Group study increases enjoyment of poetry. Poetry must be enjoyed to be appreciated, but increased capacity for enjoyment comes with increased appreciation. To read certain poems in groups often leads to greater enjoyment and appreciation. The following group studies are merely suggestive of many other groups which anyone can readily make for himself. It is possible to select from this and other anthologies all the poems, for instance, about the sea, about woods, about spring, fall, love, friendship, children, flowers, courage, and so ad infinitum. The groups selected here are typical of subjects which are arresting the attention of many of our present-day poets. They are interesting chiefly because they reflect the life and thought of our day. POEMS AS STORIES, in which the narrative is given a sharper accent by the use of rhyme and precise rhythm. The Man With the Hoe... Edwin Markham (p. 52) Ploughman at the Plough..Louis Golding (p. 363) THE NEW REALISM. . . . and all unseen Romance brought up the nine-fifteen." Miniver Cheevy E. A. Robinson (p. 77) 1 Petit, the Poet.. The Tuft of Flowers. Edgar Lee Masters (p. 83) LAUREATES OF THE HOME. Women are discovering a new glory in domesticity. The Monk in the Kitchen..Anna Hempstead Branch (p. 99) Domestic Economy. SOCIAL CONSCIENCE. A social conscience, not merely a social consciousness, is abroad in the world. Columbus ...Joaquin Miller (p. 38) The Man With the Hoe..Edwin Markham (p. 52) Prayer Mia Carlotta.... The Turning of the Babies in the Bed.... T. A. Daly (p. 88) .Paul Laurence Dunbar (p. 90) A Coquette Conquered.....Paul Laurence Dunbar (p. 91) the Gullible Raven..... Guy Wetmore Carryl (p. 93) The Ballad of the Billy cock ...Anthony C. Deane (p. 275) THE MELTING POT. America is being expressed by this very difference in dialect. LYRICS AND LYRICISTS. Whatever the poet's nature, his truest emotion, and hence his truest poetry, is likely to live in the lyric. Tears Spicewood Spring Night .Elizabeth Woodworth Reese (p. 59) .Elizabeth Woodworth Reese (p. 60) ..Sara Teasdale (p. 157) Night Song at Amalfi.....Sara Teasdale (p. 158) Water Lilies ..... ..Sara Teasdale (p. 158) Two Songs for Solitude....Sara Teasdale (p. 159) Sunday Evening in the The Barrel Organ. Epilogue .Alfred Noyes (p. 316) .Alfred Noyes (p. 323) POETRY AS COLOR. It is possible to paint with words as well as with the brush. LINCOLN AND THE POETS. Young as the nation is, it is being supplied with the stuff of legends, ballads and even epics. The Master A Farmer Remembers The Lincoln Child.. .E. A. Robinson (p. 78) Witter Bynner (p. 139) ..James Oppenheim (p. 142) SUGGESTIONS FOR READING THE POEMS IN THE GROUPS The following suggestions are merely indicative of the trend which the discussion of the poems might take. One of the pleasantest aspects of the study of poetry, modern or classic, is the unexpectedness of the reactions which result when a group of people talk things over together. Before beginning it is well to remember that in every poem there are many considerations possible. We need not be attentive to all these points all the time, but the |