“There can be no great art without great fable. Great art can only exist where great men brood intensely on something upon which all men brood a little. Without a popular body of fable there can be no unselfish art in any country. Shakespeare’s art was selfish till he turned to the great tales in the four most popular books of his time…”

James Masefield, as Quoted by Charlotte Mason, Vol. 6, Toward a Philosophy of Education Show Summary:

• Today on the New Mason Jar, Cindy and Dawn welcome back previous guests Angelina Stanford and Timilyn Downey to cover some questions listeners had about Episode 60: The Building Blocks of Story
• Is there an objective answer to the question “What is art?”
• What do we mean when we say literature is art?
• Why do we say fairy tales are the building blocks of story?
• What is the danger of not giving children a foundation in myths, fairy tales and the Bible?
• Is it ever too late to develop a taste for these stories?
• What is the difference between historical fiction and literature?
• How does a wide and varied literary education add to our understanding of story?

 

Let us take it to ourselves that great character comes out of great thoughts, and that great thought must be initiated by great thinkers; then we shall have a definite aim in education. Thinking and not doing is the source of character.

Charlotte Mason, Toward a Philosophy of Education   Books Mentioned:

Northrop Frye

C. S. Lewis

J. R. R. Tolkien

The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green

The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone

Beowulf trans. by Burton Raffel

English Literature for Boys and Girls by H. E. Marshall

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