I wish sincerely that we could root out for ever and utterly abolish the false notion that most students and many teachers have, that Literature is not an important subject, that it is only a side-line, very nice to know something about, but not in the same class with "useful" and practical subjects like history and science. This is a tremendous and a fatal misconception. It is by Art and Art alone that Humanity progresses; progress in Science or in mere knowledge does not necessarily mean progress in any of those things in which Man stands supreme above the rest of creation, those spiritual qualities which raise him to the level of the Divine. We know that a man may take a course in Science, or any purely intellectual subject, and come out at the end of it still uncultured and coarse-minded, with low ideals, with the higher instincts undeveloped; he may go through a course of Literature, too, it is true, and emerge in a similar condition, but not if the Literature has been properly presented to him, and if he has really assimilated the best thoughts of the highest minds. Art is the source of our highest pleasure, the capacity for which raises us above the beast. Without that capacity, men are no better than sheep or goats "who nourish a blind life within the brain." A thing of beauty is a joy for ever, Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep, Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing. Not only is Literature the source of our highest pleasure, but it is the source of our highest development. It is the most potent factor in the slow process of raising Humanity to a higher spiritual level; it is the true motive power of the world. Well might the poet say of himself and his fellow poets: We are the music-makers, We are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams;-- World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams: We are the movers and the shakers Of the world for ever it seems. One man with a dream, at pleasure, Shall go forth and conquer a crown: And three with a new song's measure Can trample a kingdom down. Assuming, then, that the appreciation of literature as art, as the record of spiritual experience, is the principal thing to be gained from its study, the question arises how is such an appreciation to be taught? In what I am going to say on this subject, I will speak of poetry, and you will understand my remarks to apply in a lesser degree to prose.