"The aim of the teacher in dealing with masterpieces of poetry should be to develop in his pupils the habit of observing closely and keenly the phenomena of natural and human existence, with a view to understanding their meaning as parts of an organized and living whole; to equip the mind with the knowledge resulting from the imaginative treatment of things, that is, with the riches of poetry,and to stimulate it to healthy imaginative power; to cultivate a sense for that which is expressive in nature and literature, and a desire to clothe one's own best thought, if possible, in true and beautiful form. Finally, to emphasize the verities of life and the laws of conduct."

CHARLES MILLS GAYLEY, Principles and Progress of English Poetry.

School Poetry for Oral Expression

A Ballad of the Road

Constance D'Arcy Mackay

Constance D'Arcy Mackay was born in St. Paul, Minn. She attended Boston University in 1903-1904, and began writing in New York in 1905. She is the author of a number of plays and historical pageants, and contributes plays, dramatic criticism and verse to magazines. She was director of the Department of Pageantry and Drama for the War Camp Community Service from 1918 to 1919.

This is predominantly a lyric poem, and its musical nature should not be neglected in oral rendering, although it should not be delivered in a sing-song manner. A happy balance between an entirely lyric rendering and a strict prose interpretation should be sought. Render the last line somewhat slowly, giving full time to the word "all."

Он, a gypsy longing stirs your heart

When Autumn's sounding the rover's call!
"Oh, leave the city and leave the mart,
Come out, come out where the red leaves fall,
And asters flame by each stone wall!

Have done with cares that fetter and goad,

Heed ye and harken ye one and all,

And know the joys of the winding road!"

A veil of purple lies on the hills,

Your step moves swift to some unknown air-
Forgotten music of boughs and rills-

The oaks are russet, the maples flare,

The sumach's splendor glows here and there,
And your weary heart has slipped its load,

3

10 VIRU

CVTTLOBHIV

4

School Poetry for Oral Expression

Oh, bright the sunlight as on you fare
Tasting the joys of the winding road!

Odors of earth when the wild winds blow,
New views to greet you at each hill's crest,
Color and beauty where'er you go—
These shall add to your journey's zest.
And when the daylight dies in the west
A star-hung roof for your night's abode,
A bed of pine and a dreamless rest—
These are the joys of the winding road.

Oh, ye of the town who do not know
How blithe and free is the rover's code!
Come out, come out where the glad winds blow!
There's joy for all on the winding road!

Reprinted by permission of the author.

The Path that Leads to Nowhere

Corinne Roosevelt Robinson

Corinne Roosevelt Robinson was born in New York City in 1861, and was educated at home. She is interested in literary, civic and philanthropic affairs. She has published three volumes of poetry: "The Call to Brotherhood and Other Poems,” “One Woman to Another and Other Poems," and "Service and Sacrifice."

The poem below is slow in movement and its atmosphere is largely that of reverie. It has a certain softness, tinged with admiration and affection. The intervals of pitch are narrow, and a gently swelling force may well be employed. While this selection should not be delivered in a monotone, a good rendering will show features of the monotone, in rather low pitch. Note that the ends of many of the lines should be passed without pausing.

THERE'S a path that leads to Nowhere
In a meadow that I know.

Where an inland island rises

And the stream is still and slow; There it wanders under willows

And beneath the silver green Of the birches' silent shadows Where the early violets lean.

Other pathways lead to Somewhere;
But the one I love so well
Has no end and no beginning—
Just the beauty of the dell,
Just the wildflowers and the lilies
Yellow striped as adder's tongue,
Seem to satisfy my pathway

As it winds their sweets among.

There I go to meet the Springtime, When the meadow is aglow,Marigolds amid the marshes,

And the stream is still and slow. There I find my fair oasis,

And with care-free feet I tread, For the pathway leads to Nowhere, And the blue is overhead!

All the ways that lead to Somewhere
Echo with the hurrying feet
Of the Struggling and the Striving,
But the way I find so sweet

Bids me dream and bids me linger,—
Joy and beauty are its goal!

On the path that leads to Nowhere

I have sometimes found my soul!

Reprinted by permission of the author and Charles Scribner's Sons from The Poems of Corinne Roosevelt Robinson. Copyright, 1912, 1916, 1921, by Charles Scribner's Sons.

I Come Singing

Joseph Auslander

Joseph Auslander is an instructor in the Department of English, Harvard University. He writes poetry for The Atlantic Monthly and other magazines.

Aim to voice the different emotions that respectively belong to the three seasons described in this exquisite poem. It will require some skill to pass smoothly over the irregular line arrange ment and maintain the thought-units.

I COME singing the keen sweet smell of grass

Cut after rain,

And the cool ripple of drops that pass

Over the grain,

And the drenched light drifting across the plain.

I come chanting the wild bloom of the fall,
And the swallows

Rallying in clans to the rapid call

From the hollows,

And the wet west wind swooping down on the swallows.

I come shrilling the sharp white of December,
The night like quick steel