ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATUEE. Ixiii 



REPORT OF THE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 



To the President of the College: 



I have the honor of submitting the following statement of the work of the 

 department of English Language and Literature for the year 1885-86 : 



The aim of the department is, (1) to impart such a knowledge of the English 

 language as will enable students to express their thoughts with correctness, 

 clearness, force and so much of elegance as the subjects upon which they write 

 or speak demand ; (2) to teach the fundamental principles of composition, in- 

 cluding both form and matter, with sj^ecial reference to the collection and 

 arrangement of details in description, narration and argument, so as to be most 

 •effective ; (3) to cultivate in the student such control of himself and of his men- 

 tal resources that he may present to his class or to a public audience, with suit- 

 able tone and action what he may have to say, whether the memorized thought 

 of another or of himself, or the results of his extemporaneous effort ; (4) to give a 

 synoptical view of English Literature from Chaucer to the present time, attend- 

 ing Avith some carefulness to the characteristics of about twenty-five leading 

 authors ; (5) to acquaint students particularly with the greatest works of the 

 greatest English authors, and thus develop a taste for refined thought, lofty sen- 

 timent and beautiful expression, and awaken such a love for what is best in our 

 literature that the reading habit will not only be established but be given a 

 strong imj^ulse in the right direction. 



To accomplish these ends the work is arranged in the following order : 

 Three months of daily grammatical drill ; six months semi-weekly exercises 

 in elocution and declamation ; three months elementary rhetoric daily with nu- 

 merous written exercises in narration and description ; three months weekly ex- 

 ercises of alternating essays and declamations ; three months advance rheto- 

 ric daily with numerous exercises in analyses of propositions and fvilly written 

 arguments ; one year tri-termal exercises, partly public original speeches, 

 partly expository essays on subjects assigned in the various departments of 

 instruction, with weekly readings in Shakespere ; three months daily history 

 of English literature with critical essays ; one year, weekly written exercises pre- 

 pared from the critical study of masterpieces of literature and semi-annual 

 public speeches ; six weeks, daily study of longer works of the great authors, 

 and one term weekly readings in Milton. 



Durinoj the fall term of 1885 a class of 116 freshmen was committed to me 

 for instruction in English language. They recited in two divisions, and with 

 Whitney's Essentials of English as a guide, were taken step by step from the 

 structure of the simple sentence through all the varieties of English construc- 

 tion. They were required to master the examples afforded by the text book, to 

 furnish additional examples found in their general reading, and to construct 

 sentences illustrating definitions and principles. The derivation and composi- 

 tion of words was the subject of special study, and special emphasis was laid on 

 the formation of the verb and verb phrases. The last month additional mate- 

 rial for analysis and parsing was furnished from the exercises in the class-book 

 of elocution. Another year's experieuce shows the value of this course as a 

 preparation for subsequent work. 



This freshman class, with a few students who had entered the previous term, 

 met with me in four sections during the week — one on Mondays, one on Tues- 



