solid and distinct task, and after that is disposed of, the text may
follow. It is generally impossible to give the time to the reading
aloud of an entire novel; but I am inclined to believe that at least
the opening chapters, the portion of the story which must be most
deliberately considered if the young reader is to go on with the tale
in full possession of the atmosphere and the characters as they are
introduced, should always be thus taken up. The portions assigned
for each lesson must be brief at first, but may wisely increase as
the interest grows and familiarity with personages and situations is
enlarged.
The first chapter, then, having been read aloud, the class may make a
list of the characters introduced: Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, the
old pirate not yet named, the father, the "I" who is telling the story.
The seaman who brings the chest and the neighbors are obviously of no
permanent importance.
Of these characters the class should give orally so much of an
impression as they have obtained from this chapter. This is simple with
the buccaneer, fairly easy in regard to Dr. Livesey and the inn-keeper,
but more difficult in the case of the boy. The paragraph beginning:
How that personage haunted my dreams, I need scarcely tell you—
and the opening sentence of the following paragraph:
But though I was so terrified by the idea of the seafaring man
with one leg, I was far less afraid of the captain himself than
anybody else who knew him—
give admirable material for class discussion. The first should appeal
to the children, who must be made to understand that to Jim Hawkins the
one-legged seafaring man was not a mere idea, but an actual personage
for whom he was set to watch, and of whom even the terrible old Billy
Bones was mortally afraid. The second at once illustrates how the
unknown was more frightful to the lad than the veritable flesh and
blood pirate; and it shows also by excellent contrast how terrifying
the buccaneer was to the frequenters of the inn.
For the second chapter the vocabulary would for most classes include
such words as
Cutlass.
Talons.
Chine.
Lancet.
The expressions which should be made clear in class would include:
Cleared the hilt of his cutlass.
Showed a wonderfully clean pair of heels.
Fouled the tap.
Stake my wig.
Open a vein.
This chapter has a number of delicate touches which should be brought
to the notice of the class; such as the lump in the throat of Black
Dog while he waited for the pirate in moral terror; his clever excuse
for having the door left open apparently that he might be sure Jim was
not listening, but in reality that he might have a way of escape in
case of danger; the picture of the gallows in the tattooing.
The characters of Billy Bones and Jim are added to in the chapter,
and that of the doctor made more clear. The touch by which the boy is
made to feel compassion for the pirate when Bones turns so ghastly at
the sight of Black Dog is one which should not be missed. The story,
too, begins to develop, and the youthful reader must be unusually
insensitive if he does not speculate upon the past of Bones and upon
the relation of the pirate with Black Dog.
It is not necessary to go on with this sort of analysis, for the method
I am detailing must be essentially that of most teachers. If the points
mentioned seem to some over-minute, I can only say that since the
aim is to teach children how to handle fiction, the task of training
them to be intelligently careful in their reading is of the first
importance. There is no risk of making them finical or too minutely
observant. This is moreover the _study_ of a novel, and it should be
more careful than reading is supposed to be. It is morally certain
that any child will fall below the standard set, and it is therefore
necessary to have the standard as high as it can be without tiring or
confusing the children.
When the book has been gone through in this way comes the important
question of dealing with it as a whole. It would hardly be wise to ask
children directly what they think of a book as a complete work; and yet
that is the thing at which the teacher wishes to arrive. The way has
been prepared by the study of character and the discussion of incident
throughout. In the end the subject of character as it is seen from the
beginning of the tale to the close may easily lead the way to making
up some estimate of the book as a unit. First, do the persons in the
romance act consistently; second, do the incidents follow along so that
they seem really to have happened. These questions will at first have a
tendency to bewilder young readers, who are likely to accept anything
in a romance as if it were true, and to have no judgment beyond the
matter whether the book does or does not interest them. It is not to
be expected that they will go very deep or be very broad in their
dealing with such points in the case of a first novel, but they can
make a beginning. They cannot in the book in question go far in what is
the natural third question concerning a book as a whole: Does it show
clearly and truly the development of character under the circumstances
of the story. Jim Hawkins is at the end of the book manifestly older
and more manly than at the start, as shown, for instance, by his
refusal to break his word to Silver when the doctor talks with him
over the stockade and urges him to come away with him. With the other
characters it is more the bringing out of traits already existing than
the developing of new ones. John Silver is of course by far the most
masterly figure in the book—although the student should be allowed
to have his own idea in regard to this. Indeed, one of the ways in
which he judges and should judge a book as a whole is by deciding what
personage in it is, all things considered and the story taken all
through, most clearly and sharply defined. The class should be able to
see and to appreciate how the tale as it progresses brings to light one
phase after another of the amazing character of Silver, up to his pluck
at the moment when the treasure-seekers discover that the gold has been
taken away from the cache and to his humble attitude toward the Squire
when the cave of Ben Gunn is reached.
Lastly, perhaps,—for I do not insist upon the order in which these
points should be taken up, but only give them in the sequence which to
me seems likely to be most natural and effective,—the class should
be brought to appreciate the construction of the book. This involves
obviously the way in which the author weaves together incidents so that
each shall have a part in the general scheme; but it also involves the
way in which he brings out the part that the individual traits and
character of the persons in the story had in leading up to the end. In
"Treasure Island," for instance, it is easy to show how one thing leads
to another, and how out of the chain no link could be taken without
breaking the continuity. This should not be impressed upon the class,
however, as a matter of invention on the part of the author. Children
know that the book is a fiction, but they prefer to ignore this. It is
not well to make the fact part of the instruction. The way to handle
this is to dwell upon the skill with which he has arranged particulars,
and passed in his narrative from one party to another so as to have
each incident clear. Pupils may be reminded of how easy it is to mix
the details of a story so as to confuse the hearer or the reader, and
thus may be made to appreciate to some degree the cleverness of the
workmanship which so distinguishes the work of Stevenson.
More subtle in a way and yet not beyond the comprehension of the
school-boy is the part which character plays in shaping events and
moulding the story. The restlessness and the curiosity of Jim, from
the adventure of the apple-barrel to the saving of the ship, are
essentials in the tale; and equally the diabolical cleverness and
_unscrupulousness_ of Silver shape the events of the story from
beginning to end.
One more illustration may be taken from the novel which is so generally
included in high-school English, Scott's "Ivanhoe." Here it is
necessary to prepare for the story by the acquirement of a certain
amount of history. It is perhaps as well to take the first five[159:1]
paragraphs of the opening chapter as a preliminary lesson, and to
treat it as history pure and simple. In preparation for this lesson the
following vocabulary should be mastered:
Dragon of Wantley.
Wars of the Roses.
Vassalage.
Inferior gentry, or franklins.
Feudal.
The Conquest.
Duke William of Normandy.
Normans.
Anglo-Saxons.
Battle of Hastings.
Laws of the chase.
Chivalry.
Hinds.
Classical languages.
A few other expressions, such as "petty kings," should be looked after
in the reading, lest the class get a false impression. The geography of
the river Don and of Doncaster may be passed over; but it is perhaps
better, especially in this historical preliminary, to require full
accuracy in this particular. To my thinking all this should be looked
up by the students, and never taken from notes appended to the text.
The five paragraphs in which Scott gives the historic background
should be taken frankly as a piece of work out of which the class is
to make as clear a conception of the period of the tale as possible.
The pupils should use their common sense and their intelligence in
studying it, getting all out of it that they can get. Then it should
be read aloud in the class, and carefully gone over. The aim should be
to have understood as clearly as possible what were the political and
the social conditions of the time when the events of the romance are
represented as taking place. Such other historic personages as enter
into the story without being mentioned in this preliminary sketch
should be brought into this exposition. Thus when King Richard and
Prince John and Robin Hood the semi-historic come upon the stage the
student will be prepared for the effect which the novelist intended,
and will have, moreover, that pleasure which a young reader always
feels in finding himself equal to an occasion.
This preliminary work being accomplished, the rest of the book will
probably have to be largely assigned for home reading. The opening
chapters, however, and the most striking scenes must certainly be read
aloud in class. A sufficient portion for a lesson will be assigned each
day. A list of words for that portion will be given out with it to be
learned first. No teacher will suppose, I fancy, that in every case a
student will master the vocabulary before he reads the selection, but
the principle is sound and the words would at least be all taken up in
class before any reading is done. Students should be told to read the
selection aloud at home, and should come to the class acquainted with
the meaning and significance of each passage, or prepared to ask about
them.
At the beginning of the novel, when the reader is learning the
situation and the characters concerned, the assignments must be shorter
than in the latter part of the book, when these things are understood
and the current of the tale runs more swiftly. The remainder of the
first chapter, from the paragraph beginning "The sun was setting" is
quite enough for a first instalment. The following words make up the
preliminary vocabulary:
Rites of druidical superstition.
Scrip.
Bandeau.
Harlequin.
Rational.
Quarter-staff.
Murrain.
Eumæus.
The method of treating the fiction itself has been sufficiently
indicated in the previous illustration from "Treasure Island," but may
be briefly touched upon. In this chapter of "Ivanhoe" are introduced
two characters. Both are described at some length, but in the case of
both important touches here and there add to the impression. Gurth is
said at the beginning to be stern and sad, and in the talk the reasons
come out.
"The mother of mischief confound the Ranger of the forest, that
cuts the foreclaws off our dogs, and makes them unfit for their
trade."
"Little is left us but the air we breathe, and that appears
to have been reserved with much hesitation, solely for the
purpose of enabling us to endure the tasks they lay upon our
shoulders."
We have a proof of his impulsiveness in the dangerous freedom with
which he speaks to Wamba, and of how daring this is we are made aware
when the jester says to him:
"I know thou thinkest me a fool, or thou wouldst not be so
rash in putting thy head into my mouth. One word to Reginald
Front-de-Bœuf . . . thou wouldst waver on one of these trees
as a terror to all evil speakers against dignities."
Of the superstition of Gurth we have proof by his fear at the mention
of the fairies.
"Wilt thou talk of such things while a terrible storm of
thunder and lightning is raging within a few miles of us?"
Here is a fairly satisfactory portrait of Gurth, although other traits
of character are developed as the book goes forward. At the end of
the novel the attention of the class may be directed to the skilful
way in which at the very start Scott has struck in the words of Gurth
the keynote of the oppression of the Normans and the hatred for them
in the hearts of the Saxons; but a point of this sort should not be
anticipated. It will tell for more if it is left until it has had its
full effect and its place as a part of the whole romance may be clearly
shown.
* * * * *
One last word I cannot bring myself to omit. I have said elsewhere that
I disbelieve in the drawing of morals, and at the risk of repetition I
wish to emphasize this in connection with fiction. The temptation here
is especially strong. It is so easy to draw a moral from any tale ever
written that two classes of teachers, those morally over-conscientious
and those ignorantly inept, are almost sure to insist that their
classes shall drag a moral lesson out of every story. The habit seems
to me thoroughly vicious. It is proper to make the character of the
persons in the novel as vivid as possible. The villain may be made
as hateful to God and to man as the testimony of the author will in
any way allow; but when that is done the children should be left to
draw their own morals. They should not even be allowed to know that
the teacher is aware that a moral may be drawn, and still less should
they be asked to discover one. If they draw a moral themselves or ask
questions about one, this is well, so long as they are sincere and
spontaneous. If they are left entirely to themselves in this they will
in a healthy natural fashion get from the story such moral instruction
as they are capable of profiting by, and they will not be put into that
antagonistic attitude which human nature inevitably takes when it is
preached to.
FOOTNOTES:
[159:1] Five in the original. Some school editions, for what reason I
do not know, omit paragraph five, which begins: "This state of things I
have thought it necessary to premise."
XIII
THE STUDY OF "MACBETH"
How I conceive the study of poetry may be managed in school-work I have
already indicated somewhat fully, but one concrete example is often
worth a dozen abstract statements. In the literary work of almost every
high school is now included the study of at least one Shakespearean
play, and as "Macbeth" is so generally selected as the one to be first
taken up, I have chosen that as an illustration.
The study of any play, as I have said, should begin with a requirement
that the class master the vocabulary. The pupils should be made to
understand that the need of doing this is precisely the same as the
need of learning common speech for the sake of comprehending the talk
of every-day life, or of mastering the vocabulary of French before
going to the theatre to hear a play in that language. The scholars
should be told frankly that this will not be particularly easy work,
but that it is to be taken in the same spirit that one learned the
multiplication-table. No harm can come of letting the class expect this
part of the work to be full harder than it really is, and at least it
is well to have students understand that they are expected to labor to
fit themselves for the enjoyment of literature.
In this preparation the aim is to make it possible for the readers
to go on with the text without important interruptions. This purpose
determines what words and passages shall be taken up. Some difficulties
may safely and wisely be left for the second reading of the play, and
as it is well in these days not to expect too much of the industry
of youth, the teacher will do well to keep the list of words to be
mastered as short as may be. The whole play should be prepared for
before any of it is read, but I give only examples from the first act.
I should suggest—each teacher to vary the list at his pleasure—that
in the first act the following words should be dealt with. The numbers
of the lines are those of the Temple Edition.
_Alarum._ This occurs in the stage-directions of scene ii. The class
will see at once that it differs from "alarm," and can be made to
appreciate how from the strong rolling of the _r_—"alarr'm" came to
this form. That the latter form is now used in the sense of a warning
sound, and especially in the sense of a sound of trumpet or drum to
announce the coming of a military body or the escort of importance
affords a good example of the manner in which synonyms are established
in the language. A quotation or two may help to fix the word in mind:
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings—"Richard III,"
_i_, 1.
And when she speaks, is it not an alarum to love?—"Othello,"
_ii_, 3.
The dread alarum should make the earth quake to its
centre.—Hawthorne, "Old Manse."
_Kerns and gallowglasses_, _ii_, 13. It may be enough to give simply
the fact that the first of these uncouth words means light-armed and
the second heavy-armed Irish troops. If the teacher likes, however, he
may add a brief mention of the passage from Barnabie Riche:
The _Galloglas_ succeedeth the Horseman, and hee is commonly
armed with a skull,[167:1] a shirt of maile, and a _Galloglas_
axe; his service in the field is neither good against horsemen,
nor able to endure an encounter of pikes, yet the Irish do
make great account of them. The _Kerne_ of Ireland are next in
request, the very drosse and scum of the countrey, a generation
of villaines not worthy to live: these be they that live by
robbing and spoiling the poor countreyman, that maketh him
many times to buy bread to give unto them, though he want
for himself and his poore children. These are they that are
ready to run out with every rebell, and these are the very
hags of hell, fit for nothing but for the gallows.—_New Irish
Prognostication._
_Thane_, _ii_, 45. This word may be made interesting by its close
connection with the Anglo-Saxon. _Thegan_ was originally a servant,
then technically the king's servant, and so an Anglo-Saxon nobleman and
one of the king's more immediate warriors.
_Bellona_, _ii_, 54. The mythological allusion is of course easy to
handle.
_Composition_, _ii_, 59. This I would include in the list chiefly to
emphasize how often a little common sense will solve what at first
sight seems a difficulty of language. "Craves composition" is so easily
connected with "composing difficulties" or any similar phrase that an
intelligent pupil can see the point if he is only alive to the force of
language.
_Aroint_, _iii_, 6. It will interest most scholars to learn that this
word—except for modern imitations—is found only in Shakespeare,
and in him but twice, both times in the phrase "Aroint thee, witch"
(the second instance, "Lear," _iii_, 4). They will be at least amused
by the possibility of its being derived from a dialect word given
in the Cheshire proverb quoted by an old author named Ray in 1693,
and probably in use in the time of Shakespeare: "'Rynt you, witch,'
quoth Bessie Locket to her mother;" and in the speculation whether
the dramatist himself made the word. The curious derivation of the
term from rauntree or rantry, the old form of rowan, or mountain-ash,
is sure to appeal to children who have seen the rowan ripening its
red berries. The mountain-ash, or the "quicken," as it is called in
Ireland, is one of the most famous trees in Irish tradition, and is
sacred to the "Gentle People," the fairies. It was of old regarded as a
sure defence against witches, and the theory of some scholars is that
the original form of the exclamation given by Shakespeare was "I've a
rauntree, witch," "I've a rowan-tree, witch." All that it is necessary
for the reader to know is that the word is evidently a warning to the
witch to depart; but there can be no objection to introducing into
this preliminary study of the vocabulary matter which is likely to
arrest attention and to fix meanings in the mind.
_Rump-fed ronyon_, _iii_, 6. It is hardly worth while to do more with
this than to have it understood that "ronyon" is a term of contempt,
meaning scabby or something of the sort, and that "rump-fed," while it
may refer to the fact that kidneys, rumps, and scraps were perquisites
of the cook or given to beggars, probably indicates nothing more than a
plump, over-fed woman.
_Pent-house lid_, _iii_, 20. A pent-house is from the dictionary found
to be a sloping roof projecting from a wall over a door or window; and
from this to the comparison with the eyebrow is an easy step. That the
simile was common in the sixteenth century may be shown by numerous
quotations, as, for instance, the passage in Thomas Decker's "Gull's
Horne-book," 1609:
The two eyes are the glasse windows, at which light disperses
itself into every roome, having goodlie pent-houses of hair to
overshadow them.
In the second chapter of "Ivanhoe":
Had there not lurked under the pent-house of his eye that sly
epicurean twinkle.
And so on down to our own time, when Tennyson, in "Merlin and Vivian,"
writes:
He dragged his eyebrow bushes down, and made
A snowy pent-house for his hollow eyes.
_Insane root_, _iii_, 84. In Plutarch's "Lives," which in the famous
translation of North was familiar to Shakespeare and from which he took
material for his plays, we are told that the soldiers of Anthony in the
Parthian war were forced by lack of provisions to "taste of roots that
were never eaten before; among which was one that killed them, and made
them out of their wits." Any intelligent student would be likely to
understand the force of this phrase from the context, but it is well to
speak of it beforehand to avoid distraction of the attention in reading.
_Coign_, _vi_, 7. "Jutty," from our common use of the verb "to jut,"
carries its own meaning, and the use of the word "coign" in this
passage is given in the "Century Dictionary."
_Sewer_, _vii_, _stage-directions_. The derivation and the meaning are
also given in the "Century Dictionary," with illustrative quotations.
So far for single words which would be likely to bother the ordinary
student in reading. The list might be extended by individual teachers
to fit individual cases, and such words included as choppy, _iii_, 44;
blasted, _iii_, 77; procreant, _vi_, 8; harbinger, _iv_, 45; flourish,
_iv_, _end_; martlet, _vi_, 4; God 'ield, _vi_, 13; trammel up, _vii_,
3; limbec, _vii_, 67. It is well, however, not to make the list longer
than is absolute necessary; and as the vocabulary of the whole play is
to be taken up, it is better to trust to the general intelligence of
the class as far as possible.
II
These doubtful or obsolete words having been mastered by the class,
and the lines in which they occur used as illustrations of their use,
the next matter is to take up obscure passages. These may be blind
from unusual use of familiar words or from some other cause. Where
the difficulty is a matter of diction it is hardly worth while to
make further division into groups, and in the first act the following
passages may be given to the students to study out for themselves if
possible, or to have explained by the teacher if necessary:
Say to the king _the knowledge of the broil_
As thou did leave it.—_ii_, 6.
* * * * *
For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—
_Disdaining fortune_, with his brandished steel
Which smoked with _bloody execution_,
Like _valour's minion_ carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave;
Which ne'er shook hands, nor bid farewell to him,
Till he _unseam'd him from the nave to chaps_,
And fix'd his head upon our battlements.—_ii_, 16-23.
* * * * *