ABSTRACT
A good deal of concern has recently been shown by teachers of English and lecturers in Education about the problem of selecting poetry for the classroom. Although positive attitudes to poetry can be nourished only by genuine material, much of the verse which is handed out to children is so shallow and insincere that it betrays both teacher and class. Yet the teacher’s difficulty does not end when he has found the right material for his lesson. Real poetry, it is sometimes suggested, teaches itself. Such a belief is surely over-optimistic. Even the finest poem can fail completely if it is entrusted to a poor teacher; conversely a good teacher can stimulate appetite for good poetry even though he may be handling a mediocre poem.
