Effects of Scholastic Training on Poets: illustrated from Dante and Rise of the metrical system of the Romance languages from the decom- Influence of Arabian metrical compositions on the infant poetry of Mediæval The Anglo-Saxons: their origin, Pagan beliefs, institutions, and system of The course of Anglo-Saxon Poetry divided into three stages-(I) The primitive Teutonic pre-Christian compositions; (II) Compositions in which the art of minstrelsy is applied to Scriptural subjects; (III) Compositions in which the influence of Latin ecclesiastical education has prevailed over the Wolf's principle of interpretation: how far it is applicable to Beowulf. II. ANGLO-SAXON POEMS IN WHICH THE ART OF MINSTRELSY IS The works ascribed to him: their character and style. Cynewulf. Character of his genius. Influence of Latin poetry of the decadence, and Decay of the inflected forms of the Anglo-Saxon language: traces of (II) Chivalric Romances founded on lays and legends. Influences of (1) Celtic Mythology; (2) the Greek Novel; (3) the moral code of Feudal society. Ormin his metrical homilies; introduction of new metre. : Layamon his Brut; obligations to Wace; remains of the genius of NEW SPIRIT OF OPPOSITION TO THE MONASTIC TRAINING Cursor Mundi: introduction into the monastic style of the Anglo-Saxons of the Norman principle of Romance. Robert Mannyng: his Handlyng Synne; combination of the tales of the Robert of Gloucester: his Chronicle; its character and style. Praises of Robert Mannyng: his Chronicle; obligations to Wace and Peter de Lang- toft; his intention to write in English for Englishmen; his admiration of Arthur as a national hero; purity and fluency of his style modelled Uniformity of subject matter in European poetry up to the middle of the twelfth century to be ascribed to the lingering tradition of the universal Roman empire. Theory of Church and State in Medieval Europe. Illustrated by the Diet of Coblenz in 1338. Decay of the recognised system of Church and State. Growth of civil ideas of government through Europe in the midst of the Feudal and Ecclesiastical Systems. Corresponding growth of national characteristics in the rising literatures of Europe. International influence of one European literature on another. CHARACTERISTICS OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE General tendency of the Italians to regard themselves as citizens of the Roman Empire. : Dante his scholastic view of the relations of Church and State, and of the relations of the present to the past, illustrated from his writings. Petrarch his sympathetic imagination; illusions created in his mind through judging the actual life of the present by the literature of the past. Boccaccio: his artistic power of adapting the literary productions of antiquity to the circumstances of his own time. CHARACTERISTICS OF EARLY FRENCH LITERATURE Natural antagonism of the French Monarchy and Hierarchy to the central power of Emperor and Pope. Consequent development of the spirit of revolt against established authority both in Church and State. The absence of any strong central power in France, after the division of the Empire of Charlemagne, develops (1) a peculiar code of manners among the chivalrous aristocracy resident in the castles; (2) the analytic and satiric temper of the university scholar and the bourgeoisie. Both tendencies are reflected in the Roman de la Rose. William de Lorris: his unfinished fragment; he embodies the ideas and sentiments of the aristocracy and the Cours a'Amour. John de Meung: he completes the work of William de Lorris in a satiric spirit, representing the feelings of the scholar and the bourgeois. Analysis of the Roman de la Rose. Its remarkable oppositions of principle; its great effect on the imagination both in France and England. CHARACTERISTICS OF ENGLISH POETRY IN THE THIRTEENTH AND THE EARLY PART OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY Maturity of political ideas in England as compared with the other countries of Europe. The political spirit of the people reflected in its songs :- The Fable of the Fox, the Wolf, the Ass, and the Lion. The Sayings of the Four Wise Men. The Song against the King's Taxes. The Song against the Justice of the Law Courts. The War between the Barons and the King. The growing national spirit of the people expressed in verse: Laurence Minot: characteristics of his poetry. No trace of the influence of classical literature visible in the English poetry of this period. Definition of the sense in which the word "Renaissance" is applied to the English political songs. CHAPTER VI Langland compared with Nævius. He is the last representative of the Anglo-Saxon tradition of poetry, and of the Anglo-Saxon genius trained under the monastic system of the Latin Church. His great authority with succeeding poets. Decline of the Papacy and the Feudal System in the fourteenth century. Corruption of the Monastic Orders; Exhaustion of the Crusades. External splendour and success of the early part of Edward III.'s reign. Disasters of the concluding portion; pestilence and storm. Moral reaction against the corruptions and luxury of the time. Langland's education, position, and character. Analysis of the Vision of Piers the Plowman and the Vision of Do-Well, Do-Bet, Do-Best. Comparison of Langland with Dante. Langland's conception of society founded partly on the scholastic teaching of the Church, partly on the established order of the Feudal System. His idea of the structure of temporal power: Oratores, Bellatores, Laboratores. He conceives the King to have supremacy over the Church, in so far as the clergy offend against the moral law, and to have absolute power to provide for the good of the realm. His principles of Monarchical Absolutism mitigated by his view of the duties of knighthood. The duties of Labour lie at the foundation of his conception of Society. Piers the Plowman at first the type of the honest labourer. Afterwards idealised as the Redeemer, represented under the figure of a knight. After the disappearance of the Redeemer from the earth, Piers resumes his ancient employment of ploughman. Comparison between Dante and Langland: Dante the poetical offspring of the Schoolmen; Langland of the principles of the Montanists, Paulicians, and others. Langland's use of Allegory compared with that of Dante. Specimens of his allegorical style. His adoption of the alliterative system of versification. Defects of the alliterative system as a metrical instrument in modern English. CHAPTER VII Chaucer, the Ennius of English Poetry. Connects the Poetry of England with the Poetry of the Continent; prepares the way for the Renaissance. His parentage and personal history. List of his authentic works. Viewed as a translator, imitator, and inventor. I. HIS WORK AS A TRANSLATOR Translation of the Roman de la Rose. Translation of Boethius' De Consolatione Philosophia. II. HIS WORK AS AN IMITATOR The Book of the Duchess. The Parlement of Foules. The House of Fame. The Prologue to the Legend of Good Women. III. HIS WORK AS AN INVENTOR The gradual development of the Trouvère: the Fabliau. Collection of tales: Fables of Bidpai, History of the Seven Wise Masters, Arabian Nights. Boccaccio: the first to find a framework for a collection of fictitious miscellaneous tales in an episode of real life. The design of The Canterbury Tales. Its superiority to the design of all previous collections. Table showing the sources of the different tales. Dramatic propriety observed in the distribution of the tales between the different story-tellers. Direct imitation of Nature. Chaucer the greatest representative of the Medieval Epic School in England. The predecessor of the Elizabethan dramatists. And of the English satirists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The first European poet of the Middle Ages to revive the classical principle of the direct imitation of Nature. In this respect the herald of the later Renaissance. |