"His cheeks were _like roses_, his nose _like a cherry_; His droll little mouth was drawn up _like a bow_, And the beard on his chin was _as white as the snow_." "The smoke, it encircled his head _like a wreath_." "That shook, when he laughed, _like a bowl full of jelly_." Encourage the children to find other similes themselves--the characteristic _like_ and _as_ will make the task easy. In _The First Snowfall_ (Volume II, page 403) are a number of metaphors which may be easily explained to children. For instance, the following will be readily understood: "Every pine and fir and hemlock Wore _ermine_ too dear for an earl, And the poorest twig on the elm tree Was ridged inch deep with _pearl_." "The stiff rails were softened to _swan's-down_." SUMMARY We have considered the most common and expressive figures, and if one accustoms himself to the recognition of these and an explanation of their meaning as has been indicated here, he will soon recognize others of more complex type. Mere classification is valueless; our purpose is to learn to see and to feel more clearly and more deeply by means of our intelligent grasp upon these figurative expressions. Thought, then, is mastered by attention to the details we have discussed, and until we habitually notice these things our reading is apt to be slipshod and profitless. It will help us to retain these facts in mind if we put them into a systematic outline. Mastery of thought, which is at the foundation of an appreciation of literature, depends upon mastery of-- I. Words in their special meaning. II. Allusions, or references to 1. Historical events and personages. 2. Literary masterpieces. 3. Scientific truths. 4. Biblical events and truths. 5. Mythological creations. III. Figures, of which the more important and common are those-- 1. Based on comparisons: a. simile. b. metaphor. 2. Based on natural associations: a. synecdoche. b. metonymy. 3. Of apostrophe. 4. Of personification. IV. Sentences, the units of thought. V. Paragraphs, the collections of related thought units. CHAPTER XI READING POETRY Nothing so brings out the music and the structural beauty of poetry as reading it aloud, and many who have cared nothing for verse in any of its forms learn to love it when they hear it read frequently by a sympathetic voice. Children love the nursery rhymes largely because they have heard them and have caught the sound and rhythm more than the meaning. It is the lively music more than the whimsical meaning that has made the rhymes popular. When the time comes that children begin to lose their interest and consider poetry beneath them, their flagging attention often may be aroused and new interest created by simply reading new selections aloud to them and talking with them about the meaning and beauties of the poems.