e more informal the process is, the better.
There should be much repetition of favorite
poems, so that the rich details and pictures
may sink into the mind.

4. There should be great variety in choice that
richness and breadth of impression may thus be
gained. It is a mistake to confine the work in
poetry entirely to lyrics or entirely to
ballads. Wordsworth's "Daffodils" and Gilbert's
"Yarn of the Nancy Bell" are far apart, but
there is a place for each. Teachers should
always be on the lookout for poetry old or new,
in the magazines or elsewhere, which they can
bring into the schoolroom. Such "finds" are
often fresh with some timely suggestion and may
prove just what is needed to start some
hesitating pupil to reading poetry.

5. The earliest poetry should be that in which
the music is very prominent and the idea absent
or not prominent. The perfection of the Mother
Goose jingles for little folks is in their
fulfillment of this principle. Use and
encourage strongly emphasized rhythm in reading
poetry, especially in the early work. Gradually
the meaning in poetry takes on more prominence
as the work proceeds.

6. Children should be encouraged to commit much
poetry to memory. They do this very easily
after hearing it repeated a time or two. Such
memorizing should not be done usually as a
task. Children are, however, very obliging
about liking what a teacher is enthusiastic
about, and what they like they can hold in mind
with surprising ease. The game of giving
quotations that no one else in the class has
given is always a delight. Don't be misled by
the fun poked at the "memory gem method" of
studying poetry. The error is not in memorizing
complete poems and fine poetic passages, but in
doing this in a mechanical fashion.

7. It is a mistake to use too much poetry at
one time. Children, as well as grown people,
tire of it more quickly than they do of prose.
The mind seems soon to reach the saturation
point where it is unable to take in any more.
Frequent returns to a poem rather than long
periods of study give the best results.

8. Enco