of which the "Spenserian stanza" is typical. This stanza consists of two interlinked quatrains, with an added line of six feet, the arrangement thus being ababbcbcc. The brilliancy of the invention is shown by the fact that it adapts itself readily to the different demands of narrative, descriptive, and moral poetry; and that the poem sustains itself throughout its great length with so much variety of effect.

Spenser's Art. For the rest, Spenser has the great gift of the poet, the power to create the illusion of a different world, a world of magic where the imagination and the senses are satisfied. The Faerie Queene is a long procession of figures, brilliant, fantastic, or terrible, which singly or in groups pass across an ever varying, ever wonderful landscape. And almost as marked as Spenser's feeling for form and color, is his use of sound. His sensitiveness of ear is shown by the melody of his verse, so constant yet so varied; but there are also many passages in which he makes suggestions of the music of nature an element of pleasure in his description. Altogether, Spenser has the resources of the whole world of sensation at command, and he never fails to heighten them with the illusions of his art. Of the color, the savor, the music of life, his poem is full-only the color is brighter, the taste sweeter, the music grander, than any which it is given to mortal senses to know.

And this world of imagined splendor is presented as the background of a steadily growing idea of righteousness, of heroic goodness. The union of the two elements, sensuous and moral, seems at times to involve a naïve inconsistency. But Spenser belonged to an age when it seemed not impossible that there should be some common ground between the spirit of the Reformation and that of Humanism. He was perhaps a Puritan; but more fortunate than Milton, he came before Puritanism had narrowed its view of life to the single issue of salvation. There is indeed in Spenser, as in many of his contemporaries, a note of melancholy, which suggests that the eternal contradiction of the joy of the present life by the threat of its hereafter, was not unheard. The flowers are already lightly touched by the frost. But this reminder that the time of free delight in the outer world was

so short, its sunshine so threatened by the clouds of Puritanism, makes its brightest product the more precious.

V. PROFESSIONAL WRITING

Prose. After the literary awakening marked by the writers already treated, the stream of literary production became at once very copious. Curiosity about the world was a leading instinct among men of the Renaissance; this instinct once aroused led to the rapid growth of the reading public, and the business of ministering to its demands became a recognized profession. Romances, essays on religious or political subjects, histories, voyagers' tales, as well as numerous translations from ancient and foreign literature were turned out in great numbers and greedily absorbed. This work was done by men of miscellaneous interests, who labored indifferently in any field to which the taste of the public led them. One of the most broadly characteristic of these writers is Robert Greene (1560-1592). He began his career by writing romances in the style of Lyly. Later, when the Arcadia had begun to circulate in manuscript, he imitated Sidney in a pastoral tale called Menaphon, and he published also realistic accounts of life in London, translations of Italian stories, pamphlets, and plays. Greene and his particular associates, George Peele, Thomas Nash, and Christopher Marlowe, were the first professional writers. Unlike Sidney, who followed literature as an amateur, or Spenser, who looked for support to the patronage of the rich or preferment from the queen, they undertook to live directly upon their literary earnings. Moreover, as a class, they showed the intense desire for pleasure, the violence of passion, the impatience of restraint, social or moral, which were characteristic of the Renaissance in Italy rather than in England. The irregularity of their lives has made them heroes of stories famous among the tragedies of literature. Marlowe was stabbed to death in a tavern brawl; Peele died of dissipation; Greene, as the story goes, from over-eating, and Nash of starvation.

Poetry. As the prose literature of the period was injured by the adoption of the euphuistic style for every purpose, so its poetry suffered from the failure of its authors to separate the proper matter of poetry from that of prose. They gave verse form not only to history, but also to politics, philosophy, geography, and science. It is not of these works that we think, however, when we speak of the glory of Elizabethan verse, but of the lyric element, which in nearly all the writers of the time flows somewhere like a stream of living water, making glad the waste places of their larger works. The romances of the time contain many exquisite songs which are preserved in the anthologies of English verse, while the works which furnished the original setting for them are forgotten. The dramas of Lyly, Peele, and, above all, Shakespeare, abound in lyrical interludes, and Marlowe is as famous for his little song "Come live with me and be my love," as for the most imposing of his plays.

Among the courtiers of Elizabeth, as has been said, verse was a natural language. The lyrics of these courtly writers circulated in manuscript and doubtless many of them have disappeared. A number of them, however, are preserved in the poetical miscellanies which from time to time were issued after the fashion of "Tottel's Miscellany." The popular demand for lyric verse is also attested by the numerous books of songs and airs, in some of which not only the words but the music also have been preserved. Indeed the temperament of the age may be tested by its songs. They reflect its delight in youth and nature, in love, and in the glory of arms, sometimes in the mere pleasure of singing. But besides this exuberant joy in life, which the Renaissance brought to men, there is also a steady tone of seriousness and religious feeling, which reminds us that in England the Reformation and the Renaissance advanced together. In the lyric poetry of the time, as in The Faerie Queene, we are struck by the mingling of sensuousness and piety-but the latter is no gloomy forbidding of the joy of living, nor even a threatening of its end by death, but a trust in the Creator as frank and honest as is the delight in the world which He has made.

REVIEW OUTLINE.-The political situation in England between 1400 and 1485 should be noted as a reason for the literary decline; and the changes which followed the accession of Henry VII. and the beginning of the new monarchy, as making the conditions for the English Renaissance. What was the essential element in the Renaissance? What was the situation of the individual man under the feudal system? Under the medieval church? What change did the Renaissance bring about in the attitude of men toward the world? Suggest several reasons for the rapid development of the Renaissance in Italy. What did other nations contribute to the Renaissance? What conditions of the fifteenth century tended to forward the Renaissance in England? What caused the revival of learning in Italy? How was it brought to England? What was its influence on literature?

In considering the progress of the Renaissance in England it may be interesting to point out some differences between the English movement and the Italian. In the first place the influence of patriotism centering about the person of the English sovereign should be noted, as limiting the exercise of personal ambition, which in Italy made for division. And in the second place, the fact that in England the Reformation took place before the Renaissance had got its full headway, should be recalled; and the influence of the new religious interest, checking the temptations of the time toward a life of pleasure, should be noted in writers from Wyatt to Spenser. It will be well also to examine rather carefully the history of the time, and observe how the religious and the national spirit, stimulated by various events, reached their height under Elizabeth in the years which saw also the appearance of the greater Elizabethan literature.

What were some of the characteristics of the court of Henry VIII? Comment on the character of the king. What influences moulded the character of Sir Thomas More? What was his purpose in "Utopia"? What are some of the features of the Utopian society? In what way is the book typical of the Renaissance? What influence did the court of Henry VIII. have on poetry? Name the chief poets of his court. What is the chief characteristic of Wyatt's verse? What were the services of Wyatt and Surrey to English poetry?

The Renaissance was in England very largely a matter of imitation. The Reformation was a more spontaneous national movement. What earlier attempts at religious reform had prepared the way for the English Reformation? What political situation in the reign of Henry

VIII. furthered it? What were the features of the Reformation under Edward VI. and Mary? What was the religious policy of Elizabeth? What was the influence of Tyndale and Coverdale's translation of the Bible on literature? What was the "Book of Martyrs"?

The years between the death of Henry VIII. and the accession of Elizabeth may be regarded as a period of reaction, between the earlier and the later Renaissance. With the accession of Elizabeth came a quickening of all the forces of the age, the individual spirit of ambition and adventure, thirst for pleasure, and love of glory, which may be illustrated from the life of Raleigh, and the plays of Marlowe, to be discussed in the next chapter; the spirit of religious patriotism, which finds its personal representation in Sidney, and its literary expression in "The Faerie Queene." Who was John Lyly? What is the character of "Euphues"? What does it illustrate? What characteristic marked its style? Outline the career of Sir Philip Sidney. What was "Astrophel nd Stella"? Why did Sidney write the "Arcadia"? Give some characteristics of the story. What was the "Defence of Poesy"? Contrast Raleigh with Sidney in character and in career. In what respects is Raleigh an illustration of the interests of his time? are his chief works?

What

Outline the life of Spenser. What was the influence on him of Cambridge? of London? of Ireland? What was the "Shepherd's Calendar"? Under what circumstances did Spenser write "The Faerie Queene"? What was the purpose of the poem? What its plan? How does Spenser illustrate the dependence of English literature upon Italian? What is the Spenserian stanza?

What led to the growth of the reading public at the time of the Renaissance? What effects did this growth have upon literature? Illustrate from the career of Robert Greene. How do Greene and his friends differ from Spenser and Sidney in their attitude toward literature? In their lives? Explain the prominence of lyric verse

in this period.

READING GUIDE.-All students should read at least Canto I, Book I, of the "Faerie Queene"; this portion of the poem is given in Maynard's English Classic series. If further reading is required in Spenser, it should include the "Prothalamion," and the first portion of "Colin Clout" or "The Shepherd's Calendar." Convenient texts are "Minor Poems of Spenser," in the Temple Classics, and "Selected