On the Practical Study of English Literature.
Theocean of literature is without limit. How then shall we be able to perform a voyage, even to a moderate distance, if we waste our time in dalliance on the shore? Our only hope is in exertion. Let our only reward be that of industry.—Ringelbergius.
Theocean of literature is without limit. How then shall we be able to perform a voyage, even to a moderate distance, if we waste our time in dalliance on the shore? Our only hope is in exertion. Let our only reward be that of industry.—Ringelbergius.
THE student of English literature has indeed embarked upon a limitless ocean. A lifetime of study will serve only to make him acquainted with parts of that great expanse which lies open before him. He should pursue his explorations earnestly, and with the inquiring spirit of a true discoverer. His thirst for knowledge should be unquenchable; he should long always for that mind food which brings the right kind of mind growth. He should not rest satisfied with merely superficial attainments, but should strive for that thoroughnessof knowledge without which there can be neither excellence nor enjoyment.
English literature is not to be learned from manuals. They are only helps,—charts, buoys, light-houses, if you will call them so; or they serve to you the purposes of guide-books. What do you think of the would-be tourist who stays at home and studies his Baedeker with the foolish thought that he is actually seeing the countries which the book describes? And yet I have known students, and not a few teachers, do a thing equally as foolish. With a Morley, or a Shaw, or even a Brooke in their hands, and a few names and dates at their tongues’ ends, they imagine themselves viewing the great ocean of literature, ploughing its surface and exploring its depths, when in reality they are only wasting their time “in dalliance on the shore.”
English literature does not consist in a mere array of names and dates and short biographical sketches of men who have written books. Biography is biography; literature “is a record of the best thoughts.” But the former is frequently studied in place of the latter. “For once that we take down our Milton, and read a book of that ‘voice,’ as Wordsworth says, ‘whose sound is like the sea,’we take up fifty times a magazine with something about Milton, or about Milton’s grandmother, or a book stuffed with curious facts about the houses in which he lived, and the juvenile ailments of his first wife.”23Instead of becoming acquainted at first hand with books in which are stored the energies of the past, we content ourselves with knowing only something about the men who wrote them. Instead of admiring with our own eyes the architectural beauties of St. Paul’s Cathedral, we read a biography of Sir Christopher Wren.
Again, it must be borne in mind that literature is one thing, and the history of literature is another. The study of the latter, however important, cannot be substituted for that of the former; yet it is not desirable to separate the two. To acquire any serviceable knowledge of a book, you will be greatly aided by knowing under what peculiar conditions it was conceived and produced,—the history of the country, the manners of the people, the status of morals and politics at the time it was written. Between history and literature there is a mutual relationship which should not be overlooked. “A bookis the offspring of the aggregate intellect of humanity,” and it gives back to humanity, in the shape of new ideas and new combinations of old ideas, not only all that which it has derived from it, but more,—increased intellectual vitality, and springs of action hitherto unknown.
In the study of literature, one should begin with an author and with a subject not too difficult to understand. A beginner will be likely to find but little comfort in Chaucer or Spenser, or even in Emerson; but after he has worked up to them he may study them with unbounded delight. For a ready understanding and correct appreciation of the great masterpieces of English literature, a knowledge of Greek and Roman mythology and history is almost indispensable. The student will find the courses of historical reading given in a former chapter of this book of much value in supplementing his literary studies.
The great works of the world’s masterminds should be studied together, with reference to the similarity of their subject-matter. For example, the reading of Shakspeare will give occasion to the study of dramatic literature in all its forms; the reading of Milton’s “Paradise Lost” will introduce us tothe great epics, and to heroic poetry in general; Sir Walter Scott’s “Lay of the Last Minstrel” will lead naturally to the romance literature of modern and mediæval times; Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” fitly illustrate the story-telling phase of poetry; the study of lyric poetry may centre around the old ballads, the poems of Robert Burns, and the religious hymns of our language; Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress” introduces us to allegory, and Milton’s “Lycidas” to elegiac and pastoral poetry; and to know the best specimens of argumentative prose, we begin with the speeches of Daniel Webster and end with the orations of Demosthenes.
The following schemes for the study of different departments of English literature have been tested both with private students and with classes at school. Of course, many of the books mentioned are to be used chiefly as works of reference; some of them may be conveniently omitted in case it is desirable to abridge the course, and others may be exchanged for similar works upon the same subject.
For manuals use any or all of the following works—
Shaw’sManual of English Literature.
Morley’sFirst Sketch of English Literature.
Baldwin’sEnglish Literature and Literary Criticism.
Brooke’sPrimer of English Literature.
Welch’sDevelopment of English Literature.
Richardson’sFamiliar Talks on English Literature.
English histories for study and reference—
Green’sHistory of the English People.
Knight’sHistory of England.
Yonge’sYoung Folks’ England.
To be read—
“Rise and Progress of the English Drama,” in White’s Shakspeare, vol. i.
“Origin and Growth of the Drama in England,” in Hudson’sLife, Art, and Characters of Shakspeare, vol. i.
“Life of Shakspeare” in either of the works just named.
To be referred to—
Dowden’sShakspere Primer.
Abbott’sShakspearian Grammar.
Taine’sEnglish Literature, the chapter on “Shakspeare.”
Study the history of England from 1066 to 1580.
Write an essay on one of the following subjects—
1. Miracles and Mysteries.
2. Popular Amusements of the Middle Ages.
3. The Church and the Early Drama.
4. The Social Condition of England in the Time of Queen Elizabeth.
5. The Early Theatres.
To be studied—
I.The Merchant Of Venice.
I. Study the history and topography of Venice.
Write essays on various subjects suggested by the play
II.CoriolanusorJulius Cæsar.
II. Read Plutarch’s Life of Coriolanus or of Julius Cæsar.
Study the peculiarities of Roman life and manners.
Refer to Mommsen’s Rome.
III.Richard III.
III. Study the history of Richard III. as related by trustworthy historians. Write an essay in his defence.
IV.A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
IV. Study the sources from which this play has been derived. Write essays on subjects suggested by it.
V.King LearorMacbeth.
V. Read Geoffrey of Monmouth’s account of King Lear. Learn what you can of the historical legends of early Britain and Scotland.
Write essays on subjects suggested by these plays.
VI.Hamlet.
Books for study and reference while studying Shakspeare—
Hazlitt’sCharacters of Shakspeare’s Plays.
Coleridge’sLiterary Remains.
Leigh Hunt’sImagination and Fancy.
Lamb’sEssay on Shakspeare’s Tragedies.
Dowden’sMind and Art of Shakspeare.
Weiss’sWit, Humor, and Shakspeare.
Morgan’sThe Shakspearian Myth.
Also, the various works of the Shakspeare Society and of the New Shakspere Society.
VI.Hamlet.Study the sources of the play. Write essays. Discuss the question of Hamlet’s madness.
Write an essay on Shakspeare’s works, his life, his art.
Discuss the Baconian theory of the authorship of Shakspeare’s plays.
1.The Greek Drama.—Refer to, or read,—
Mahaffy’sGreek Literature.
Schlegel’sDramatic Literature.
Copleston’sÆschylus.
Church’sStories from the Greek Tragedians.
Mrs. Browning’stranslation ofPrometheus Bound.
Donne’sEuripides.
Froude’sessay,—Sea Studies.
Donaldson’sTheatre of the Greeks.
1.The Greek Drama.—Study the history of Greece from some brief text-book like Smith’sSmaller History. Study the life and manners of the Greeks by referring to Becker’sCharicles, or Mahaffy’sOld Greek Life.
Refer to Grote and Curtius.
Read the old Greek Myths.
Write essays on the Greek Stage, the Greek Tragedy, and kindred subjects.
Discuss the subjects suggested by reading “Prometheus Bound.”
2.The Roman Drama.—See the following works—
Schlegel’sDramatic Literature.
Simcox’sHistory of Latin Literature.
Quackenbos’sClassical Literature.
2. Refer to Mommsen’sRome, especially the chapters relating to literature and art.
3.Mysteries and Miracle-Plays.—Refer to—
“An Essay on the Origin of the English Stage,” in Percy’sReliques of Ancient English Poetry.
Warton’sHistory of English Poetry.
Morley’sEnglish Writers; and the essays of White and Hudson, already named.
3. Review the history of England from 1066 to 1580, with special reference to the social, religious, and political progress of the people.
4.The Elizabethan Drama.—See the works on Shakspeare, mentioned above; also,—
Whipple’sLiterature of the Age of Elizabeth.
Hazlitt’sAge of Elizabeth.
Lamb’sNotes on the Elizabethan Dramatists.
Ward’sEnglish Dramatic Literature.
Study selections from—
Jonson’sEvery Man in his Humor.
Marlowe’sDoctor Faustus, orTamburlaine.
Also, selections from Webster, Beaumont and Fletcher, and others.
4. Subjects for special study—
The history of the reigns of Elizabeth and James I.
The causes and character of the Renaissance in England.
Character of the Elizabethan dramatists.
Causes of the decline of dramatic literature.
The character of James I.
The Puritans and their influence upon the manners of the English people.
The Puritans and the drama.
Prynne’sHistrio-Mastix.
The reign of Charles I.
5. Study Milton’sComus.
Read Milton’sSamson Agonistes.
5. Study the history of Oliver Cromwell and Puritan England. Suppression of the drama.
Read Macaulay’sEssay on Milton.
Write essays on subjects suggested by these studies.
Discuss the character of the Puritans.
6.The Drama of the Restoration.—Read—
Hazlitt’sEnglish Comic Writers.
Johnson’sLife of Dryden.
Thackeray’sEnglish Humorists.
Macaulay’sEssay on theComic Dramatists of the Restoration.
Ward’sHistory of the Drama.
6. Study the state of society at the time of the Restoration.
The history of England from 1660 to 1760.
Write essays on subjects relating to the drama or the public manners of this period.
Jeremy Collier’swork.
7.The Later Drama.—See the following—
Fitzgerald’sLife of David Garrick.
The Life and Dramatic Works of R. B. Sheridan.
Lives of the Kembles.
Macready’sReminiscences.
Lewes’sActors and the Art of Acting.
Hutton’sPlays and Players.
Goldsmith’sShe Stoops to Conquer.
Sheridan’sSchool for Scandal.
Bulwer’sRichelieu.
Tennyson’sDrama of Queen Mary.
Shelley’sPrometheus Unbound.
Swinburne’sAtalanta in Calydon.
Robert Browning’sDramas.
7. Study the history of England to the close of the eighteenth century.
Write an essay on the “Influence of the Drama.”
Discuss the means by which the stage may be made beneficial as a means of popular education.
Study the character of the drama of our own times, and how it may be improved.
For manuals, etc., see Scheme I.
To be studied—
Milton’sParadise Lost.
Read—
Macaulay’sEssay on Milton.
Dr. Johnson’sLife of Milton.
Stopford Brooke’sMilton.
Mark Pattison’sMilton.
Hazlitt’sEssay on “Shakspeare and Milton,” inEnglish Poets.
Hazlitt’sEssay onMilton’s Eve.
De Quincey’sEssay onMilton vs. Southey and Landor.
Himes’sA Study of Paradise Lost.
The Spectator; the numbers issued on Saturdays from Jan. 5 to May 3, 1712.
Masson’sIntroduction to Milton’s Poetical Works.
Gosse’sEssay on Milton and Vondel, in “Studies in Northern Literature.”
Refer to—
Masson’sLife of Milton.
Boyd’sMilton’s Paradise Lost(with copious notes).
For English histories, see Scheme I.
Read the account of the Creation as related in the book of Genesis.
Study the character of the Puritans in England.
Write essays on subjects suggested by the study of “Paradise Lost.”
Study the mythological allusions found in the poem. The following works of reference are recommended for this purpose—
Smith’sClassical Dictionary.
Murray’sManual of Mythology.
Keightley’sClassical Mythology.
Write an essay on the general plan of the poem.
Discuss Milton’s theory of the universe as understood from the reading of “Paradise Lost.”
A notice of the other great Epics—
1.Homer’sIliad and Odyssey. Selections read and studied.
(See list of books suggested for the study of Greek history, etc.)
2.Virgil’sÆneid(Morris’s translation). General plan of the work observed.
See list of books elsewhere given, relating to Greek Mythology, the Trojan War, etc.
3.Dante’sDivina Commedia(Longfellow’s or Carey’s translation). General plan of the work observed.
See—
Lowell’sEssay on Dante, inAmong My Books.
Symond’sIntroduction to the Study of Dante.
Botta’sDante as a Philosopher, Patriot, and Poet.
Carlyle’sHeroes and Hero-Worship.
Attempted Epics—
Cowley’sDavideis.
Glover’sLeonidas.
Southey’sJoan of Arc,Madoc,Thalaba, andThe Curse of Kehama.
Landor’sGebir.
Why these poems fail to be epics.
Historical studies suggested by these attempted poems.
Write an essay on the qualities requisite to a great epic poem.
Discuss the possibility of another great epic being written.
Heroic Poems—
Barbour’sBruce.
Davenant’sGondibert.
Study the legends and historical events upon which these poems are founded.
The Mock-Heroic—
Pope’sRape of the Lock. The general plan. Selections studied.
Write an essay on some subject suggested by these studies.
For manuals, see Scheme I.
To be studied— Sir Walter Scott’s great poems,—
The Lay of the Last Minstrel.
Marmion.
The Lady of the Lake.
To be read—
Carlyle’sEssay onSir Walter Scott.
Hazlitton Scott, inThe Spirit of the Age.
The chapter on Scott in Shaw’sManual of English Literature.
For histories, see Scheme I.
Read the history of Scotland from the earliest period to the reign of James V.
Miss Porter’sScottish Chiefs.
Scott’sMinstrelsy of the Scottish Border.
Aytoun’sBallads of Scotland.
Scott’sFair Maid of Perth.
Write essays on subjects suggested by these studies.
Discuss the character of the Scotch people in feudal times.
R. H. Hutton’sSir Walter Scott, in “English Men of Letters.”
How the Romance poetry differed from Classic poetry.
See Macaulay’s Essay onSouthey’s Life of Byron.
Compare selections from Scott with selections from Pope. Find other illustrations of the difference between the two schools of poetry.
The Origin of Romance Literature.—Refer to—
Warton’sHistory of Poetry.
The Introduction to Ellis’sEarly English Metrical Romances.
Ritson’sAncient English Metrical Romances.
Percy’sReliques, introductory essay to book iii.
Read the chapter on the Troubadours, in Sismondi’sLiterature of Southern Europe; also in Van Laun’sHistory of French Literature.
Refer to Miss Prescott’sTroubadours and Trouvères.
To be studied—
Tennyson’sIdylls of the King.
Refer to Taine’s criticism of Tennyson’s Poetry, in hisEnglish Literature, vol. iv.
Read the account of the romances of King Arthur as related in the books already mentioned.
Also,—
Lanier’sBoy’s King Arthur.
Bulfinch’sAge of Chivalry.
Geoffrey of Monmouth’sBritish History, books viii. and ix.
Write an essay on the King Arthur legends.
Read selected portions of Byron’s poetical romances—
The Giaour.
The Corsair.
The Bride of Abydos.
The Siege of Corinth.
ReadByron, by John Nichol, in “English Men of Letters.”
Read Matthew Arnold’s Introduction to theSelected Poems of Lord Byron.
Compare Byron’s poetry with that of Sir Walter Scott,
1st. As to matter.
2d. As to style.
Write essays on subjects suggested by these studies.
Discuss reasons why Lord Byron’s poetry is much less popular than formerly.
Study selections from Moore’sLalla Rookh.
Read Hazlitt’s criticisms on Moore, in his “English Poets.”
Also, W. M. Rossetti’s Introduction to thePoems of Thomas Moore.
Study, from whatever sources are available, Oriental life and manners as portrayed inLalla Rookh. Write essays on the same.
Study selections from Morris’sSigurd the Volsung; also fromThe Earthly Paradiseby the same author.
Study the myths of the north, referring to Mallet’sNorthern Antiquitiesand Anderson’sNorse Mythology.
Use manuals for reference as indicated in Scheme I. To these may be added Underwood’sAmerican Literature, and White’sStory of English Literature.
Use for reference, Green’sHistory of the English People, or Knight’sHistory of England; also, some standard history of America.
Chaucer’sCanterbury Tales.
Study thePrologueand either theKnightes Taleor theClerkes Tale.
Refer to, or read,—
The Riches of Chaucer, by Charles Cowden Clarke.
Lowell’sEssay onChaucer, in “My Study Windows.”
Carpenter’sEnglish of the Fourteenth Century.
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales Explained, by Saunders.
Canterbury Chimes, by Storr and Turner.
Stories from Old English Poetry, by Mrs. Richardson.
Study the history of England in the fourteenth century, and especially the social condition of the people during that period.
Make some acquaintance with the great Italian writers who flourished about this time, and exerted a marked influence upon Chaucer’s work.
Refer to—
Sismondi’sLiterature of Southern Europe;
Campbell’sLife of Petrarch;
Botta’sDante as Philosopher, Patriot, and Poet; etc.
Read some of Scott’s shorter narrative poems,—
Rokeby.
The Bridal of Triermain.
Harold the Dauntless.
For criticisms and essays on Scott, see Scheme III.
Study the historical subjects, suggested by these poems.
See Parallel Studies in connection with Scott’s longer poems, Scheme III.
StudyThe Prisoner of Chillon, by Lord Byron.
Read Wordsworth’s story-poems,—
The White Doe of Rylstone;
Peter Bell;
We are Seven; etc.
Study Coleridge’sThe Ancient Mariner, and Keats’sThe Eve of St. Agnes.
See criticisms on Byron, in Taine’sEnglish Literature.
Read Hazlitt’s estimate of Wordsworth, inThe Spirit of the Age.
De Quinceyon Wordsworth’s poetry, inLiterary Criticism.
Write essays on subjects suggested by these studies.
For criticisms on the poets last read, refer to—
Hazlitt’sEnglish Poets.
Swinburne’sStudies and Essays.
Shairp’sStudies in Poetry.
Lord Houghton’sLife of Keats.
Matthew Arnold’sEssay on Keats, in Ward’sEnglish Poets.
Carlyle’sReminiscences.
Study the history of the English people from 1760 to 1820, with special reference to their social condition, and the progress of literature.
Write essays on suggested subjects.
Read Campbell’sGertrude of Wyoming.
Read selections from Mrs. Hemans.
Read Mrs. Browning’sLady Geraldine’s Courtship; also some of her shorter poems.
Study Tennyson’s poems,—
The Princess.
Maud.
Enoch Arden.
Also his shorter poems.
Read the historical account of the Massacre of Wyoming.
Read biographies of Mrs. Hemans and Mrs. Browning. Discuss reasons why Mrs. Hemans’ poetry is no longer popular.
Consult—
Stedman’sVictorian Poets.
Hadley’sEssays.
Kingsley’sMiscellanies.
Study at least two poems in Morris’sEarthly Paradise.
Study the classical and Norse legends upon which these stories are based.
Study Longfellow’s poems,—
Evangeline.
Miles Standish.
Hiawatha.
Tales of a Wayside Inn.
The Skeleton in Armor.
Read Underwood’sLife of Longfellow.
See—
Bancroft’sHistory of the United States, vol. iv.Abbott’sLife of Miles Standish.
Bancroft’sHistory of the United States, vol. iv.
Abbott’sLife of Miles Standish.
Study other historical references, etc., suggested by these poems.
Study the story-poems of John G. Whittier:Maud Muller;Flud Ireson; etc.
Write essays on subjects suggested by these studies.
Æsop’sFables.
Oriental parables and fables.
Study Bunyan’sPilgrim’s Progress, as being the most popular allegory in the English language.
Read—
Macaulay’sEssay on John Bunyan.
Cheever’sLectures on Bunyan.
Rhetorical definition of allegory. The distinction between fables and parables.
Study the history of the rise and progress of Puritanism in England.
Refer to Green’sHistory of the English People, and to Taine’sEnglish Literature.
Anglo-Saxon parables and allegories. The growth of the allegory.
The Vision of Piers Plowman.
The great French allegory, theRoman de la Rose.
Chaucer’sRomaunt of the Rose.
Other allegorical poems usually ascribed to Chaucer,—
The Court of Love.
The Cuckow and the Nightingale.
The Parlament of Foules.
The Flower and the Leaf.
Refer to Taine’sEnglish Literature.
Notice, next, Dunbar’sThe Thistle and the Rose; also,The Golden Terge, and theDance of the Seven Sins.
Stephen Hawes’sGrand Amour and la Bell Pucell.
Study selected passages from Spenser’sFaerie Queene; also the general plan of the poem.
See—
Lowell’sAmong My Books.
Craik’sSpenser and his Poetry.
Consult—
Morley’sEnglish Writers.
Warton’sHistory of English Poetry.
George P. Marsh’sLectures on the Origin and History of the English Language.
Skeats’sSpecimens of English Literature.
Study the social condition of England in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. Refer to the histories already mentioned; also to—
Pearson’sHistory of England in the Fourteenth Century.
Lanier’sBoy’s Froissart, or the abridged edition ofFroissart’s Chronicles.
Towle’sHistory of Henry V.
Study the social and literary history of England during the sixteenth century.
Refer to Froude’sHistory of England.
Write essays on subjects suggested by these studies.
Read—
Phineas Fletcher’sPurple Island.
Thomson’sCastle of Indolence.
Lowell’sVision of Sir Launfal.
Gay’sFables.
Burns’sThe Twa Dogs, andThe Brigs of Ayr.
Abou Ben Adhem.
Discuss the value of allegory as an aid in education.
Why has the taste for allegory steadily declined?
Write in plain prose the lesson learned in each of the fables studied.
What relationship exists between fables and myths?
Dryden’sReligio Laici; andThe Hind and the Panther.
Study selected passages from Pope’sEssay on Criticism, andEssay on Man.
Young’sNight Thoughts.
Johnson’sVanity of Human Wishes.
Akenside’sPleasures of the Imagination.
Warton’sPleasures of Melancholy.
Rogers’Pleasures of Memory.
Campbell’sPleasures of Hope.
Grahame’sThe Sabbath.
Study selected passages from Wordsworth’sExcursion.
Select and study some of the best-known shorter didactic poems in the language.
Refer to—
Hazlitt’sEnglish Poets; Lowell’sAmong My Books(essay on Dryden); Macaulay’s Essay on Dryden; and Taine’sEnglish Literature.
Johnson’sLives of the Poets; Stephen’sHours in a Library; De Quincey’sLiterature of the Eighteenth Century.
Macaulay’sEssay onSamuel Johnson; Boswell’sLife of Dr. Johnson; Carlyle’s Essay onBoswell’s Life of Johnson; Stephen’sJohnson, in “English Men of Letters.”
Whipple’sEssay on Wordsworth, in “Literature and Life.”
Shairp’sStudies in Poetry and Philosophy; Hazlitt’sSpirit of the Age; Charles Lamb’s Essay on Wordsworth’sExcursion.
Ballads of Robin Hood.
Ballads of the Scottish Border.
Modern Ballads.
Read histories and stories of the mediæval times.
Refer to Percy’sReliques; Aytoun’sScottish Ballads;Scott’sMinstrelsy of the Scottish Border.
Read and study the best-known patriotic poems in the language.
Study the historical events, or other circumstances which led to the production of these poems.
The battle scenes in Scott’s poems. Burns: “Scots wha hae wi’ Wallace bled.” Macaulay’sBattle of Ivry,Naseby,Horatius at the Bridge. Tennyson’sCharge of the Light Brigade. Drayton’sBattle of Agincourt.
Study the historical events which gave rise to these poems.
Write essays on subjects suggested by these studies.
George Herbert’sTemple. Read selections from Crashaw and Vaughan. Study Milton’sHymn on the Nativity, and selections from Keble’sChristian Year. Read Pope’sUniversal Prayer, andThe Dying Christian; also selections from Moore’sSacred Songs, Byron’sHebrew Melodies, and Milman’sHymns for Church Service.
For specimens and extracts of lyric poetry of every class, consult Ward’sEnglish Poets; Appleton’sLibrary of British Poets;The Family Library of British Poets; Emerson’sParnassus; Chambers’Cyclopædia of English Literature; Bryant’sLibrary of Poetry and Song; and Piatt’sAmerican Poetry and Art.
The Songs of the Troubadours. Wyatt’s Poems. Marlowe’sPassionate Shepherd. Raleigh’sThe Nymph’s Reply. Robert Herrick’s Poems. Selections from the poems of Sir John Suckling. The love poems of Robert Burns. Coleridge’sGenevieve. Selections from other poets.
Consult Miss Prescott’sTroubadours and Trouvères; Warton’sHistory of English Poetry. Study the biographies of Marlowe, Raleigh, Herrick, and Suckling. Read Carlyle’s Essay onRobert Burns; and Principal Shairp’sBurns, in “English Men of Letters.”
The origin of the sonnet. Selections from the sonnets of Wyatt, Spenser, Sidney, Shakspeare, Drayton, Drummond, Milton, Wordsworth, Keats, and others. Mrs. Browning’sSonnets from the Portuguese.
See Leigh Hunt’sBook of the Sonnet; Dennis’sEnglish Sonnets; French’sDublin Afternoon Lectures; Massey’sShakspeare’s Sonnets; Henry Brown’sSonnets of Shakspeare Solved; Tomlinson’sThe Sonnet: its Origin, Structure, and Place in Poetry.
Dryden’sAlexander’s Feast.
Pope’sOde on St. Cecilia’s Day.
Collins’sOde on the Passions, and other odes.
Gray’sOde on theProgress of Poesy, andThe Bard.
Keats’sSleep and Poetry.
Shelley’sOde to Liberty, andTo the West Wind.
Coleridge’sOde on France, andTo the Departing Year.
Wordsworth’sOde on the Intimations of Immortality.
See Husk’s Account of the Musical Celebrations on St. Cecilia’s Day, in the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries.
Study the construction of the ode. Compare the English ode with the Greek and Latin ode. Learn something of the odes of Horace.
Write essays on subjects suggested by these studies.
Study Milton’sLycidas. Read selections from Spenser’sAstrophel; Shelley’sAdonais; Tennyson’sIn Memoriam;Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington; Pope’sElegy on an Unfortunate Lady. Study Gray’sElegy in a Country Churchyard; The Dirge inCymbeline; and Collins’sDirge in Cymbeline. Read Shenstone’sElegies; Cowper’sThe Castaway; and Bryant’sThanatopsis.
For references to Milton and Spenser, see other schemes. For Shelley’sAdonais, see Hutton’sEssays. See F. W. Robertson’sAnalysis of In Memoriam. See also, for subjects connected with these studies, Roscoe’sEssays; Hazlitt’sEnglish Poets; Dr. Johnson’sLife of Gray; E. W. Gosse’sGray, in “English Men of Letters;” Parke Godwin’sLife of William Cullen Bryant.
Study selections from the poems of Burns, Ramsay, and Fergusson; Whittier, Bryant, and Longfellow; William Blake; Mrs. Browning, Tennyson, and Swinburne; and others, both British and American.
Refer to the manuals elsewhere mentioned.
Write essays on subjects suggested by these studies.
Discuss the distinctive qualities of Lyric Poetry, and the place which it occupies in English Literature.
Study selections from the poems of William Cullen Bryant.
Study Whittier’sSnow-Bound, and other descriptive poems.
Study Milton’sL’AllegroandIl Penseroso.
Study selections from Thomson’sSeasons, and Cowper’sTask.
Study Goldsmith’sTraveller, andThe Deserted Village; also, Shenstone’sSchoolmistress.
Find and read characteristic descriptive passages in the poems of Scott, Byron, Shelley, Wordsworth, Keats, Browning, and others. Compare Scott’s descriptions with the descriptions in Pope’sWindsor Forestand in Denham’sCooper’s Hill.
Select and study descriptive passages from Chaucer’s Poems, and from Spenser’sFaerie Queene.
Read selections from Gay’sRural Sports, and from Bloomfield’sFarmer’s Boy.
See Godwin’sLife of William Cullen Bryant; and Underwood’s biography of John G. Whittier. See Stopford Brooke’sMilton; and Mark Pattison’sMilton, in “English Men of Letters;” Irving’sLife of Goldsmith; Thackeray’sEnglish Humorists of the Eighteenth Century; William Black’sGoldsmith, in “English Men of Letters;” Hazlitt’sEnglish Poets; and De Quincey’sLiterature of the Eighteenth Century.
Read Macaulay’s Essay onMoore’s Life of Byron.
Refer to Goldwin Smith’sCowper, in “English Men of Letters;” also to Charles Cowden Clarke’sLife of Cowper.
See references to Chaucer and Spenser elsewhere given.
Study Milton’sArcades, and selections from Pope’sPastorals; also from Spenser’sShepherd’s Calendar.
See Drayton’sShepherd’s Garland; Browne’sBritannia’s Pastorals; Jonson’sSad Shepherd; Fletcher’sFaithful Shepherdess; Gay’sShepherd’s Week; Ramsay’sGentle Shepherd; and Shenstone’sPastoral Ballads.
Read Pope’sEssay on Pastoral Poetry.
Learn something about Theocritus and hisIdyls, and about theEcloguesof Virgil. A translation of the former may be found in Bohn’s Classical Library. The latest translation of theEcloguesis that by Wilstach.
Dean Swift, the great English satirist. Study his life and character. See Forster’sLife of Swift; or Leslie Stephen’sSwift, in “English Men of Letters.”
Read selections fromGulliver’s Travels, and theTale of a Tub. Read, also, hisModest Proposal.
Daniel Defoe’sSatirical Essays:The Shortest Way with Dissenters, etc.
See Minto’sDefoe, in “English Men of Letters.”
Rabelais, the great satirist of France. Read Besant’sFrench Humorists; andRabelais, by the same author. Refer also to Van Laun’sHistory of French Literature.
Voltaire, the third of the great modern satirists. Read Parton’sLife of Voltaire; orVoltaire, by John Morley; or Colonel Hamley’sVoltaire, in “Foreign Classics for English Readers.”
The origin and growth of satirical literature in England.
Satirical literature in Rome.
John Skelton’sSatires. See Warton’sHistory of English Poetry, and Taine’sEnglish Literature.
Barclay’sShyp of Fooles. See Warton’s History.
The Satires of Surrey and Wyatt. See Hallam’sLiterary History, and Chalmers’Collection of the Poets.
Gascoigne’sThe Steele Glass.
Donne’sSatires. See Pope’sThe Satires of Dr. Donne Versified.
Hall’sVirgidemiarum. See Warton’sHistory, and Campbell’sSpecimens of the English Poets.
Study selected passages from Butler’sHudibras.
Refer to Hazlitt’sComic Writers, and Leigh Hunt’sWit and Wisdom.
Dryden’sAbsalom and Achitophel, and the publications which followed it.
The great poetical satirists of ancient times,—Horace and Juvenal. See Lord Lytton’s translation of theEpodes and Satires of Horace; and Dryden’sImitations of Juvenal. Dr. Johnson’sLondonandThe Vanity of Human Wishesare also imitations of Juvenal. See Dryden’sEssay on Satire.
To understand the satires of Hall, Butler, Dryden, and Pope, it is absolutely necessary to be well acquainted with the history and social condition of England during the seventeenth century.
Study Green’sHistory of the English People.
Study the political agitations in England just preceding the Revolution of 1688.
Dryden’sMacFlecknoe.
Pope’sDunciad.
Byron’sEnglish Bards and Scotch Reviewers.
Lowell’sFable for Critics.
Compare these four personal satires, and write essays on the subjects suggested by their study.
Pope’sMoral Essays.
Swift’sSatirical Poems.
The humor of Fielding, Smollett, and Goldsmith, as exhibited in their writings.
Chatterton’sProphecy.
Read Burns’Holy Willie’s Prayer, and theHoly Fair.
Read Thackeray’sHumorists of the Eighteenth Century, and Hazlitt’sComic Writers.
Study the social condition of England in the eighteenth century.
Sydney Smith. See theWit and Wisdom of Sydney Smith(1861).
The Fudge Family in Paris, by Thomas Moore.
The Humorous Essays of Charles Lamb.
Thomas Carlyle’sSartor Resartus, andLatter-Day Pamphlets. Study selections.
Study the political agitations in England during the first half of the present century. Refer toKnight’s History of England, and to Justin McCarthy’sHistory of Our Own Times. Miss Martineau’sHistory of the Thirty Years’ Peacemay be read with profit.
Write essays on subjects suggested by these studies.
Thackerayas a humorist. Read hisIrish Sketch-Book, and selections from theBook of Snobs, but especially observe his power inVanity Fair.
Read and study Dr. Holmes’Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table.
Study the true distinctions between Wit, Humor, and Satire; and select from what you have read a number of illustrative examples.
Discuss questions which may arise from these studies; and write essays on the same.
Read Lowell’sBiglow Papers.
Read selections from Mark Twain and other living American humorists.
Compare the humor of the present day with that of the last generation. Read selections from Irving’sSketch Book, andKnickerbocker’s New York.
Read Burns’Tam O’Shanter; and selections from Hood, John G. Saxe, and others.
Study the biographies of Irving, Lowell, Holmes, Mark Twain, Saxe, and other American authors whose works have been noticed in this scheme.
Dunlop’sHistory of Fiction.
Jeaffreson’sNovels and Novelists.
Masson’sBritish Novelists and their Styles.
Tuckerman’sHistory of English Prose Fiction.
The historical works and also the literary manuals mentioned in Scheme IV. should be at hand for constant reference.
Sidney’sArcadia.
Lyly’sEuphues.
Greene’sPandosto, or the Triumph of Time.
The Novels of Thomas Nash.
Study the conditions of life and thought in England under which these first attempts at the writing of prose romance were made.
Godwin’sMan in the Moon.
Hall’sMundus Alter et Idem.
Swift’sGulliver’s Travels;—read selections.
StudyRobinson Crusoe.
The Adventures of Peter Wilkins.
Edgar A. Poe’sNarrative of Arthur Gordon Pym.
See Collins’Lucian, in “Ancient Classics for English Readers,” for an account of Lucian’sVeracious History.
Read the voyage of Gargantua by Rabelais; or, better, consult Besant’sRabelais.
Read Minto’sDefoe, in “English Men of Letters.”
See Forster’sLife of Dean Swift; Scott’sMemoir of Dean Swift; and Minto’sManual of English Prose.
Walpole’sThe Castle of Otranto.
Mrs. Radcliffe’sRomances.
Godwin’sSt. Leon.
Bulwer’sZanoni.
Mrs. Shelley’sFrankenstein.
Lewis’sThe Monk.
See Tuckerman’sLiterature of Fiction(an essay); C. Kegan Paul’sLife of William Godwin; Macaulay’s Essay onHorace Walpole; Miss Kavanagh’sEnglish Women of Letters.
Beckford’sVathek.
Hope’sAnastasius.
The Adventures of Hajji Baba.
Miss Porter’sScottish Chiefs.
Scott’sWaverley Novels.
The Novels of G. P. R. James.
Bulwer’sLast Days of Pompeii;Rienzi;Harold;The Last of the Barons.
Lockhart’sValerius.
Kingsley’sHypatia.
George Eliot’sRomola.
See Lockhart’sLife of Scott; Stephen’sHours in a Library; Carlyle’s Essay onSir Walter Scott; Shaw’sManual of English Literature; Hutton’sScott, in “English Men of Letters;” Nassau Senior’sEssays on Fiction;The Life of Edward Bulwer-Lytton, by his son, the present Lord Lytton.
Richardson’sNovels.
Fielding’sTom Jones.
Smollett’sNovels.
Sterne’sTristram Shandy.
Goldsmith’sVicar of Wakefield.
Miss Burney’sNovels.
Godwin’sCaleb Williams.
Miss Edgeworth’sNovels.
Scott’sGuy Mannering;The Heart of Mid-Lothian;The Bride of Lammermoor;The Antiquary; etc.
Miss Austen’sWorks.
Thackeray’sVanity Fair.
Dickens’sPickwick Papers.
Other Novels of Dickens and Thackeray.
Charlotte Brontë’sJane Eyre.
Bulwer’sNovels.
Disraeli’sVivian; andLothair.
Charles Kingsley’sNovels.
George Eliot’sWorks.
See Stephen’sHours in a Library; Hazlitt’sEnglish Novelists; Thackeray’sEnglish Humorists of the Eighteenth Century; Irving’sLife of Goldsmith; Macaulay’s Essay onMadame d’Arblay; Miss Kavanagh’sEnglish Women of Letters; James T. Fields’Yesterdays with Authors; Horne’sNew Spirit of the Age; John Forster’sLife of Charles Dickens; Hannay’sStudies on Thackeray; Hannay’sCharacters and Sketches; Anthony Trollope’sThackeray, in “English Men of Letters;” Taine’sEnglish Literature, vol. iv.; Mrs. Gaskell’sLife of Charlotte Brontë; Miss Martineau’sBiographical Sketches; Thackeray’sRoundabout Papers; Life ofCharles Brockden Brown, in Sparks’ “American Biography;” Griswold’sProse
American Fiction—
Charles Brockden Brown’sWieland, and other Novels.
Cooper’sNovels.
James Kirke Paulding.
John P. Kennedy.
William Gilmore Simms.
Hawthorne’sWorks.
The later and living novelists.
Writers of America; Prescott’sMiscellaneous Essays; J. T. Fields’Hawthorne; H. A. Page’sLife of Hawthorne; Lathrop’sStudy of Hawthorne; Roscoe’sEssays;Hawthorne, by Henry James, in “English Men of Letters;” Cooke’sGeorge Eliot: a Critical Study of her Life, Writings, and Philosophy; (Round-Table Series)George Eliot, Moralist and Thinker.
More’sUtopia.
Harrington’sOceana.
Disraeli’sConingsby.
Bulwer-Lytton’sThe Coming Race.
Bunyan’sPilgrim’s Progress.
Hannah More’sNovels.
Johnson’sRasselas.
The modern didactic novel.
See Hallam’sLiterary History; and references given in the preceding schemes.