SCHOLASTIC TILT BETWEEN HARVARD AND YALE FINISHED

Harvard and Yale met in scholastic competition yesterday afternoon for the first time in the history of the two institutions. The victorious team will gain for its college $5000 worth of books besides individual prizes and the distinction of being the first group ever to win an intercollegiate contest of a scholastic nature.

The examination which tested the relative excellence of the two teams was the same as that which every Harvard Senior concentrating in English was required to take. It covered the entire field of English literature in as comprehensive a manner as possible considering that the examination could be no more than three hours in length.

Paper in Three Parts

The examination was divided into three parts, the first requiring roughly two hours, the second 40 minutes, and the third 20 minutes. The first part covered the whole field of English literature in five divisions, each division including four or five topics from which the student was to select one.

Anglo-Saxon poetry and Mediaeval English literature, largely that of Chaucer, formed the material for the topics in the first division.

The Elizabethan era and the period immediately succeeding it supplied the subjects for the second division. Spenser, Lyly, Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Donne were the authors reviewed.

The third division covered the period of the Restoration and the Neo-Classicists, including among its writers Milton and Dryden. The revolution in English verse which characterized the seventeenth century was likewise emphasized.

Eighteenth Century Writers

Progressing beyond the seventeenth century, the fourth division concerned itself with the verse and prose of eighteenth century writers in general and of Pope, Burns, Franklin and Edwards in particular.

The second part of the examination consisted of five quotations from English authors of different periods. The student was to analyze the content, style, and diction of three of the passages, telling why they were characteristic of their authors and the times in which they were written. The quotations were taken from Langland, Spenser, Samuel Johnson, Charles Lamb, and Byron.

The final part of the examination was a list of 13 topics from various works, five of which the student was to explain and discuss.

Easier Than Expected

The general opinion of the members of the team, when approached on the subject after the examination, seemed to be that the test was fair and in fact less difficult than what they had expected. Asked individually if they would make any predictions as to the outcome of the contest, the members of the team all declined on the grounds that they knew nothing of the power of their opponents.

H.T. Dolan '28, chosen as one of the regular members of the team, took the examination in the Brooks Hospital. Brookline, where has been confined for some time with a knee injury. This was made possible by a special arrangement whereby a proctor supervised the examination in Dolan's room in the hospital.