Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1890 [PAGE 224]

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ENGLISH AND MODERN LANGUAGES.

SCHOOL O F ENGLISH AND MODERN LANGUAGES. ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

227

Studies of the School—In the arrangement of the studies the endeavor is t o present a t h o r o u g h and extended drill in grammatical and philological study, and in t h e a u t h o r s a n d history of t h e English language, affording a t r a i n i n g equivalent t o t h e ordinary studies of t h e classical language. This drill extends t h r o u g h three years of the course. The first two terms of the first year are given t o a general survey of the whole field of British and American literature from the middle of the sixteenth century t o the present time. All the representative writers come into notice, and representative specimens from the writings of each are carefully read in class. Moreover, each student is required each term t o read a n entire work of some classic author, making choice from a prescribed list. Frequent exercises in writing a b s t r a c t s , or original compositions on themes assigned, are also required. The study of rhetoric occupies t h e third term. During t h e second year a few of t h e g r e a t masters are studied, their work analyzed, and the s h a p i n g forces of their times, with their influences upon succeeding times, are investigated. Lectures are given from time t o time on topics relating t o the class work. Writing and reading required as in first year. In the senior year the first term is devoted t o Anglo-Saxon (A. D. 500-1200), for which the way h a s been prepared by t h e study of b o t h English and German. In the second term the study of middle English (A. D. 1200-1500) is t a k e n up, and during the third term philology is studied. Essays, forensics, and orations are required. French and German.—The course in modern languages in this school embraces two years of French and two years of German. The chief aim is m a s t e r y in t r a n s l a t i o n and composition, cons t a n t a t t e n t i o n being also given t o the etymologies common t o these languages and t h e English; the s t u d y is t h u s made t o contribute t o the student's knowledge of his own tongue, and t o the power of expression in the same. In t h e first year t h e student completes t h e study of a gramm a r and reader, acquiring a knowledge of the technicalities of the idiom, with a vocabulary sufficient for the use of books of reference in his course. The second year is devoted t o a course of select reading and composition, involving a critical study of the languages and their literature. French and German are used in the class room as a means of conversation, as far as practicable, b u t this is made subordinate t o the main purpose, which is t o enable the student t o read the languages with ease, r a t h e r t h a n t o speak them indifferently.