THE TEACHING OF LYRIC POETRY 54 Outline for the Study of _L'Allegro_ and _Il Penseroso_ 55 " " " " " _Lycidas_ 57 " " " " " _The Deserted Village_ 60 THE TEACHING OF THE DRAMA 63 Outline for the Study of _The Merchant of Venice_ 67 " " " " " _As You Like It_ 72 " " " " " _Julius Cæsar_ 75 " " " " " _Macbeth_ 79 " " " " " _Comus_ 83 THE TEACHING OF THE ESSAY 86 Outline for the Study of the _Sir Roger de Coverley Papers_ 88 " " " " " Irving's _Sketch-Book_ 93 " " " " " Franklin's _Autobiography_ 99 Outline for the Study of Carlyle's _Essay on Burns_ 101 " " " " " Macaulay's _Life of Johnson_ 104 " " " " " Burke's _Speech on Conciliation_ 107 " " " " " Emerson's _Essays_ 114 " " " " " Webster's _First Bunker Hill Oration_ 123 " " " " " Washington's _Farewell Address_ 127 APPENDIX College Entrance Examinations in English 131 STUDIES IN ENGLISH I. THE TEACHING OF THE NOVEL All will agree that the novel is one of the most important forms of literature for high school study. The fact that almost every boy and girl who is at all interested in reading likes the novel, gives the teacher an excellent opportunity to stimulate the pupil's love for literature and to help him to discriminate between what is true and what is false; between what is cheap and what is worth while. Moreover, the study of the novel is the study of life and character. It is of great human interest, and it may be made an important factor in developing the pupil's ambition, judgment, ideals, and character. Good stories grow in meaning with the growth of mental power. _The Iliad_ and _The Odyssey_ are full of delightful stories for boys and girls, but these same stories, securely fixed in the youthful mind, gain a deeper meaning from experience as the child develops into the man or the woman. Furthermore, interest in a good story leads to other interests. It may encourage a love of nature, stimulating to closer observation. It may awaken a love of history, or of travel, or of some of the innumerable interests of human activity.