Children enjoy searching for the different varieties of figures in the selections which they read. Not much instruction is needed, and it is not necessary that they should know the names of the different figures or acquire a great deal of technical knowledge. Yet in helping them to recognize figures it is best to proceed in a logical manner, showing, one at a time, what the principal figures are, upon what they are based, and what they add in vividness and beauty to the language. When one figure is understood, help the children to find many good examples in other selections, before taking up the second figure. As a help to parents and children, we give an outline here for a study of the figures of speech in Shelley's beautiful _Ode to a Skylark_ (Volume VII, page 275). 1. SIMILE: "From the earth thou springest _Like a cloud of fire_." "_Like an unbodied joy_ whose race is just begun." "With music _sweet as love_." "_Like a star of heaven_ In the broad daylight." 2. METAPHOR: "From rainbow clouds there flow not Drops so bright to see, As from thy presence _showers a rain of melody_." "Or how could thy notes _flow in such a crystal stream_!" "In _the golden lightning_ Of the sunken sun." 3 and 4. METONYMY AND SYNECDOCHE are nearly related and in this poem the examples are numerous. Here are a few: "Better than all _treasures_ That in books are found." "Teach me half the gladness That thy _brain_ must know." "Thou art unseen, but yet I hear _thy shrill delight_." "The moon _rains out her beams_, and heaven is overflowed." "The blue deep thou _wingest_." 5. PERSONIFICATION. In this poem the poet personifies the lark, beginning with "Blithe spirit, bird thou never wert," in the first stanza and closing with "Teach me half the gladness that thy brain must know," in the last stanza. 6. APOSTROPHE. Most odes have in them something of the nature of an apostrophe. The _Ode to a Skylark_ begins "Hail to thee, blithe spirit!" Further along in the lyric we find the line, "Teach us, bird or sprite." * * * * * Young children will not appreciate the ode as it deserves; accordingly it will be better to use simpler poems for the first lessons. The obvious figures may well be shown first, leaving the more finished and brilliant ones till the minds of the children become more mature. For instance, as the simile is the most obvious of figures and may be found in nearly every poem of any length, it is the best with which to begin. Notice what a number can be found in _A Visit from Saint Nicholas_ (Volume II, page 202). Explain those that are used in the description of Saint Nicholas: "And he looked _like a peddler just opening his pack_."