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SCHOOL OF MODERN LANGUAGES.
Spanish, Italian, and Anglo-Saxon.
Professor Schele De Vere.
There will be hereafter three courses in each of the two languages, Spanish
and Italian.
The Collegiate Course, containing the work required for the degree of
Bachelor of Arts, begins with lectures, recitals, and readings, on the part of
the class, calculated to teach practically the pronunciation of the idiom. This
is followed by a series of lectures, abundantly illustrated on the blackboard, and
by frequent exercises on the subjects explained, which are expected to familiarize
the student gradually with the elements of Grammar and Syntax. As soon
as this is accomplished, he is set to work translating first an easy Reader, and
soon a simple, native writer. He is expected at the same time to read privately
a number of prescribed authors, and thus to make himself familiar with the language,
to increase, easily and steadily, his stock of words, and to enable him,
after some practice, to take up any not exceptionally difficult writer, and to
translate his works without assistance.
The University Course for the Master of Arts degree begins at once
with advanced work in the language chosen with a view to securing the degree
of M. A. In the University Course sufficient preliminary knowledge of the
language (Spanish or Italian) is expected to enable the student at once to begin
translating into idiomatic English any one of the classic writers in those languages.
This is continued till the off-hand translation meets no longer with
practical or purely etymological difficulties. Such readings, like Dante's Inferno
and Petrarch's Sonnets, or the Romances of the Cid and Calderon's Autos, are
accompanied by exercises, specially and carefully prepared to teach the idioms
of either language, and to facilitate the oral use as much as natural gifts may
justify the Professor in expecting from the student. The treatment of either
language now becomes purely historical, calculated to enable the student to read
in its changes the mental and moral development of the race from its infancy to
its highest success in speech and in literature. This part of the course naturally
includes a series of lectures on the fundamental laws of the science of Comparative
Philology, and these are accompanied by others on the lives and the works
of the leading authors, which are carefully examined and criticised.
The Post-Graduate Course in Spanish and Italian is mainly a continuation
of the studies pursued in the Master of Arts course, and is designed
specifically to meet the needs of candidates for the Ph. D. degree. A general
knowledge of the subject being vouched for, certain subjects of interest are selected,
which are to be thoroughly investigated, sustained by an abundance of
examples taken from classic writers in the language chosen, and either proven
or disproven, as the candidate for the degree may select. As a tangible evidence
of the work actually done by the student, he is expected to hand in a
Monthly Essay, giving the results of his research, and proving independent and
original judgment. His special attention may thus be directed to the mutual
influence which literature—powerful and influential writings—may exercise on
the fate of a people, and which the history of the nation, on the other hand,
exerts over its great authors and their works. In this course the study of the
Hovelacque, Thierry, and others, becomes imperative, and the great principles of
this young and fascinating Science furnish the most desirable objects of study.
Language now becomes to the student a living being, having a history of its
own, and suggesting entirely new and interesting questions, such as how far language
may or may not be subject to the laws of evolution. It will be the aim
of this Post-Graduate Course to arouse in the student a lively and productive
interest in Language as a living organism, and at the same time to equip him
with all the arms he will need when he enters the great arena of the world as a
valiant champion of one or the other great doctrine that still awaits decision.
In the Class of Anglo-Saxon the study of the language is mainly pursued
in its aspect as the mother of English, furnishing the student the means of
tracing the history of his native tongue from its earliest beginning. Much attention
is given to the illustration of the history of words, their birth, their fate
under the rule of the Norman, and their subsequent modification. Extracts
from Anglo-Saxon writers are read, and the bearing of their works on the history
of our race is explained.
The following text-books are used:
Spanish.—The Professor's Grammar; Seoane's Dictionary; Velasquez's Reader; Calderon's
El Principe Constante; Lope's Estrella de Sevilla; Cervantes's Don Quijote;
Galdos's Trafalgar; Caballero's La Familia de Alvareda; Ticknor's History of Spanish
Literature.
Italian.—Cuore's Grammar; Foresti's Reader; Manzoni's I Promessi Sposi; Tasso's
Gerusalemme Liberata; Pellico's Le Mie Prigioni; Petrarca; Dante's La Divina Commedia.
Anglo-Saxon.—Shute's Manual of Anglo-Saxon, or Sweet's Primer; The Professor's
Studies in English; March's Anglo-Saxon Grammar (for reference); the Anglo-Saxon
Gospels.
French and German.
Adjunct Professor Perkinson.
There are three courses in each language.
B. A. COURSE.
Students who desire to enter this must possess an accurate knowledge of
the elements of English grammar, and some familiarity with the rudiments of
the language studied, or in lieu thereof a careful training in Latin. They will
study the grammar of the language, and will be practiced in pronunciation, on
which special stress will be laid, and in translation, supplemented by weekly
written exercises, copious parallel reading, and a course in the history and the
literature of the language. The amount of parallel reading to be done is definite,
and is assigned at the beginning of the session. Special attention is paid
to reading at sight.
M. A. COURSE.
This embraces the historical grammar of the language, given by lectures,
continued practice in translation and composition, and the minute study of
certain authors and selected periods. Candidates for graduation will be expected
to translate at sight any passage that may be assigned, and to render
selections from English authors into the foreign idiom.
PH. D. COURSE.
This is designed for students who wish to make a special study of the literature
or the philology of French and German. Only those who have been graduated
in the lower courses are admitted to it. The work will be adapted to the
aims of the student, but will in all cases be designed to encourage and direct
him to original research, independent conclusions, and systematic presentation
of results.
The text-books in all the classes, and the authors to be read, vary from year
to year, and are subject to change at any time. The following are the books
for the class-work in 1894-'95. Parallel reading will be assigned in all classes
at the beginning of the session.
B. A. French.—Whitney's Grammar and Introductory French Reader; About's Le
Roi des Montagnes; Souvestre's Confessions d'un Ouvrier; Racine's Esther; Molière's
Le Misanthrope; Contes de Balzac.
B. A. German.—Whitney's Brief Grammar; Joynes-Meissner's Grammar; Joynes's
German Reader; Hauff's Das Wirthshaus im Spessart; Schiller's Wilhelm Tell; Goethe's
Hermann und Dorothea.
M. A. French.—Whitney's Grammar for reference; Racine's Andromaque, Britannicus,
Phèdre, Athalie; Victor Hugo's Travailleurs de la Mer.
M. A. German.—Whitney's Grammar for reference; Riehl's Culturgeschichtliche Novellen;
Goethe's Faust; Scheffel's Ekkehard; Lessing's Nathan der Weise.
Gasc's French Dictionary.
Adler's German Dictionary.
Students who elect this School for the M. A. degree will be required to
graduate in German and one of the Romance Languages.
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