What an intriguing post (and so appropriate for a Twain list -- master of dialogue/dialect) When I teach literature to my community college students, I ALWAYS read ALL poetry out loud to them -- and I can't tell you how many journal entries I've read where the student says, "I just didn't get this poem at all when I read it, but when you read it out loud in class, I understood it/it made sense." Poetry, and especially Shakespeare, was meant to be heard, not read (although many poems are visually stimulating as well) and I think the same can be said for a lot of literature (a.k.a. novels, short stories, essays), ESPECIALLY Twain. After all, isn't it all about language and how the words sound together? I know that even those students who are visual learners will benefit from reading along and hearing the material. Personally, I move my lips when I am reading something slowly that I really want to understand and take notes about -- fiction is another story. How awful to be told not to do that and take advantage of connecting all the parts of our language -- verbal, auditory, written -- together. Again, just my two cents. Thanks! Renee L. Gross Corning Community College