I’m developing a course for student at GSU who have not been successful at English courses. I thought this proem from Balzac’s ‘Lost Illusions’ (1847) to be helpful in inspiring poetic literacy.

““Oh, my Lord,” the poet replied, hoping to knock these thick heads with his golden sceptre, “But ordinary people have neither your intelligence nor your charity. Our sorrows are ignored, and nobody know our labours. It is easier for the miner to dig gold from the rocks than to draw poetic images from the entrails of the most unrewarding of languages. If it is the function of poetry to state ideas so that everybody can feel and understand them, the poet must constantly run the gamut of every type of human mind, so as to be capable of satisfying all; he must conceal logic and feeling, those conflicting powers, under the brightest colours; he must condense a whole world of thought into a single word, sum up whole philosophies in an image; indeed, his poems are the seed whose flowers must blossom in all hearts, growing there in soil made receptive by personal experience. How can you state everything unless you have felt everything? And to feel deeply, is not that to suffer? Poems are born only after difficult explorations of the vast regions of the mind, and of the world as well.” (96-97) (Modern Library edition; translated by Kathleen Raine)

I often use classic 19th century literature in my pedagogy. This is a method that has yielded mixed results. Some students are turned on, but for others, it’s irrelevant. I’m interested to know how other instructors have used old books for pedagogy. Thoughts? 🙂

I’m happy to field comments from any subscribers…