Chapter 17

The need here is to look at an old subject with fresh eyes. Teachers who are fond of music or painting or sculpture can invent many illustrations following the hint given in the Orpheus and Eurydice passage in the text. Among recent books, Fairchild's _Making of Poetry_ and Max Eastman's _Enjoyment of Poetry_ are particularly to be commended for their unconventional point of view. See also Fairchild's pamphlet on _Teaching of Poetry in the High School_, and John Erskine's paper on "The Teaching of Poetry" (_Columbia University Quarterly_, December, 1915). Alfred Hayes's "Relation of Music to Poetry" (_Atlantic_, January, 1914) is pertinent to this chapter. But the student should certainly familiarize himself with Theodore Watts-Dunton's famous article on "Poetry" in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, now reprinted with additions in his _Renascence of Wonder_. He should also read A. C. Bradley's chapter on "Poetry for its Own Sake" in the _Oxford Lectures on Poetry_, Neilson's _Essentials of Poetry_, Stedman's _Nature and Elements of Poetry_, as well as the classic "Defences" of Poetry by Philip Sidney, Shelley, Leigh Hunt and George E. Woodberry. For advanced students, R. P. Cowl's _Theory of Poetry in England_ is a useful summary of critical opinions covering almost every aspect of the art of poetry, as it has been understood by successive generations of Englishmen.