Page 10 - 1916 February - To Dragma

TO PRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 89

such a way that he remembers not the process but the thought of
the poem, because he found in it something kindred to his own feel-
ings. I am going to sketch what I have found a practical method
of teaching the lyric, which does not conflict with this aim; though
I must admit it is no exception to the old rule that what is successful
in one class may be quite the reverse in another, that what works
under one set of circumstances with one teacher, may become a
hopeless tangle under different circumstances with a different teacher.
I have chosen to outline the study of Milton's L'Allegro and / / Pen-
seroso, because they furnish typical problems in lyric teaching, while
they are as difficult as any lyric which will be—or perhaps I should
say, ought—to be read in the high school.

Of course the first step is giving out the lesson, and the first day
will be one of preparatory work, work of such a kind that the pupil
will become interested at once in something. The object is to give
the pupil certain knowledge which he must bring to the first reading-
of the poem to enjoy it, or in other words to make it intelligible to
him. This comprises meanings of unfamiliar or difficult words or
expressions, all allusions, classical or modern, and an explanation of
the title words of the two poems. That amount of information must
be brought to the reading of the poem in order that the pupil shall
not go on disliking the poetry in general, and this poem in par-
ticular, because he cannot understand "the stuff."

Now the lesson should be given out in this way; the unfamiliar
words and expressions and the allusions should each be divided into
two groups, one for the teacher and the other for the pupils. Here
I show the four separate lists, two for each L'Allegro and / /
Penseroso.

L'ALLEGRO

ALLUSIONS

Pupil's List Teacher's Li si

("Cerberus i. Graces
1. Underworld -| Stygian
2. Euphrosyne
j Cimmerian
3. Corydon
, . (Venus and
2. Venus < , , . 4. Thyfsis
^ ,J , ,.
/Adonis
3. Bacchus rr
4. Zephyr
5. Aurora 5. Thestyhs
6. Hebe
7. Hymen 6. Phyllis?
8. Orpheus
9- Eurydice 7. Fairy Mab
10. Pluto
11. Elysian Fields 8. Friar's Lantern

9. Rob;n Goodfellow

10. L'Allegro

I I . II Penseroso