SCHOOL OF ENGLISH.
Professor Garnett.
Instruction in this School is given in three classes;
Class of Early English.—In this class the historical and philological
study of the language is pursued, the class beginning with its oldest
forms, and tracing the language, by the study of specimens, through
its different periods to the formation of modern English. After a
thorough study of the grammar, selected pieces of Old and Middle
English prose and poetry are read, with a view to acquiring a philological
knowledge of the origin and structure of English. Lectures on
the position of English in the Indo-European family of languages, and
on the history of the language, are also given. Two lectures a week.
Text-books.—Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Reader; Morris and Skeat's Specimens of
Early English, Parts I. and II. For Reference.—Cook's Sievers's Grammar of Old
English; Earle's Anglo-Saxon Literature; Ten Brink's Early English Literature.
Class of Modern English.—In this class the study of the descriptive
history of the language is first pursued, and then Shakspere is
made a special subject of study. The critical study of a play of Shakspere,
with private reading of about one-fourth of the plays, is followed
by similar study of selected works of later authors. Lectures on the
history of the Elizabethan drama are given in connection with the
study of Shakspere. Two lectures a week.
Text-books.—Lounsbury's History of the English Language; for 1892-'93, The
Tempest (Rolfe's Edition); Dowden's Shakspere Primer; Abbott's Shaksperian
Grammar; Thayer's Best Elizabethan Plays. For Reference.—The Globe Shakspere;
Fleay's Shakspere Manual; Keltie's British Dramatists.
Class of Rhetoric and English Literature.—In this class the principles
of Composition and Rhetoric are first studied, and then the study
of the history of English Literature is taken up. Along with study of
the text-books selected works of authors are assigned for private reading.
Essays are required at regular intervals. Lectures on each
subject are given in connection with the text-books when deemed
necessary. Two or three lectures a week.
Text-books.—Genung's Practical Elements of Rhetoric; Genung's Hand-Book
of Rhetorical Analysis; Lectures on the Anglo-Saxon and the Norman Periods;
Nicoll's Landmarks of English Literature; Minto's Manual of English Prose
Literature; Garnett's Selections in English Prose; Ward's English Poets; Hawthorne
and Lemmon's American Literature. For Reference.—Saintsbury's History
of Elizabethan Literature; Gosse's History of Eighteenth Century Literature.
Each class may be attended separately; but graduation in Rhetoric
and English Literature in addition to one of the other classes will be
necessary for a diploma of graduation in the School. Graduation in
one class is requisite for the B. A. degree; graduation in the School,
for the M. A. degree.
Graduate Courses will be arranged to suit the needs of those students
who desire to pursue further either philological or literary
studies. The former will comprise the further study of Anglo-Saxon
and Middle English works, especially of Anglo-Saxon poetry, or the
study of Gothic and the comparative grammar of the Teutonic languages.
The latter will comprise the study of some distinctive period
in English literature, or of some particular writer, or writers, including
the political, social, and literary characteristics of the age under consideration.
In each course a thesis will be required, giving evidence
of independent private study of some subject cognate with the course
pursued, in addition to such examinations as may be advisable. The
selection of the course and subject is left to the student himself, under
the guidance of the Professor. Graduation in one of these courses is
requisite for the Ph. D. degree.
