one of Wordsworth's short narrative poems, *The Brothers*.
There are editions of Wordsworth at a shilling, but I should advise
the "Golden Treasury" Wordsworth (2s. 6d. net), because it contains
the famous essay by Matthew Arnold, who made the selection.
I want you to read this poem aloud. You will probably have to hide
yourself somewhere in order to do so, for, of course, you would not,
as yet, care to be overheard spouting poetry. Be good enough
to forget that *The Brothers* is poetry. *The Brothers* is a short story,
with a plain, clear plot. Read it as such. Read it simply for the story.
It is very important at this critical stage that you should not
embarrass your mind with preoccupations as to the *form* in which
Wordsworth has told his story. Wordsworth's object was to tell
a story as well as he could: just that. In reading aloud do not pay
any more attention to the metre than you feel naturally inclined to pay.
After a few lines the metre will present itself to you. Do not worry
as to what kind of metre it is. When you have finished the perusal,
examine your sensations....


Your sensations after reading this poem, and perhaps one or two
other narrative poems of Wordsworth, such as *Michael*, will be
different from the sensations produced in you by reading an ordinary,
or even a very extraordinary, short story in prose. They may not be
so sharp, so clear and piquant, but they will probably be,
in their mysteriousness and their vagueness, more impressive.
I do not say that they will be diverting. I do not go so far
as to say that they will strike you as pleasing sensations.
(Be it remembered that I am addressing myself to an imaginary
tyro in poetry.) I would qualify them as being "disturbing."
Well, to disturb the spirit is one of the greatest aims of art.