THE POETRY THAT YOUTH LIKES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1593, 9 November 1912, Page 9

THE POETRY THAT YOUTH LIKES.

In the September number of the "Journal of English Studies" there is an interesting, article by-Mr., P. B. Ballard, !who is a Divisional Inspector to thc.Lon-. i don- County Council's ■<Educational Department, .on- the ■. "Appreciation of. 'Poetry." .Mr. Ballard asks how far children and young people have natural tasto Sn poetry, and ;whether, with them literary discrimination is, "a matter of common sense,' or <>f reading,' and-he de- , vised a test which was applied to various classes in eight .elementary schools, to seven classes- of training college students, and to ono of older teachers. - He gave », eight-passages ,of, of which four - .ere classed- roughly as good and four -as i bad, and the competitors were asked to '-■ arrange them in'the order of merit and to give the reasons-for the choice- of the 'first and of the last. Naturally, therewas a mighty queer mixture of criticism, ..and Mr. Ballard's aid is necessary to '■' disengage some few principles from it. V If appears that a child's intelligence is very likely to fall foul of poetry, and that those who are well up in. grammar have a kind'of intellectual snobbery in matters of diction; that girls frequently plump for sadness; that children generally praise moral sentiments and nature ''.. poetry; and that general education has largess effect -on-the critical taste than ;, particular instruction in-literature. Of course, Mr. Ballard's plan can only bring ,-■ :■ yery rough conclusions, and'-we should pappose that considerable allowances J

might! be made for the instinctive or de- ' liberate choice of what seemed likely to bdriglit rather Uian of what appealed to tasto or temperament;, the choice of> sad-ness,-for instance, might bo a natural sontimentalism, - and that of the moral tag more like subservience. We'cannot be surprised that trained children are the best in their own subject—it would he very; discouraging if it were not so—and yet perhaps we are not distressed to find that these young critics aro very far from balance and .penetration; .an., uncertain, romantic, even sporting; clement; in their attitude towards English litoraturo is not amiss. And the children did chance, on tho right things sometimes, whereas with a curious and almost unvaried consistency tho students of from eighteen to twentytwo, who had not had any literary training, picked out,, not the. worst of all, but the best of the, secbnd r rate—for we should .wish toimake.ari- exception of. the.passage from the-"Idiot; Boy, emphatically with Jfr.'Ballard that it'suffers more than the others by removal from its context. Men, women,'and children ridiculed Wordsworth's [. baldness 'of .statement, and only in a-few'cases was it preferred to the mildest of,exhortative verse. On the whole.tho young-people.are- better.at reasons; than: at ..judgments,' and : their destructive; "criticism; has .-more zest than ■ their appreciation; Perhaps they are not alone; in this, and: we fancy that if Mr. Ballard could induce our,accredited critics of verse to enter .upon, one 'of his competitions .they.might reveal differences almost as .'great ■as> those of -the • school children.— "Manchester:.. Guardian:" '...-■