Language teaching through literature is based on the principle that literary works of art can give students intellectual pleasure. It should be revived in English language teaching in Japan because (1) it has the power to motivate students to learn a language they might not learn otherwise, (2) literature is readily available and applicable to a wide range of learners, and (3) this method is gaining support in the profession in other parts of the world. Poetry is a good starting place because the language is more concise, pure, abstract, and beautiful than in prose. Poems are easily memorized and will encourage students to use and consider the language in unfamiliar ways, and teach beautiful turns of phrase not available in any other text. Christina Rosetti's "Who Has Seen the Wind?" William Wordsworth's "Lucy Gray; or Solitude," P. B. Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind," and Ted Hughes'"Wind" provide a common theme that can be examined through direct instruction or left to the students to discover and examine. Short stories with various themes are also appropriate instructional materials because they are in prose that is close to everyday usage, are of a suitable length, can acquaint students with a variety of themes, and provide models of a variety of language styles. Ernest Hemingway's "Indian Camp," Erskine Caldwell's "The Visitor," and Virginia Woolf's "The Legacy" are examples of works that can be used well for this purpose. (MSE)