Reading In The Humanities (1967)

Have you ever met a bookworm? They're happy little creatures, often found in libraries, and though each is different, they usually seem to be all eyes and full of questions. Oh, and another thing. Bookworms can go through books with the greatest [music] of ease. >> [music] [music] >> Bookworms can go through books with the greatest of ease, except when they temporarily bump into something that brings out the questioning part of their nature. Humanities? Well, >> [screaming] >> what's that? Humanities? Bookworms seldom let questions go unanswered. A humanities. One, languages and literatures. Two, the branches of learning concerned with human thought and relations as distinguished from the sciences. Especially, literature, history, the fine arts, and philosophy. Okay. So, we're going to go into reading in the humanities. Reading in history, literature, and the fine arts. COME ON, KIDS. FOLLOW ME. >> [music] >> AND HE GAVE THAT big bear such a terrible look that the bear started trembling. He shook and he shook. "Oh, me," the bear blubbered, "Oh, what can I do? Must I die just because of one eyelash too few? Oh, how can I get one more eyelash to grow?" "Hmm, well," smiled the rabbit, "it happens I know of a way you might do it. You're standing, you see, right under a Zinniga-Zanniga tree." What's that? Hmm? What have you said? A Zinniga-Zanniga tree. Oh, I don't know yet. We'll never find out if you keep stopping me. Where was I? Bookworms aren't always cartoon characters. People who like to read are also called bookworms. And it's tiresome when a bookworm has to stop his happy progress to explain that if you keep going and keep your eyes open, the book being read usually gives you the answer. Of course, people like you know that. It's people like this who can't read at all or not as well as you do, who don't know that reading Dr. Seuss requires you to keep your eyes open in a special kind of way. Open for fun and surprises. I'll read that part over about a Zinniga-Zanniga tree. Now, the flowers of this tree have some wonderful juices that doctors have put to some wonderful uses. A real bookworm doesn't bore his way through every page at the same speed. He may buzz through a funny poem such as this where all he wants is the main idea. And slow his reading down closer to a crawl when he wants to get not only the main idea, but the details as well. If he's reading his history lesson, for example. The United States began as a weak little country. The big European nations showed little respect for it. In the 1800s, the United States grew strong and prosperous. I'd better remember that detail. In the 1800s, we started to grow. The 1800s. Real bookworms adjust their reading speed to the difficulty of the material. Some things we read are as light and airy as bubbles, demanding little from us, although they may leave vivid impressions of beauty or action. While other books are more like lead balloons, it takes real effort to master them, but our struggles are rewarded because this weighty stuff helps us develop our store of knowledge. To raise ourselves to new levels, we must grasp the fact that different subjects demand different efforts. Different purposes call for different skills. For example, books, like people, have peculiarities in the kind of language they use and the way they use it. This shoe is constructed for comfort as well as for looks and it has a building support for the arch. As you go off the board and on your forward roll, go immediately into your arch. On each one of the arches, we'll find that a bearing weight of 2,000 tons is supported by each arch. Start through, then a right and left through and turn them out around and pass through, slide them into, make a line up four. Back to the middle and back. Pass through, arch, to the middle, and the ends turn in. What are you boys up to? Why those arch smiles? Happy birthday, Mommy. Oh, thank you. Let's you and I play like we're super spies, and he's our arch enemy, the Rattler. Did you notice something? All these people used the word arch, each in a different way. But, because you picked up clues from the way they were dressed or their surroundings, you adjusted to the differences in language, so you could understand them. Maybe you couldn't understand everything the engineer said. Bearing weight of 2,000 tons is supported by each arch. But, you knew what he was talking about. You adjusted to his technical language. He talked about the weight supported by an arch. This shoe is constructed for comfort as well as for looks, and it has a built-in support for the arch. On the other hand, the shoe saleswoman talked about support for an arch. But, the situation gave you clues as to what each meant. What are you boys up to? Why those arch smiles? Just the situation here gave you a clue as to what an arch smile might be. Let's you and I play like we're super spies, and he's our arch enemy, the Rattler. And a different situation gave you a clue as to the meaning of the phrase arch enemy. If you can make the same kinds of adjustment to the language of books as you have just made to the language of people, you're on your way to becoming one of those happy creatures, a real bookworm. You'll go through your reading in the humanities with more ease than you may have thought possible. Let's return to one of the subjects in the humanities, history. Our assignment is to read chapter 15. We know that when we read history, we must get the main ideas, but we must also look for details. And right away, the clues start supplying both. The chapter heading gives us the main idea. The growth of our country west to the Pacific. The picture supplies a clue to the time. Covered wagon days. The subheadings tell us where we are in the west. And the maps show us. History books are [music] written in such a way that when we put the main ideas and the details together, we can come up with cause-effect relationships. The what and the why. Our country expanded west to the Pacific. That's what happened. Now, why? In the south, cotton planters filled in the open spaces in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. From Mississippi, many crossed over into Arkansas and established plantations. Moved to Arkansas for more land. That's one reason why we went west, for more land. Since there's much more in the chapter, there may be more reasons. You must look for them. Look for the cause-and-effect relationships when you read history. It takes time to find cause-effect relationships. So, you must adjust the speed of your reading to give that time. When you read in another of the humanities, poetry, do you adjust to the language so that you can see pictures in your mind as you read? You should. By the rude bridge that arched the flood, their flag to April's breeze unfurled. Here once the embattled farmers stood and fired the shot heard round the world. The foe long since >> Poetry gets ideas across by creating images in your mind. Mental pictures of things you may or may not have seen, but because of the poetic language, you see them for the first time or in new ways. Take the first line. By the rude bridge that arched the flood. There's that word arch again. Why did the poet Emerson use it? He used it to give us the right kind of picture. In our mind's eye, we're supposed to see a bridge. Is this the right kind of bridge? No, it isn't arched. Ah, that's better. This bridge arches over a flood, if we can call that little trickle a flood, but let's read on. Their flag to April's breeze unfurled. In rainy April, little streams carry more water and trees have leaves. We know from the April clue to change the picture to include the idea that the stream is flooded by April rains and the rest of the area looks like spring. That's better, but what's this about a flag? Well, if our mental image must have a flag in it, let's put one in. While we read on to see if we can come up with unfurlers of the flag. Here once the embattled farmers stood and fired the shot heard round the world. Farmers, the poet said, not soldiers, but farmers with guns. And now we get the right picture. The Minute Men by Concord Bridge firing the first shots in the American Revolution, declaring a spirit of independence that would sweep around the world. Using poetic language, the poet helped us get a vivid picture of the time, the place, the people, and the importance of an event, all in a few lines. It may have taken the poet Emerson hours, weeks, months to choose the best words to give us the right mental picture. He took the time. When you read poetry, any [music] poetry, take the time to see the pictures. Fortunately for you, they are easier to see than they are to create. That's why Emerson is called a great writer. He and other writers such as Shakespeare, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Mark Twain had great talent, [music] and they took a great deal of care in writing. So that you, in turn, can enjoy the great pleasures to be found in literature, whether it's poetry or adventure stories, and so [music] that you can learn about the great ideas and great events of mankind through reading in the other areas of the humanities, history, philosophy, and the fine arts. If you aren't exactly a bookworm already, begin now to use some of a bookworm's tricks, making yourself all eyes and full of questions, looking always for the main idea, adjusting your progress so that you can pick up the details when you read history, [music] putting the main ideas and details together to discover cause-and-effect relationships. [music] Let your mind paint the pictures that poets have written into poetry, and follow the clues that the pictures, situations, and people you meet in literature give you to help you understand and appreciate what you read. Some books will still be dry, but there are so many juicy, delicious [music] things to find in print that a dedicated reader can always enjoy a wonderful feast reading in the humanities. COME ON, KIDS. FOLLOW ME.