صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.

INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.

THE literature of our country may be conveniently considered as divided into four periods: the first extending from Chaucer to Shakspere; the second from Shakspere to Pope; the third from Pope to Cowper; and the fourth from Cowper to the present day. These periods do not exactly coincide with any remarkable chronological eras; nor does the division proceed upon any peculiarities in the structure and composition of the language employed by the writers comprehended in the various classes. The classification here adopted is founded on certain well-defined differences in cast of thought and mode of expression, so prominently marked that one who is but slightly acquainted with our national literature can readily discern them. Speaking generally, it may be said that the first period commences with the reign of Richard II., and comes down to near the close of Elizabeth's reign; the second extends thence to the accession of Anne; the third embraces the time between Anne's accession and the French Revolution; and the fourth extends from that event to the present time. The first period may be briefly characterized as one of rudeness, both in thought and expression, though by no means destitute of redeeming qualities; the second as one distinguished by grandeur of thought, not always, however, equally sustained, and dignity of expression, not, however, exempt from occasional rudeness; the third by grace and vivacity of thought without much depth, neatness and simplicity of ex

A

pression without much dignity; and the fourth by a combination, with many peculiarities of its own, of the excellences of the two preceding periods. In the first age we see the early untutored efforts of the national mind beginning to rouse itself from the torpor of ages; in the second, the influence of the revival of learning, and of the study of the great classical remains of antiquity, may be clearly traced; in the third, the polish and grace, neatness and liveliness of the French writers. were regarded as the models of imitation; while the fourth, influenced partly by a love for the speculations of Germany, but still more by a re-awakened enthusiasm for our own older authors, exhibits the deep-searching and dignified thought of an early period, arrayed in the chaste and graceful ease of a modern style. While these leading features will be found in general characteristic of the authors in each period, it is not of course meant to be asserted that they are equally conspicuous in all. Individual writers will be found in every period adopting a style at variance with that prevalent at the time; but this only corroborates the truth of the general remark, as their peculiarity serves to make more palpable the general similarity of the style from which they choose to depart.

PERIOD FIRST

FROM THE TIME OF CHAUCER TO THE END OF ELIZABETH'S REIGN.

[ocr errors][merged small]

1. To the ordinary reader English literature begins with Chaucer. Even if we admit that the writings of those who preceded him are entitled to the honourable appellation of literature, yet without some knowledge of Anglo-Saxon they are almost totally unintelligible. A word here and there may indeed be recognised, but the general scope and purpose of the author remain unknown. Without, therefore, entirely omitting all notice of the predecessors of Chaucer, a very brief reference to them will suffice.

During the existence of the Saxon rule, four languages were in common use in the island: the Saxon, which was spoken in England and the Lowlands of Scotland; the Gaelic, in the Highlands of Scotland; the Welsh, a kindred dialect, in Wales; and the Latin, which was everywhere the vehicle of communication among the clergy. As the clergy in those days had a monopoly of learning, they were naturally our oldest authors, and our earliest literature is thus written in the Latin language. Of our old ecclesiastical authors the most famous is the venerable Bede, a monk of Jarrow, on the Tyne (born 673, died 735), whose "Ecclesiastical History of England" is of considerable historical value. During the terrors occasioned by the Danish invasions, learning almost entirely disappeared, so that Alfred is said to have been unable to find a clergyman in England able to give him instruction in Latin. Under that illustrious and patriotic prince, learning was encouraged and liberally rewarded. With a zeal for the spread of education far in advance of his own age, he has recorded his anxious desire, "that all the freeborn youth of his people might persevere in learning till they could perfectly read the English Scriptures." That good example might not be wanting, he himself translated into Saxon, for the edification of his subjects, various works, the chief being "Bede's History" and the "History of Orosius," along with some religious treatises by St Augustine and Pope Gregory the Great. By the Bishops whom he employed and rewarded for their learning, several parts of Scripture were translated into Anglo-Saxon, and the people were encouraged to study them. The only other prose writings in Anglo-Saxon were the monkish chronicles. These were brief registers of current events composed usually in some monastery; and are interesting to the antiquary,

as well as valuable to the historian. In poetry the most remarkable of the Anglo-Saxon writings is the "Vision of Cædmon" (about 680), who belonged to the Monastery of Whitby, and who, in a poem of about six thousand lines, gives a poetical summary of Scripture history from the fall of the rebel angels to the day of judgment. His poem is said to possess a sort of distant resemblance to "Paradise Lost."

2. As compared with modern English, Anglo-Saxon differs chiefly in being an inflected language, that is, in being able, by some change in the termination, to express a modification in the meaning, which in English would require the use of prepositions or other auxiliary words. The nouns in Anglo-Saxon had many more cases than in English; some of the pronouns had even more numbers; the adjectives were fully declined, as in Latin or German; and the verb, besides having a much greater variety of terminations, could express the peculiar force of the potential mood without any assistance from auxiliaries. Thus it happens that though most of the words used in Anglo-Saxon exist in some shape in modern English, yet an extract from an AngloSaxon writer is, to a mere English scholar, not much more intelligible than would be one from a German author. This will be seen by the following passage from Alfred's translation of "Orosius," every word of which is still in use, and which is perhaps the very simplest that could be found in Anglo-Saxon :

"The hwæl bith micle læssa thonne othre hwalas, ne bith he lengra thonne sivan elna lang, ac on his agnum lande is se betsta hwal huntath: tha beoth eahta and feowertiges elna lange, and tha mæstan fiftiges elna lange, thara he sæde that he sixa sum ofsloge sixtig on twam dagum."

"This whale is much less than other whales, it is not (literally, not is he) longer than seven ells long, but in his (the narrator's) own land is the best whale-hunting; there are they eight and forty ells long, and the most fifty ells long, of these he said, that he with five others (literally, of six one) slew sixty in two days."

3. At the Conquest a new language, the Norman-French, was introduced. Its use was, however, confined to the higher classes, the others continuing to employ the Saxon. Efforts were made by the early Norman Kings to abolish the Saxon language, but these were unsuccessful, and the two languages existed together for some time. By degrees, however, they began to combine, each borrowing from the other, and both losing many of their peculiarities. The language formed by this combination is called Old English, and is the basis of the language at present in use. The transition from the AngloSaxon to a language recognisable as English by ordinary readers was slow and gradual, and has been by some critics divided into two periods. (1.) The first of these extends from the Conquest to A.D. 1230, and is called Semi-Saxon. This period is distinguished partly by the use of Norman words, usually of Latin origin, but chiefly by the tendency to employ less frequently the inflections which formed so marked a feature in the Saxon tongue. During this period many works were produced, the most noted being the "Saxon Chronicle," written probably in the reign of Henry I.; and a poem called the Brut," by Layamon, a monk, which derives its name from its recording the history of England from the time of Brutus, an imaginary

66

[blocks in formation]

Trojan hero, to whom the foundation of the British monarchy is ascribed, down to the end of the seventh century. (2.) The second period, or Old English, prevailed from A.D. 1230 to the beginning of the sixteenth century, and has been subdivided into early and middle English, the year A.D. 1330 being chosen as the separating point between the two. In the early English we can trace the continued approximation to our modern speech; most of the old terminations are dropped, and among other features, not the least noteworthy, is the use of the modern termination of the plural in "s." language at this date begins to be intelligible to the ordinary reader, and the old plays known as the Chester, Towneley, and Coventry mysteries, which belong to this period, are well worthy of a perusal.

The

4. Middle English is the name given to that form of the language used by Chaucer and his contemporaries.

Geoffrey Chaucer is supposed to have been born about the year 1328; he is believed to have been a native of London, and having found a patron in John of Gaunt, obtained some lucrative and honourable employment in the public service. He served in the French wars, and in his official capacity travelled in France and Italy. He thus enjoyed the opportunity of personally observing nature and man in various climes and circumstances, on a more extensive scale than usually falls to the lot of poets; and as his powers of observation were fortunately equal to his advantages, his works are distinguished by accuracy in the delineation of manners, and truth in the description of nature. His chief work, the "Canterbury Tales," consists of a series of stories supposed to be told by a company of pilgrims, to relieve the tedium of their journey to the shrine of St Thomas at Canterbury. With two exceptions, the tales are in verse, and though only one-half of the work was finished, what we have is usually found quite sufficient for the reader's patience. Notwithstanding their prolixity, "The Canterbury Tales" are justly reckoned one of the greatest productions in our literature. Of Chaucer's minor works, his "House of Fame" is the best known, chiefly through Pope's version of it—" The Temple of Fame." Chaucer died A.D. 1400. In or near A.D. 1362 was written a singular poem called the "Vision of Piers Plowman." It was the production of a monk, Robert Langland, and is an allegorical work, describing and satirizing the vices of the time; in its general character it resembles the moral plays or moralities which were so popular about this period. Another contemporary of Chaucer was John Gower (died 1404), author of the "Confessio Amantis," or "Lover's Confession." This work is written in octosyllabic verse, and consists of a miscellaneous collection of stories, with which a priest seeks to comfort a penitent lover. It displays much ability in description, burdened, however, with considerable weakness of style and endless prolixity of narrative. During the same period flourished John Wickliffe (1324-1386), so well known as "The Morning Star of the Reformation.' His translation of the Bible, executed about A.D. 1380, possesses high value, both from the important consequences of which it was remotely the cause, and from its being the earliest work of any size in English prose. Sir John Mandeville, too, the first of our travellers, has left us an exceedingly amusing account of his various journeys during upwards of thirty years previous to 1356.

« السابقةمتابعة »