VIITHIRD YEAR ENGLISH
The plan for the third year reading provides for a survey of English and American literature, in which about three-fourths of the time is to be devoted to English literature, and one-fourth to American literature. In designating the reading as a study of English and American literature, it is not intended that the history of literature, as such, should occupy any considerable portion of the time. It is not desirable to devote more than one-tenth to one-fifth of the time, that is, from one-half to one period a week, to text-book work in the history of literature. The greater part of the time (about four periods a week) should be spent in the reading of selections from representative authors. In the study of the history of literature, emphasis should be placed upon general movements and tendencies in literature, and their relation to national conditions and ideals. In each period one or two typical authors should be selected whose works are to be studied in the class room. Selections from writers contemporary with these authors may be read by the pupils as library reading. In a course of this kind it is much more important to have the pupils read the literature than to have them read about literature. It is also much more important to lead the pupils to perceive the characteristics of the author in a selection read in or out of the class room than to have these characteristics called to their attention by the teacher or by reading criticism. In connection with the course in the history of literature, a list of books for outside reading should be prepared, and the pupils should be encouraged to supplement the class room study by reading other works of the authors studied in class. It seems desirable to follow as far as possible the chronological order in the reading done in and out of the class room so that the pupil may be led to see the development of English and Americanliterature and the relation of the work of one author to that of those preceding and succeeding him.
The detailed study of selections from the most important English and American authors, is a large task for one year’s work, but experience has shown that much can be accomplished toward widening the pupils’ knowledge and appreciation of literature by a course of this kind. After two years of intensive study of the elements of expression, the average pupil will be able to comprehend more readily what he reads, and less time will have to be spent on the details. The selections studied may also be regarded from a somewhat different point of view from that taken during the first two years. The piece of literature may be considered in relation to the author’s personality and the age in which it was written, as well as in comparison with other literature that has been read by the pupils.
In the history of English literature characteristic selections from most of the following authors should be studied in class: Chaucer, Shakespeare, Bacon, Milton, Pope, Addison, Goldsmith, Gray, Burns, Scott, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, Tennyson, Browning, Lamb, George Eliot, Dickens, and Thackeray.
In the survey of American literature the same general method should be followed. As the pupils have generally read considerable of the poetry of Longfellow, Whittier, Bryant, and Holmes, as well as selections from the prose of Irving, Hawthorne, and Thoreau, a brief review of these will be sufficient. The class work should therefore consist largely of the reading and study of works of authors not previously read in class, such as the poems and short stories of Poe, essays of Emerson, Lowell, and Holmes, and novels of Hawthorne and Cooper.
During the third year about one-fifth of the time, or one period a week, should be devoted to English composition. One short theme a week, and one long composition once in six weeks will furnish the necessary practice in writing. While the narrative and descriptive work of the first two years may be continued, more emphasis should be placed upon expositorycomposition, in continuation of the study of exposition begun in the second semester of the second year. Besides explaining the various processes and simple mechanical devices with which he is familiar, the pupil may be encouraged to express his own opinions in regard to what he reads in literature. If the conditions are favorable, the kind of elementary argumentation suggested for the second year, may also be used in theme work.