nce
of the pupils. In some cases, they may have made a favourable
acquaintance with the author in another poem, and this may give the
necessary stimulus to their interest in his life. The best time,
however, to give a biography of an author, when that is helpful, is
after the lesson has been studied, for then the pupils will appreciate
what the teacher has to say about him personally.

In some poems, the circumstances under which they are written will be
the only introduction necessary, as in the case of _Break, break, break_
or _The Recessional_.

There is often an appropriate time for the teaching of a literature
lesson. Sometimes it is the season of the year. The lesson on _An Apple
Orchard in the Spring_ should come when the blossoms are stimulating
every bird and child with their loveliness, fragrance, and promise. _The
First Ploughing_ and the various poems on birds and flowers should come
at this season. They can be followed, in turn, by _A Midsummer Song_ and
_The Maple_. There are poems in the Readers for September, November,
Indian Summer, and Winter; and a wealth of material for the Christmas
season. Yet the season may not always determine the time for such
lessons. The pupil who has observed again and again an apple orchard in
the spring, and who knows birds and trees, has a store of memories that
will enable him to picture vividly what he reads about these at any
time.

It may be objected that these methods of introduction make the pupil
depend too much on the teacher, and do not throw him sufficiently on his
own resources. It is to be remembered, however, that the great object of
teaching literature is to cultivate a taste for it. When the pupil
approaches a selection with ideas and feelings which are already, in his
consciousness, related to those presented in the poem, he is in the best
possible mental attitude to appreciate it, and the probability of his
liking it is much greater than if it were presented without any such
introduction. The pupil's first impressions of a poem are all-important,
and it is essential that his first introduction to it should be made
under the most favourable circumstances. If his first acquaintance with
poetry is made under pleasant conditions, he will inevitably develop a
taste for poetical literature, and that is the object which the teacher
has in view. When this taste has been formed, it will not be necessary
that the teacher should be at hand in order to recall the p