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THE READING-LITERATURE SERIES

THE EIGHTH READER

READING-LITERATURE

EIGHTH READER

ADAPTED AND GRADED

BY

HENRY WILLIAM SHRYOCK, Ph. B.

PRESIDENT, STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY,

CARBONDALE, ILLINOIS

CH.T. Irea.

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INTRODUCTION

While there has been no effort in the preparation of this volume to secure novelty for its own sake; still it is evident, even at a glance, that the book represents a wide departure from the old time school reader. Part One bears the title "Type Studies in Literature. The compiler believes that no work of art can be appreciated without, at least, some slight acquaintance with the technique of the art represented. He is convinced, too, after thirty years of experience as a teacher of reading, that while. the technique of each of the forms of literature may in some respects be somewhat elaborate and involved, it is after all in its main features so simple that even a child may grasp it.

The book opens with a simple study of rhythm and tone-color; or, in other words, a study of the form side of poetry. The notes and studies on "The Eve Before Waterloo" are intended to bring out the significance of rhythm and tone-color, but only as they serve to give special enforcement to the content. Here, too, through a reference to the studies on "Webster's Bunker Hill" address, an effort is made to lead the pupil to a conscious appreciation of the significance of connotation. These studies are continued in a still larger way in connection with "Gareth and Lynette." English literature offers to English speaking boys and girls nothing more exquisite in form or richer in content than this, the purest and the brightest of the Idylls.

Every public speaker knows that he must count upon the fact that most of his listeners, even though attentive enough, carry away from the auditorium only disconnected impressions, and isolated sentences; that only a small minority are able even

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