ENGLISH 1

Typical of what is liable to happen in a course open to both graduates and undergraduates is English 1, announced in the catalogue as "Chaucer." There is no restriction on the admission to the course and any undergraduate enters it on an equal footing with his seniors, expecting from the title in the catalogue a course designed to further a literary appreciation, of Chaucer and to teach enough of Middle English to enable the student to read the poetry with ease and enjoyment, a course similar in scope and design to Mr. Kittredge's English 2. But as the weeks go by the undergraduate finds himself floundering in a sea of Middle English grammar and philology, half of which is of no interest or value whatsoever to him, and encumbered with a mass of erudition which impedes rather than aids his enjoyment of the reading.

The situation is not primarily the fault of those in charge of the course; but is due rather to a confusion of motives and needs resulting from the mingling of graduates and undergraduates. The Chaucerian philology and grammar and scholarship which is necessary to the graduate kills the beginner's pleasure in the poetry. One of the best means of fulfilling the requirement of the English Department for one course in Pre-Shakespearian literature is a year of Chaucer. There are already graduate courses in the field, for example, English 4 (Middle English: Language and Literature from 1150 to 1400), and it seems highly advisable to remodel English 1 on the lines of the tremendously popular courses in Chaucer at Yale and Princeton. At present there is no course at Harvard devoted to the study of one of the greatest and most neglected figures in English literature as a poet rather than as a specimen of philology and scholarship.