Halleck's New English Literature Part 44

Boswell's _Life of Johnson_.

Stephen's _Life of Johnson_. (E.M.L.)

Macaulay's _Essay on Croker's Edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson_.

Irving's, Forster's, Dobson's, Black's (E.M.L.), or B. Frankfort Moore's _Life of Goldsmith_.

SUGGESTED READINGS WITH QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

The Romantic Movement.--In order to note the difference in feeling, imagery, and ideals, between the romantic and the cla.s.sic schools, it will be advisable for the student to make a special comparison of Dryden's and Pope's satiric and didactic verse with Spenser's _Faerie Queene_, Milton's _Il Penseroso_, and with some of the work of the romantic poets in the next period. What is the difference in the general atmosphere of these poems? See if the influence of _Il Penseroso_ is noticeable in Collins's _Ode to Evening_ (Ward[4], III., 287; Bronson, III., 220; _Oxford_, 531; Manly, I., 273; _Century_, 386) and in Gray's _Elegy_ (Ward, III., 331; Bronson, III., 238; _Oxford_, 516; Manly, I., 267; _Century_, 398).

What element foreign to Dryden and Pope appears in Thomson's _Seasons_ (Ward, III., 173; Bronson. III., 179; Manly, I., 255; _Century_, 369-372).

What signs of a struggle between the romantic and the cla.s.sic are noticeable in Goldsmith's _Deserted Village_ (Ward, III., 373-379; Bronson, III., 282; Manly, I., 278; _Century_, 463). Pick out the three finest pa.s.sages in the poem, and give the reasons for the choice.

Read pp. 173-176 of _Ossian (Canterbury Poets_ series, 40 cents; Chambers, II.; Manly, II., 275), and show why it appealed to the spirit of romanticism.

For a short typical selection from Walpole's _Castle of Otranto_, see Chambers. II. Why is this called romantic fiction?

In Percy's _Reliques_, read the first ballad, that of _Chevy Chase_, and explain how the age could turn from Pope to read such rude verse.

In place of Mallet's _Northern Antiquities_, twentieth-century readers will prefer books like Guerber's _Myths of Northern Lands_ and Mabie's _Norse Stories Retold from the Eddas_.

From Chatterton's _Aella_ read nine stanzas from the song beginning: "O sing unto my roundelay." His _The Bristowe Tragedy_ may be compared with Percy's _Reliques_ and with Coleridge's _The Ancient Mariner_.

Selections from Chatterton are given in Bronson, III., Ward, III., _Oxford_, Manly, I., and _Century_.

The Novel.--Those who have the time to study the beginnings of the novel will be interested in reading, _Guy, Earl of Warwick_ (Morley's _Early Prose Romances_) or _Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Retold in Modern Prose, with Introduction and Notes_, by Jessie L. Weston (London: David Nutt, two s.h.i.+llings).

Two Elizabethan novels: Lodge's _Rosalynde_ (the original of Shakespeare's _As You Like It_) and Greene's _Pandosto_ (the original of _The Winter's Tale_) are published in _The Shakespeare Cla.s.sics_, edited by Gollancz (Duffield & Company, New York, $1 each). _Pandosto_ may be found at the end of the Ca.s.sell _National Library_ edition of _The Winter's Tale_ (15 cents). Selections from Lodge's _Rosalynde_ are given in Craik, I., 544-549. These should be compared with the parallel parts of _As You Like It_. Selections from Nashe's _The Unfortunate Traveller_ are given in Craik, I., 573-576, and selections from Sidney's _Arcadia_ in the same volume, pp. 409-419. Deloney's _The Gentle Craft_ and _Jack of Newberry_ are given in his _Works_, edited by Mann (Clarendon Press).

For the preliminary sketching of characters that might serve as types in fiction, read _The Spectator_, No. 2, by Steele. Defoe's _Robinson Crusoe_ will be read entire by almost every one.

In Craik, IV., read the following selections from these four great novelists of the middle of the eighteenth century; from Richardson, pp. 59-66; from Fielding, pp. 118-125; from Sterne, pp. 213-219; and from Smollett, pp. 261-264 and 269-272. Manly, II., has brief selections.

Goldsmith's _Vicar of Wakefield_ should be read entire by the student (_Eclectic English Cla.s.sics_, or _Gateway Series_, American Book Company). Selections may be found in Craik, IV., 365-370.

Sketch the general lines of development in fiction, from the early romance to Smollett. What type of fiction did _Don Quixote_ ridicule?

Compare Greene's _Pandosto_ with Shakespeare's _Winter's Tale_, and Lodge's _Rosalynde_ with _As You Like It_. In what relation do Steele, Addison, and Defoe stand to the novel? Why is the modern novel said to begin with Richardson?

Philosophy.--Two selections from Berkeley in Craik, IV., 34-39, give some of that philosopher's subtle metaphysics. The same volume, pp.

189-195, gives a selection from Hume's _Treatise of Human Nature_. Try stating in your own words the substance of these selections.

Gibbon.--Read Aurelian's campaign against Zen.o.bia, which const.i.tutes the last third of Chap. XI. of the first volume of _The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_. Other selections may be found in Craik, IV., 460-472; _Century_, 453-462.

What is the special merit of Gibbon's work? What period does he cover?

Compare his style, either in description or in narration, with Bunyan's.

Burke.--Let the student who has not the time to read all the speech on _Conciliation with America (Eclectic English Cla.s.sics_, or _Gateway Series_, American Book Company, 20 cents) read the selection in Craik, IV., 379-385, and also the selection referring to the decline of chivalry, from _Reflections on the Revolution in France_ (Craik, IV., 402).

Point out in Burke's writings the four characteristics mentioned on p.

331. Compare his style with Bacon's, Swift's, Addison's, and Gibbon's.

Goldsmith.--Read his three masterpieces: _The Deserted Village, The Vicar of Wakefield (Eclectic English Cla.s.sics_, or _Gateway Series_, American Book Company), _She Stoops to Conquer_ (Ca.s.sell's _National Library_; _Everyman's Library_).

Select pa.s.sages that show (a) altruistic philosophy of life, (b) humor, (c) special graces of style. What change did _She Stoops to Conquer_ bring to the stage? What qualities keep the play alive?

Johnson.--Representative selections are given in Craik, IV., 141-185. Those from _Lives of the English Poets_ (Craik, IV., 175-182; _Century_, 405-419) will best repay study. Let the student who has the time read Johnson's _Dryden_ entire. As much as possible of Boswell's _Life of Johnson_ should be read (Craik, IV., 482-495; Manly, II., 277-292).

Compare the style of Johnson with that of Gibbon and Burke. For what reasons does Johnson hold a high position in literature? What special excellences or defects do you note in his _Lives of the English Poets_? Why is Boswell's _Life of Johnson_ a great work?

FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER VII:

[Footnote 1: _The English Humorists of the Eighteenth Century_.]

[Footnote 2: To be found in _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, or in Macaulay's collected _Essays_.]

[Footnote 3: For full t.i.tles, see p. 50.]

[Footnote 4: For full t.i.tles, see p. 6.]

CHAPTER VIII: THE AGE OF ROMANTICISM, 1780-1837

History of the Period.--Much of the English history of this period was affected directly or indirectly by the French Revolution (1789).

The object of this movement was to free men from oppression by the aristocracy and to restore to them their natural rights. The new watchwords were "Liberty, Fraternity, Equality." The professed principles of the French revolutionists were in many respects similar to those embodied in the American _Declaration of Independence_.

At first the movement was applauded by the liberal-minded Englishmen; but the confiscation of property, executions, and ensuing reign of terror soon made England recoil from this Revolution. When France executed her king and declared her intention of using force to make republics out of European powers, England sent the French minister home, and war immediately resulted. With only a short intermission, this lasted from 1793 until 1815, the contest caused by the French Revolution having become merged in the Napoleonic war. The battle of Waterloo (1815) ended the struggle with the defeat of Napoleon by the English general, Wellington.

The War of 1812 with the United States was for England only an incident of the war with France. England had become so powerful on the sea, as a result of the victories of Nelson, that she not only forbade vessels of a neutral power to trade with France, but she actually searched American vessels and sometimes removed their seamen, claiming that they were British deserters. The Americans won astonis.h.i.+ng naval victories; but the war was concluded without any very definite decision on the points involved.

The last part of the eighteenth century saw the invention of spinning and weaving machines, the introduction of steam engines to furnish power, the wider use of coal, the subst.i.tution of the factory system for the home production of cloth, and the impairment of the home by the employment of women and children for unrestricted hours in the factories.

The long reign of George III., interrupted by periods of insanity, ended in 1820. The next two kings were his sons, George IV.

(1820-1830) and William IV. (1830-1837). During these two reigns the spirit of reform was in the air. The most important reforms were (1) the revision of the criminal laws, which had prescribed death for some two hundred offenses, including stealing as much as five s.h.i.+llings; (2) the removal of political disabilities from Catholics, so that for the first time since 1673 they could hold munic.i.p.al office and sit in Parliament; (3) the Reform Bill of 1832, which (_a_) extended the franchise to the well-to-do middle cla.s.ses but not to those dependent on day labor, (_b_) gave a fairer apportionment of representatives in Parliament and abolished the so-called "rotten boroughs," _i.e._ those districts which with few or no inhabitants had been sending members to Parliament, while the large manufacturing cities in the north were without representatives; (4) the final bill in 1833 for the abolition of slavery; (5) child labor laws, which ordered the textile factories to cease employing children under nine years of age, prescribed a legal working day of eight hours for children between nine and thirteen, and of twelve hours for those between thirteen and eighteen; (6) the improvement of the poor laws.

The increased interest in human rights and welfare is the most important characteristic of this entire period, but most especially of the reigns of George IV. and William IV. Sir Robert Peel, the elder, although an employer of nearly a thousand children, felt the spirit of the time enough to call the attention of Parliament to the abuses of child labor. As we shall see, this new spirit exerted a strong influence on literature.

Influence of the New Spirit on Poetry.--The French Revolution stirred the young English poets profoundly. They proclaimed the birth of a new humanity of boundless promise. The possibilities of life again seemed almost as great as in Elizabethan days. The usually sober-minded Wordsworth exclaimed:--

"Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven!"[1]

In the age of Pope, the only type of man considered worthy a place in the best literature was the aristocrat. The ordinary laborer was an object too contemptible even for satire. Burns placed a halo around the head of the honest toiler. In 1786 he could find readers for his _The Cotter's Sat.u.r.day Night_; and ten years later he proclaimed thoughts which would have been laughed to scorn early in the century:--

"Is there, for honest poverty, That hangs his head and a' that?

The coward slave, we pa.s.s him by, We dare be poor for a' that!

The rank is but the guinea stamp; The man's the gowd[2] for a' that."[3]