Philosophers and poets from classical times to the present have argued that playful and amiable discourse are conducive to teaching and learning. The play principle enhances reading and study and should be applied by teachers to benefit their students. Teachers should help their students see that it is fun to enliven the imagination with good literature. Once into the game, and as their enthusiasm grows, students can be encouraged to reflect on questions about literary analysis and interpretation. Even in advanced literature courses, the play principle is an asset, since even talented English majors need to derive pleasure from literature before they will earnestly apply themselves to critical and scholarly studies about it. The re-creation of the spirit and the play of the imagination that poetry affords is a highly attractive reward to promise students in literature courses. (GW)