fa F 'maa rqTHE MICHJAAN DAILY SUNDAY, MAY 27, 1923
Discrimination inPoetry
-but They Know What They Like
This article r'a a report of the re- ANDREW J. GREEN A cood arithmetician, by multiply-
suIts of a. study, made by Mr H. J.Ing the figues in the"Total" coumn
Brevr an myslf, f 90by the corresponding number o. er-
Brevi and myself, of 90 papers, writ- of the examination of 90 prospective It is very pleasant to add that no orsthand adding the results, would
ten by university seniors, all prospect- teachers of English in ability to tell one missed thirteen out of the tbir- arrive at 547 as the total number of
ive teachers of English, in a test to good poetry from bad, teen, or even twelve out of the thir- errors made by the 90 P. T. O. E. as
measure discrimination in ability to Nteen, thus showing that the law of a whole, out of a possible 1170 (90x13)
judge poetry. It is not pretensded that Number of Prospective chance is at least in partial operation. tI ohewodtigruofPT.0
the group tested was large enough to. Teachers of English Mak It will be noted that less than 25 E. scored 46.7 per cent wrong and 54.3
idicate the average ability of all uri-ngSa NumberoErrorsper cent of the P. T. O. E. made four per cent right. Kindly refer to the
versity seniors. Being composed of o G ? errors or less, leaving 75 per cent of paragraph marked with the asterisk.
prospective teachers of English, how-,te PTt m hu
proective tacers suo tnlish hes .- the P T. 0. E. wh o mad e five errors Prominent among tile perversions
ever, who may be suppoted to have k or more.ofteoinapem wrestmnt
tamned some sort of mastery of Erg- a t of the original poems were sentiment-
lame ensy srt of a aste osEr-, t t I wish to digress a moment to say alized versions, in which the emotional
lish poetry, it may atileast be consid- - Z 0 Nthat one of the finest things about the tone was falsified, and "silly, gushy,
eredhasrreeseta ivle. ed wnrdn-. 0 2 1 3 3.3 tniversity of Michigan is the system affected, or otherwise insincere feel-
(which are weak) will be used in in-'
terpreting the results; the reader may 1 0 1 1 1.1 oc grading according to class aver- ings" introduced. If any readers still
draw his own conclusions as to the 2 3 0 3 3.3 ages. Using this system for a distr- remain unconvinced as to the general
dawis own cnclsioysns n the 2 4 'bution of grades, the 7.7 per cent P. excellence of the P., T. O. E., they are
atlainynt of university seniors in a 3 4 2 6 6.6 P. O. E. making two errors or less requested to examine the following
excellence in high schools of the 4 4 4 8 8.8 would receive A's, the 26.5 per cent P. data closely. It will be necessary,
teaching of English poetry at least. 5 7 3 10 11.1 'I O. E. missing three, four, or five, however, to quote a selection or two
would receive B's, the 49.9 per cent before giving the results, The stanza
MisconcepMions as to the nature of 6 12 9 21 27.3 P. T. O. E. missing only six, seven, or below is an original from Amy Low-
the tests should first be removed. The 7 6 5 11 12.2 eight out of the thirteen would re- Iell's "Sea Shell." It should scarcely
teats are in reality not designed to 8 11 2 13 14.4 ceive C's, while the remaining 15.5 per be necessary to call attention to its
measure the ability to discriminate be- 9 7 2 9 10.0 cent P. T. O. E., missing nine, ten, or imagery, music, and beauty.
tween varying degrees of excellence 10 1 2 3 3.3 eleven of the thirteen, would be flunk- "Sea Shell, Sea Shell,
In poetry, but rather to measure the 1 1 1 2 2.2 ed. Conlinued on Page Uight)
ability to discriminate between good
poetry and bad. There are two series
of tests (X anst Yy, composed of thir-
teen sets each, each set comprising -
four stanzas, one an origil poem of
undoubted excellence, the remaining-
three definitely mutilated versions, In
every set the original poem has been
pronounced better than Its three var-
fants, by a group of experts including
poets, literary editors, critics, and pro-
fessors of literature. The person test-
ed indicates his choice merely by writ-
ing "Best" above one stanza in each
set.
The tests are not difficult. All that
is required is a little concentration
and enough judgment to know a good_ I__
poem from a poor one.
* In a series of thirteen sets of fou
stanzas each, a person going through
the booklet and picking out one "Best"
on each page without the exercise of
any discrimination whatever, other
than mere guesswork, would, :: the
law of chance, presumably mark three -
or four of the sets correctly. There
are in oaScs series wvell-konwvn selec-
tions from famous poets, with whicha eis
any university senior who is in any That Gives an Impression of Good Taste
sense a cttmdent of literature should t As the time for "Finals" approaches and the last classes and
familiar. In Series X, for instance, social functions conclude the year at Micgan thoughts turn
we have Leigh Hunt's "Jenny Kissed =toward Vacation. Whether you are planning an extended
Ale," and a stanza each from 'enny-= tour or merely the trip to your home you will want Luggage
sen's "Bugle Song," Shakespeare's that carries with it an air of distinction and good taste and/7
"Dirge" (from "Cymbeline"), and =yet at the same time is durable and moderately priced..
Masefield's "Sea Fever." Each o
these is found in the "Century Readl- Sty sh Trunks
ings" In addition, there is in each -
series a Mother Goose rhyme which1s A - Perhaps you wll need a steamer trunk for a
so ridiculously easy for university -scamping trip or a dress trunk that will hold
seniors that it might well be thrown -=a large quantity of clothing packed flat and
out altogether. Just how many errors -=yet again you nsay desire a convenient ward-
a prospective teacher of Englishlt, -robe trunk that will carry your wardrobe with-
should make in such a series is left for out wrinkling it! We have all, at the most
the reader to judge.
One often hears it said that specialB
Bags and Hat Cases
izaticn should be deferred for post-
graduate work. Students of Educa For the trip home and for the many week-end,
tion are also advised that it is their trips that Vacation is sure to bring you will
duty to teach the child, not the sub- want, a stylish bag. If you wish to take a hat
jet. Against such walls as these de- with you in addition to the one you are wear-
fending our educational Jericho, my1 SutCing you wi1 want one of the patent leather
words are but a feeble squeak, but -hat cases. /
the noise made by the table below A suit case proves itself a
(which pretends to be nothing more firm friend for vacation trav- B $3n d
than a hint), should be sufficient to eling-it holds a large quan- Baes $3.00 and up
make them vibrate with some amp- tity of clothing and is not too
tude. The table presents the results = large to be inconvenient. The Hatcases $5.00 and up
black patent leather cases
( are priced from $6.00 up
= M___ - aik's Third Floor
"The Memorandum of William
Plumer," which was reviewed in
the last issue of The Sunday I
Magazine, was edited by Profes-
sor Everett Brown of the politi-
cal science department. Mr.
Brown discovered part of the
original in the Congressional Li-
brary at Washington while pre-
paring his doctor's thesis in =
1916. The remainder was found -
in the basement of the State Li-!
brary at Concord, New Hamp-
shire, where it had lain for years j -
thick with dust and forgotten.
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