Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1894-10-20

VIZ AhNAAAhiAhAhi 1NAiNENf AahhNNa
The people Of Utah seem just now.
especially wide awake IN matters Of
education. The steady advancement Of
the public schools, with the healthy
emulation between these and the de.
nominatonal academies. the interest
created by successful summer schools ~
many towns, and their iull reports IN the
press; the rivalry between the institu.
tons OF higher learning, with It's express
sion In the missionary efforts Of unIvet-
sity and college officers, have created a
genuine interest in education. This in.
terest is attested by the increased attend
ance both in the public schools and IN
the private schools Of every grade.
But there are many who, however
Interested, must consider their school
days past-young men and women who
for various reasons must early assume
the duties and responsibilities Of active
lie. In many Of the older states, a
large portion Of this class IS reached by
a system Of university extension" lee.
lures, In which university professors
simplify and popularze the instruction
impaired In university halls and bear Il
to the young people In their own neigh
bofhoods. In this Territory much Is
done by the young peoples mutual ina.
pfovcment societies, but the tendency
10 entertainment rather than real mental
advancement as an end, makes somc-
thing supplementary desirable. For this
class, whose days OF study at school arc
behind them, who nevertheless feel
desire to get for themselves what may
be had from books, especially ~ the
way Of literature, the following suggos.
ions are offered.
Learning how TO choose books, and
how TO use them, Is a large part OF the
education given by the schools. The
person who must pursue his culture no
home, must take such suggestions as be
may be able TO find from any trust
worthy authority. The study OF litcfa.
turc Il the work OF a lifetime, not OF
few school terms, or years. That litcfa.
tufe eau be taken up as a branch OF
education, and completed, at a certain
stated time, like arithmetic or algebra.
Is a very iarcical notion. Literature Is
not something apart from general life
and knowledge. Il rs the whole body
Of accumulated thought and experience
OF all the ages, which indeed forms our
present lie, and explains Il. existing
partly In tradition and training, but
mostly IN books; and this most import
character and guide TO action cannot be !
acquired from few lessons out OF a /
textbook. There is a saying about peo- |
pie whose minds appear to be composed /
OF bare, dry, isolated facts, that they /
have no atmosphere. Literature Is the
In Il we live aud move
and have our being, intellectually; and
our reading should from the very first
put US into right relations with the
world, and the thought OF the world.
The school does little more than point
out the vast literary fields, and indicate
how we may use what Is TO be found
there. How shall this be known to
those lacking school advantagesf Sup.
pose very common case. a number
ol young people have a taste for Eng.
lsh poetry and desire to know n few
great poems. Chaucer, Shakespeare,
Milton. Woodwork and Tennyson
are generally accepted as great writers.
Let a beginning, either IN a club, or
each by himself be made with one OF
these. Let there be at hand, besides
the text OF the poem, dictionaries, cyclic.
pedias, compendiums OF literary history.
and rhetoric, or poetics. In
attempting to master the text and get
at the real meaning, many things vii
be met with, illusions OF various kinds,
not NJ once understood. Suppose Nil,
tons Comus Is the text under consid. |
erauons. In following up those allu |
sions vast fund Of miscellaneous |
information will be accumulated. No I
one can fully appreciate this poem.
unless he understands rs illusions To-
classical mythology. to historical per-
sonages, TO natural objects, 10 the super
"a toll a L..
mastering the text w this process of
selfeduca,ion, the reader must have
some curiosity to know about the
author. lie finds that Milton wrote
several other poems OF different kinds,
that he was great reader Of other
poets, from whom he borrowed some OF
his ideas. A comparison Of Comus
with the other poems gives a lesson la
literary criticism, and Ia ethics. Il Is
also found that Comus belongs To an
early period OF the authors literary
career, that Il was written for certain
purpose on certain occasion, that Il is
different In subject, IN diciion and in
manner from his other poems. that II
belongs TO the class called Mosques.
Going further II is learned that this
form OF poetry was very popular ~ Italy
before II was introduced into England. !
IL Is learned that the young poet whose !
early work forms the apex OF the pagan |
revival, in later years carried 10 lis |
highest point the puritan revolt against
this pagan renaissance. A little dceper
study brings out the extraordinary TACT /
that Milton In manner typihes In his /
own century the close OF one great |
cycle OF literary feeling, and the begin. |
ming OF new and entirely different one;
that the pagan spirit OF Cumus, high /
aud noble as iS its ethical teaching Is /
eclipsed and dsauccd by that OF puri. |
tan Paradise Lost. Il Is found that /
the poem was set to music by Millions /
friend Henry Lawes, and so mu ic and /
poetry all associated together-aud the |
musician Lawes and the poet Milton |
are fixed together In the memory 1
Other lines OF study will lead TO The /
difference between the various forms of |
drama, both with music and without |
the cantata, the oratoro and the opera /
The tragedy, the comedy, the historic
play.
All these lines OF investigation open
out from the reading uf one little poem
OF thousand lines, which, ifrcad hastily
and without intelligence, might occupy
but few minutes, aud contribute but
little culture. No doubt the hastiest
reading would impress one with the
poets sense OF music, In words and
lines, and with the purity and nobility
Of the thought they contain. But It's
educational resources can be exhausted
only by mastering every word, sentence.
alluslun, suggestion and implication. !
The bearing OF every phrase Is ull OF
worm, ms analytical process Is in
HNHH#. NJ NJ. d