come first. Before the formal study of any particular author is begun, pupils should have some experience in the proper method of studying a given piece; hence, in the first few chapters, the texts of a variety of choice selections have been given, with full explanations. The arrangement of the book is such that the representative authors may be taken up in any order that may be deemed best. The general principle is, that the less difficult and more modern authors should come first in order. "From the modern and more easily apprehended specimens of English and American literature," says J. H. Gilmore, “I should work back to those which are more obscure and more difficult."

A word of caution may be necessary in reference to the analyses, examples, formal questions, etc. They are intended to be used simply as hints and helps; hence they are not to be copied or re-arranged by the pupil, but are to serve as guides to him in his preparation for the class

room.

CHAPTER II.

THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS AS A MODEL.

General Plan of Study: Use of the Guide Analysis. -In order to do thorough and systematic work in the study of English classic authors, each member of the class should follow the same general plan. For convenience, we may call this general plan of study which has been adopted in the following pages a "guide analysis." It is intended to serve as a general guide to the pupil. It is a kind of chart, by means of which the student may direct his course to a more systematic understanding of any standard production in English literature.'

In its various forms, which will be more fully explained hereafter, the guide analysis will help the beginner to study, recite, and retain in the memory, the important points of a standard piece of prose or poetry.

After the student has become familiar with this general plan for the study of a simple poem, or easy prose selection,

"It is impossible, and, were it possible, it would not be desirable, to lay down a set of rules for the guidance of teachers in teaching the works named in the succeeding pages, which would meet the case of every teacher and of every class. Not only do teachers differ in their mental constitution; not only do classes vary in ability, thoroughness of training, and in other respects: but the selections to be read differ in length, in subject, in form, and in character. All that we can do is to state the principles which should, in our opinion, be acted upon by teachers of English literature. The application of these principles must be made by the teachers themselves."

and has also acquired some skill in filling in orally, or by written exercises, whatever is necessary under the several headings, this analysis may be dropped for another form of the same general plan, called the "special analysis," which is to be specially adapted to every subsequent selection.

We have selected Longfellow's beautiful ballad, "The Wreck of the Hesperus," as our first piece to study.' It is simple and interesting. It merits our best efforts. We are now ready to begin its study, with the aid of the following guide analysis :

GUIDE ANALYSIS: THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS.

I. Read the poem carefully and thoughtfully.

II. Recite the story of the poem.

III. The study of the text.

IV. The author of the poem: Henry W. Longfellow.

THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS.

HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.

It was the schooner Hesperus,

That sailed the wintry sea;

And the skipper had taken his little daughter,

To bear him company.

1 "Your great object should be to be thorough; to learn but a little at a time, but to learn that little well. A very short poem, thoroughly comprehended in all its parts, will do to make a beginning upon. Any lesson of this sort that is really well learnt is a piece of solid work done; serves for a stepping-stone to the next piece." WALTER W. SKEAT.

Blue were her eyes as the fairy-flax,

Her cheeks like the dawn of day,

And her bosom white as the hawthorn buds

That ope in the month of May.

The skipper he stood beside the helm,

His pipe was in his mouth,

And he watched how the veering flaw did blow

The smoke now west, now south.

"Last night the moon had a golden ring, And to-night no moon we see !"

The skipper he blew a whiff from his pipe,

And a scornful laugh laughed he.

Colder and louder blew the wind,
A gale from the north-east ;
The snow fell hissing in the brine,

And the billows frothed like yeast.

Down came the storm, and smote amain
The vessel in its strength;

She shuddered and paused, like a frighted steed,
Then leaped her cable's length.

"Come hither! come hither! my little daughter,

And do not tremble so;

For I can weather the roughest gale

That ever wind did blow."

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He wrapped her warm in his seaman's coat

Against the stinging blast;

He cut a rope from a broken spar,

And bound her to the mast.

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And she thought of Christ, who stilled the wave
On the Lake of Galilee.

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And fast through the midnight dark and drear,
Through the whistling sleet and snow,

Like a sheeted ghost the vessel swept
Towards the reef of Norman's Woe.

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