Literary Genres & Poetry Teas

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You can't follow a Charlotte Mason educational philosophy or a Liberal Arts curriculum without great literature. Today, in our segment on the TRUE, I have the honor of chatting with the Co-director of the Templeton Honors College MAT program (Masters in Teaching in Classical Education) and professor of Literature, Dr. Kathryn Smith. She is a mentor and a friendly face in Walton Hall as I patiently attend my graduate classes. She teaches the class "Reading: The Formation of the Soul" and in it our class read Dr. Louise Cowan's writings on the theory of genres and discussed how Literature helps guide our lives and form our character, and helps us understand the world and the cosmos -- the TRUTH.  You will be fascinated by Cowan's "Genre Wheel" and how all the realms of Literature -- Lyric, Tragedy, Epic, and Comedy work together and have a form.

Cowen associated the imaginary realms with topographical terrains and three stages:

• Lyric = a Garden (Anticipation, Consummation, Lamentation); ex. "The Garden of Eden" narrative of the Bible
• Tragedy = a Dynastic House in a Ruined Land (the Fall, Suffering, Reconciliation); ex. Oedipus Rex, King Lear
• Comedy = a City and a Fallen World (Infernal, Purgatorial, Paradisal); ex. The Divine Comedy, "The Good Place" TV show, Jane Austen's novels, Flannery O'Conner's stories
• Epic = Rebuilding out of the ruins a new City (the Battle, Founding, Ruling); ex. The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, The Lord of the Rings

Following our conversation, in our GOOD and BEAUTIFUL segments, I get to share with you one of my favorite life practices, Poetry Teas, and my favorite resources and how to host one. So I hope you will join us as it's gong to be fun!

Some of Our Favorite Resources:

• The Terrain of Comedy by Louise Cowan
• The Epic Cosmos by Louise Cowan
• The Tragic Abyss by Louise Cowan
• The Prospect of Lyric by Louise Cowan
• Tea with Jane Austen by Kim Wilson
• Sing a Song of Seasons by Fiona Waters
• A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson 
• The Complete Book of Flower Fairies by Cecilie Mary Barker
• Lullabies and Poems for Children edited by Diana Larson
• 101 Famous Poems edited by Roy Cook
• The Oxford Book of English Verse edited by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch 
• The Oxford Book of American Verse edited by F. O. Matthiessen
• The Historic Poems and Ballads by Rupert Holland
• Art and Nature: An Illustrated Anthology of Nature Poetry by The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Audubon's Art and Nature edited by John Borneman
• Taking Tea with Alice: Looking-Glass Tea Parties and Fanciful Victorian Teas by Dawn Gottlieb and Diane Sedo
• Tea Time at the Inn by Gail Greco

Why Poetry?

• helps with the study of language 
• helps with memory, creative thinking
• helps ignites the imagination
• helps with beginning writing
• helps with sharing emotions
• helps brighten the soul

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.  We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.  For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.  How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? - The Bible, Psalm 137: 1-4

. . . give a child a single valuable idea, and you have done more for his education than if you had laid upon his mind the burden of bushels of information . . . - Charlotte Mason, Volume 1: Home Education, p. 174

1. Try reading from each of the literary genres this year. See if you can pick out the three different stages in each one and if the story lacks any of them.
2. Plan a Poetry Tea once a week or once a quarter in your home or school room and have your children bring a favorite poem to share.
3. Memorize a poem and recite it to a friend or your family. Try adding to your repertoire each month or each season.