NOTE

In addition to the foregoing poetical selections, those previously given
may be analyzed with reference to form, content, and mood. Their beauty
or excellence will now be more clearly understood. Furthermore, it is
recommended that the teacher assign brief poems, either from our
standard authors or from current literature, for full analysis and
criticism. The blank verse of Tennyson, Shelley, Milton, and Shakespeare
might be investigated and compared at considerable length in order to
determine the average length of their sentences, the place of the
caesural pause, and the proportion of "end-stopt" or "run-on" lines.

CHAPTER VIII

KINDS OF POETRY

+55. Classification.+ Poetry may be divided into four general types or
classes: (1) _didactic_ poetry, which is chiefly concerned with
instruction; (2) _lyric_ poetry, which generally gives expression to
some emotion; (3) _epic_ poetry, which is devoted principally to
narration; and (4) _dramatic_ poetry, which deals with direct
representation. All these types or classes have variations and
subdivisions, which call for consideration in some detail.

+56. Didactic Poetry.+ The term "didactic" as applied to poetry involves
a seeming contradiction. Instruction is a function peculiar to prose;
but in the hands of a genuine poet, didactic verse may be so adorned by
the imagination and so warmed by the feelings as to lift it sometimes
into the realm of genuine poetry. Thus Dryden's _Religio Laici_, the
first didactic poem of special note in our language, is essentially
prosaic in theme and purpose. But its opening lines, by a happy simile,
are unmistakably poetic:

"Dim as the borrowed beams of moon and stars
To lonely, weary, wandering travellers,
Is Reason to the soul; and as on high
Those rolling fires discover but the sky,
Not light us here, so Reason's glimmering ray
Was lent, not to assure our doubtful way,
But guide us upward to a better day."

A didactic poem, at its best, is apt to be more or less prosaic. In
estimating its worth, three points are principally to be considered: (1)
To what extent has it a true poetic quality? (2) To what extent is it
complete, symmetrical, and true? and (3) To what extent is it correct
and skillful in versification?

Our language is specially rich in didactic poems, among which may be
mentioned Dryden's _Religio Laici_ and "Hind and Panther," Pope's "Essay
on Criticism" a