At Yale, the canon endures

By Jill Silverman

The National Alumni Forum has sparked a collegiate controversy following its investigation into distributional requirements for English majors at universities across the country. The conservative educational watch- group found that many English departments have grown lax in enforcing the traditional study of literary greats such as Shakespeare, Milton, and Pope.

While the study cited Yale as one of the colleges not requiring a specific Shakespeare class for English majors, Yale's English department remains conservative in its expectations of students.

"You cannot avoid Chaucer, Milton, Spencer or Pope [at Yale], because even if you don't want to take English 125, you have to take courses that cover these poets," English major Susie Yim, CC '97, said.

Although students attempting to earn a bachelors degree in English face mandatory exposure to poets like Milton and Pope, studying Shakespeare is not required by the department. Assistant professor of English Blakey Vermeule said that despite the lack of an explicit requirement, most English majors end up studying Shakespeare to fulfill the four credits in pre-1800 English literature required.

Vermeule thinks it is critical for students to analyze Shakespeare. "I don't know many people, English and non-English majors, who have not. If you're truly interested in English literature, you will want to read Shakespeare at some point," she added.

Despite the importance Vermeule attaches to Shakespeare, she does not believe that Shakespeare classes should be required at Yale. "Why would it be required when no other single author is required? The goals of diversity, breadth, and coverage of earlier periods adequately comprise the English major," she said.

English major Etay Ziv, BR '97, had similar sentiments. "I'm not horrified by the fact that people aren't forced to take it. You probably should take Shakespeare, but it shouldn't be required. There are a lot of holes in other areas of the department. There is no need to necessarily concentrate on this one area," he said.

Ziv added that the pre-1800s section is one of the strongest and most popular areas of the English department. "Most people really do want to take it, so it is almost as though Shakespeare were a requirement," he declared.

Moreover, English major James Prosek, BR '97, agreed with the National Alumni Forum's opinion that Shakespeare should be required for all those pursuing an English degree. "He was an amazing poet. Very few people mastered iambic pentameter like he did. I think that he should be required because every author has been influenced by him. Why not study the foundation [of literature]?" he asked.

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