Century readings for a course in English literature

Front matter

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Prefatory Note

Century Readings was compiled to meet the needs of students in the general and comprehensive course in English literature now offered in most American colleges. Since the book is the result of some years of experience with such a course in the University of Wisconsin, the contents may best be explained by reference to the practice of that institution.

The course entitled General Survey of English Literature occupies three class periods a week. During two of these periods the students meet in small groups, of about twenty persons each, for the intimate discussion of a piece of literature previously assigned for study. At the third meeting, four or five such groups join to attend a lecture treating the relevant period of English literature.

Most of the pieces assigned for study are found in Century Readings. The editors have tried, in general, to provide selections that are complete in themselves. The book undertakes not to supply short passages from all English writers, but rather to offer significant and substantial examples of the work of the more important authors. Plays and novels, however, although several appear among the assignments of the course, are not included in this book, for it is thought that these can be effectively studied only as wholes, and the inclusion of them would have extended the present compilation unduly.

The lectures undertake to explain the relation of the particular works studied to the complete achievements of the authors, and to the proper periods of literary history. This undertaking is made possible through each student's having before him in the lecture-room the Students' Handbook of the Facts of English Literature, issued by the same publishers,— a brief manual containing merely the unembellished facts of literary history and biography arranged in tabular form. These tables serve the double purpose of conveying names and dates in an accurate and orderly form, and of leaving the lecturer free for his proper function of literary and historical interpretation.

No effort has been spared to secure the accuracy of the texts presented. Unless there were cogent reasons for preserving the original spelling and punctuation, modern usage has been followed. Omissions are indicated by asterisks; changes or insertions, by square brackets. Only the author's original notes are given at the foot of the page.

The editors are indebted to numerous predecessors for help both in determining the various texts and in elucidating them. They wish particularly to acknowledge their obligations to the Houghton Mifflin Company and Professor R. E. N. Dodge for permission to use the latter's Cambridge edition of Spensef. Thanks are offered also to other colleagues for kindly interest in the undertaking and for assistance in proofreading.

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PAGE

GEOFFREY CHAUCER (c. I34O-I4OO) 3

The Canterbury Tales: The Prologue 4

The Nun's Priest's Tale 12

SIR THOMAS MALORY (c. I4OO-I471) IQ

The Nut-Brown Maid (c. 1500) 34

Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne 38

Robin Hood's Death and Burial 41

The Battle of Otterburn 42

Captain Car or Edo'm o Gordon 45

The Wife of Usher's Well . 47

Kemp Owyne 47

The Daemon I-over 48

Lord Randal 49

Sir Patrick Spens 49

Thomas Rymer 50

Bonny Barbara Allan 51,

The Twa Sisters 51

The Cruel Brother 52

Edward 53

6IR THOMAS WYATT (l503?-I542) 54

The Lover for Shame- Fastness, etc. 54

The Lover Compareth his State to a Ship 54

The Lover having dreamed of Enjoying of his Love 54

A Renouncing of Love 55

The Lover Beseecheth his Mistress not to Forget 55

An Earnest Suit to his Unkind Mistress 55

The Lover Complaineth the Unkindness of his Love 55

Of the Mean and Sure Estate 56

HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY (lSI7?-I574) 58

Description of Spring 58

Complaint of a Lover Rebuked 58

Description and Praise of his Love Geraldine 58

Complaint of the Lover Disdained 59

A Complaint by Night of the Lover not Beloved 59

Vow to Love Faithfully ^ 59

Complaint of the Absence of Her Lover 59

A Praise of his Love 60

Description of the Restless State of a Lover 60

The Means to Attain Happy Life 61

Of the Death of Sir T[homas] W[yatt] 61

, , Virgil's ^neid, Book H 61

•Thomas sackville, lord buck hurst (i 536-1608) 63

"ROGER ASCHAM (15IS-I568) 7I

The Schoolmaster, Book I 71

JOHN lyly (i554?-i6o6) 76

Euphues and his England yS

Apelles' Song 80

PAGE

Spring's Welcome 80

Sappho's Song 80

Song (From Gallathea) 80

SIR PHILIP SIDNEY (1554-I586) 81

An Apology for Poetry 81

Astrophel and Stella 87

Song: The Nightingale go

Love is Dead 90

t Dorus to Pamela 90

' A Ditty 90

Dedicatory Epistle 91

The Last Fight of the Revenge .... 92

Linchoten's Testimony 95

The Loss of Sir Humprey Gilbert 95

A Report of Virginia 98

Raleigh's Discovery of Guiana 98

Sir Francis Drake at San Domingo 100

/ Drake in California loi

EDMUND SPENSER (1552-I599) IO4

The Shepheardes Calendar. Februarie 104

October 107

The Faerie Queene, Canto I 109

Canto II 117 Amoretti 123

Prothalamion 130

GEORGE CASCOIGNE (lS2S?~IS77)

A Strange Passion of a Lover 133

SIR EDWARD DYER (l550?-l607)

My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is 134

SIR WALTER RALEIGH (l552?-l6l8)

The Silent Lover 134

His Pilgrimage ■ 134

A Vision upon this Conceit of the Faery Queen 135

The Conclusion 135

GEORGE PEELE (l558?-I597?)

Song from The Arraignment of Paris 135

Harvestmen A-Singing 136

ROBERT GREENE (l56o?-I592)

Song from The Farewell to Folly 136

Philomela's Ode 136

Song from Menaphon 136

Song from Menaphon 137

The Shepherd's Wife's Song 137

ROBERT SOUTHWELL (isAP-ISQS)

The Burning Babe 138

SAMUEL DANIEL (1562-1619)

T^Sonnets from Delia 138

MICHAEL DRAYTON (1563-1631)

Sonnets from Idea I39

To the Virginian Voyage 140

To the Cambro-Britons and their Harp 141

I Hero and Leander, The First Sestiad 142

IwiLLIAM SHAXSPERE (1564-1616)

^ Venus and Adonis 145

Songs from the Plays 155

PAGE

England's Helicon (1600)

Phyllida and Corydon 157

To Colin Clout 157

Happy Shepherds, Sit and See 158

The Shepherd's Commendation of his Nymph 158

The Herdman's Happy Life 159

A Nymph*s Disdain of Love 159

Rosalind's Madrigal .* 159

THOMAS CAMPION (d. 1619)

Chance and Change i6o

Basia i6o

A Renunciation i6o

Sic Transit i6i

BEN JONSON (i573?-i637)

Song to Celia i6i

To Heaven ^ iW

The Triumph of Charis 162

An Epitaph on Salathiel Pavy 162

Epitaph on Elizabeth L. H. . ^ 162

To the Memory of My Beloved, Master William Shakspere 162

A Pindaric Ode 163

Song (' Go and catch a falling star/) 165

The Indifferent , . 165

The Canonization '. . 166

The Dream 166

Love's Deity 166

The Funeral 167

The Computation 167

Forget 167

A Hymn to God the Father 168

JOHN FLETCHER (1579-162S)

Love's Emblems i68

Melancholy i68

Song to Bacchus ![68

Beauty Clear and Fair 169

Weep No 'More 169

Aspatia's Song 169

FRANCIS BEAUMONT (1584-1616)

On the Life of Man 169

Lines on the Tombs in Westminster 169

GEORGE WITHER (1588-1667) /

The Lover's Resolution 169

When We are upon the Seas 170

The Prayer of Old Age 170

WILLIAM BROWNE (159I-1643)

Britannia's Pastorals, Book II, Song I 170

Book II, Song V 171 On the Countess Dowager of Pembroke 172

ROBERT HERRICK (1591-1674)

Corinna's Going A-Maying 172

TIpnn JnHa^g rin»h<*s j^j

the,

■oTJlTFodils^ ^ 173

Ho Music 17J

An Ode for Ben Jonson 174

A Thanksgiving to God for his House 17^

Grace for a Child

His Prayer for Absolution

GEORGE HERBERT (1593-1633)

Virtue

Love . .

The Collar

The Quip

The Pulley -

THOMAS CAREW (iS98?-i639?)

Song (* Ask me no more ')

Song ('Would you know what's soft?') . .

The Protestation

Persuasions to Joy: A Song

Ingrateful Beauty Threatened

An Epitaph

SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT (1606-1668)

Song (' The lark now leaves his watVy nest,') Praise and Prayer

EDMUND WALLER (1606-1687)

The Story of Phoebus and Daphne Applied .

To Phyllis .

On a Girdle '. .

Go, Lovely Rose!

SIR JOHN SUCKLING (1609-1622)

A Doubt of Martyrdom

The Constant Lover

Why so Pale and W^an?

RICHARD CRASHAW (l6l3?-l649)

In the Holy Nativity of our Lord God . . .

SIR JOHN DENHAM (1615-1669)

Cooper's Hill

On Mr. Abraham Cowley's Death and Burial .

RICHARD LOVELACE (1618-1658)

To Lucasta, Going to the Wars

The Rose .

To Lucasta

ABRAHAM COWLEY (1618-1677)

The Swallow

The Wish

ANDREW MARVEL (162I-1678)

The Garden / . . . .

To his Coy Mistress

HENRY VAUGHAN (1622-1695)

The Retreat

Departed Friends

Essays: I — Of Truth

V — Of Adversity

VH — Of Parents and Children . . , Vni — Of Marriage and Single Life . .

X — Of Love

Xn — Of Boldness

XVn — Of Superstition

XXni — Of Wisdom for a Man's Self . .

XXV — Of Dispatch

XXVI — Of Seeming Wise

XXVIII — Of Expense

XXXII -^ Of Discourse

PAGE 74

75 75 75 75 76

76 77 77 77 77 77

78 78

79 79 79

81 82

3 83

83 83

84 85

85 85 86

87 88

89 90

91 92

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PAGE

XXXIV — Of Riches 196

XLII — Of Youth and Age 107

XLVII — Of Negotiating 198

L — Of Studies 199

Religio Medici 200

Hydriotaphia, Urnburial . 209

The Complete Angler 212

The Life of Sir Francis Drake 217

The Faith and Patience of the Saints 221

On Shakspere 236

UAIiegro 2^7

II Penseroso 238

Lycidas 240

Sonnets: When the Assault Was Intended to the City 24-2

To a Virtuous Young Lady 242

On the Detraction which followed upon my Writing Certain Treatises . 242

On the Same 243

To the Lord General Cromwell, May, 1652 243

On the Late Massacre in Piedmont 243

To Cyriack Skinner 244--

On his Deceased Wife 244

Paradise Lost, Book I 244

Book II 254

Areopagitica " 260

JOHN DRYDEN (163I-I7OO) 266

Pleroic Stanzas 266

Astraea Redux 267

Absalom and Achitophel 268

The Hind and the Panther 270

Alexander's Feast, or The Power of Music 274

The True Born Englishman 286

Preface to the Review 294

The Education of Women 297

JONATHAN SWIFT (1667-I745) 299

A Meditation upon a Broomstick 318

SIR RICHARD STEELE (1672-I729) 324

The Tatler: The Advertisement 324

A Recollection 325

The Spectator: The Club 326

Sir Roger on Men of Parts 328

Sir Roger in Love 330

A Day in London 332

JOSEPH ADDISON (1672-I719) 335

The Spectator: The Spectator Introduces Himself 335

A Country Sunday ZZ7

Sir Roger at the Assizes 339

Town and Country 340

Sir Roger at the Play 342

The Death of Sir Roger 343

PAGE

Party Patches ... 345

Detraction Among Poets 346

Westminster Abbey 348

ALEXANDER POPE (1688-I744) 35O

Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot 368

JAMES THOMSON (17OO-I748) 369

Summer 369

Autumn 370

Winter 371

A Hymn 372

The Castle of Indolence ^y^

EDWARD YOUNG (1681-I765)

Night Thoughts 277

The Shepherd's Week 378

ROBERT BLAIR (1699-I746)

The Grave 380

Grongar Hill 381

WILLIAM S HEN STONE (1714-I763)

The Schoolmistress 382

MARK AKENSIPE (172I-T770)

Pleasures of the Imagination 385

WILLIAM COLLINS (172I-I759)

Ode (*How sleep the brave*) 386

Ode to Evening 386

Ode to Simplicity 387

The Passions 387

A Song from Shakspere's Cymbeline 389

THOMAS WARTON (1728-I790)

The Grave of King Arthur 389

Sonnets: Dugdale's Monasticon 390

At Stonehenge 390

THOMAS CHATTERTON (1752-I770)

Bristowe Tragedie 3QP

Mynstrelles Songe 395

Sonnet on the Death of Mr. Richard West 39^

On Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College 3gb

Hymn to Adversity 397

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard 39^

The Progress of Poesy 400

The Bard . 402

The Fatal Sisters 403

SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709-I784) 4^5

The Life of Addison 4^5

Letters; To the Earl of Chesterfield 420

To James Macpherson 4*0

To the Reverend Dr. Taylor 420

The Vanity of Human Wishes 421

JAMES BOSWELL (I740-I795) 4^3

The Life of Johnson 4^3

The Speech for Conciliation with the Colonies , 443

EDWARD GIBBON (i737-i794) 453

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 453

CONTEXTS

PAGE

Song (• When lovely woman ') 463

The Deserted Village 463

The Retaliation 469

WILLIAM COWPER (173I-1800) 470

Walking with God 470

Table Talk 471

The Task, Book IV 471

On the Receipt of my Mother's Picture 477

Sonnet to Mrs. Unwin 479

On the Loss of the Royal George 479

The Village, Book I 480

WILLIAM BLAKE (17S7-1827) 485

To Spring " 485

To the Muses 486

Mad Song 486

The Piper 486

The Shepherd 486

The Little Black Boy 486

Cradle Song from Songs of Innocence 487

Cradle Song from Songs of Experience 487

A Dream 487

The Divine Image 488

The Chimney Sweeper 488

The Clod and the Pebble 488

The Tiger 488

Ah Sunflower 489

Nurse's Song 489

A Little Boy Lost 489

From Milton (* And did those feet in ancient time ') 489

ROBERT RURNS (i759-i796) 490

Song: Mary Morison 490

Song: My Nanie, O 491

Song: Green Grow the Rashes 491

Lines to John Lapraik 491

To a Mouse 492

The Cotter's Saturday Night 492

Address to the Deil 495

A Bard's Epitaph 496

Of A' The Airts the Wind Can Blow 497

Auld Lang Syne 497

Tam Glen 497

To Mary in Heaven 498

Tam O'Shanter • . . 498

Willie Brewed a Peck o' Maut 500

A Winter Night 500

Highland Mary 501

Bonie Doon 501

Duncan Gray 501

Scots Wha Hae 502

A Man *s A Man for A' That 502

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (177O-1850) 5O3