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Show 74 HANDBOOK FOR TEACHERS OF INTERPRETATION ing to the audience the spiritual message at the same time he is telling the story. The implied hidden meaning of every detail of the story must be understood by the reader and should occupy his whole attention and purpose. It is not easy to be telling a story and at the experience. same time translate the outward form into real moral It is a transformation from the concrete to the ab stract-with all the emphasis on the abstract. So difficult will this simple types College students may with profit spend be to high school pupils that it is wise to select only of allegory for their study. division, but it is better taken as an advanced study, and only touched upon when teaching this step. The Burlesque. The burlesque is the cartoon of literature. Its or char purpose is to exaggerate all the weak points of the story acter. The exaggeration must be felt and spoken most earnestly. The reader should thoroughly sense the humor of the situation, but must never in any way betray this knowledge to the audience. The reader while misleading the audience, and thus amusing them, must be willing to appear the victim of his own lack of apprecia tion. All the moods of burlesque will of necessity be out of har mony with true atmosphere, which will, paradoxically, produce the burlesque atmosphere. Since burlesque will modify the at mosphere, this fact should be called to the attention of the pupil; but, like the detailed study of the allegory, it should be left for advanced study later-preferably until the junior year of college. "The Confession" and "A Lovely Scene" will be sufficient illustra tions to be used in this field, until later when an exhaustive study some time in this is made. Assign selections which will develop within the student an ap preciation of what atmosphere really is. Vary the assignments as widely as possible, and study rapidly with no effort to make fin ished readings. Such procedure will impress upon the mind of the student the great differentiation in literary material, and the great differentiation which is necessary to interpret the printed page, and will develop within him the ability to vary his reading according to the general mood. The teacher, by reading aloud to the class 'varied bits of literature, can illustrate how dissimilar printed pages The student may get a clearer underare when well interpreted. |
