—Thomas Westwood.
The poem selected for this lesson is suitable for use in third, fourth, or fifth grades, although even younger children enjoy hearing it read. Such children would, however, find difficulty in a detailed study, such as is suggested in this exercise. The poem may be used simply as a reading lesson, or it may be read, studied, and memorized by the pupils as a language exercise. The various advantages of the study are indicated in the following suggestions, which are intended to indicate merely some of the different modes of treatment which may be attempted in language teaching.
THE THOUGHT IN THE POEM.
As in all lessons, the children should read the entire poem, or hear it read, before any detailed study is attempted. This is done in order that the poem may be presented to them as a whole, giving its thought or telling its message. After such reading, every verse and word will assume its rightful place in the description of the story. Otherwise, given separately, the words lose the meaning which they are intended to convey. A poem, like a picture, should be presented as a whole, and never dissected, in the first lesson.
It is wise, sometimes, to read and to re-read without note or comment; then to lay aside the book and leave the children to recall the story, and to accustom themselves to its pictures. At the next lesson, the teacher may question, following out any of the suggested lines of work.
The important motive is to get the message which the author intended to give us in the poem. Everything else must be subordinate to this purpose. Any supplementary teaching which draws the attention away from the poem, creating a separate centre of interest, is excessive. All illustration and explanation should be intended simply to throw light upon the poem, making the pictures more vivid and the message more plain.
The thought in this poem is very evident, even to the children. In the first stanza the blackbird on the beechwood spray introduces us to the pretty maid, “slow wandering” his way. She is little Bell. Sitting down beneath the rocks, she asks the blackbird for his best song. The bonny bird pours his full heart out freely, while, in the little childish heart below, all the sweetness seems to grow and grow, and shine forth in happy overflow from the blue, bright eyes. The squirrel swings and leaps and frolics in the glade, and at the child’s bidding drops down great ripe nuts into her lap. The blackbird pipes to see the fun. The child shares her treasures with the squirrel and the bird, and again the poet tells us
“In the little childish heart below
All the sweetness seemed to grow and grow,
And shine out in happy overflow