Macbeth. Read principally for great ethical lessons. Emphasize character development. Have only so much close study as is necessary for the understanding of the action and characters. Teach as dramatically as possible; imagine stage setting, tone of voice, facial and bodily expression, action—in order to enter into the play. Select passages noticeable for beauty or power of expression and test appropriateness.

Paradise Lost. Study as dramatically as possible. Do no line-by-line study. Get the story, the character of Satan with its mixture of good and evil, the fine pictures and imagery. Mark fine thoughts, also examples of loftiness and sublimity, of color and splendor, and of varying melody.

Comus. Study as an example of the masque, keeping the dramatic element prominent. Set the scenes, imagine stage accessories suggested by the lines; such as, costumes, lights, tableaux, music. Show differences between this and the fully developed drama. Do the same kind of work as in “Paradise Lost” with fine thoughts and beautiful expressions. Show the lyric element here and its appropriateness.

Lycidas. Preface with the reading of examples of the classic pastoral elegy, in order to familiarize students with the pastoral style and so remove some of the difficulties. (See Baldwin’s “Famous Elegies” for translations of Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus). This poem has real difficulties for young students, therefore the teacher must give wise assistance in mastering it, or it will fail to make an appeal. Note the beautiful variation of melody. Show the effect of alliterative and assonantal rhyme and the grouping and alternation of consonant and vowel sounds, with resulting changes in music. At the close of the study of the poem, make a comparative study of it and Gray’s Elegy to show the difference between the personal and the general elegy.

Alexander’s Feast. Study (1) as an imitation of the heroic ode; (2) as an example of effective wedding of sound and sense.

Second Term.

Literature Studied.

Collateral Reading.