Repeat Walie 7-7-26 13443 PREFACE THE real value of literature lies in the fact that it is a source of pleasure, and it is most to be desired that we enjoy it unconsciously, as the Scotch enjoy the poems of Robert Burns, without any thought of elements, or qualities, or reasons. But that is possible only where an entire community is possessed of a love for poetry that has grown up among them, with which all have been familiar from earliest childhood. We have very little folk-poetry and have inherited a vast literature which we have not produced. Study and reflection add greatly to our appreciation of this. I have, therefore, examined some of the most plain and obvious qualities of some of the work of a few of the great English writers, with the idea that an intelligent understanding of the simplest reasons why admired writings are ad mirable might lead to love of them for themselves and less unfruitful regard for them on traditionary authority. I may add that the book has grown out of talks with students and is written for learners. C. F. J. |