A Short History of English Literature - Ifor Evans.pdf

CONTENTS.A*nowledgen ntt I PreJaa I B.Jffe theCon$est 2 EnglishPoetryJron Chauterto Jobt t Dotut2 23 t g EagllrhPortryfton Mihon ta Willian I' BlaI. 4b 4 Ttu Rn...

CONTENTS.A*nowledgen ntt I PreJaa I B.Jffe theCon$est 2 EnglishPoetryJron Chauterto Jobt t Dotut2 23 t g EagllrhPortryfton Mihon ta Willian I' BlaI. 4b 4 Ttu RnnznticPtets 66 i Jtom Tewysonta tlt 5 English,Poetry tuexmtDq 9r 6 EngtirhDruna to ShaLetPeare r27 7 Sha.krspea'e r47 a E-ngli'hDrutnt Jron Shakcsirafttn ;hstdan ^ lo3 g Engli:h Drana fron Shzida&k the PreMJ Da) I84 IO The English Nolvl ta Defoe 205 IT Ttu EnplishJ'towl-fron Rihzrdsonto Sirllafur Scox er6 te Tlu EnglirhNoadJton Diekru to thz Pft'mt Dry 237 4 EngtishPro* to lheEight"nthCentury 2Bg 14 ModenEnglirhProse 3rr lndcr g4S  A CKN O WLEDCE MENTS P RE F A CE Thir edition has rot orily b@ firlly ni,ed but it ir duch Fo. p€tuision to publish dtlets ft@ !o@ m th& aeanded. Pevioa cditioa had, fo. @dddatios of b@k, a.Lnowledg@€trt is nade b the fouowirg: 3p@e, to be @nfned to history and diticisd. There wa !d Thom6 Hardy, exb:ct Gon 'Natrret qusdon- no room for quotarioru. The atlen@ ofthis iUBFaiive its' i@ nE CdthcledPo.tu aJ nM Ho4, ro nrc mtdial wff alwaF felt as a seriou 16. Now in tbie Iargd H,rdy Esat, Mamillm md Co. Ltd, Ibndon, TLc wlutu the I1srd of criti.irm and coment is @nnmed Madilm Compary, N€w Yo!t, dd TLe Ma.nil2! Cnnldy of Cdada Ltd; {or A. E- HolMm,.xtiets by a wide nng€ of.a.efuUy choseDquotations. Ir is io be fron 'Dpitaph on a! A.my ofMdaDand aDd 'Fod hoped th.t ibe mny readeft who have er?.6sed t:r, frce ere &d aoming', to Th€ Sooety of Autho6.pp.eciation of the shortd volMe will find addidoqal s the ltdary repredrative ol the E bt€ of A, E. pl€asure in this volume, rcw tbat ihe kiteB eD spek Houmaq ddJoMrha! Cape Lt4 publishds ofA, D. IjoDsM"'s Cantbrt P@nsi tq G€ore! Bdnsd Strav, dtrcct tram ltetnbEnk Eon, tn Thc SeGty of Autho6 In plep&ina thi! rdi*d edition I have beetr much & Iof dre Bemrd Sh:w Estatej aof W. B. Yeb, qht sisted by the advi@ oftwo frien&, Prclssor Randolph Gon 'Sdiling io Brzdrim' frm 6. Calle.bdPm oJ quhb Quin PrcfBsor at Univ.Bity C,llese Londo., l,l/, B. I&4 to M. B, Yeaa, Maonnltu dd Co. Ltd'. aDd Prof*o. Terence Spence., Prolesor at the Univdiry md Th. Ma.milm Cmpmy, Nd Yorr (@pyrighi i !920 by The Mamilar Compdy, rcncstd t956 by ofBituinghd, dd Dire.tor o{th€ Shalqp@e lqtiute. Geo.sle Y€E) ; ad for W. B. Ydts, *lret from 'Th. I.E. S.h.lN'from theGlr"'dP,,tu ofw. B, rtuk,t M.B, Y.asj Mmiuar.!d Co, Ltd, od Th€ Ma.mura! Company, Ns vork (@!yrkLt r9r9 by The Macdild Compdr &neh€d r97 by B€nha Cdrgie  BeforetheConquest ENoLrsE literatlrre is often describ€d as beginning with Chaucer. This wotrld give England six centuries oflitera. l| ture. Actually tlere were more than six centuri€s of Utdature before Chaucer w6 born. The lnodem reader caD make out the generat mtuing of a page of Chaucer without dimculty, but ifhe l@ks at our earliet literatue he 6nds that it reads like a foreign tongue. This is the leason for the neglect olour erly lituature, though today lluch of it can be obrained in translation. The two most importdt *ents in th€ history ofEng. land took plac€ before the Normn Conqu6t. It wa! itr { that pdiod that the Argles and SaxoN and Jut€s cane to Dngland in naraudiDg bdds ud nade English history pcsible. Fron all accountr they were rerpectable gentle. men wh€n at home, but they changed their inanners when they were lookhg lor ,r,'nam. They were heatlen, and the secondgr€at w€nt at that time is the €onvenion oftne Erylislt to Christianity. ID 597 Augustine had come ftom Rome and begun to convert theJut€s in Kent, while about l the sa.ine tirne monks from lreland were setting up I monasteri€s in Nofihumbia. Most English poehy in the carly Anglo-Saxon period is associated with th€se two f l. cvenb. Either the stories a.rebrought ovd by the invadiDg tribes from their Continental Gmnic homes, or they fi )l lhow a kem interest in Bible ltorier, in Chdstianity dd in Chrbtian valud- f Literature in the AnSlo-Saxon period was recorded in maluscripts, and the life of a maDrMipt is a hard one. $ tr 14 A 8IIORT 1 I I S T ORY O! ENCL ISH L IT ERAT UR E aE roR E TH E coN qU E sT 13 Our knowl€dgeof Anglo-Saxonpoeby dependson four some of which scanda.lized the more rcspectable. In this grcups of manuscripts.These are: tlle manusfiipts col- Iost Anglo-Saxon and medievt litdatufe thcre was, to ldted by Sir Robert Cotton. which d€ now in rhe British quote a single instancer Bede's vernacular lyric. We learn Museum; the Exeter Boo! given to Exeter Cathedral by of tlis from the account which Bede's disciple Cuthbert BishopLeoFic, sometimeafGr ro5o; the Verceli Book, givs ofhis death: 'in our targuage, since he I'a:r skilled foulld at Vercelli near Milan in 1822 (and no one hag in our poetry', speaking of the tertible pating of thc soul given a sa*factory account of how it got there); and finally the maruscriptsin the BodleianLibrdy at Oxford, The Angles brought the story ofBrolo,fwith theh to England in the d-!th century, and there somewh€re aftcr siven by the Dutch scholar Francis Dujon or Junius, Ubrarian to the Earl ofArundel. In Sir Robdt Cotton's A.D. 7oo the poem was made This was about seventv vears cotlectionis the rnaruscript ofBrrer6 the mostimportant after the death of Mohammed ard iD the sme age as the poem of the Anglo-Saxonp€riod, and its history shows beginning ot the great Tang Dynasty in China. Three how werything seemsto fight againstthe poslibilitie ofa hundred yeds later, about the yeaf I ooor the manuscript, manu$ript sufliving. which still survives, wd written dowa What happened to As a result onecannotasss Anglo-Sa,lonliterat re or it i]r the next seven hundfed years is unknown. In I 7()6 it mediel?l literature from the extant manuscripts.Anglo. was recorded a! being in Sir Robert Cotton's library. Onlv otrt jn the Saxonjewellery aid other objectsof art t€stily that we are , twentt{ix years later a disastiou! fire broke dealine with a far richer and more sophisticatedciviliza- Ebary, the B.ouuu Mnuscript narros'ly escaPed. ^Ld still be seen in the tion than the surviving remainswould atoneindicate. As Thc char.ed edges of its leaves can fa.ras m€di€val litdaturc is conc€.nedthis is weu ilus- British Museum. Trvo liagments of mother poem, trated in R. M. Wilson's ftu Zri, ZiterutureoJ M.dEral Waldeft, \,$i.h My otlgrnally have bes as long as B,o- tnsla"d (1952) which showshow many referenc€sthere rru4, were found as recntty as 1860 in the binding ofa are to PoerrBno longerer.tant,to hemesunknown, and to book in the Royal Library at Copenhagen. stori€s now unrecoded. One might, not too unrasl y, ,B,r&zf is the fi$t long poem in English, some thtee supposethat thde wasanearly tradition of\'dcat po€try, thousand liles. Yet the hero and ihe sctting have nothing and y€t no poem are€5.tantbeforethe thirteenth c€ntury to do with England. Though the Angles brought th€ story and €venthen mostofwhat survivesis religiousverse,nlr to England, it is not even about the Angles, but about tbe r€lieiousvse, kept in monalteri€s,had a b€tter cllarce of Scandinavians. The German tribes, though thet wded pr$ervation than secular lyrics with their wayward with each other, md with aryone else within reach, had a chanceofsurvilat ; yet obviouslythey did €rdst.There ar€ 'Ir€€ trade' in storier. Their poets, at ledt, believed in tlvelfth-centuryrecordsat Ely, sugg€stingthat ryric poetry 'Genania', the single Gellrra People. So it is ihat our was extant there at that time and giving to Canute thc 6rst English pom is a Scandinaviat story, biought over privilegeof beingone of the earlist of medievalpoets. by Angles,ad madcinto a pocn in Dngland.The storvof Thde de c€rtainlyreiarencesto very earlypopula! lyric!, Beo&vlf B or a nLorstet D@€d Glendel who is disturbing  14 A S H O R 1 I I I S T ORY OT ENo L ISII L IT ERAT URE B E FOR E TI.IE OON gU E S T 15 Hrotlgar, king ofthe Dan€s, in Heorot, his gr€at hatl. A set down after the conversion ofthe English to Christian- young $arrior called Beo.lrulfcom$ with a $oup ofcom. ity. The new wonhip md the old heroic virtues ale rade! t! the rescue. He overcomes Crendel and then rater together in the poem. But the values ofthe poetry belong in a dwelling at the bouom ofa la.te he nehB Orendet,s to the ea.rlier pagd age, with a sense of endurance, of mother, a sea monster. In the second part of the poeru fate, and of unfailing courage revealing a spirit that is Beowrlfis a kins and as u old man he has to defend hil never completely recaptured in any iater pdod. How country ftom a fie.)' dragon. The poem closes with an ltrong wd the old heroic apirit cm be seen in the short account ofhtu fun€ral rites. The wealness olthe poem, ro poen 'Maldoni which was witten sooDalter the Battie of some critiGr lies in the story. They say it is only a fairy Maldon in 999: stora ofmonsteN and dragons. But in those early dars the monsts was rea.I. Any rEn might m€et him tn an un. Thought husr b€ the hade: the h@! rhe keneL trodd€D path on a dark night. He was rhereJhuge, besrial, Couragemut br geater a ou. strngth grcws ld. evit, waiting for you, and the hero was the man who could kill him. More recent criticism suggeststhat the srory is Here the past rccaptured the %lues ofan carlier hooic more than just a story. It tu implied that syrnbolic, reti- ag€ ard th€ €pic way ofwriting. To write thus about a gioN, and pefiaps even mythological values underlie the contempordy battle w6, for poetry in any age, a rde deceptively siDple themes, and some have argued con- achi€vement and as W. P. Ker wrote: 'there is no sironger vincingly for a geat richnes of interyr€tation. Along composition in English till the work of Chauc€r; there is $'ith the story there fu a picture ofsociery at the C,ourt ofa nothing equally herojc beforc SamanAganistes.'* l,dior, the court€siB, the beo-drinking, the exchanges Nothine in Oid English Literature can compaxe with ofgifts, and ihe po€t present among the warriors, chanting Beol' Ai i has tbe size ad dignity of a cldsical ep;c. his venes of the deeds of fighting men. It is in some of Possibly its author had read Veryil, or some ol the iater these interludes that rhe poen displa'.s irs strength and its LatiD epics. A number ofshorter poems suNive which be beauty ofstyle. Around themin story there ar€ references 1on8 like.Rso&v{l to the stories of the Germanic peop16. to a whole tragic wo.ld with plots diferent from that of 'Widsith' (dre Far Traveller) describes the wanderings of '8rrzr,rrl All this ha dignity, ifbeloDging to an artuto- a p@t through the couns of Gemmnic kings. Also, in the 6atic and civilized world. ^ E,tto Book, therc are seyea short poens of gaeat human Like all Anglo-S,lxon poems it is.$ritt€tl $,ith a lonc inter€st: 'D€or', 'Wu]f and Eadwacer', 'The Wife's lin". The liner do nor rllm", bur each tine has aXirera. Lament', 'The Husband's Message', 'The Ruin', 'The Lion, and the po€t has a special and *tensive vocabulary. Wanderer', and 'The S€afarer'. Life in all these poems is He uses 'pictur€,names' for the things and people he ha! sorowful, ard rhe sp€akers are fatalistic, though at the to d6oibe, so the 'sea' is the ,svan\ road, and the ,bodr, same tine courageous and determined. The mood is found is the 'bone-house'. The story ofthe poem belonss b.ne in the relrain to 'Deor', where the poet, unhappy because pagan lile of the cermic rribes, but the poem itsef was  16 A sHoRT trrsToRy o, ENc lr s r r LI TERATUR E sE roR E Trl E OON qU E S T r7 he has b€rn esrranged from hi! to,d, remads hins€u of hav€ r€ndered Old and Ne T€stament stori$ into sormws m rhe past and adds: English verse. Th€se Prcbably do not survive, but someone That grief psed aMy: so hay rhis qrcw pd. did make poemi out of pans ol Gdusis a^d F oi8 Md ,"rrl. Ol Cynewulf much has been written but littie is oflDeor,appea^evennore snongry known. A numbe. ofPoeins have bem associatedwith his :_ T:-er,egac,nooa ,"i *T.dl".: yI*, on Llesurrace, i &e poetie_ nam€: a poem of the martyrdom of St Julidai Etur', or.ounrs hNhir tord s hal has beendesrroyedwhjte he has the story of th€ ffnding of the Cross bv St Helena; the laa,ro go torth b s€e.knew service..The S€afarq. has a Faks oJ tlu Apostlasta poem on Christ's Ascecron' sm,rar moodJ Lhe hard.hip. Lhe fascinarion, ^ Ge meJan. Wltoe!€r wmte the other relieious poems on biblicar r.y. *, wlich recuBin Enslilh po€lry ro tbree remain of outstanding :l"ll rhe themes or on saints' lives, mnerestn cenruryin Suinbume. quality. One is pafl ofthe Cmesis sror), the a'counr of The relisiouspo"rry us€sIh" sameverseand _. lhe sror'esotrhe v.ocabutary tie F;u ofthe AnseL, Ioown a! G""rir B. The EnsLi"h as heroes.The Chuch wasusingrheold poer, usi ne an Ord Saxon poen, has made a vivid I Fnder- pagan.pornyin rhenewfigl.rfor Chrisrian 'ins ity. The Christ_ ot the;orv whicl Milton was larer to teu in Pa4dLs ,.* ,1,"rrhFycouid nor desmy the ord _i,.'s*..., sron6.,they @uld onty}ope ro r in Zo;. The Anglo-Saxon poet has admirable art in his br re ing rhe new Dortraval ofthe characrd ol Saranand ofrhe Seographv in rhe ord $ay. Fu,rher, nany of Lhe l1l? "".'T ;fHelli The seco"d is rtu Dteon qf th' Road'bv fat tt'e nv"s' mon.ksenloyed$e ord pasd sroriesLhemsFtves, :l's...lan somerlmesenJoyedGem too much. imaainativ€ ofthe Old English poems. The Cross appeai This mixrue of to tlte ooet in a dream and desoib€s th€ unwilling part it Dlaved in th€ Cruciffxion. The third is the story ofldi''{, na:r y.w_a,ts an ep;. poemlike a,,/ ef And, ew in Anglo-Saxon poetr/, and 's 'n l,:il ro"recue n^ th. most e"citing Sr Malhew as Beowutf,e".uedHrorhgar, "anatve the Apocq?hat story of how It tells morgn Andrewis ar fiJ\t unwi ing ro admilabty told. aUenpr $e rask, in Anglo- Juditl slew the q{ant Holofemes. Nothing ji:,.i, ) ^ ,:l'o",, *.m, and yer an advenrure S":ro" poetry approache. 1sdil, in its dramatic qualitv or wrn aI rheotctarmo.phere ",ory oflhr hercicralesor watnors, acterizal ion' in the senseitqivesolqenuinehum'n cl1ar ,ramrd poetsronnrred $nh rhis Anglo- Ch,irrian uadidon l'. p.".oriutil;.. the proce ol t}re Sxon oeriod can be -uke -t'ose.n mo'e cleatlv 'Il]e earUest Lddmon. somerhjngis r"cordedot hi" lite troinhq ot hr work. OfLhe second. bur ncxr ro definite ffeure is Aldhelm (d. ?o9) bishoP of Sherbome, Clrewdf, we know who wroi praises of virgiDitv in an omate l?tin The norhingofhk titebur {rhroughrhe runic \igrarure n arear6rGsurei srheV enei abl eB P de(b73 735) whospent rrFrar-poem.), ween id.nrify ar leastsomeoi rh" poems th' monasery tarlv rhruholeof hislifenf inrensesrrdv in ne h'orr. uaedmon,,1da shl md sensnive fromJanow to cowherdern at Iarow He never travelled farther than ,":.*,:':,I HF b..anc the stidies then 5:rj:-:: "' a! a p4Fr,a! Yo;k. but his nind tavelled over all D(oe sa)s,altd a vi5ir Ly '\fti,b\. anget.Caedmn B sad ro kaoM, history, astronomy, saints' live's, and the lives of  18 a sno RT ENc Lr s E T, TTERATU R E B rroR B Tl rE C ON qU E S T I9 'i'1.::.r-".:"1 amonshicw^,k ir hi( sr@t,r.r,,- HisI$Jof tb Wa dofotosius, the H. G. Wells ofthis early ul ttu FrJ,h R&.. H" madc hi, period, not as enta.taining as WeIs, but very popular. mond!_ o$ d 8r a! ::, :l J: n " e n ,," o rr.rc j o n d d.ru c ry,4 rh at Al{ied touch€d up Orosius with the accounts given him by ur v s hc n rri. C l ,rh d a n c i v i ti z a ri o n two tra!€ll€$, Ohthere and Wulliitan, of'C.rmania' and of Durope was threarened wirh desbuction. His owr lite the countrics beyond its boundari€s. NothinE sho$ts h: '. lad a b F a L r) r' n d s i m p ri ,i t! s u c h a e rhe AlFed's inquiring mind more cle.rly than his desi.e to :.:T',. xr.r m^nk r hdd br cu g n. ;n ro L \c ; s e n te n e n rsi n have th€s€ accounts of contemporary travellers msert€d L n e ra n d:l, ur in h; m r l-i s\rn p ti c i ryh " s c o m b ;n e d\v i L han into Orosius's dull chronicle of calarniti€s. U Orosius's work was prepared for the i buction of his people, tro u g r. a. f 4 bF r. m d ri o i rd. rh.re i s a re i l re n ,e ,o a Boe*nns's Con'1lation al Phlo$p,, he render€d to pL6e p4 rT by hh in. he \ Fmr.u tr' r. T r,c e x.F l rp n c Fo f hi r himself. Writing in prison Boethius had p'oved that th€ qo rk€ d r l. im in hi. o\ { ti tc ri mFa Eu ro p e a nre p u ra iro n, only genuinehappines come hom fte 5p'fl'. trnn m in- v nrcn hsted lonq after hi5 dearh. ward serenity, and Alli.ed lbund something in his owr Ite In the century after Bede, the Danish invasions broke to airwer this mood. One other work Arh€d inspired Out up a ra rnr. : \ ir , ar ion i n In g ta n d. On e a n e r a ,.o rhec of the notes of€vents kept by rhe momsterier he coDceived rr? SFat ar ' bF ]. hous ($ ,rF d -rro y e d. L i s q u a n q pn o h the idea of a national history, md ihis tor a time wag bl."lou, :ll{-"ni "f uiarprcdu.p\a gr^a,nsxrF.su.h achieved in the.{nglo-SaiflCnrud.l' * The worL asa whole r o, r u, _eh h e n. i 1 8 7 r. a is by a number ol hards, ol varying skill, but it B the fiFt :, :'c'-:o, r \"n r\-,s )o u n g m a n o r ba am. LinS.A It rd ,8 4 9 _ 8 9 ) d Ap ru A ,o great book in prose, in English. It continue3 after Alfied', Le r.h e mu e r - d a. onF ol r\c o u rrtu d i n e fi q u re r i n o u r death, dd the Peterborcugh veNion has.eco.ds to the. r r " ,. s i r. \, h ,,l a r. yed r r54. The account ol the wd with the Danes shows lu r 'a.r4 ro 'r' :..-.. old;. r.lc s d. a " a " _ ,.,, " o -_ * ^ bN. s re a , p e ,$ n d ti l y. h h o p ta y. d how mary sufle,ed in that age, how bitter, insecur€, and r h p u a '.A hialt l dt pm - m " n r u r.ri rh " q a s i.,a , ro.." r cruel lilb was. When one thinks of Alied with that a.shis r, m. I rF\ d r c r ont / L h r m i ti ra , v d \ i o u r o l h i s p e o p t e. back$umd, his statute as a man increases,tritil he towen tor knowlFdppdnd for lhe di\urbLrion up doDeol dr $ea! fiquresrn Englsh hilrory. qo $ Fd s.. M ' ,. n uf h;. of $ o rL ra " r:a n s ta ri o n a d mu ch In the century after his death much olthe work he had di. ". , " d. b , i n a tr. h i s $ d ,l F ": - , r 8 l i J i.,s begun was lost, bul two write$, both ofthem monks 01the -.],],..*^:1 n.lhe i.stuction of the u€r8y1r strict order of St Bcnedict, wrote a reiigious prose which :T.t.i: a,,rm.lal ion or tt , po.brot Rutp lr:-Pdcd ot ccs,,\ thc has been pr€served. Outstanding was dll;ic, the g'eatest u r dr. rFr.d4 ine r}. aJ. l. t r t , " uc ,. em Fl|m Fs ^ ri$r a writer of English prosc betore the Conquest. Civen all his w. ro. , i { qo,.l.n d on ",i lnqs ens F lor s en. e. Suf ia. nis other heary responsibilities and achievements King p Fop.F mr ut r kn^ w.lrjr o \ q , oLr I n be, r t r hc r r an. t a c d Alfred's literary worli is more rerrwkabte but in tlje 6..)c. t., L t;rt!i. o! ,r o,,qh \onr fia\ e qu"{ i...d quutity oi his witing and in the quality of his prose n a auoro n Lip of rl.Hrto,J. is wo r k. He dt - o had uannar ( d r ne a S€ also pag€ 29I-  ENCI- T SII L Il' ERAT UR E TH E C ON qU E S T B E FOR E.El0ic stand,s alme. He was a pupit of the aonarery n€ver lost sight ofthe audienceofthe uilettered, md hi! s,h o o l ar \ Unr lr t r r t r. \v h e rF s ,h o ta h i p rd , c h e ri shed, ft€€ transtation oBits dimcutties dd, as in th€ r/,nilirr, and taler he sa a rFac.fierin Jle Abbe, ar CFme Abb6. aims at th€ audienc€ that is educationaly deprived. His aim rhroughout vc to natre Ch;istian documcnh Among Elfiic's other torks is his G'ar?radrwhich sbows a%ilabie t(, those who did not hdeniand Latin. He com- his zeal as a teach€r. He wished to break through the eos{ tw9 lrmk or lratuities, eath with torty semom isnorance amund him both in lay and monastic ctuclB. translated itm Latin authors, but ihe treatmmr and Ife is attempting to extend the lnowledge of his readen nterpretatnns ae very flee. Indeed tle sertuur on ae borh in Englirh and in LaLin. as his rwo prefaces,ore in Eucharist erpresed ideas which tater retormers were to English and the other in Irtin, tully disclose.Religion, he regard as suppdr lor a non-Roman Cathotic intsT,reta_ sugg€sbrd€pendson leaming, and he dreadst]te da)€that tion ofthe cerenony. Modern scholars have increaingly precededhim wh€tl there wer€ English pdestswho could valued the qualiry ofhis acHwemenrs in the j/ n/ur and rlot $rit€ or read Latin. He alsohopesdEt his worL wil the liveliDessofhi, prose. So C. L. Wrenn has wriud: enlargethe knowledgeofthe 'bo)* ofEngland', in English 'How nFd k) reguldiry is rhc living t nsuase of Atfric. itself. To the graimar was added a Latin-English Yer.€16i. $a wrj,ing s",m.", ro Le a+"e.eo ar- vocabulary. To a twentieth-c€ntury audience these lrom the pulpit thJoughout Christian Englmd; -. hi, Hanilizt Saints'Liles and particularly the GratMar language is not bcokish but such as could be understood ^nd by odinary pmple.'t Later.€liic trdslated trle will s€emremote.But they, as othersofhis worLs,repre' Ji!tni,, sent ihe laboun ofa dedicatedmind r€solvedto raisethe ,;rrJ, concenrrating on themes whic.h, as he srates in his standads ofleaming and ofteligion in his tine. To him, pretace, are 'suitablc for naration ro the lay artendants at though to rnany he is now an unknowl name' r€stst}Ie mona.tr. lwicF. The sllle hfle i. morc mnered rhan in honourofbeingrhefflstwiler otEnglishProse,mns';ous A-It i, Fmpto's rLi,eralion,6 war usd in ,the_Hon,ti?,. of stvle.md ofthe 6ne ad lariable medium which tu the Lrd Lngtr\h veFe, and allFmpls have bFo maoe ro rF English language,and detetmined that the rcmacular w rrl e so ne of l, i' p. or e p a s a g n sa r v e s e. D a rti o.,i ri cl nave o.m ap' ro.ounr rhis asainsr.€ttri.. shouldflourish with the dignity ttEt h€ righdy associated sh'dy ha d;sclord tus etcgarr" and lne tacr fiar bur ctoser with Latin, stil the languageofchristendom asa hole. elegDce does not diminish his lucidity. He is rtre first dri! The otner memorablenamein tbis dificult period was in LngLand ru be wo,Ling conscioustyar pror dd ro rEir WulBtan, Archbishop of York (died Io23) whose I narJng somelhDg ofir. Among ofier works.€tfi ic rrans- be Senon of tld t/rlt is addr€ssedto the Engtish when the rhe t u\ '. A c n b" !k " o frh " B i b te i n ro E n g j i s h. Dan6 wde perse.uringthem Elc( sevelely in 'ot4. ' a re d supedon requ€sred him ro pcdorm this rask Hi s WulBtan makes a naning indictment of Aethelred, a whrch he weakand cowardly Ling, accusinshim ofunpreparedress un d to o l v m r s hdr un h i l l i a e l y. I, g a re t; J F..o p e t or in defence,of villages d€stroyed,of moral and Dational r h ee x.r\ ir ! t hi. v is o, o u ,d d i n d " p " n d e i r mi n d. y e. he dtuintegraiion.He coDfirmsthe ac.ounts in the C,lrrti;1, twa l aldgnbat 1ry6. of the cruelty and hopel€s$essof the yearsof the Danish I I  A SIIORT I I I S T ORY OF ENCL I6 II L IT ERAT UR E invasion, and all ,his is more vivid ad r@tiruc than *le.*":,.d:i ro.ufep ro chrhr. andcarrupon :Tll,lunceamgt) wirtr n'm itemb ng hear6 and deffie hjs tt was a hdd and a cruel !ime, dd wid, fFrq. oEly a unre 'mginarjoh @n one ,ealize Lherurule of dr$e men wno worFd and spoke a Lhe) did. p re ra c esbt d h13r ead trsrh a r th F m d Attri. in one ot hjs o frh e w o rl d w 6 at I toJoln Donne from Chancer EnglishPoetry EACH art Lasits own medium: the Paint€r his Pigmat!, )er, bu, dre cnd ofLhe Angto-Sarcn the musician hi! sounds, and the writer, words. Th€ dificulty of the writer is that wordsare us€dfor all every' i day purpo€€s,sothat they becomeworn, like coin$ubbed ) bVlong use.The poet' Eore than any other witer, tri€s to i look at wordsalr€sll In a po€mhe soarrangeswordsihat tley give plealure such a3 w€ rnay hav€ liom music or from pictures. Much of that Pleasurecom€s lioh thc words themselv€s,but Part of it comesFom their r\th' mical anang€m€nt.The wordsare soarrang€ddnt their romds pleat€, whil€ the alterlations of accentand time give to a patt€rn of words someof dlat pleasue which music give& The poet, compared with $e musician, is lacedwith the addeddifrculty thzt words, in their nornal use,conveya meaning.The musicianis not controled by a meaning,and lome po€tshavetried to rid thems€lv€sot this embarrdssment.They wish to create pattems and rhythns disembodiedfrom meaning. At the sametime most of the great Poetshave regarded meaning as of primary importance. They have us€d Poetry to €xp'efs their knowledgeoflove, death and their aspirations They have also used poetry to t€[ storie, the comedv, the pathos,and the bagedYoflife. Modern poetry b€ginswith G€oftey Chaucer(0..34o- i r4oo), diplomat, soldier, and schoJar.There was a log j controversvin criticism as to whethd there wa! a 'con' tinuity' ietw€en tfte old English poets and Chaucerian and post-Chaucerianverse. Sir Afihut Quilld-couch  E4 A S I T O R T E T S T ORY OF ENGT ISlI L IT ERAT UR E P OE TR V IR OM C IIA U OIR TO JOS N D ON N E 25 ('q ), writing in rhe early rwenries, imptied rhat the edty portant peopte, with a spread over different social groups. poetry was altogether difl'er€nt, and c;utd uthout much Much inhis rorkshovs hi! t$te formedieval Litdature, han be neglected. The modem view ha! rcstorcd the particularly as it was found in Frane. He delighted in fajrh tradirjon. h is rrue rhar LbFearly poers _in are urun_ allegory, and in the elaborate tentiments of courtly love. re ru g r bt et o t he m oder nre a d o s i rh o u r p.F p a ,a l i o n. Bur It w6 C. L. Kithedge in his Ciau,/ afld hit Po.ttJ w},o ma 6 no argument, tor evd the early sevoreenth_ indicated how 'vasdy tbriunate it was that qhaucer was or Shalr. peare i5 nor inretjisiblF unless born high enough in the sodal scale not to need holy ::.'r.y. ':,* rnF r€ader6 pFpa, ed tor a ( eflain.mouhr ofprrtiminary ode15 as a neans of escapefrom warping circurlstanc4. labour. h is.the same tansuage and inte|igibitiry is a ; Otherwise a gr€at poet would have been spoiled to make question ofdesree. poets such as cerard M;ntey Hopking an indifferent palloa.' He adds that it was equally fortun- and Auden h,w btrn abte b nnd jugAerion and inspira_ ate that Chaucer was not an distocrat, 'he Muld not have rlon u Fea.ty pocls. C. L. Wrenn in Wa,|! ond SJnboI understood the lower oders, but would have lived and (rtb 7'nl nade $hd, m c \ s e.m rh e fi n a l \ta re m p n r o n r he died the poet of.hivalric love.' problem. He suggesred thaf poets had ,continued unin_ As Chaucer te s us in the Pnlagu to The llsnd afcootl terrupted by the vicissitud$ ofrefon and rwolutioD to ,4,,ad hc laboued at the tJans]€no\ ot Tl& Rotwe of the erpre\s r}emdvA and rhar Lhi! ca.rinued fiom rhe poer ,Roseof Guillaume de Lorris and the satirical Jean de 01-8tout( thtoup,h Chaucer or ltrgtand, Adhon or Meung, md he had studied thei{ poen closely. Guiltaume New ercmenrs *m. ;n' r,,t Lr'.y _.,e had treated wontan with adoration, and Jem with Y-i"":.l a D co 'r)r d r nt o r he lt ud i l i o n. N o o n e rv o u td d e n y rhar rnockery, md Chaucei cmembered both ways in his oM.i.i a nFw md. fre wd a bougcoh :ni,"" 1T lr heCor l. who vel!€s. His more completely medieval poems de reFe- t'n d e rst ooc bu rh e h a dd k e c n e y F to rl n e o d i n ary sentedby TheBaokaf theDalrss ( 1369), m allegory on the man and he wa! a rcader who had studied most ot rhe death ofBlanche, wife ofJ otn ot Gan\\ aJid Tlu Ha6, aJ rteralue a\ailabte ar hir 1inF. trltorc paricularty he Fdu., a dftm medley with some classical memodes but pronrFd by hjs lrncl and Itatian joumep ro srudy rhe lutl of intricate dd sometime. rambling medieva.l lore. war.or conlihFn,dr poc,ry.Likee\.ry These, with his ryri6, the ballades, dd rondels, would s::T noar T:l!.:: o, ha time h e k4r $ m ediF\ at La, ii, dd he ha d have made him a consideiable poet for his certxiy, but $mForrhFLa,in, ra*i.\ F"D..ialry ovid thrie other works set him apart as a great poet in the l:1",1,'eT:! anq verS'r. He q rorF b e, au\ e le m , Nr hav p Lr pn awar e o l hntory of poetry in general. These thre€ works are: n $roM 8F1 jh.Tti. a ,die n. c $a. , e. e,. dr iJ ) a qm , U one , Troilw and Crksde ($8s J), 'rhe I'esend of Cood Wotun a nd llr tu s own tifF,im..ou, d no, hd\. been m or lhan a (r38s), md the unEnishedCmxrbwl Tates. rF$ pFoph. comprnir s.o,Jr!i",c ano.lrourdd mcnDds Of th*, the most ambitious as a complete work is p,orp\(ionatand ner.hdnr.raser. srnau..j '"1 I".g mouqn Ttaik and Crise2dz.The story, whicl Shakespeare latcr mavhavFbennumeri, a[y. s tcr.onerear;u.. o.8reeor'r Iterd.y rhe used in the most dimcult of his play*,+ Chaucer bad fourd ir sdscotujddableaDd.omporedof im_ ! seepageI55,  ?6 A s E oRT r { r s T o R y o ! EN o L rs E L !r.!R A T U R E CHAUCER TO JOE N D ON N E 21 in Boccaccio's Z F lrrrfaro. It was a medieval addition to still more, represmtative ofhunanity in gmeral. The idea the cldsical theme of rhe Trojan waB, the story of of a collection of stories Chaucer may have lad from Troilus's lov€ for criseyde ad ofh€r liithleslnes. The Bo.c^c.io's Decanetn, b\tt he boro ed little more tharl story would do for a novel, and in som€ wals Chaucer has the initial idea. He keeps tlle'$hole poem alive by inter- made a great novel in verseJwith charactem intelligible in spersing the tales themselves with the talb the quare-ls, dy ase, dd with a full movment of life surrounding rh€ md the opinions of dre pikrim, and hefe the WiIe of main theme. Troilus, a renomed fighte., is wandering Bath, with her detailed mlruents on miage dd the arcund the Temple ofPalla-s when he seesC.ealida, whose treatm€nt of the male sexj is supreme, tilther has fled to the creeks to escapethe doom ofTmy. Ho$ gr.a t wa Cha u, a r.d be sFFnby.ompring She is rich, very beautifut and a widow, Hetelsofhis love "r\ h* sork wit! that ofJohn Go\qer k. r3?s r4o8), who to Pandarus, Crcssida's uncle, the conic, ftiendly, sensual sharcd omy of Chauftr's intftsts, md if Chaucd had go-between, whose coments and !,it make him the first not lived, Gower would be one oI the outstanding poets fully drawn figure ill our titerature. The story is totd a! a remembered Fom tlis centtuy. Like Chaucer he read tragedy, with the aurhor implying rhat he lvishes tl]e plor Irench and Latin as easily m he read English, ad he om- could be altered. Throushout there is a senseof desti;y: posed poeirs with equal fluency in all three languagd. 'All that @melh, cometh ofnecessiry.' Behind the doom In Chaucer's age the English larrgrage was still divided ofthe individuals is the tragic fare ofthe city itseu. The by dialects, though Lndon was rapidly ma-king E6t- theme is play€d in rhe mood ofcourily love, medieval not Midland into a standdd langMge. In the West therc cldsical. As Kithedge wore : ,As Cftssida is at the b€gin. lived on, or came to life, a poetry which has little in com- njng. 'o i, she al lhe end: amorous. gsrle, affecdonare mon with that of C'liauar, and which he seems to have an d , h a r m ingbut f ar all yi n p r.s i o n a b te a n d y i e td i n g. ' aclively dislilred. Outstanding is'Ihe Viion oJ Pi$s tlo tn rompari