Lucky Breaks: Green Hill and My PhD Exam

When I was earning my doctorate in early American literature at Indiana University, I was required to take a four-hour exam in my time period (from the age of exploration through World War I) and another four-hour exam in my chosen area of British and American prose fiction (from the 1700s through modern literature). The exams were to be taken within a year of one another and were offered three times annually. In those days, there were no reading lists. Our professors were permitted to ask questions about any works pertinent to the test. If the student were unfamiliar with the works, the student would fail the question, and each test had approximately four questions with the option of dropping one and writing in answer to the other three.

I devoted a year to reading in preparation for my first exam while taking courses. I read everything I considered significant in the field of early American literature. I pored over syllabi, bibliographies, and anthologies to identify those works of particular importance, and I visited the library regularly. During the week before the exam, I decided there were gaps in my knowledge of early American poetry. I visited a bookstore and purchased a thick anthology of such poems. I had additional books to read, and I knew that I could never retain everything in the anthology, even if I could have enough time to read it from cover to cover. I consulted the pages listing the contents.

Looking West Along Pine Street in Green Hill, Indiana

Courtesy Huw Williams Through Wikimedia

I grew up in Pine Village, Indiana. Not far from my hometown was another town named Green Hill. Listed among the offerings in the anthology was “Greenfield Hill: A Poem,” by Timothy Dwight (1752–1817). Greenfield Hill sounded roughly like Green Hill, and, as I had always liked Green Hill, I decided to read Dwight’s poem. Such a lucky break!

If I remember correctly, here is the wording of the first question on my exam: Establish a chronology of pre-Revolutionary American poems leading up to Timothy Dwight’s “Greenfield Hill: A Poem,” and demonstrate ways that Dwight honored various poetic traditions while breaking new ground.

I stared at the question while precious minutes elapsed. Nine of us graduate students were taking the test that morning. We were seated at wide intervals in a large room. I heard at least two groans. I could easily construct the chronological part of my answer because I had taken several courses on American literature written before the Revolution. Dwight’s poem was the sticking point. While the fog of my panic gradually lifted, recollections of the work began returning to my mind. I remembered that I had detected echoes of colonial sermons, and I recalled that the fourth part lamented the slaughter of Native Americans and exhibited greater cultural understanding than I would have thought possible at the end of the 1700s. Finally, I knew that Dwight was struggling to establish his vision of this country as morally ideal while confronting the difficulty of reconciling the Pequot War. I foresaw my answer, and I leapt into sudden activity, my pen flying through the pages of my blue book.

The exam had two more questions, I think. By now, I forget them, but I felt confident that I answered them effectively.

Several days later, when the results of the test were posted, I was the only student who passed; the other eight flunked the exam. Immediately after the test, they had told me that they were not familiar with “Greenfield Hill: A Poem.” Three anonymous professors graded the exams. One of them recommended that I pass “with distinction”: a special honor rarely awarded. Had one other professor agreed, I would have received the distinction. I felt perfectly content that all three professors had given me a clear pass with no complaint. One of the professors wrote, “Mr. Rhode has a deep and thorough knowledge of pre-Revolutionary poetry.”

I doubt that I would have claimed “a deep and thorough knowledge” for myself, but I was deeply grateful that I grew up near Green Hill, Indiana!