VIIIFOURTH YEAR ENGLISH
In the fourth year about four-fifths of the time should be allotted to reading and about one-fifth to composition. The time assigned to the reading may most profitably be devoted to an extensive study of a few typical examples of the most important forms of literature. The novel, the drama, the lyric, and the essay, may be taken as the types to be studied. The maturity of the pupils in the fourth year will make possible a detailed analysis of the essential elements of these forms, which cannot be undertaken earlier in the course. By a careful study of a few of the best examples of each form to be found in English literature, the pupils not only come to know and appreciate some of the best literature in our language but are given some canons by which to judge what they read independently after they leave school.
The novel is a convenient form with which to begin the fourth year work. George Eliot’s “Silas Marner” is one of the novels which lends itself admirably to intensive study. The kind of novel, the theme, the author’s point of view, the plot, the characters, the setting, and other important elements are all to be carefully studied. In the detailed analysis of plot, the introduction, the situation, the development of the plot, the secondary plots, the interweaving of principal and subordinate plots, the means of sustaining interest and suspense, the climax of the action, the unraveling, the denouement and theprobability and plausibility of action, should receive consideration. The study of character presented in the novel will include the interaction of plot and character, the types of character, the grouping of characters, the methods of delineation, the truth to life, and similar points. It is also important to consider the novel as the expression of the author’s personality, of his attitude toward life, and of his interpretation, or “criticism,” of life.
Since time will permit of the detailed analysis, in class, of but one novel, use for comparison may be made of other novels which the pupils have read or are reading as a part of their library work. Novels of such different types as Goldsmith’s “Vicar of Wakefield,” Dickens’ “Tale of Two Cities,” Scott’s “Ivanhoe,” and “Talisman,” Thackeray’s “Henry Esmond,” Hawthorne’s “House of Seven Gables,” and George Eliot’s “Romola,” will furnish ample supplementary material.
The consideration of plot, character, etc., in the novel will prepare the way for a similar study of the drama. Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” offers excellent opportunity for thoughtful study. The important elements in the technique of dramatic construction may be brought out inductively in the course of the reading. The indirect and suggestive method of describing character of the drama will give rise to much discussion, for pupils will naturally differ in their estimates of the characters as a result of different interpretations which they give to the words and actions of the characters. To give a better conception of the drama as it is to be acted, important scenes may be presented in the class room by the pupils. The greater appreciation of the drama and dramatic action which comes from the preparation for an informal presentation of this kind, makes it well worth undertaking.
Some attention should also be given to the style and the versification in so far as these are necessary for a better understanding of the author’s methods.
The study of lyric poetry, although often difficult alike to teacher and pupils, should be undertaken during the secondsemester of the fourth year. Much of the success will depend upon the character of the lyrics selected for reading and study. Palgrave’s “Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics,” containing as it does much of the best English poetry of this type, is the most convenient book to use. While interpretative reading and the memorizing of these poems often lead to a real appreciation of their music, and the emotions which they express, a judicious analysis of metrical structure and poetic expression will result in a better understanding of the essentials of good poetry.
The expository essay, as the most difficult form of literature for high school pupils, may well be left until the last part of the fourth year. The analysis of the logical development of the subject of the essay is of particular value at this stage of the course. The outlining of the plan of the essay with its divisions into sections, sub-sections, topics, subtopics, and details is excellent practice. Macaulay’s essays, Burke’s “Speech on Conciliation,” and Webster’s “First Bunker Hill Oration” although, of course, the latter two are orations rather than essays, afford material for this kind of study. Burke’s “Speech on Conciliation,” although difficult for young pupils, is particularly well adapted for analysis of logical structure, and may be used to study methods of exposition and argumentation.
The elements and qualities of prose style illustrated in the essays should also be considered. Balance, parallelism, antithesis, hyperbole, climax, terse and epigrammatic expression, methods of transition and connection, and similar elements of Macaulay’s style are sufficiently obvious to be readily recognized by the high school pupil after his attention has once been called to them. The rhetorical qualities of Burke’s or Webster’s style are also evident enough to make possible the study of them by high school pupils.
The library reading for the fourth year can be arranged to supplement the work done in class. Several standard novels, two or three plays of Shakespeare, considerable lyric poetry, and a number of essays may be assigned from time to time sothat the library and class room reading will run parallel. Reference by teacher and pupils to these pieces of literature by way of comparison with those under consideration, will lead to a close correlation of these two phases of the reading.
The fourth year is in some respects the most important for the work in composition. The ability to write good English fluently, acquired by most of the pupils from several years of constant practice; the maturity of the pupils; their larger stock of knowledge and wider experience; and the possibility of making practical application of their ability to write in preparing orations and debates, reporting for local newspapers, or editing the school publications; all tend to make composition a more attractive and significant subject in the fourth year than it seems to be at any other period of the course. The emphasis will naturally be shifted from the mechanical details of expression which necessarily occupy the greater portion of the time in the earlier years of the course, to the larger and more interesting problems of expression. The study of the principles of exposition and argumentation, and of the development of the theme, as they appear in the plan and outline of the essay, take on new significance when their application to the writing of a debate or a commencement oration is made clear. The pupil discovers that the periodic sentence, parallel construction, climax, and other rhetorical devices, are effective means that he may use to accomplish his ends. For those with literary inclinations the study of plot, characterization, and poetic form and expression furnishes new inspiration for their own work. The teacher who fails to take advantage of this new interest in writing for practical purposes, by correlating it closely with all the English work of the fourth year, is losing the best opportunity of the course to teach the art of effective expression.
The amount of written work should be about the same as in the third year; that is, a weekly theme of about 250 words, or a fortnightly one of from 400 to 500 words; and a long theme of from 800 to 1200 words at intervals of six weeks. The subjects chosen for both long and short themes, in the course ofthe year should give practice in all the forms of discourse, narration, description, exposition, and argumentation, especially in combinations as they are found in the literature that is read in and out of the class room. The writing of a short story or of a chapter of a novel proves an interesting form of composition when fiction is being studied. The consideration of problems of character in the novels and dramas read and studied, permits pupils to express their opinions in essay form, while debates on questions growing out of class room discussions will give practice in argumentation. The preparation of commencement essays and orations, as has already been suggested, can readily be made a part of theme writing during the second semester.
The writing of verse has frequently been tried in the fourth year, and has generally proved an interesting and valuable exercise. The reading of poetry in the third and fourth years makes necessary some study of metre and verse forms, and with the information thus obtained as a basis, many pupils, it has been found, can write creditable verse. Exercises beginning with blank verse, octosyllabic and heroic couplets, and continuing with the quatrain, the triolet, the rondeau, the Spenserian stanza, and possibly the sonnet, can be given from time to time in place of weekly themes and will usually arouse considerable interest. Efforts to write verse, whether entirely successful or not, give the pupils a keener feeling for rhyme and rhythm, a better understanding of metrical forms, and of the nature of poetical composition; and to that extent should heighten their appreciation of poetry.