English Poetry Re-evaluated through a Diachronic Overview of English Textbooks: Ariumi (1938) Reconsidered

Hisato Ariumi, a teacher of English in a middle school, published an enlightening book entitled Flowers Blooming in English Readers (1938), in which he showed, with a detailed interpretation of each poem, how to teach traditional poetry in class. English poetry, which used to be helpful teaching material in the prewar period, has long been virtually ignored in school education. Two reasons for this would be conceivable: one is that poetry is too difficult for students to understand who are not familiar with the rules of verse, and the other is that it is often regarded as useless or irrelevant to their preparation for entrance examinations. Are these really true? To examine this issue, the present paper reconsiders Ariumi (1938), aiming at exploring the means to make an effective use of his approach in today's English education.