A short course in literature, English and American. For the use of schools and academies

Front matter

V

*0 0^ '

OCT v0 o

Preface

First the taste — the love for literature — must be acquired before any appreciative criticism can be given. Let the pupil read poetry aloud, or have it read to him until the harmony of the numbers, or the beauty of the sentiment, fills his soul. This will be more cultivating to him than pages of criticisms which he may learn.

A child, if he is taught to observe, soon detects the truthfulness or fallacy in any work of art, and will bring his knowledge of nature to the judgment of any word-picture he may have set before him. Let him take, for instance, any of AVhittier's or Bryant's descriptions of natural scenery, or one of Trowbridge's delineations of boy-life, and compare them with the actual thing. If he is not skilled to appreciate all the beauty, he will be very sure to detect any fallacy in description of familiar objects. It is truth that he wishes to find.

No child is too young to begin the study of literature. It begins, indeed, with his nursery rhymes, with the first poem or verse of Scripture he commits to memory. That his taste should be guided and cultivated, and his craving judiciously satisfied, is of the utmost importance. Many an idle, listless pupil will be quickened into a lively interest in study, by calling his attention to the best in literature. I have known a beautiful or poetic sentiment touch the ke}-note in the better nature of a so-called " bad boy " as nothing else would.

In compliance with numerous requests for " suggestions " in regard to methods of conducting recitations, I submit the following — with reluctance, for I cannot but think that each teacher must prefer his own ways of teaching, and with pleasure, for it recalls the faces of my pupils, and the class-rooms in which these methods had their origin.

1. In order to exercise or cultivate the taste of beginners, it is well to read aloud some rare, short poem, and at its close, or during the reading, if the pupils cannot retain the line in memory until the reading is ended, let them name the line that especially pleases them. I used frequently to take Tennyson's little poem, The PoeVs Song, trying not to show my own impressions as I read. But I never could get beyond the line,

"And waves of shadow went over the wheat/ 1

PREFACE.

V without a thrill of pleasure communicating itself to the whole class. Then, as I would proceed, hands would be raised at each effective line, descriptive of the power of the song on the "wild swan," "the lark," "the swallow," "the snake." And then, perhaps, would come my disappointment if they failed to notice the strongest lines of all,

"The wild hawk stood with the down on his beak, And stared, with his foot on the prey"

The few words present, at once, a striking image. The hawk, arrested in his savage meal, not with appetite satiated, but whetted with the first taste of blood, is lured to listen, and with head erect, stands "with the down on his beak," and stares, " with his foot on the prey."

Nor will the idea in the last lines escape the attention of the more thoughtful pupils, who see in the poet the hopeful prophet of the future.

The Poet's Song.

The rain had fallen, the Poet arose,

He pass'd by the town and out of the street, A light wind blew from the gates of the sun,

And waves of shadow went over the wheat, And he sat him down in a lonely place,

And chanted a melody loud and sweet, That made the wild-swan pause in her cloud,

And the lark drop down at his feet.

The swallow stopt as he hunted the bee,

The snake slipt under a spray, The wild-hawk stood with the down on his beak,

And stared, with his foot on the prey ; And the nightingale thought, " I have sung many songs,

But never a one so gay, For he sings of what the world will be

When the years have died away."

2. As soon as a writer's place is fixed in the mind, and the writer has received individuality, let the pupil turn at once, a& the main study, to the author's works. Illustrations of the liter- 1*

Vlll

PREFACE.

1400-1550.

Revival of Learning=

Sir Thomas More,

The Discovery of America,

Henry VIII. ,

Lorenzo de Medici,

James I, of Scotland,

Surrey and Wyatt, Stories of Arthur,

The Invention of Printing, Caxton,

Translation of the Bible, Ballad Poetry, Minstrelsy,

The Byzantine Empire, Erasmus.

Each pupil before leaving class must select his subject, so that there may be no confusion. If two or three should choose the same, it will only tax them to greater efforts to excel. But the ground of the lesson should be entirely covered, and each theme should be presented in an attractive light by the teacher. If the pupils have done their part well, the next lesson will be a treat to all. The pupils will not have relied alone upon the text-book before them, but will recall all that they have ever read or heard upon the subject, and will consult every available source of information. Each of the above subjects may call out original thought on the part of the pupil, and the facts as he relates them must always be given in his own language. All terror of writing disappears before a subject upon which a pupil has something to say.

7. An exercise which most teachers have tried is that of paraphrasing. The exquisite description of winter in the Vision of Sir Launfal affords an attractive theme; so also Drake's Culprit Fay, a description from Goldsmith, or from any author whose words convey an exact image of that which is described.

8. After pupils have gained a respectable knowledge of several authors, it is a good exercise to let them bring in brief extracts from these authors — a striking sentence in prose, or a line or stanza of poetry — characteristic of the author, if possible—and recite them in class, letting the class recognize the author, either from memory of the lines quoted or from a knowledge of the general style of the writer. They should also know from what work the lines are extracted, and all that it is possible to know about them.

9. An interesting review may be conducted by having the pupils themselves ask the questions. Give, for instance, a cer-

PREFACE.

ix tain period to be reviewed, and request each pupil to come prepared with, say ten questions upon that period — prepared, also, to answer them. The asking of a question frequently indicates the state of knowledge better than the answering.

My pupils who will use this book will recognize not only familiar methods of teaching, but familiar theories. One which I have always advanced in the teaching of literature is, that a seemingly superficial course is sometimes, in reality, the profounder method of teaching. But to give this apparently superficial course, without in reality being superficial, requires judgment and discretion. One of the most important lessons in life is to learn to sift, to separate the useless from the useful — to leave the chaff and garner the wheat; and, having learned how to distinguish the genuine from the false, to learn how to appreciate the best. It has been with apprehension for the growth and love of literature as a study in school, that I have observed the tendency to take up the exclusive consideration of one author before the basis of the whole study has been laid. The main objection to a course of literature which includes but one, two, or three authors is, that it is not broadly cultivating. The exhaustive study of one author, it is true, is in itself a species of education, and indeed an invaluable one, with a prior knowledge of the general ground of literature ; and this knowledge may be acquired in a comparatively short time.

To give such a knowledge is the aim and scope of this book. When the pupil has mastered it, he is ready to take up a more exclusive course, a course laid down in many of the excellent works already before the public. The knowledge he will have gained by a study of the general features of literature, and the taste which it will create for literature itself, will render these exhaustive works all the more attractive. But until a pupil is led up by alluring steps, he will not find in the exclusive study of Chaucer or Spenser, Bacon or Milton, nor even of Shakespeare, the delight he would have, if, with even a slight knowledge of other writers, and a general knowledge of the ground of literature, he should attempt the exclusive study of these.

Perhaps one of the best exercises which I ever presented before my pupils was to require of them undivided and scrupulous attention, while in the brief space of the period allotted

X

PREFACE.

for the recitation I would tell them the history of English literature. Standing before my "Chart of General Literature," which unfolds the whole story itself, I would begin at the beginning and follow its development from Caedmon down to the present time. First, however, I usually made one preliminary lesson or lecture, from a map of Europe and Asia. Pointing to the first known abodes of the Aryan race, I would follow their course westward to the Black Sea, then north-westward to the Baltic, adding whatever of incident and story would give force to the recital ; and having told from the map the story now published in the first chapter of the u Hand-Book, " and briefly in this, I would say to the class, whose close attention had followed every word: u To-morrow I shall call on some one of you — I cannot tell which — to give me this same story." It is with sincere pleasure that I recall the accuracy and intelligence with which my story of the preceding day would be repeated by the pupil upon whom I had called, all the others giving the closest attention, and ready to prompt, if needed, at any point. But I cannot recall an instance where any prompting was necessary. And here, though it may not be pertinent alone to the study of literature, I would urge as an exercise, for a short time only, that intense concentration of attention, with its proof. Nothing will sooner convince a pupil that one hour of real, applied thought, to any given subject, will accomplish, more for him than a day or a week of desultory study, which is not study.

The field of literature is so broad and so full that, in a work like this, I have only attempted to conduct the pupil to a "hillside," that he might obtain a more extended view of the subject, letting his gaze linger only long enough over each fair feature to make him delight in the "goodly prospect."

With the subject thus spread out before him, he may direct his future pursuits in literature with intelligence, and his after-life may be devoted to the study of any one of the great masters. If this short course serves to lay the foundation for broader study in the future, and to create a taste, a love, for the best literature, its purpose has been fulfilled.

Philadelphia, January, 1884.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. — First Period of English History and

Literature 13

II.— Transition Period 21

III. — The Age of Chaucer 25

IV. — Revival of Learning 33

V.— The Elizabethan Period 41

VI.— The Puritan Age 79

VII.— The Restoration 99

VIII.— The Augustan Age 115

IX.— The Age of Dr. Johnson 141

X.— The Age of Burns and Cowper 181

XI.— The Age of Seott and Byron 197

XII.— The Lake Poets 220

XIII. — The Victorian Age 245

XIV. — American Literature. The Colonial

Period 279

XV.— The Revolutionary Period 285

XVI.— The Age of Irving 295

XVII.— The Age of Emerson 318

xi

A CHART

OF THE

ARYAN FAMILY OF LANGUAGES.

IXDIC

Iranic

Celtic

Hellenic

Romanic

Sclavonic

Teutonic

J Sanscrit and other 1 languages of India.

| Zend and other languages I of Iran and Persia.

( . f Welsh, Breton, I Cymric \ {SmM ^

Gaelic

Highland Scotch, Irish, Manx.

f Ancient and 1 Modern Greek.

f Latin, Italian, French, 1 Spanish, Portuguese, etc.

( Russian, Polish,

( Bohemian, Bulgarian, etc.

c -,. . f Icelandic, Norwegian, Scandinavian X n , ' . _ fe ' I Swedish, Danish.

Germanic

High German | German.

r Dutch, Low German \ Flemish, I English.

xii

A

HISTORY

OF

English Literature.

Chapter I

First Period of English History and Literature.— Origin of the English Language,

LITERATURE is the recorded expression of knowledge and fancy. In its widest sense it includes all the written thoughts of mankind, embracing the works of poets, dramatists, novelists, philosophers, theologians, historians, essayists, and critics. In its more restricted sense it excludes all technical works, and embraces only those departments of thought in which all mankind have a common interest.

Poetry, the highest expression of the human mind, and the earliest form of literature in every nation, may be divided into Epic, Dramatic, Lyric, Pastoral, and Didactic.

Epic poetry treats of the achievements of heroes, and embraces various characters and incidents. The most celebrated epics in existence are Homer's Iliad, Yirgil's JEneid, and Milton's Paradise Lost. Other epic poems, possessing all the requirements of this species of poetry, are the Lay of Beowulf, in the Anglo-Saxon tongue, The ]^ibelungen-Lied, in the German, The Cid, in Spanish, The Lusiad of Camoens, in the 2 13

Portuguese, Tasso's Jerusalem, in Italian, and the Henriade of Voltaire, and Fenelon's Telemachus, in French. Fewnations have possessed more than one great epic. Poems founded on the deeds of heroes of romance are styled Metrical Eomances, but are classed under the head of Epic poetry.

Dramatic compositions may be either in poetry or in prose. The drama differs from the epic in presenting the characters as themselves speaking and acting. The principal divisions of the drama are Tragedy and Comedy. Tragedy resembles the epic in being grave and dignified. It deals chiefly with the crimes and sufferings of mankind, exciting in the listener emotions of terror and pity. It has, usually, some historic basis. Comedy, on the other hand, exhibits merely the humors and follies of mankind, its end being simply to excite laughter.

Lyrical poetry, as the name suggests, was originally adapted to the lyre. It includes Odes, Songs, Hymns, Ballads, Sonnets, and Elegies.

Pastoral poetry celebrates the pleasures of rural life, or, as its name implies, of shepherd life. The Eclogue represents shepherds as talking together. The Idyl is simply a poem descriptive of rural life.

Didactic poetry is instructive in its character. Its requisites are sound judgment and principles, expressed with sufficient imagery to impress the truths it seeks to convey. Satires are often classed under Didactic poetry, as their aim is to correct follies or abuses by means of ridicule.

The principal divisions of prose are History, Fiction, Essays, and Philosophical works.

History ranks in prose as the epic does in poetry. It is a recital of the important events of the past, and is the most dignified form of prose composition. Biography comes under the head of History.

Fiction, in prose, embraces the productions of the imagination —the Romance, Novel, Story, etc.

Philosophical works are those which have the establishment of truth for their aim. They embrace the works of Scientists, Theologians, Metaphysicians, and those of all great and original thinkers.

FIRST PERIOD OF EXGLISH LITERATURE.

lb'

The Essay is a brief expression of the author's own feelings upon any one particular subject. It may be philosophical, or humorous, or may partake of the nature of criticism.

The Origin of the English Language.

The English language, one of the numerous offsprings of the great Aryan family, is Teutonic or Germanic in its origin. That the student of literature may, at the outset, establish this fact in his mind, let him take a map before him and search out the little tract of country lying between the Baltic Sea and the German Ocean, now known as Schleswig, Holstein, and Jutland. This was the fatherland of the English nation, the home of the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. The central portion, Schleswig, was called Angle-land (England), the southern portion was called Saxe-land, and the northern portion Jute-land. Among themselves these kindred tribes went by the common name of Angles (English).

It is supposed that the original seat of the Aryan family, was in the heart of Asia ; that, as the race increased in numbers, it travelled westward, forming, in time, innumerable dialects and families of languages. Our first acquaintance with the Goths, the ancestors of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, is in the early part of the first century b. c. We find them as far in their westward journey as the borders of the Black Sea, on the east side of the river Don. With their great leader Odin, or Woden, they are about taking up again their line of travel, reaching, as we have seen, the shores of the Baltic*

And here, in their sea-girt home, we will leave the sons of Odin, our Gothic ancestors, and trace the parallel course of another great leader.

Before the middle of the first century before Christ, near the time that Odin and his people began their north-westward

*ln Angle-land, it is said, Odin left his son Baidur, " the Beautiful," while he himself, with others of his tribe, passed over into the land of the Teutons, and extended his territory throughout Sweden and Norway. These Gothic tribes are known in history as Northmen, Norsemen, etc. They worshipped, as did our English ancestors, their heathen deities, Odin, or Woden, Thor. Fria, and Tiw, preserving to us these cherished names in the days consecrated to each, Woden's-day, Thor's-day, Fria'sday, Tiw's-day.

HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.

journey, Julius Caesar made his march of conquest through Gaul, and, crossing the channel, entered Britain. This was in 55 b. c, and with this event the authentic history of England

begins.

The Britons, or inhabitants of Britain, were Celts, the ancestors of the Scotch, Irish, and Welsh nations.

Caesar did not himself conquer the country ; but, about a hundred years afterwards, other Romans took possession of the southern part of Britain. It remained under the dominion of Rome until about the middle of the fifth century, when Italy, being overrun by the powerful Goths, was obliged to call home all her soldiers to her own defence. Southern Britain, thus left undefended, became the prey of the unconquered Celts of the North, the Scots and Picts of Ireland and Scotland. Long dependence on Roman arms had enfeebled the Southern Britons. They were powerless to resist their warlike kinsmen. They, therefore, it is said, asked the u Englisc folk "—the Angles and Saxons and Jutes— to come to their aid. No second invitation was needed. They came (449), drove back the Scots and Picts, and, liking the country, decided to conquer the Southern Britons too, and plant their own nation there. The Britons stoutly resisted, but the German nation conquered ; and the Celts, like the North American Indians, were driven to the wall. Scarcely a vestige of their language remains.

The Saxons,* for so we are accustomed to call the early English, comprising the Saxons, Angles, and Jutes, were now firmly established in the island, and the name of England was adopted soon after.

The Anglo-Saxon Period.

450 -1150.

English Literature is usually considered as beginning in the seventh century, with Caedmon (-680), the first Anglo-Saxon poet, but in all probability the u Englisc folk" brought with them into Britain the story of a great Gothic hero, Beowulf,

* The three tribes were called " Saxon " by the Romans, who, in their march of conquest, touched only the Southern or Saxon portion,

FIRST PERIOD OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.

who had rescued the kingdom of Denmark from the ravages of a deadly monster. But of this we are not certain. It is only known that the poem was sung in portions, in the great " mead halls " of the Saxon nobles. The chief room of the houses of our ancestors was the hall, and here high and low, nobles and serfs, assembled for shelter, rest, or diversion. No books beguiled the evening hours, so singing songs and telling stories took the place of reading, and it was a pleasant custom thus to gather together in the wide hall, where, seated on rude benches ranged around the wall, each took his turn in singing or reciting. The songs were usually accompanied by the harp. It was in such a scene as this that Caedmon, the first Anglo-Saxon or English poet, was found. He did not know that he was a poet. He was only an ignorant cowherd. But one evening, when the songs were being sung, and he saw that his turn was approaching, ashamed of his inability to make a song, he rushed out of the hall and threw himself down among the cattle in stall. Here he fell asleep, and dreamed that an angel came to him and told him to sing. The poor cowherd pleaded his ignorance, but the angel persisted, and gave him as his theme the Song of Creation. Caedmon opened his lips and sung words he had never heard before, and, strangest of all, when he awoke he could recall them, and in the ecstasy of his inspiration still went on chanting.

This was in the seventh century, when monasteries were the only schools, and none but priests, or those connected with the monasteries, could read or write. It often happened that good women were the founders and heads of these institutions ; and at Whitby, up on the Yorkshire coast, the Abbess Hilda governed hers. To her the poor cowherd went with his wonderful story, and she prevailed upon him to enter the monastery and cultivate his gift of song, first, however, having tested his power of " making," * by relating to him stories from the Bible, and requiring him to turn them into verse. He afterwards paraphrased the whole story of the Fall of Man. f

All the learned works of this time were written in Latin, so but little prose was contributed to the early English Literature.

* Poets were called " Makers."

t This poem, if compared with Milton's Paradise Lost, will seem like the skeleton of that epic.

HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.

Bede, 673-735, wrote in Latin a History of the English Church, and a Life of Caedmon.

Alfred, 848-901, the good and great king, translated the Latin works into the English, or Anglo-Saxon of his time, that his people might learn to love and honor their own mother tongue. He not only took upon himself the labor of teaching, but employed scholars from abroad to help him in his great work of educating the people.

At his instigation the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was begun. This was a series of annals beginning with the Roman invasion, 55 b. c. This chronicle was discontinued in 1154 ; its close marks the end of the Anglo-Saxon period of English Literature.

Illustrations of the Literature of the First English or Anglo-Saxon Period.

450—1150.

From Beowulf.

The scenes in the story of Beowulf are laid in Denmark and Sweden (Gothland). The hero, Beowulf, is a Goth, who, hearing of the distress of Hrothgar, King of Denmark, owing to the nightly ravages of a monster named Grendel, goes with a company of fifteen warriors to rid the Danish lord of his dreaded foe.

Then was rejoiced

the distributor of treasure,

hoar-lock' d and far-famed,

trusted in succour

the bright Danes' lord,

in Beowulf heard

the people's shepherd

steadfast resolve.

There was laughter of men

the din resounded,

words were winsome,

Wealhtheow went forth,

Hrothgar' s queen ;

After the feasting is over, the and Beowulf awaits the coming

fa, com of more under mist-hle6J?um Grendel gongan ;

mindful of their races,

the gold-adorned one greeted

the men in hall,

and then the joyous woman

gave the cup

first to the East-Danes'

country's guardian ;

bade him (be) blithe

at the beer drinking,

the dear to his people.

king and his household retire, of the nightly visitant.

Then came from the moor under the misty hills Grendel stalking ;

He strode under the clouds until he the wine-house, the golden hall of men, most readily perceived richly variegated.

After a long contest Beowulf kills the monster, and, receiving rich gifts from Hrothgar, returns to his own country — the land of the East Goths. In due season he becomes king of this country ; and his last warlike encounter is with a fiery dragon that infests his own domain. Beowulf kills the dragon, but dies from venom received in the conflict.

The story of Beowulf was wholly Gothic in its original conception, and the few interpolations, giving the tone of the later religion, were probably made by some monk of the seventh century. It is impossible to fix the date of the composition of this old Pagan story. It must simply stand as the first known poem in our language, or, indeed, in any Teutonic language.

From Caedmon's Song of Creation.

Nti we sceolan heYian, Now we shall praise

heofon-rices weard, the guardian of heaven,

the glory-father of men ! how he of all wonders, the eternal lord, formed the beginning.

He erst created for earth's children heaven as a roof, the holy creator ! then this mid- world, the guardian of mankind, the eternal lord, produced afterwards the earth for men, the almighty master !

Syllabus.

The English language is Teutonic, or Germanic, in its origin. The early home of the English people was in Schleswig.

Our knowledge of Britain dates from 55 B. c. The first known inhabitants of the island were Celts, the ancestors of the Scotch, Irish, and Welsh. The English took possession of the country in 449.

English literature begins with Caedmon in the seventh century. The Lay of Beowulf was the first Anglo-Saxon poem ; but when or by whom it was written is unknown. Bede wrote Latin prose. King Alfred's great aim was to cultivate the vernacular language. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was begun at his instigation. It closed in 1154.

I

Chapter II. »0>*<0«

The Transition Period.

1150—1350.

IN" 1066, England was conquered by the Normans, who in reality were allied to the Anglo-Saxon people, being descended from the Franks and other Gothic races. * They introduced the Norman French language into England, and for nearly two hundred years the conquerors and conquered remained mutually repellent. French was the language of the court and higher circles, and Anglo-Saxon was spoken by the common people.

About the middle of the twelfth century, however, the two languages began to compromise— to coalesce ; and, as in this time we recognize the dawning of modern English, we call it the Transition Period.

The twelfth century is a notable landmark in the history of the English nation and literature. Not only was the English language forming, but the English character and nation were asserting themselves, as the Magna Charta evidenced. The Norman conquest had not been without its good results, and France in the twelfth century became the source of English culture and refinement. The University of Paris was soon rivalled by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Social and domestic

* Northern France, settled by the Northmen, was called Normandy or Northinansland ; Southern France was called Provence, and was wholly different in its language and literature.

HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.

refinement followed. Parlors were added to the former hall or room for general assembling, and windows and chimneys were introduced. Floors were strewn with rushes, and tapestry decorated the walls. Habits of neatness were enjoined, and Books of Courtesy were circulated.

A mine of wealth was opened to the literary world in the twelfth century, by the discovery in Brittany* of the Legends of King Arthur and his Knights of the Bound Table. It was in the twelfth century, also, that the Eddas — traditions of the Gothic race — were collected in Iceland, whither they had been carried by the Northmen soon after Christianity made its way into northern Europe. f

Eomances founded on history and tradition became numerous. Besides the legends of Arthur, romantic ballads on Robin Hood, the bold outlaw, were sung, and numerous other metrical romances were popular.

The great light of the thirteenth century was Roger Bacon (1214-1292), the first great English scientist. He anticipated many of the later discoveries in optics, and this at a time when research and investigation in science were unknown. His works, like all other learned works of the time, were written in Latin.

Three literary works in the English of this time are prized as landmarks in the progress of the language. They are the Brut d\ Angleterre of Layamon, a rhymed, fabulous history of England ; the Ancren Riwle, or Anchoresses' Rule, a prose work of unknown authorship, consisting of rules for monastic life ; and the Ormulum, a poetical version of the Scriptures by Orm, or Orment. The closing portions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle also show the changes and modifications that were beginning in the language.

* Brittany, the north-west portion of France, was the stronghold of the ancient Britains when they fled from the rude Saxons. King Arthur is represented as a British king of great prowess and Christian purity, who lived in the fifth or sixth century. His birth is wrapped in obscurity. Layamon says: