 | The University of Virginia record February, 1909 |  |
LINDEN KENT MEMORIAL
SCHOOL OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.
Professor Kent.
Mr. Whipple.
Mr. Arnold.
Required for Admission to the Work of the School: The General
Entrance Examination.
Course 1A: The Entrance Examination (or its equivalent) prerequisite.—This
course is designed to meet the needs of students preparing
directly for professional studies and of others whose training is inadequate
for Course 2B.
I. Composition and Current Prose, with special reference to the structure
of sentences and paragraphs, composition of letters, business papers,
etc., and practice in the forms of discourse, and investigation of standard
prose. Text-books: Wooley's Handbook of English Composition and the
Atlantic Monthly.
II. Composition and American Literature. This course is based upon
the text-books, but the text will be amplified and explained by comment
and discussion. Text-books: Abernethy's American Literature, with Assigned
Readings.
III. Composition and English Literature. Text-Books: Genung's
Practical Rhetoric, Cranshaw's Making of English Literature, Huichman
and Gunmere's Lives of Great English Writers.
Frequent exercises on the black-board and in writing will be required,
and parallel reading to the amount of three hundred pages each term will
be assigned.
Course 2B: Course 1A (or its equivalent) prerequisite.
I. English Literature by periods. Text-books, to be assigned.
II. American Literature. A discussion of the development and
present state of American prose and poetry. Text-books, to be assigned.
III. Tennyson and Nineteenth Century Poetry. Text-books, Page's
Nineteenth Century Poetry; Cambridge Edition of Tennyson.
About twelve hundred pages of parallel reading will be assigned during
the session. There will be about thirty written exercises, and three
required essays on literary topics.
Course 3B: Course 1A (or its equivalent) prerequisite.—Either
Course 2B or Course 3B may be offered as the elective from Group III.
and the other may be offered as an elective at large.
I. Literary Style. This covers Diction, Sentence, and Paragraph,
with a general discussion of the art of composition. Text-books: Genung's
Working Principles of Rhetoric, Brewster's Representative Essays in
Style, Lewes's Principles of Success in Literature.
II. Literary Criticism and Exposition. Texts: Genung's Working
Principles of Rhetoric; Winchester's Principles of Literary Criticism, etc.
III. Narration and Description. This course is collateral with II
and IV. Texts: Perry, The Study of Fiction; Barrett, Short Story
Writing; Canby, The Book of the Short Story; Baldwin, Specimens of
Description.
IV. Argumentation, Debate, and Oratory. This course is collateral
with II and III. Texts: Baker's Principles of Argumentation; Robinson's
Forensic Oratory.
V. English Poetry and Poetic Forms, with discussion of versification,
types of poetry, history of certain forms, etc. Texts: Alden's English
Verse; Gayley and Young's Principles and Progress of English Poetry;
White's Ballades and Rondeaux.
About one thousand pages of parallel reading will be assigned for the
session, and about thirty written exercises. Three essays, one each term,
will be required.
Course 4B: Journalism: Course 1A (or its equivalent) prerequisite.—
Theory and Practice of Journalism. This course aims to give the student
such instruction and practice in journalism as can be given outside
of a newspaper office. Emphasis will be laid on the practical work of
writing. The work will be conducted by the study of texts: class discussions;
and daily practice in writing, either within or without the class
room. The course will cover the general news story; types of journalistic
work; the organization of a paper; the historical and social aspects of
journalism; and the analysis of standard dailies.
Fall Term: What News is: the General News Story.—Purpose and
Method of the Work. A brief Review of the Principles of Writing, Punctuation,
and the preparation of Ms. Copy. Proof-reading Symbols. What
is News?—Definition: its Nature and Characteristics. Observation and
the News Sense. The News Story—parts, arrangement, nomenclature,
writing. How a Reporter Works. The general organization of the Staff.
Copy-readers and Copy-reading. The Writing of Head-lines (begun).
Standard dailies will be analyzed and compared. A series of about thirty
exercises will be written and criticised.
Texts.—Givens, John, The Making of a Newspaper; Schumann, E. L., Practical
Journalism; Luce, Writing for the Press.
Winter Term: Gathering News: the `Human Interest' and Feature
Stories.—Complete Organization and Duties of the Staff. Managing Editor.
Correspondence and Correspondents. Departments: Sports, Society,
Women's, Finance, Dramatic, Book Reviews, etc. The Art Department.
The Sunday Supplement. Feature Stories. Country Journalism. The
Mechanical Production of a Paper: Type-setting, Stereotyping, Presswork.
About twenty-five exercises, chiefly human interest stories, with at least
two Feature stories with pictures.
Texts.—To be assigned.
Spring Term: Editorial and Historical: Editorial Writing, and General
News.—Editorials: character, types, functions, analysis of. Laws of
Libel and Copyright. Advertising. The Business Departments: Subscriptions.
A brief Survey of the History and Development of the American
Press. The Social and Ethical Aspects of the Press.
About fifteen or twenty exercises. Publication of a class paper.
Texts.—To be assigned.
Course 5C: Course 2B or 3B (or the equivalent) prerequisite.—
This equivalent means that the student must have completed in some
recognized college, and with a grade of not less than 75 per cent., a course
in advanced Rhetoric, Poetics, History of English and American Literature,
and a reasonably wide course in reading. In this course there are
occasional lectures, but in general the class exercises will consist of conferences
and discussions. Independent investigation will be insisted upon,
with reports, either written or oral, from time to time. Much outside
reading is necessary. Besides these written exercises and reports, three
essays are required, one each term, which must show original research
and independent conclusions. The themes of these essays may be assigned,
or selected with the Professor's approval. Subjects to be studied in this
course for 1908-1909 are:
I. Shakespeare.
II. The Romantic Movements of the Nineteenth Century.
III. Southern Literature.
A candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy may select English
Literature for his secondary minor, his primary minor, or his major
subject. For 1908-1909 the courses are as follows:
Course 6D: or secondary minor: this is the same as Course 5C
with such supplementary work, both in reading or writing, as may be
required.
Course 7D: or primary minor: The candidates, who must have
completed satisfactorily Course 6D, will pursue the following courses:
1. Colonial Literature in America; 2. Browning and his Poetry; 3. The
Drama in England since 1740; or any three of the following courses
the Professor may deem advisable, with such supplementary reading
and writing as may be prescribed:
History of Lyric Poetry.
British Essayists from Bacon to Burke.
British Essayists of the Nineteenth Century.
Literary Tendencies in the Nineteenth Century.
Victorian Poetry.
American Poets and Poetry.
Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist.
Milton and his Times.
Tennyson and the Nineteenth Century.
Myths and Traditions in English Poetry.
Dr. Johnson and his Times.
Course 8D: or major: The candidate who has completed satisfactorily
the work mapped out for the secondary minor, and the primary
minor, will select, with the Professor's approval, a subject for his dissertation,
and will then proceed to the careful investigation of his subject, and
the preparation of his thesis. Collateral reading will be prescribed and
required. A written record of all the reading done throughout these three
years will be preserved, and, with the examination and thesis, will constitute
the test of the whole Ph. D. course.
Course in Public Speaking.
Adjunct Professor Paul.
The course in public speaking organizes a new course and modifies
an existing course in the School of English Literature, and also trains
men from the Literary Societies for several intercollegiate contests.
The course deals with the theory and practice of Public Speaking.
Its aim is to prepare the student to express his thoughts and feelings
clearly and effectively before an audience. No attempt is made to give
the more elaborate discipline necessary for the public reader and impersonator.
In order that emphasis may fall upon improvement in form,
speeches from the great orators are used as material for drill work. At
each lesson, every member in the section is called in turn before the class
to render his lines and receive suggestions for further progress. The
theory is not set forth by lectures, but by comments upon the efforts of
the individual student and upon the end sought by the author of the
oration under interpretation.
The regular English course in Argumentation, if time permits, will
will deal not only with logical structure and effective tactics but also
with manner of delivery.
From the Literary Societies, by the sifting process of preliminary
trials, candidates for three oratorical and three debating contests are
chosen. The successful men will then be eligible to individual instruction
in daily rehearsals until the final competition takes place.
| The University of Virginia record February, 1909 | |