A wisely crafted tale invites its reader or listener, young and old, to inquire what good might be learned from the tale.
On Understanding Children's Literature by Michael Doyle The stories we have heard from childhood Are the classics of morality teaching good And the very best needed to be understood There is much to learn and enjoy as we should As Jesus knew, truth comes best in tale Parables, fables and such do so very well In teaching by metaphor all that we see Whether works of fiction or profound history Aristotle's Poetics drives its points of history That while they are important do not touch poetry Because that license allows for near perfection Sharpened and shaped for our worthy detection The creation of other worlds brings us to place Places that we might never be, but, need to embrace Telling us the things of what can be and never be And yet point out the depths of missed reality The truths met by most are perhaps for the first time And yet these truths in their marvel lead to the sublime This then draws the mind in its very attention And in so doing, this then fosters the heart's retention It is not and could never be a blunder That God has blessed children with a sense of wonder It is true that the awe and wonder become the yearning That serves as the force for the deepest learning We can learn the things needed on smaller scale Where the magic steadily allows the good to prevail It's not so much a matter of hocus pocus But in bringing the good things more into focus It is not really a matter of escapism but true liberation When you can see into the worlds of imagination The prison of our own making and sterility Knows nothing of the passages of nobility The sum of darkness in a children's story Brings it around to lessons without being gory Simply and clearly is how a tale must be told It is the learning of imitation as it unfolds There in the first acts of truly understanding Presented as these are as not too demanding Life in all its imposing bits of limitation Does well to allow for this initiation Like all art, a children's story aims for good The good is that which all things aim to be understood Every work of literature is an open inquiry Seeking after that good to understand its legacy Education is not something that we do to the other It is something we do together with one another Children are endowed with the want and will to know It is from this knowledge that they think and grow (c) June 9, 2020 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
