I believe the question may be briefly answered. Study so that the ideas
of authors may become your own, though remoulded into such forms as
your own character, reason, experience and highest thoughts allow.
Suppose you are studying English literature. Be watchful, first, for
the writer's ideas: be sure you get _his_ thoughts, not such as
some one else says are his, according to some one's else interpretation;
then observe the manner in which those ideas are expressed. The merits
of a literary work lie quite as much in style as in the thoughts which
it contains. The cause or purpose of a book, the thoughts it holds,
its suggestiveness, its style, seem to me important points to bear
in mind when reading or studying a work.
You may be reading George Eliot's "Romola." Be sure, when the book
ends, that you see somewhat the purpose for which it was written. Be
impressed with its story: follow its wonderful descriptions, its
analysis of character; remark the knowledge which was brought to bear in
representing that great historical character Savonarola, the Florentine
republic, and the rule of the De Medicis; be moved by the pathos of
the story, its dignity and beauty; but remember most, that she who
begins with virtue grows, though through fiery furnaces of tribulation,
into a radiant, clear, crystal womanhood.
Perhaps you are reading Dowden's "Life of Southey." Be delighted with
the ease, the charm, of Dowden's style: dwell upon it. Consider his
fine powers as a biographer, but be impressed with the unsurpassed
diligence of Southey's life.
Are you reading Emerson's shorter essay on "Nature"? So peruse it that,
when you go out among the trees and grass and flowers, you will feel
the same kinship with them as did he.
History and biography, the sketch and criticism even, have been made
truly charming of late years by the vividness in which actions have
been depicted and characters portrayed, as well as by clearness and
beauty in expression. We turn to an historical work with as much zest
as to a romance, and find in it, now, that enthusiasm, that liveliness,
that interest in human affairs which old historians allowed to be
obscured by dates and names. If you are studying Roman history, be never
so particular about when each battle was fought as about the great
causes of the rise of Rome,--energy, pride, deprivation, hardihood,
union of citizens, sturdiness, ferocious perseverance, courage,
abstinence, valor: remark the results attained by these qualities,--
Rome, the mistress of the world, with an empire stretching to the ends
of the earth. Then note the causes of her fall,--greediness, wealth,
luxury, effeminacy, satiety, corrupt morals,--and bring the lesson home
to your own nation, and to your own selves. Says Mr. Ruskin, "It is of
little consequence how many positions of cities a woman knows, or how
many dates of events, or how many names of celebrated persons--it is
not the object of education to turn a woman into a dictionary. But
it is deeply necessary that she should be taught to enter with her
whole personality into the history she reads,--to picture the passages
of it vitally in her own bright imagination; to apprehend, with her
fine instincts, the pathetic circumstances and dramatic relations which
the historian too often only eclipses by his reasoning, and disconnects
by his arrangement. It is for her to trace the hidden equities of divine
reward, and catch sight, through the darkness, of the fateful threads
of woven fire that connect error with its retribution."
If you are studying the natural sciences, so follow them that you may
see more clearly the rocks, the sea, the sky, the verdure of the earth,
the mountains and the valleys, the rivers and the lakes,--all the
creations upon the earth, as far as you have studied them,--so that
a new heaven and a new earth shall be spread before you, and you shall
learn to appreciate more fully the beneficence of God.
Are mathematics your choice? Then learn from them the value of
stability, fixedness; the worth of accuracy in all studies and in all
callings; the power of durability, especially as it refers to the
durableness of right against wrong; the perfections of forms and
symbols; the truths of reasoning; the necessity of discipline.
Are you translating from this or that author? Be sure that you are
first accurate; then, that you have entered into the spirit of the
writer and the work, that your own language is being made more copious,
and fluency of speech or written discourse acquired. The discipline
of translating accurately is next in value to that obtained from the
study of numbers. The difficulty of turning this accurate translation
into the idiom of one's own language is most stubborn.
It would be very pleasant for us to talk about the choice of books
we ought to make in our reading, and I think it would be quite
profitable to hunt up those authorities who have given most attention to
the subject of reading. There are many such authorities.
David Pryde, in his practical papers called "The Highways of
Literature," thinks the true method of dealing with books is, "(1)
To read first the one or two great standard works in each department
of literature; and (2) to confine, then, our reading to that department
which suits the particular bent of our mind." Then he lays down these
definite rules, telling us how to read: "1. Before you begin to peruse
a book, know something about the author. 2. Read the preface carefully.
3. Take a comprehensive survey of the table of contents. 4. Give your
whole attention to whatever you read. 5. Be sure to note the most
valuable passages as you read. 6. Write out, in your own language, a
summary of the facts you have noted. 7. Apply the results of your
reading to your every-day duties." These rules ought, every one of them,
to be emphasized in our association with books. In my own experience, I
find Number 4 of great importance, as well as Numbers 5 and 7. I would
add, by way of caution, that the moment you become weary from reading,
or grow nervous with studying, you should stop. Studying never does
harm, but nervous excitement does. When you have puzzled your brains an
hour over a problem in arithmetic, the probability is that you have
ceased thinking rationally, and are only plunging deeper and deeper into
confusion. Nervous prostration comes from unreasonable taxation of
the brain oftener than from real, systematic study.
I think you will find a little book by Charles F. Richardson very
helpful in regard to your reading. It is called "The Choice of Books,"
and it treats of such subjects as, "What Books to Read," "How Much
to Read," "What Books to Own," "The Motive of Reading," and other topics
of a similar nature.
It will make an agreeable conclusion to our thoughts on what to read,
and how to read, to quote the following from Richardson: "Homer,
Plutarch, Herodotus, and Plato; Virgil, Livy, and Tacitus; Dante, Tasso,
and Petrarch; Cervantes; Thomas a Kempis; Goethe and Schiller; Chaucer,
Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Bacon, Sir Thomas Browne, Bunyan, Addison,
Gray, Scott, and Wordsworth; Hawthorne, Emerson, Motley, Longfellow,
Bryant, Lowell, Holmes, and Whittier. He who reads these, and such
as these, is not in serious danger of spending his time amiss. But
not even such a list as this is to be received as a necessity by every
reader. One may find Cowper more profitable than Wordsworth; to another
the reading of Bancroft may be more advantageous than that of Herodotus;
while a third may gain more immediate and lasting good from historical
novels like Eber's 'Uarda,' or Kingsley's 'Hypatia,' than from a long
and patient attempt to master Grote's 'History of Greece,' or Gibbon's
'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.' Each individual reader must
try to determine, first of all, what is best for himself. In forming
his decision, let him make the utmost use of the best guides, not
forgetting that the average opinion of educated men is pretty sure
to be a correct opinion; but let him never put aside his own honesty
and individuality. He must choose his books as he chooses his friends,
because of their integrity and helpfulness, and because of the pleasure
their society gives him."
VI.
ENGLISH LITERATURE AND OTHER STUDIES.
In the majority of our higher schools, and probably in the education
of most persons, a deficiency in the knowledge of English is to be
remarked. Now, if girls are not fond of science, nor inclined to the
study of philosophy, foreign languages, music, or painting, why do
they not follow certain courses in English? Why do they not study
English literature, paying heed to its history, its rhetoric, but more
especially to the works of its greatest authors? Literature is the
most cultivating to the mind, the most necessary to a general education,
and it affords the most pleasure to persons, no matter what their
condition may be. Easily pursued, it requires no capital but time, and
costs no more than a walk to the public library. The liberal educations
which some persons have acquired from what they have read in English
literature demanded only wise choice of books, time, and perseverance.
I find, on an examination of the requirements for entrance to college,
that English is the least regarded. It rarely goes beyond spelling,
punctuation, figures of speech, and the reading of prescribed books,
few in number, and which do not require a month's study. The absurdity
of demanding all the rules of Latin prosody, when the student never
read a line of the "Deserted Village," and probably will not, through
his college course! Says one catalogue, which represents a great
institution, "A large proportion of those who seek admission to the
university are found to be very deficient in their preparation in
English." It is not surprising. May they be helped before they graduate
from the university.
In looking over the catalogues of numerous colleges where girls are
educated, I have been indeed gratified with the great advantages they
present to young women. How I wish I could enjoy even a few of these
privileges,--these opportunities for a higher education! Is it not
much to be grateful for, that so many of you girls not only can go
to college, but really do go? I am glad for you all. Smith and
Wellesley, Boston University and the Annex at Cambridge, Michigan
University, Cornell, Bryn Mawr, and the rest, are all magnificent
attractions to the student. Yes, indeed! But how I wish that
English--English literature--was more earnestly pursued in every one of
them!
Within the limits of this talk, I can say but little on the study of
English; so I shall confine my suggestions to a few courses of reading,
which I hope may be helpful to some of you.
A knowledge of literature implies an actual acquaintance with the works
of authors; and no lists of names and dates, no anecdotes, nor literary
gossip, can take the place of this acquaintance: but, to make these
works more useful and intelligible, we should connect history with
them. How can I fully appreciate the oratory of the American Revolution,
if I know nothing of the war between England and the Colonies? How
can I get the real value out of "The Talisman," "Kenilworth," or
"Ivanhoe," if I have no knowledge of the Crusades, of Elizabeth's reign,
or of that period in English history when Richard of the Lion Heart was
king? Again, how can I understand why any age in English prose or poetry
was characterized by a peculiar kind of thinkers, if I do not know
the history and tendency of that age? Why, in one epoch, do we have
men writing on classical subjects in a way which represents form as
more important than matter? and why, in another age, are writers turning
from an artificial to a natural style?
Experience proves that it is profitless to study the formative periods
of English literature before trying to get acquainted with it in its
present condition. One should work backwards, and not forwards, in
this study. The practice of beginning with Anglo-Saxon writers, and
studying down to nineteenth-century authors, is to be utterly condemned.
How can I hope to like or even comprehend an English version of Caedmon,
or, later, Chaucer, if I cannot yet see the beauty of Whittier? The
history and philosophy of English literature are indeed important,
but they are entirely subordinate to the works themselves.
English literature was not hatched full-fledged; its feathers have
been growing for centuries; it did not even fly high till Elizabeth's
reign; and it has not been prolific till within a century or two. We
want to see what the bird looks like full grown, before we can
understand about the embryo in the egg.
In the first place, I should get familiar with some very concise manual,
so that I might refer to it for guidance; but my most earnest work
should be with certain epochs in literature, and with special
representative authors, around whom I could group other dependent
writers, or such as did not so nearly represent the period I was
studying.
If you are studying epochwise, why not read choice selections from
the prose of the nineteenth century,--some of its masterpieces? Get
a general notion of the earlier parts of the century by consulting
some manual on the subject, such as Spalding's "English Literature,"
chapters XIII., XV., and XVI. When you have ascertained that the reviews
founded in the first quarter of the century contained the most valuable
literature, read some of the papers in the "Edinburgh Review," the
"Quarterly," and "Blackwoods." Very good collections have been made
from them, especially in a series of books known as "Modern British
Essayists." Read, for example, Sydney Smith's essay on "Female
Education"; one of Jeffrey's criticisms on the early poets of this
century; an historical or a biographical article by Alison; or one
of Professor Wilson's sketches in his "Recreations of Christopher
North." But be most desirous of reading that brilliant essayist, and
that most impressive of contributors to the "Edinburgh Review,"--
Macaulay. I wish you would read his articles which have special
reference to literature, perhaps in this order: Moore's "Life of Byron,"
"Mme. D'Arblay," "Goldsmith," "Samuel Johnson," "Addison," "Dryden,"
"Leigh Hunt," "Bunyan," "Milton," "Bacon." Of miscellaneous essays,
please note "Von Ranke," "Warren Hastings," and "Frederick the Great."
After Macaulay, study Carlyle, though only in parts, reading "Heroes
and Hero Worship," and "Burns." The last is especially valuable to
you. Note Carlyle's sincerity, his "gospel of work," his love of Nature,
his earnestness, his despair, his giant intellect. If you are interested
in his peculiar merits, read the "French Revolution."
Read selections from Emerson; but always slowly, carefully, dwelling
longest on this writer's more practical essays, those which inspire
impulses within you to nobler living.
Realizing how great an influence Nature has exerted over the prose
as well as the poetry of this century, study Emerson's two essays on
"Nature"; selections from Thoreau, especially from "Excursions";
Kingsley's "Winter Garden"; passages from Ruskin, particularly those
written about "The Sky," "Clouds," "Water," "Mountains," "Grass."
You will appreciate the critical spirit of this age. Though most of
the authors so far mentioned were critics, as well as essayists, you
will find it helpful to read from the following: De Quincey, Hazlitt,
Hallam, Ruskin, Whipple. If you can read but one work from DeQuincey,
take, instead of a criticism, his "Confessions of an English Opium
Eater," the style of which is considered masterly. Its sentences are
melodious, its English elegant and classical. From Ruskin, that writer
who founded art criticism, read those delightful passages brought
together in the volume called "The True and the Beautiful"; and
carefully peruse the little book known as "Sesame and Lilies." Hallam I
should refer to for special information in regard to European
literature. Our own Whipple will aid you to a knowledge of Elizabethan
learning.
Next, read the essays of Lamb, such as are included in "Elia." Love
the quaint, beautiful spirit of the author; and take delight in his
witticisms, his reveries, and playful fancies.
Perhaps, just here, it would be well to introduce Irving. Pay especial
heed to his "Sketch-Book," "The Alhambra," and "Bracebridge Hall."
In order to appreciate the position this writer holds in American
literature, and the feeling with which he is regarded, both in our
own country and abroad, get some knowledge of the condition of our
literature before Irving placed it upon a firm basis, and learn about
the grace and dignity of this man's deportment. Appreciate, too, the
beauties of this author's style in writing.
Then examine the sketch as it appears in Leigh Hunt's "Wishing Cap
Papers," Thackeray's "Roundabout Papers," Curtis's "Potiphar Papers."
You might include under this head such rare bits of prose as you cannot
conveniently classify, as, for example, Dr. Brown's "Rab and His
Friends," Curtis's "Prue and I."
Now look a while at the uses of biography. I think the study of every
great author's works should be either prefaced or supplemented by a
good biography or correspondence. This necessary aid to literature
has been amply afforded by the celebrated "English Men of Letters"
series, and also by the "American Men of Letters." The influence of
biographies upon your lives you will find of the highest importance.
There are other lives than those of purely literary men and women which
I should recommend.
You must have become aware of the great value of historical literature
in this age. Note what additions it has received from the intellects
of such historians as Macaulay, by his "Life of Frederick the Great"
and by his "History of England"; as Motley, by his "Dutch Republic";
as Prescott, by his "Ferdinand and Isabella"; as Alison, by his "History
of Europe"; as Froude, by his "Life of Caesar." One can hardly be
without such valuable reference-books as Green's "History of England,"
Freeman's various histories, and those included in the Epoch Series.
But, before reading any of these works, it would be well to read various
essays on how history should be written. There is an article by Macaulay
on this subject, very brilliantly written, and truthfully. There are
also valuable essays on the same subject by Froude, Freeman, Carlyle,
Emerson, Miss Cleveland.
You might profitably combine with this topic of history that of travels.
You know works of travel form a large, and certainly a delightful,
part of our reading.
You have doubtless noticed the popularity which fiction always receives.
It embraces the majority of the books written in this age. Try to study,
in a concise way, the development of the novel from the time of
Richardson and his immediate followers, and find its most perfect
expression in the works of George Eliot, Dickens, Thackeray, Hawthorne.
Look a little at the history of the romance previous to this century,
beginning, if you like, away back with Thomas Malory's "Morte d'Arthur."
Find the best illustration of the romance in Scott. To such a writer
as Scott you might add Cooper and Kingsley, though the romance is
presented by the last writer in but one powerful book, "Westward, Ho!"--
at least, it seems so to me. Novelists always require a very just choice
of their works. If you start with a novel of Dickens which does not lead
you gradually into an appreciation of his genius, you will throw the
book away in disgust. One needs to be particular about the order in
which one reads Thackeray, or Scott, or Cooper, or Kingsley, even. I
think the same may be said of Hawthorne.
In whatever good novel you read, be as careful to notice the artistic
merits of the work, the beauties and graces of its style, as the
construction of its story.
If you prefer to study the poetry of this century, you should strive
first to gain a knowledge of that which was written in the last quarter
of the eighteenth century. You should remark the great changes produced
in the minds of writers by the French Revolution, and note the growing
love for freedom of opinion and freedom in government; also the
increasing love for the natural world. Then you are ready to begin
with a programme like this:--
1. A General Survey of Poetry in this Century.
2. The Study of Nature and Man.
3. Wordsworth and his Poetry.
4. The Imaginative,--Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner."
5. The third Lake Poet,--Southey.
6. The History of the Ballad.
7. Campbell.
8. The Narrative,--Scott's Poems.
9. Byron's "Childe Harold."
10. The Melodies of Moore.
11. A Study of the Beautiful,--Keats and Shelley.
12. Various Secondary Poets accomplished in Verse.
13. The Song Writers.
14. The Victorian Era.
15. Tennyson.
16. Woman as Poet,--Mrs. Browning.
17. Humor in Verse,--Hood, Holmes.
18. Poetry in America,--Bryant.
19. Longfellow and Whittier.
20. Lowell and Taylor.
21. Robert Browning.
How delightful it would be to follow a programme which should include
only American writers, in either prose or poetry!
Again I feel the necessity of urging you to study these authors for
the thought there is in their works, and for the style in which those
thoughts are expressed. Make these works text-books and pleasure-books.
If you should wish in a more general way to get acquainted with such
specimens of English as combine the best style with the best matter,
or with such as present either excellency in thought, or beauty in
form, you might find help in the following selections. I have culled
their titles, for the most part, from the catalogues of our leading
schools and colleges:--
Chaucer's "Clerk's Tale;" Shakespeare's plays, particularly "Julius
Caesar," "Merchant of Venice," "Macbeth," and "The Tempest;" Milton's
"Paradise Lost" and "Comus;" first five cantos of Spenser's "Faery
Queen;" Goldsmith's "Deserted Village" and "She Stoops to Conquer;"
Scott's "Lady of the Lake" and "Marmion;" Burns's "Cotter's Saturday
Night;" Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner;" Keats' "Eve of St. Agnes;"
Lowell's "Vision of Sir Launfal;" Longfellow's "Courtship of Miles
Standish" and "Evangeline;" Tennyson's "Princess" and "In Memoriam;"
Whittier's "Snow Bound;" Sidney's "Defence of Poesie;" Bacon's Essays;
Carlyle's "Burns;" Emerson's "Eloquence;" Macaulay's essay on "Milton;"
Thackeray's "Henry Esmond" and "English Humorists;" Dickens's "David
Copperfield" and "Tale of Two Cities;" Scott's "Kenilworth" and "The
Abbot;" George Eliot's "Silas Marner" and "Romola;" Kingsley's "Westward
Ho!"; Irving's "Sketch Book;" Ruskin's "Sesame and Lilies;" Addison's
De Coverley papers; "Essays of Elia;" Longfellow's "Hyperion;"
Whittier's essay on "The Beautiful;" Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter" and
"Twice-Told Tales;" Thoreau's "Excursions;" Leigh Hunt's "Wishing Cap
Papers;" Arthur Helps's essay "On the Art of Living with Others;"
Curtis's "Potiphar Papers;" Prescott's "Last of the Incas;" Motley's
"Siege of Leyden." You will observe these names are given without regard
to system.
Special topics may offer themselves to your mind without reference
to an epoch, as the History of Fiction, the History of the Drama; or
it may often be most profitable to study the literature of a certain
reign or age,--as the Age of Elizabeth, the Reign of Queen Anne, the
Period of the English Reformation, the Revolutionary Period. Another
way of studying literature is suggested by those who, having a general
knowledge of it, devote their hours of reading chiefly to one author,
as, for example, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton. Experience proves to
me that the study of a certain number of masterpieces, around which
selections of less worth may be grouped, is the most thorough way to
proceed.
Intimately connected with the study of literature is the science of
rhetoric. By means of it we learn to appreciate good style, we are
better fitted to criticise the works we read, and are certainly made
better able to correct our own faults in writing. It is indispensable
to the study of English literature.
As I have already stated, history and literature are closely connected,
yet it is quite possible to study history so that it will have no direct
bearing upon literature.