient Mariner Snow Bound Hamlet 9. McBeth* Silas Mariner* Evangeline Midnight Ride of Paul Revere 10. Birches Any poems by Rime of Ancient Mariner Lays of Ancient Rome 11. Thanatopsis The Stone Bells To a Waterfall * O r ig in a l s p e l l i n g of Poe Like Dislike X X X Sandbrug* E. St. Vincent Millayx Robert Frost X Emily Dickinson X X X Poe Gray E . B . Browning Wordsworth Kilmer X X X X X X Emily Dikerson* of Grass by Walt Whitman Coleridge x X X Shakespear Whittier Shakespear X X X X X X X Frost Nash Thoreau X X X X X X X Longfellow stu d e n t rep rod u ced . X 286 1*. F o u r p o e m s r e m e m b e r e d * Title 12. Evangeline The Village Blacksmith Canterbury Tales The Raven 13. Raven Everything 1U. Daffodils The Blacksmith The Crane Sorab & Rousturn* 1=>. Macbeth Springtime Tam 0 Shanter All of 16. c o n td . Author Longfellow Melville !!!!*!!! Keats Browning Robinson Burn*s works Poe James R. Lowell Longfellow R. Browning Poe Like Dislike X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 17. Raven Flanders Fields The Mill X X McBeth (Prose?)* Shakespere X 18. Julius Ceaser X Ancient Mariner Shakespere X Macbeth X Purple Cow time I study poetry ■This is as many as I can remember. The ftlast 1 was in H. S. and that was ten years ago. 1 5. Five poems remembered* 1. Trees Waterfowl Skyscrapers Macbeth Caesar Original spelling of student reproduced. 1 Note from student included with this list. X X X X X 287 5 . F iv e p oem s rem em bered* Title c o n td . Author H. W. Longfellow 2. Paul Revere1s Ride Courtship of Miles Standish H. W. Longfellow H . W . Longfellow Evangeline Sir W. Scott The Lady of The Lake The Rhime of the Ancient Mariner* Poe 3. Anna Bell Lee* Poe Raven Poe Guinga Din* Village Blacksmith Evangeline Shakespere U. Macbeth To Lucasta on Going to War Longfellow The Highwayman Longfellow The Village Blacksmith Longfellow The Raven Kilmer 5. Trees Shakespeare**** Silas Marner Shakespeare Merchant of Venice The Night Has a Thousand Eyes Lady of the Lake 6. Invictus West Wind Ancient Mariner Spring Canterbury Tales Service 7 . Casey at Bat To a Skylark Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner The Explorer Trees 8. The Bells Carl Sanburg* Fog Chicago Carl Sanburg* Prisoner of Chalise* Shakespeare Macbeth 9. The Vision of Sir Launfal Snowbound Trees The Sandpiper I Shot The Bird With the Albatross Like Dislike X X X X X X X X X X X X fair X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X * Original spelling of student reproduced. **** Silas Marner frequently mentioned in personal interviews. 288 5. F i v e p o e m s r e m e m b e r e d * c o n t d . Title Author o H (Old English Poems Macbeth 13. Great Snowfall Children's Hour Village Blacksmith Opportunity I Never Saw A Moor 11*. Macbeth Chicago Alogy in a Village Graveyard* The Raven Paridise Lost* Longfellow Poe X X X X X X Poe Ogden Nash Shakespear C. G. Whitier* Longfellow Longfellow Sill Amy Lowell? Shakespeare Sandburg Poe Milton 15. Ancient Mariner Raven Villiage Blacksmith* Paul Revere Casey at the Bat Poe Poe X X X X X X X X X X X X X x (but hard to understand) X X X X X 6* Six poems remembered* 1. Trees The Raven Hiawatha The Lady in the Meadow The Spring The Autumn Woods * O r ig in a l s p e llin g Dislike X X X X • Trees The Raven Village Blacksmith The Sandman Canterbury Tales n . The Villiage Blacksmith* The Raven Autumn Fall The Coin 12. The Congo The Raven Like Scott X X X Richards Cummins Grant X X X o f stu d e n t rep rod u ced . 289 6. S ix poem s rem em b ered t c o n td . Title Author 2. The Raven The Deerslayer Ryme of Ancient Mariner* Snowbound Caterbury Tales* 3. About a Locomotive A Boy's Prayer Thanitopsis* Wreck of the Hesperus The Sandpiper Trees 1±. The Raven This Is M y Beloved Rubyat of Omar Kayam* Gungha Din Cremation of Sam McGee Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner 5. Much of Much of Verses Book of poems Works Works 6. Evangeline MacBeth Lady of the Lake The Raven The Village Blacksmith Paul Revere*s Ride 7. To His Coy Mistress Dover Beach Tintern Abbey Night Wonder Evening Preludes 6. Man With the Hoe Thanitopsis* The Old Violin In Flanders Field There is no Death The Wild Flower Jg. Like Poe Dislike X X X Longfellow X X Berton Braley Unknown Bryant X X X X X X X X X X Kilmer Poe X X X Shakespear Sandburg Dorothy Parker Poe Milton Eugene Field Longfellow Shakespear Sir Walter Scott Edgar Allen Poe Longfellow A. Marvel Marvel Wordsworth Shelley T. S. ELiot T. S. Eliot Original spelling of student, reproduced. - X X X X X X X X X X X X 290 6. S i x p o e m s r e m e m b e r e d ! c o n td . Title Author 9. Ancient Mariner Casey at the Bat Trees Old Iron Sides Hiawatha Concord Hym 10. Ancient Mariner Trees Casey at the Bat Old Iron Sides Hiawathia* Concord Hymn 11. Ancient Mariner Casey at the Bat The Return of Case Hiawatha Trees Concord Hym* 12. Macbeth Ave Maria Sonnet on Marriage To a Daffodil How Do ILove Thee Twelfth Right Like Dislike x Longfellow x x x x x x x x x x x x Shakespeare Barret Shakespeare x x x x x x x x x x x 7. Seven poem3 remembered* 1. The Barefoot Boy Village Blacksmith The Hanging of Danny Deever Lucy Gray Rode the Five Hundred The Raven Poe I must go down to the sea again 2. KLlegy Written in a Country Churchyard* Thomas Gray Fences Carl Sandburg Taming of the Slirew Shakespeare Macbeth. Shakespeare * O r ig in a l s p e llin g of stu d e n t rep rod u ced . x x x x x x x x indifferent x x 291 7. S e v e n p oem s rem em bered* Title Author Like Hamlet Shakespeare Merchant of Venice Shakespeare x Julius Caesar Shakespeare x (Says he has read Shelley, Keats, Wordsworth, Burns and a few others and liked them generally) 3. Trees Kilmer x Chicago Sandburg x Fog Sandburg x Earth*s Last Picture x The Raven x West-Ward-Ho* x Annabelle Lee x iu Man With The Hoe E. Markham x Charge of the LightBrigade x Hiawatha Longfellow Evangeline When the Frost Is On the Pumpkin Frost x Highwayman x Casey at The Bat x 5>. The Falls of Loddore* The Tiger Frost x Ode To A Grecian Urn The Nightingale The Raven Poe x The Flight Macbeth Shakespere x 6. Thanatopsis L»Envoi x Kentucky Belle x Collections Sandburg x Collections Edna St. Vincent Millay x The Last Dutchess Sonnets Elizabeth Browning x 7. How Do I Love Thee E. Browning x Illegero* Milton Macibeth* Shakespeare x The Highwayman x The Prisoner of Chelate* x Chicago Sandberg* x Fog Sandberg* x * O r ig in a l s p e llin g o f stu d e n t reprod u ced Dislike x x x x x x 292 7. S e v e n p oem s rem em bered* co n t. Title Author Like Dislike 8. The Raven Poe X The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Coleridge X xxxx Bells Poe To Helen Poe Sr Sandburg Fog X X Wordsworth Daffodils Keats X On Blindness Poe X 9 . Raven X Noyes Highwayman Shakespeare X McBeth Longfellow Hiawatha Poe X Ulalume X The Albatross Poe X T a Helen Whittier X 10. Snowbound X Shakespear MacBeth Shakespear X Caesar X Poe Ulalume Longfellow X Evangeline Longfellow X Hiawatha Noyes X Highwayman Shakespeare X 11. Julius Caesar Shakespeare X Merchant of Venus* Shakespeare X Hamelet* Shakespeare X MacBeth* X The Riveter X The Highwayman X Chicago Goldsmith. X 12. The Deserted Village X Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard Gray Eliz. Barret Browning x Sonnets to the Portugese indifferent Keats Eve of St. Agnes X Scott Lady of the Lake A. A. Milne X Vespers 8. Eight or more poems remembered* 1. Ancient Mariner Sandberg* * O r ig in a l s p e l l i n g o f stu d e n t rep ro d u ced . X X 293 6. E i g h t o r m o r e p o e m s r e m e m b e r e d * Title Blacksmith Black Raven Author Like Whitman Longfellow x x Emerson Thoreau Hawthorne 2.' Abeau Ben Adam* Tam 0*Shanter Gerontion Ode To A Nightingale Ozymandias "Oh to be in England" Batter my heart Shakespeare The Ancient Mariner 3. Gravyard* Gray ^ Julius Caesar Shakespeare King Lear Sheakespeare* Romeo and Juliet Sheakespeare* The Villige Black Smith* Goldsmith Hiawatha Longfellow The Raven Poe The Highwayman Alfred Noyes ii. Vision of Sir Launfall* Lowell Skeleton in Armour Longfellow (likes all of Longfellow) All of Edgar A . Guest The Raven Poe (likes all of Poe) One Horse Shay Barefoot Bpy Riley Village Blacksmith Rubaiyat of Omar? Fitzgerald 5. Thanatopsis Bryant The last Leaf 0, Captain, My Captain Whitman Anabelle Lee Poe The Raven Poe Hiawatha Longfellow Evangeline Snowbound The Rainy Day o. Buffalo Bills defunct* T. S. Eliot The West Wind Shelly Ode to a Grecian Urn Keats * Original spelling of student reproduced Dislike x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x 29k 8. E i g h t o r m o r e p o e m s r e m e m b e r e d * Title 7. 8. 9. 10. Author Like Dislike Idylls of the King X Poems, sonnets and dramas Shakespeare X Cyrano de Bergerac X (Others too numerous to mention - all of which were well liked) Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree Little Flower in a crained wall® Hiawatha The Childrens hr* Milton (likes all of Milton) elpens ero so* Dante Burns Shakespere Bryant X Thanatopsis Burns X To a Mountain Daisy Poe X The Raven Sandburg X War Sandburg Chicago Frost X Crossing the Bar Longfellow X Evangeline Longfellow X Village Blacksmith H. W. Longfellow X The Village Blacksmith E. A. Poe X The Raven W . C . Bryant X. Thanatopsis S. Teasdale X The Coin A . Noyes X The Highwayman J. Kilmer X Trees X H. W. Longfellow Hiawatha E. Dickenson X I Never Saw a Moore* J. G. Whittier X Snow Bound Rob ert Frost X The Hired Man X Boots Coleridge X Rhyme of Ancient Mariner Poe X Raven Poe X Annabelle Lee Ronaard Ode a Cassandre X Miniver Cheevey X Sanburg Chicago X Villon Ballade des Pendus * O r ig in a l s p e lli n g of stu d e n t rep ro d u ced . X 29$ 8. E i g h t o r m o r e p o e m s r e m e m b e r e d * Title c o n td . Author 11. The Vision of SirLaunfal The Rime of theAncient Mariner Building of the Ship Longfellow Maud Muller Wreck of the Hesperus Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard Gray Sunrising Donne A courtin* Holmes ll*6th Sonnet Shakespear 12. Charge of the Light Brigade The Raven Bar the Door Spring Rymen of the Ancient Mariner* To the Dead Fate Trees Concord Hymn Taps 13. Trees ' Snowbound Sonnetts* Browning Chicago Sandburg Raven Ode to a Grecian Urn Canterbury Tales Concord Hymn Annabelle Lee The Lament 1U. Barrel Organ Noyes 23 Psalm Ancient Mariner Same? Anabel Lee Poe Raven Poe Highway Man Hiawatha Longfellow Village Blacksmith Longfellow Paul Revere *s Ride Casey at the Bat * O r ig in a l s p e llin g o f stu d e n t rep ro d u ced . Like Dislike x x x x x x x x x x x _x x x x x x x x x x x x x x X x x x x x x x x x 296 8 . E ig h t o r m o re poem s rem em b ered * Title c o n td . Author 15. The Oddessy* Daffodils Westminster Bridge Prisoner of C h U l o n 0 Capt. My Capt. Charge of Light Brigade Bells America for Me Gunga Din Danny Dever Mandalay 16. Little Orphan Annie Village Blacksmith Casey at the Bat Ode to a Nightingale Elegy in a Country Churchyard Saturday Night Macbeth, etc. Canterbury Tales W h y (or How) Do I Love Thee Old Ironsides (Best of all* she likes) 17. Ode to A Grecian Urn The Light Canterbury Tales Rhyme to An Ancient Mariner To A Rose L*Allegro Trees Bar the Door The Raven Concord Hill Charge of the Light Brigade * Annabel Lee 18. Grass Sonnets to Portugese The Raven Rime of Ancient Mariner M y Luv*s Like a Red Red Rose Evangeline To a Waterfowl Thanatopsis * O r ig in a l s p e llin g Like Alright Good Fair Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Good Excellent Excellent Excellent Wadsworth Tennyson (I think) Bryon Whitman Poe Van Dyke Kipling Kipling Kipling Stevenson Dislike X X X Shelly ,x Burns Shakespeare Chaucer Browning Holmes Burns X X X X X X X X X X X X X Carl Sandburg E . B . Browning E. A. Poe E. A. Poe R. Burns Poe Thoreau Thoreau o f stu d e n t rep ro d u ced . X X Indiff. X X X X indiff. 297 8. E ig h t o r m o re poem s rem em b ered * Title c o n td . Author Like Dislike Across the Sands of Dee X Canterbury Tales Chaucer X Longfellow X The Village Blacksmith X Elegy in Country Churchyard T. Gray X Stephens 1 9 . M y Shadow X Ryme of the Ancient Mariner* Tennyson J. W. Riley X When the Frost Is on the Pumkin Paul Lawrence Dunbar x Works X Whitier Snowbound E. A. Poe X Bells E . A . Poe X Anabelle Lee x especially E. A. Poe The Raven Coleridge X 20. Rime of Ancient Mariner X Whittier Snow Bound X Chaucer Canterbury Tales X Sandburg Chicago X E. Browning How Do I Love Thee X Longfellow Evangeline Longfellow X Hiawatha X Tennyson Break, Break, Break X Poe The Raven X Tennyson Idylls of the King X Benet John Brown's Body Gray X Elegy in Country Churchyard Sandburg X 21. Chicago X Ancient Mariner X Homers Odysey* Poe X Raven X Old Ironsides X 0 Cap tan M y Cap tan* Longfellow X Village Blacksmith X Little Orphan Annie X Gilbert The Purple Cow X Longfellow Paul Revers Ride Whittier X A Farmer in the fields X Kilmer Trees 22. Wheh Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloomed X X Stopping by Woods on a Snow Evening Frost X Cradle of the Deep X Wm. Booth Enters into Heaven X Sylvia O r ig in a l s p e lli n g o f stu d e n t rep rod u ced . 298 8 . S ig h t or m ore p oem s rem em b ered 2 c o n td . Title Author W h e n W e Too Parted X They Trajr** M y Heart Leaps Up X The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner X X Cassie at the Bat** The Battle of the Keys X X Captain, M y Captain Shakespeare 23. Seven Ages Alice Duer Miller W h i t e Cliffs of Dover Snowbound Whittier Evangeline Longfellow Longfellow Hiawatha Tennyson Crossing the Bar Tennyson Break, Break, Break Poe The R a v e n Poe The Bells Chaucer The Canterbury Tales Annabell-Lee"** Captain M y Captain Gray Elegy in A Country Church Yard Dante X 2 i |. . The Devine Comedy* X Geothe Faust X Melvell To his coy mistress X Melvell Sunrise Keats X Ode to a Nightingale X Homer Odyssy* X Petrarch Sonnets X Schiller Song of the Bell Shakespeare X Sonnets X T. S. Elliot Gerontion X B . Shaw Cesar & Cleopatra-** X F. Villon Ballade des Pendus* X Schiller Wilhelm Tell Edgar Allen Poe X 25. The Raven Shakesphere To liis C o y Mystres-* Ode to Grecian Urn X Browning Sonnets 18-23 X Trees Sunrise To the Virgine X Spring X Poe Annabelle Lee * O r ig in a l s p e llin g o f stu d e n t Dislike Like reproduced. X • X X X X 299 8. E i g h t o r m o r e p o e m s r e m e m b e r e d * Title c o n td . Author Like Dislike The Frost is on the Pumpkin X Village Blacksmith X Midnite Ride of Paul Revere X Gray X Elegy X Gerontion Sandberg* X 26. Chicago Sandberg X Buttons Sandberg X White Curtains Amy Lowell Patterns X Vision of Sir Launfal Eliz. B . Browning x How Do I Love Thee? X Beowolf Chaucer X Canterbury Tales Gray X Elegy in A Country Churchyard X (favorite) Sill 27. The Fool*s Prayer X Opportunity X I Hear America Singing Whitman X Homer Iliad and Odyssey X Mending Wall X How did you Die? X O Captain, M y Captain X The Daffodils Poe X The Bells Poe X The Raven X Kilmer Trees X W h e n Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed Whitman X If Alfred J . Noyes X 28. Highwayman Alfred J . Noyes X Listening Holmes X Paul Revere*s Ride Whitman X Captain, M y Captain Holmes X Evangeline X Johnson Courage Sandburg X Fog X Camel X Pig X Panther Shakespeare X Merchant of Venice Shakespeare X Julius Caesar Shakespeare X Macbeth Shakespeare X Midsummer Night* s Dream X Sonnet XIV *Marriage of True Minds" Shakespeare * O r ig in a l s p e llin g o f stu d e n t rep rod u ced . 300 8 . E ig h t o r m ore p o em s rem em b ered : c o n td . Title Author Like Dislike 2 9 . Rape of the Lock x Mac Beth* William Shakespear x Hamlet William Shakespear x Julius Caesar William Shakespear x To A Skylark Wordsworth x Ben Johnson* x To M y Beloved Wm. Shakespear x Mid summer Nighs Dream* x as you like it John Milton Pardise Lost Coloridge* x Rliym of the Ancient Mariner* Chaucher* x Cantabury Tales* x Prologue to Canterbury Tales x Beowulf X Plowman* s Charm Browning 30. Sonnets from Portagues Unknown Love Tennyson Crossing the Bar Ode to Grecian Urn Ferra M y Last Duchess Arab*s farewell to his Horse Thanatophis* Break, Break, Break Fog Sanderburg* Leaves of Grass Whitman The Raven Annabelle Lee Cremation of Sam Megee* Dover Beach "and many others" 31. This student wrote: "Therewould be no point in trying to put down m y individual favorites so I have listed some of m y most read authors." They are: E. E. Cummings x Walt Whitman x Keats x Byron x Shelley x Shakespear x Browning x M o d e m poetry x Milton (occasionally) x * O r ig in a l s p e lli n g of stu d e n t rep ro d u ced . 301 Ei-gfrt; o r m o r e p o e m s r e m e m b e r e d * Title c o n td . Author Like Dislike Shakespeare 32. McBeath* X Shakespeare Ceasar* X Poe X The Raven Hiawatha Braerson X Coolridge* X Rime of Ancient Mariner Annabelle Lee Saphio* Lesbia X Homer X Illiad Homer X Oddessay* ”1 liked some of Browning's poems, but I can't recall any of the names." * Original spelling of student reproduced. II. SUMMARY OF POEMS RffllEMBSRED AND THEIR AUTHORS 1. Coleridge Rime of the Ancient Mariner The Albatross ”1 Shot The Bird with the Albatross” (Both of these presumed to belong here; no author given) 2. Poe Raven Annabelle Lee Bells Helen Pit and Pendulum Falls of Lodore Ulalume 3. Shakespeare Macbeth Julius Caesar Hamlet Sonnets Merchant of Venice itl 1 1 h9 13 lit 3 1 1 1 26 6 7 • It f> 302 3. Shakespeare (Continued) Midsummer Night*s Dream Taming of Shrew Seven Ages Lear As You Like It Romeo and Juliet Twelfth Night li*6th Sonnet li. Longfellow Hiawatha Evangeline Paul Revere Village Blacksmith Courtship Skeleton in Armor Building Ship Children *s Hour The Rainy Day To A Waterfall (attributed to Longfellow) Concord Hymn (once called Concord Hill, spelled variously in others) Wreck of Hesperus (no author) 5. Sandburg Chicago Fog War Grass Buttons I White Curtains} 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 18 15 11 25 1 1 1 2 1 1 U 1 22 7 1 1 attributed to Sandburg (Do not know towhat the^ refer> * ! 6. Kilmer Trees 23 7. Whittier Snowbound (1 title - The Great Snowfall) A Farmer in the Fields (attributed to) Barefoot Boy 15 1 1 8 . Chaucer Canterbury Tales 15 9 „ No author given - 1 attributed to Service Casey at the Bat 13 303 10. Alfred Noyes Highwayman Listening (credited with) Barrel Organ (no author mentioned) 13 1 1 11. Holmes A Courtin* One Horse Shay (no author mentioned) 12 . William Cullen Bryant Thanatopsis (Author seldom given, spelling varied and marvelous) 13. Tennyson Charge of Light Brigade (Various titles* Rode the Crossing the Bar Break, Break, Break Idylls of the King Five Hundred, etc.) 1L. Gray Elegy in a Country Churchyard (Various titles, including Gravyard) 1 1 13 5 I4. 3 2 13 15. Keats Ode To A Grecian Urn Eve of St. Agnes 7 1 16. Elizabeth Barrett Browning How Do I Love Thee Sonnets 6 6 17. Robert Browning M y Last Duchess (One attributed poem to Ferra) 2 18. T. W. Eliot Gerontion Preludes Wonder Evening "Buffalo Bills defunct" (Exact title and spelling of students) 3 1 1 1 19. Whitman Oh, Captain, M y Captain Leaves of Grass When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed "Adam in the Garden" (attributed to) Song of Open Road I Hear America Sing 9 3 2 1 1 304 20. Wordsworth Daffodils Tintern Abbey Westminster Bridge (attributed to "Tenpyson, I think1*) Lucy Gray (no author given) To A Skylark (credited to him) £ 2 1 1 1 21. Rubyat of Omar Kayam Rubaiyat of Omar ? 1 1 by Fitzgerald 22. Beowulf 2 23. Marvell To His Coy Mistress (Once attributed to Melville) (Once "To His Coy Mystres - Shakespeare) Sunrise (attributed) 1 2 h . Markham Man with the Hoe ii 25• Dante the devine comedy (exact spelling) 1 26. Lowell Vision of Sir Launfal 5 27. Milton L*Allegro (once spelled "Illegero") ilpenseroso (exact spelling) On His Blindness (once attributed to Paradise Lost 2 1 2 5 Keats) 2 26. Sill Fool's Prayer Opportunity (author not mentioned) 2 2 2y. Edna St. Vincent Millay Harp Weaver Lament 1 2 30. Van Ifyke (author not mentioned) America For Me 2 31. Homer Odyssey Iliad 3 1 (once spelled Oddesy) i 32. Riley (given name not mentioned) When the Frost Is on the Pumkin (once attributed to Frost) Little Orphan Annie 1 33. Kipling If Gunga Din L*Envoi (once listed by first line) Boots Hanging Dany Deever 2 3 2 1 3 34. Field Little Boy Blue 3 35. No author mentioned Sohut & Rustum 2 36. No author mentioned In Flanders Fields 4 37. E. E. Cummings Spring Others mentioned a poem entitled "Spring*1 but no author) 1 3 5 38. Amy Lowell Patterns 39. No author Prisoner of Chillon (spelled numerous ways) 3 40. No author Cremation of Dan Me Grew (exact wording) Cremation of Sam Me gee 1 1 ill. Alice Duer Miller tfliite Cliffs 1 1+2. Stephens My Shadow , 1 43. Gilbert The Purple Cow 14+. Robert Burns M y Luv Is Like a Red, Red Rose (once simply called "My Love") Sat. Night (abbreviation student*s) To A Mountain Daisy (once called "To A Daisy") Tam 0*Shanter 2 1 3 1 306 h S . No author Dover Beach (once credited to Marvel) U6. Frost Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening Mending Wall Hired Man Birches 1 1 1 3 C M H C M H h i . Shelley The West Wind Night (credited to him) Ode to a Nightingale The Nightingale 2 U8. Sara Teasdale The Coin (author mentioned once) 2 U9. Villon Ballade des Pendus 2 50. Edgar A. Guest The Golfer 2 Miscellaneous mention of one person each 51. Barbara Allen 52. Sail on! 53. Days of Ancient Home Sh. The Old Violin 55. The Congo 56. General William Booth Enters Heaven 57. Night Before Christinas 58. Night Has A Thousand Eyes 59. Invictus 60. I must go down to the seas again 61. A Boy*s Prayer - Unknown 62. This is My Beloved 63. There Is No Death 0 I4 . The Wild Flower 65. The Flight 6 6 . Kentucky Belle 6 7 . The Riveter 6 8 . Ozymandias 69. Oh, to be in Elngland 70. Batter My Heart - ^Shakespeare 71. The Light < 72. The Return of Case 73. To a Rose 7 h . Faust - Goethe 75. To a Waterfowl - Thoreau 76. Mary Had a Little Lamb 77. St. Eve Post Poems 76. M y Life Is Like A Summer Rose 79. Manhattan 60. French Stenographer 61. Floyd Irion 62. The Stone 83. The Crane 8U. Springtime 85. The Mill 86. Skyscraper 87. The Esqplorer 88. The Sandpiper 89. The Sandman 90. Autumn 91. Autumn WoofcLs - Grant 92. Fall 93. The Tiger - Frost (attributed to) 9li. Plowman's Charm 95. The Lady in the Meadow - Riciiards 96. About a Locomotive — Berton Braley 97. Lesbia - Saphio 98. Cradle of the Deep 99. Sylvia 100. When We Too Parted (exact spelling) 101. Abeau Ben Adam (exact spelling) 102•.Sunrising - Donne 103. To The Dead lOli. Fate 105. 23 Psalm 106. The Battle of the Keys 107. To the Virgine (exact spelling) 106. Barefoot Boy - Riley 109. The Last Leaf 110. Cyrano de Bergerac 111. "Little Flower in a Crained Wall" (exact spelling) 112. Ode a Cassandre - Ronsard 113. Miniver Cheevey 111). Maud Muller - Wordsworth? 115. Bar the Door 116. Taps 11?. John Brown's Body - BenSt 118. Sonnets - Petrach (exact spelling) 119. Song of the Bell - Schiller 120. To M y Beloved Wm. Shakespeare - Ben Johnson 121. 122. 123. 12i*. 125. 126. 127. 128. 129. 130. 131. Wilhelm Tell - Schiller Ave Maria How Did you Die? Courage - Jolmson Camel Pig Panther (these three given by one person with no identification) Love - unknown Goldsmith*s Deserted Village West-Ward-Ho To Lucasta on Going to War The following authors had honorable mention as being favorites t 1. Omar Kyam (exact spelling) 2. Ogden Nash 3. Scott U . Keats 5. Browning o. Wordsworth 7. Edgar A. Guest 8. Burns 9. Frost 10. Poe 11. Longfellow 12. R . Browning 13. Dante 1 U . Sandburg 15. Paul Lawrence Dunbar 16. Dorothy Parker 17. Eugene Field 18. Shakespeare 19. Edna St. Vincent Millay BIBLIOGRAPHY Abbott, Allan, "What The English Teacher Should Know," English Journal (College Edition), April 1928 American Council of Education, "What the High Schools Ought to Teach," Washington, D. C., 19it0 Arbuthnot, May Hill, Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Reading, University of Chicago Press, 19L9 Arnold, Aerol, "Reading For What?", College English. January, 19U2 Becker, Albert B. "The Speech Characteristics of Superior and Inferior High School Teachers as Revealed by Student Reaction," unpublished Doctor*s dissertation, Northwestern University, August, 19^9 Ben£t, S. V. "The Magic of Poetry and the Poet*s Art," Chicago, Compton*s Pictured Encyclopedia, F. E. 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Y., The Macmillan Company, 1929 Williams, Ralph R. "Extensive Reading Versus Intensive Study of Literature," School Review, Nov. 1929 Winters, Yvor, "The audible reading of poetry," Hudson Review. in Quarterly Journal of Speech, April, 1952 Quoted Witty, P. "Some Characteristics of Effective Teachers," Educational Administration and Supervision, Vol. 3 6 , 1950