The Idyl. An idyl is properly a short pastoral poem, highly finished in form. The Idyls of Theocritus are famous examples.

Dramatic Poetry. - Dramatic poetry is poetry intended to be acted on the stage. There are two great classes, tragedy and comedy.

Tragedy. Tragedy is the form of drama that deals with the human soul in such conflict with great forces as must end in defeat. Shakespeare's King Lear, Macbeth, Hamlet, and Othello are examples.

Comedy. Comedy is the form of drama that deals with laughable or enjoyable incidents, the outcome of which is happy. The Merchant of Venice and As You Like It are familiar examples of comedy.

Comedy sometimes takes the form of the farce, the melodrama, or the mask.

The Farce. A farce is a brief comedy whose humor is the result of the exaggeration or the distortion of incidents. It is extravagant to the point of abandonment. The Garroters and Evening Dress are examples.

The Melodrama.

- A melodrama is a comedy that contains a romantic plot and sensational situations. With No Mother to Guide Her is a well-known example.

The Mask. A mask is a form of comedy that in England consisted of lyric poetry and declamation accompanied by music, dancing, and magnificent scenic display. Jonson's Masque of Blackness and Masque of Queens and Shirley's Triumph of Peace are examples.

Lyric Poetry. Lyric poetry is poetry which expresses deep emotion, such as love, hate, jealousy, fear, adoration, sorrow. It was primarily intended to be sung to the lyre. It takes several forms, among which, besides the sonnet, the most important are the song, the hymn, the ode, and the elegy.

The Song. A song is a short poem intended to be sung. Songs may be either sacred or secular in nature. A hymn is a sacred song of praise. Old Hundred and Lead, Kindly Light are examples of sacred songs. Secular songs may be sentimental, convivial, or patriotic in theme.

The Ode. An ode is a lyric which is characterized by exaltation of feeling, dignity of theme, and complexity of structure. Among the most famous odes are Shelley's Ode to the West Wind, Keats's Ode to a Grecian Urn, Wordsworth's Ode on the Intimations of Immortality, Lowell's Commemoration Ode.

The Elegy. An elegy is a lament for the dead. Milton's Lycidas, Shelley's Adonais, and Tennyson's In Memoriam are the most famous elegies in the English language.

CHAPTER XIV

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

AN important part of the work of a student who would broaden his knowledge is the extensive reading of books which have some intrinsic value.

The Value of a Book. - The value of a book may lie in a series of interesting incidents, in a well-constructed plot, in a character of vital personality, in interesting descriptions of persons or places, in the vivid presentation of the life, the manners, and the customs of people of modern or of past times, in an account of the homes and the habits of plants or animals, or in the clear explanation of scientific phenomena and the application of natural forces in modern life. Every book should be read as a whole for the sake of getting the point and of getting in their right relations the chief details which lead to the point.

Book Reports. As a proof of intelligent reading, reports should be made at stated intervals upon books of different kinds. A report should state briefly the content of a book, and should comment upon those phases of the book which give it special value.

Topics for General Outline. In stating the content of a short story or of a novel, the topics to be developed should include:

1. The outline of the story; i.e., (a) the recounting in sequence of the chief events which lead to the point; (b) the stating of the conclusion. 2. The naming of the characters:

a. The principal characters; i.e., the characters who are the chief actors in the story.

b. The secondary characters; i.e., the characters who, by at least one decision, alter the course of events in the life of one of the chief characters or in the lives of more than one of the chief characters. c. The supernumerary characters; i.e., the characters who, while making no important decisions, perform the minor actions necessary in developing the various situations in the story.

3. The naming of three important moments in the life of the most important of the principal characters, the hero :

a. The moment of rising action; i.e., the moment when the hero enters upon the course of action which is to result in his final reward or punishment.

b. The crisis, or turning point; i.e., the moment when the hero makes a decision which commits him to the course of action which will end in his final reward or punishment.

c. The culmination; i.e., the moment when the hero receives final reward or punishment.

4. The statement as to whether the book consists of (a) a series of incidents which do not show plot; i.e., do not show an attempt by some character or characters to interfere with the course of events in the life of some other characters, or (b) a series of incidents which show plot, either (1) a simple plot or (2) a main plot and one or more subordinate plots, or subplots.

Topics for Series of Incidents. In commenting upon the value of a short story or of a novel, when the value of the book lies in a series of interesting incidents, the comment should show :

I. Whether the characteristic quality of the incidents, as of novelty, humor, pathos, tragedy, etc., is due (a) to the nature of the incidents themselves, or (b) to the manner in which the incidents are told.

Topics for Plot. -When the value of the book lies in a well-constructed plot, the comment should show :

1. How the plot is worked out:

a. Whether the suspense is sustained throughout.

b. Whether the culmination of the plot is the reasonable outcome of the events forming the plot.

c. Whether the culmination of the plot is a surprise.

d. Whether the culmination of the plot is foreshadowed from the moment of rising action or from the moment of crisis.

2. Whether interest in the plot centers (a) in incidents rather than in people, (6) in incidents chiefly as they affect the welfare of some of the characters.

3. Whether the plot is (a) probable or improbable; i.e., whether, in actual life, the same incidents would be likely to take place under similar conditions; (b) possible or impossible; i.e., whether, in actual life, the same incidents could take place under similar conditions.

4. Whether the plot, whether probable or improbable, possible or impossible, is consistent; i.e., not contradictory to the laws which govern the world in which the events take place.

Topics for Character Study. When the value of the book centers in the personality of the characters, the report should contain a discussion of important characters.

The estimate of the character should be based upon :

1. What the character does and says under the conditions which exist or which he believes to exist at the moment when he acts or speaks.

2. What other characters say of him.

3. The manner of other characters toward him.

The estimate should show :

1. Whether or not a character is consistent; i.e., (a) whether the dominant qualities and controlling motives of his nature remain the same throughout the book, even when, through change of circumstance or opinion, he changes completely his course of action; or (b) whether the dominant qualities remain the same, although, as a result of some crucial experience, the controlling motives change; or (c) whether, as the result of some crucial experience, the dominant qualities, as well as the controlling motives, change.

2. Whether or not a character is true to life; i.e., whether the character in a book speaks and acts as a character in real life would, under similar circumstances, speak and act.

3. Whether, as in real life, a character receives the due recompense for his deeds; i.e., either (a) reward, the just and certain compensation