Poetry is the chosen language of childhood and youth. The baby
repeats words again and again for the mere joy of their sound:
the melody of nursery rhymes gives a delight which is quite
independent of the meaning of the words. Not until youth approaches
maturity is there an equal pleasure in the rounded periods of
elegant prose. It is in childhood therefore that the young mind
should be stored with poems whose rhythm will be a present delight
and whose beautiful thoughts will not lose their charm in later
years.
The selections for the lowest grades are addressed primarily to
the feeling for verbal beauty, the recognition of which in the
mind of the child is fundamental to the plan of this work. The
editors have felt that the inclusion of critical notes in these
little books intended for elementary school children would be not
only superfluous, but, in the degree in which critical comment
drew the child's attention from the text, subversive of the desired
result. Nor are there any notes on methods. The best way to teach
children to love a poem is to read it inspiringly to them.
The French say: "The ear is the pathway to the heart." A poem
should be so read that it will sing itself in the hearts of the
listening children.
In the brief biographies appended to the later books the human
element has been brought out. An effort has been made to call
attention to the education of the poet and his equipment for his
life work rather than to the literary qualities of his style.
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