University of Virginia Library

LINDEN KENT MEMORIAL SCHOOL OF ENGISH LITERATURE.

Professor Kent.

B. A. COURSE.

In addition to a certain maturity of mind and general mental training, students
who desire to pursue this course with profit should have an accurate
knowledge of the principles of English grammar, including orthography, and
some knowledge of the elements of rhetoric. Previous practice in composition
is well-nigh essential to the successful prosecution of the work of the class,
while information about the history and contents of English Literature will add
materially to appreciation of the lectures. Three hours a week.

For convenience of presentation, the course is divided as follows:

1. Rhetoric.—This will comprise a careful study of the principles of style
and of invention in prose discourse, with exercise in essay writing, and in the
critical analysis of selected specimens of English prose.

Text-Books.—Genung's Practical Rhetoric; Genung's Handbook of Rhetorical
Analysis.

2. Versification.—This course will be based on the Professor's notes on
Poetics. The lectures will discuss theories and principles of versification;
morphology of verse; history of verse forms; kinds of poetry, etc. Class exercises
of various kinds will be assigned from time to time.

References.—Gummere's Handbook of Poetics; Guest's English Rhythms; Schipper's
Englische Metrik; Lanier's Science of English Verse.

3. History of English Literature.—This course will comprise—

(a) Lectures on the development of English Literature prior to Chaucer.

General References.—Ten Brink's English Literature; Stopford Brooke's History of
Early English Literature.

(b) English Literature, from Chaucer to Dryden.

Text-Book.—Nicoll's Landmarks of English Literature. General References.—Saintsbury's
Elizabethan Era; Gosse's Seventeenth Century Studies; Gosse's History of English
Literature, Eighteenth Century.

(c) English Literature from Anne to Victoria.

Text Book.—Nicoll's Landmarks of English Literature. General References.—Gosse's
Eighteenth Century; Oliphant's Eighteenth-Nineteenth Century.

Numerous special references for authors, periods, works, etc., will be given
throughout the course.

Essays.—Besides the various written exercises of the class, five essays will be
required of each student applying for graduation in the B. A. Course. These
will be due October 15, November 21, December 21, March 15, and
May 1. The subjects will, in some cases, be assigned, and at other times be
left to the choice of the student, but will fall under the following general
classification: Description, Narration, Description or Narration, Exposition,
Argumentation or Persuasion.

M. A. COURSE.

In this course there will be occasional lectures, but in general the exercises
of the class will be conducted by questions, conversation, and conference.
Readings will be assigned, independent investigations insisted upon, and
written reports required from time to time. The students will be encouraged
to form their own judgments, and to express these orally or in writing. References
for each author or period studied will be given, and the free use of the
library in this and all courses is cordially recommended.

Courses Offered in 1893-'94.

I. Representative Writers of English Prose.

Including Bacon, Hooker, Milton, Addison, Swift, Johnson, Burke,
Lamb, Macaulay, DeQuincey, Dickens, Carlyle, Irving, Hawthorne,
Emerson, Lowell, and Curtis.

Text-Books.—Hunt's English Prose and Prose Writers; Garnett's English Prose,
from Elizabeth to Victoria. General References.—English Men of Letters Series; American
Men of Letters Series, with special references for each author.

II. History of Lyric Poetry from 1550 to 1760.

(a) Lyric Poetry in the Elizabethan Dramatists.

(b) Lyric Poetry in the Elizabethan Romances.

(c) Lyric Poetry in the Puritan Age.

(d) Lyric Poetry in the Age of the Restoration.

(e) Lyric Poetry in the First Half of the Eighteenth Century.

Text-Books.—Ward's English Poets, Vols. II. and III. General References.—Saintsbury
and Gosse. Special references for each author and period.

Courses Announced for 1894-'95.

III. British Essayists, from Bacon to Johnson.

This course will include Bacon, Cowley, Milton, Dryden, Swift,
Defoe, Steele, Addison (Periodicals of the Eighteenth Century),
Lord Kames, Warburton, Goldsmith, Junius, Burke, Hume, and
Johnson.

Text-Books.—Minto's Manual of English Prose; Gosse's Eighteenth Century.
General and special references will be given freely.

IV. Victorian and American Poets.

Text-Books.—Stedman's Victorian Poets; Stedman's American Poets. General
References.—Oliphant's Literary History; Morley's Victorian Literature; Richardson's
American Literature; English Men of Letters; American Men of Letters. Special references
for each author.

Dissertation.—As an essential part of this course a dissertation showing independent
and original work will be required. The theme of this dissertation
may be selected by the student, with the Professor's approval; or, if desired,
will be assigned by the Professor, but in either case the subject must be recorded
by the Professor on or before January 15.

PH. D. COURSE.

This course will be, in some measure, adapted to the needs of the students
desiring to pursue it. Its purposes will be to cultivate more fully the love of
letters, to encourage independent and scholarly research, and to further the art
of literary expression. It will include the study of some writer, or school of
writers, or of some period or movement of literature, and will take into consideration
the political, social, and literary characteristics of the time under discussion.