om _Three Little Kittens_. _The
Lord is my Shepherd_, _Lead, Kindly Light_, and _To a Waterfowl_, are
examples of this class.

In teaching these lessons, the spiritual meaning should be constantly
emphasized.

The mere statement of the thought is not impressive. It is the
presentation of it in poetical form that makes its effect impressive and
lasting. The pupils may be led to discover how the author has
accomplished this by means of the concrete embodiment of imagery,
language, metaphor, and music.

RECAPITULATION

The lesson is often dropped just at this time, leaving an impression
somewhat like that of a science room, with the petals and leaves on the
desks and the floor, after the class in botany has been dismissed. No
act of analysis is complete without a final synthesis. The examination
of the various phases of the whole must be followed by a reconstruction
in which are perceived the relations of the various phases to each other
and to the unity of the whole. These various parts must be closely
related to one another if the final conception of the poem is to be
definite. When the analysis is in progress, the teacher should not, of
course, take each part by itself and examine it as if it were an
isolated thing, but its relation to what has gone before should be more
or less clearly perceived. When the analysis is complete, there should
be a final synthesis in which the relations of the various parts stand
out definitely. This can be done by means of a statement of the main
thought in concise but comprehensive terms. If the teacher has accepted
an imperfect statement at the beginning, the pupils will now be in a
position to discover its inadequacy and supply the part that is lacking.
Then the subjects of the various subdivisions or stanzas can be restated
in suitable terms that will show the proper relationships. This
reconstruction may also take the form of oral or written reproduction of
the selection. This is especially valuable after the prose lessons.
There should follow an oral reading of the passage by the pupils, which
will serve to show the teacher how much of the feeling of the poem has
been absorbed, how clearly the pupils have understood the meaning, and
what misconceptions have arisen in their minds.

MISTAKES IN TEACHING LITERATURE

There are some mistakes in teaching literature that are noted here, in
order that they may be avoided:

1. Teaching pupils about literature, instead of teachin