Extremes of force may be found in the following selections:
- Sweet and Low, VI, 122.
- To a Waterfowl, VII, 395.
- The Destruction of Sennacherib, VI, 141.
- Little Red Riding Hood, I, 79.
CHAPTER XIII
Literature and Its Forms
It is not everyone who can tell readily what is meant by literature, nor can anyone in a few words define it. What the study of “literature” (only the adult’s manner of saying “reading”) is expected to accomplish was aptly described by Cardinal Newman when he wrote: “The object of literature in education is to open the mind, to correct it, to refine it, to enable it to comprehend and adjust its knowledge, to give it power over its faculties—application, flexibility, method, critical exactness, sagacity, address and expression.” Reading at home and in the public schools as well as in the high school and colleges helps to accomplish these ends to a great extent.
Many persons fail to understand what literature is, and if they do realize its importance they do not comprehend the great variety of its forms nor the significance of each. To help such persons to a more comprehensive knowledge and a deeper insight into the functions of literature this chapter is written.
In its widest sense the word literature covers nearly every kind of printed matter, but it is in its more restricted meaning that the term is used here. Only that which is beautiful in form and expression, inspiring and helpful in spirit, noble and righteous in sentiment can be called literature as we are considering it. There may be weak and frivolous books, well-meaning but inept books, and really bad books, but none of them can be classed as literature.
Literary masterpieces are either prose or poetry, and in print the two are easily recognizable by their difference in form. Coleridge once said that prose consisted of words in their best order, while poetry was the best words in their best order, a poetic definition that does not convey a very accurate knowledge of the distinction. Poetry differs from prose not only in the choice and arrangement of words, but also to a lesser degree in sentiment and feeling. However, much verse, though faultless in form, can never be considered real poetry, while much prose has real poetic beauty.