THE CRITICAL APPROACH

English is sometimes disfavored as a field of concentration because it lacks generally applicable principles and the intellectual discipline which such principles provide. Certainly it is true that the course outline for a man in this division can be a very ramshackle structure; at the same time it can open the way to more advanced explorations of human achievement than perhaps any other study. That it may fulfill its greater possibilities more consistently, and give some inkling of possible order in the work of diverse writers and periods, there might well be instituted a course in criticism, to be taken more or less towards the end of the student's college career.

By such a course is meant not a history of exclusively critical writings, than which nothing could be more fruitless, but a consideration of representative books at first hand, with occasional reference to the greater literary critics, and much open discussion in class. In essence this course would be problematical and inquiring, placing its stress on the formation of sound individual opinion rather than on detailed knowledge of any sort. It would be of most service to those taking it in hope of arriving at a critical formulation of their own, if its closest inquiry were into contemporary theories and problems. The success of this course naturally demands a teacher of very special talent, sensitive to the subtlest implications of the works studied, widely learned, open-minded and preferably young.

There is at present no such course, either in the English or Comparative Literature Departments. Both of the courses which Professor I. A. Richards introduced here two years ago answered some of the requirements; English 15, listed for the first time this year, has much of the same spirit, but concerns itself more with individual traits and methods. A course in criticism, practical but not technical, thoughtful, unhurried, appreciative, would be interesting and valuable to the many who are now left confused or indifferent by the ordinary run of English courses.