Addressed to educators and general readers alike―the "consumers of literature" from all walks of life―this important work explores the value and uses of literature in our time. Northrup Frye offers challenging and stimulating ideas for the teaching of literature at lower school levels, designed both to promote an early interest and to lead the student to the knowledge and kaleidoscopic experience found in the study of literature. Frye's proposals for the teaching of literature include an early emphasis on poetry, the "central and original literary form," intensive study of the Bible as literature, and the Greek and Latin classics, as these embody all the great enduring themes of western civilization and study of the great literary forms: tragedy and comedy, romance and irony. Addressed to educators as well as the general reader, this important yet lively and readable book explores the value and uses of literature and its study in our scientific age, and offers a broad program for the teaching of literature in elementary and secondary schools.