20 L. A. Slier man, 



of the whole, in a sentence by itself. But the synthetic prin- 

 ciple amounts to an impulse to develop the whole meaning 

 in some way within the limits of a single sentence. Thus 

 Chaucer, at the opening of the Prologue, wishing to express 

 the idea that it was the return of spring that sent palmers 

 and pilgrims forth upon their journeyings, brings all the 

 facts leading up or accessory to the final proposition into one 

 period of eighteen lines. Spenser, too, in the Faerie Qiieeue, 

 first tells collectively all he has in mind to say of Una and 

 the Red Cross Knight without halt or division, except at 

 close of stanzas. He uses no short sentence until he gets 

 (stanza vi.) to the Dwarf. There is no other period in the 

 first ten stanzas of the poem so short as the one now met 

 with. The suspicion that the reason for its brevity is in the 

 matter rather than the instinct of manner, is confirmed on 

 comparison with the sentences preceding. If the Dwarf had 

 possessed, in Spenser's conception, either traditions or char- 

 acter — save laziness, there would in all likelihood have been 

 no stop until the end of the ninth line. On the other hand 

 Chaucer, beginning a few periods beyond his synthetic intro- 

 duction to the Prologue, writes a large per cent of as clear- 

 cut analytic sentences as it would be easy to find in any modern 

 prosaist. 



The question next to be settled was evidently the relation 

 of the analytic sentence to the synthetic. Could it be possible 

 that the one was derived from the other, or were both equally 

 the products of some common principle } Did the prevalence 

 of analytic sentences in modern prose mean simply the intro- 

 duction of oral form into polite literature .'' The decrease in 

 the numerical length of prose sentences was clearly only an 

 incident in some sustained course of development. Just what 

 that development had been could now be known if some one 

 were willing to investigate diligently along one or two lines 

 already indicated. Fortunately the work had not long to wait. 

 In the summer of 1889 Mr. G. W. Gerwig, graduate of this 

 institution that year, proposed special study in literature for 

 the degree of M.A. As a subject for the thesis to be pre- 



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