How to Teach Reading in the Public Schools

by S. H. Clark

Too frail to keep the lofty vow

That must have followed when his brow

Was wreathed—“The Vision” tells us how—

With holly spray,

He faltered, drifted to and fro,

And passed away.

The five preceding stanzas are from Wordsworth’s poem, At the Grave of Burns.

In the illustrations that follow, the student will note three distinct degrees of importance of thought; in other words, there is the main idea, its modifier, and the modifier of the modifier. The vocal expression of these illustrations will be affected just to the extent that the student appreciates the value of the different phrases.

At Atri in Abruzzo, a small town

Of ancient Roman date, but scant renown,