[Illustration: THE DEATH OF HAROLD AT HASTINGS. _From the Bayeaux
tapestry_.]
The Norman Conquest.--The overthrow of the Saxon rule in England by
William the Conqueror in 1066 was an event of vast importance to
English literature. The Normans (Norsemen or Northmen), as they were
called, a term which shows their northern extraction, were originally
of the same blood as the English race. They settled in France in the
ninth century, married French wives, and adopted the French language.
In 1066 their leader, Duke William, and his army crossed the English
Channel and won the battle of Hastings, in which Harold, the last
Anglo-Saxon king, was killed. William thus became king of England.
Characteristics of the Normans.--The intermixture of Teutonic and
French blood had given to the Normans the best qualities of both
races. The Norman was nimble-witted, highly imaginative, and full of
northern energy. The Saxon possessed dogged perseverance, good common
sense, if he had long enough to think, and but little imagination.
Some one has well said that the union of Norman with Saxon was like
joining the swift spirit of the eagle to the strong body of the ox,
or, again, that the Saxon furnished the dough, and the Norman the
yeast. Had it not been for the blending of these necessary qualities
in one race, English literature could not have become the first in the
world. We see the characteristics of both the Teuton and the Norman in
Shakespeare's greatest plays. A pure Saxon could not have turned from
Hamlet's soliloquy to write:--
"Where the bee sucks, there suck I."[1]
Progress of the Nation, 1066-1400.--The Normans were specially
successful in giving a strong central government to England. The
feudal system, that custom of parceling out land in return for
service, was so extended by William the Conqueror, that from king
through noble to serf there was not a break in the interdependence of
one human being on another. At first the Normans were the ruling
classes and they looked down on the Saxons; but intermarriage and
community of interests united both races into one strong nation before
the close of the period.
There was great improvement in methods of administering justice.
Accused persons no longer had to submit to the ordeal of the red-hot
iron or to trial by combat, relying on heaven to decide their
innocence. Ecclesiastical courts lost their jurisdiction over civil
cases. In the reign of Henry II. (1154-1189), great grandson of
William the Conqueror, judges went on circuits, and the germ of the
jury system was developed.
Parliament grew more influential, and the first half of the fourteenth
century saw it organized into two bodies,--the Lords and the Commons.
Three kings who governed tyrannically or unwisely were curbed or
deposed. King John (1199-1216) was compelled to sign the _Magna
Charta_, which reduced to writing certain foundation rights of his
subjects. Edward II. (1307-1327) and Richard II. (1377-1399) were both
deposed by Parliament. One of the reasons assigned far the deposition
of Richard II. was his claim that "he alone could change and frame the
laws of the kingdom."
The ideals of chivalry and the Crusades left their impress on the age.
One English Monarch, Richard the Lion-Hearted (1189-1199) was the
popular hero of the Third Crusade. In _Ivanhoe_ and _The Talisman_ Sir
Walter Scott presents vivid pictures of knights and crusaders.
We may form some idea of the religious spirit of the Middle Ages from
the Gothic cathedrals, which had the same relative position in the
world's architecture as Shakespeare's work does in literature.
Travelers often declare that there is to-day nothing in England better
worth seeing than these cathedrals, which were erected in the twelfth,
thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries.[2]
The religious, social, and intellectual life of the time was
profoundly affected by the coming of the friars (1220), who included
the earnest followers of St. Francis (1182-1226), that Good Samaritan
of the Middle Ages. The great philosopher and scientist, Roger Bacon
(1214-1294), who was centuries in advance of his time, was a
Franciscan friar. He studied at Oxford University, which had in his
time become one of the great institutions of Europe.
The church fostered schools and learning, while the barons were
fighting. Although William Langland, a fourteenth-century cleric,
pointed out the abuses which had crept into the church, he gave this
testimony in its favor:--
"For if heaven be on this earth or any ease for the soul, it is in
cloister or school. For in cloister no man cometh to chide or fight,
and in school there is lowliness and love and liking to learn."
The rise of the common people was slow. During all this period the
tillers of the soil were legally serfs, forbidden to change their
location. The Black Death (1349) and the Peasants' Revolt (1381),
although seemingly barren of results, helped them in their struggle
toward emancipation. Some bought their freedom with part of their
wages. Others escaped to the towns where new commercial activities
needed more labor. Finally, the common toiler acquired more commanding
influence by overthrowing even the French knights with his long bow.
This period laid the foundation for the almost complete disappearance
of serfdom in the fifteenth century. France waited for the terrible
Revolution of 1789 to free her serfs. England anticipated other great
modern nations in producing a literature of universal appeal because
her common people began to throw off their shackles earlier.
This period opens with a victorious French army in England, followed
by the rule of the conquerors, who made French the language of high
life. It closes with the ascendancy of English government and speech
at home and with the mid-fourteenth century victories of English
armies on French soil, resulting in the rapture of Calais, which
remained for more than two hundred years in the possession of England.
At the close of this period we find Wycliffe, "the morning star of the
Reformation," and Chaucer, the first great singer of the welded
Anglo-Norman race. His wide interest in human beings and his knowledge
of the new Italian literature prefigure the coming to England of the
Revival of Learning in the next age.
It will now be necessary to study the changes in the language, which
were so pronounced between 1066 and Chaucer's death.
THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN ENGLISH
Three Languages used in England--For three hundred years after the
Norman Conquest, three languages were widely used in England. The
Normans introduced French, which was the language of the court and the
aristocracy. William the Conqueror brought over many Norman priests,
who used Latin almost exclusively in their service. The influence of
this book Latin is generally underestimated by those who do not
appreciate the power of the church. The Domesday survey shows that in
1085 the church and her dependents held more than one third of some
counties.
In addition to the Latin and the French (which was itself principally
of Latin origin), there was, thirdly, the Anglo-Saxon, to which the
middle and the lower classes of the English stubbornly adhered. The
Loss of Inflections.--Anglo-Saxon was a language with changing
endings, like modern German. If a Saxon wished to say, "good gifts,"
he had to have the proper case endings for both the adjective and the
noun, and his expression was _g=ode giefa_. For "the good gifts," he
said _ð=a g=odan giefa_, inflecting "the" and at the same time
changing the case ending of "good."
The Norman Conquest helped to lop off these endings, which German has
never entirely lost. We, however, no longer decline articles or
ordinary adjectives. Instead of having our attention taken up with
thinking of the proper endings, we are left free to attend to the
thought rather than to the vehicle of its expression. Although our
pronouns are still declined, the sole inflection of our nouns, with
the exception of a few like _ox, oxen_, or _mouse, mice_, is the
addition of _'s, s,_ or _es_ for the possessive and the plural. Modern
German, on the other hand, still retains these troublesome case
endings. How did English have the good fortune to lose them?
Whenever two peoples, speaking different languages, are closely
associated, there is a tendency to drop the terminations and to use
the stem word in all grammatical relations. If an English-speaking
person, who knows only a little German, travels in Germany, he finds
that he can make himself understood by using only one form of the noun
or adjective. If he calls for "two large glasses of hot milk,"
employing the incorrect expression, _zwei gross Glass heiss Milch_, he
will probably get the milk as quickly as if he had said correctly,
_zwei grosse Gläser heisse Milch_. Neglect of the proper case endings
may provoke a smile, but the tourist prefers that to starvation.
Should the Germans and the English happen to be thrown together in
nearly equal numbers on an island, the Germans would begin to drop the
inflections that the English could not understand, and the German
language would undergo a change.
If there were no books or newspapers to circulate a fixed form of
speech, the alteration in the spoken tongue would be comparatively
rapid.
Such dropping of terminations is precisely what did happen before the
Norman Conquest in those parts of England most overrun by the Danes.
There, the adjectives lost their terminations to indicate gender and
case, and the article "the" ceased to be declined.
Even if the Normans had not come to England, the dropping of the
inflections would not have ceased. Many authorities think that the
grammatical structure of English would, even in the absence of that
event, have evolved into something like its present form. Of course
the Norman Conquest hastened many grammatical changes that would
ultimately have resulted from inherent causes, but it did not exercise
as great an influence as was formerly ascribed to it. Philologists
find it impossible to assign the exact amount of change due to the
Conquest and to other causes. Let us next notice some changes other
than the loss of inflections.
Change in Gender.--Before any one could speak Anglo-Saxon correctly,
he had first to learn the fanciful genders that were attached to
nouns: "trousers" was feminine; "childhood," masculine; "child,"
neuter. During this period the English gradually lost these fanciful
genders which the German still retains. A critic thus illustrates the
use of genders in that language: "A German gentleman writes a
masculine letter of feminine love to a neuter young lady with a
feminine pen and feminine ink on masculine sheets of neuter paper, and
incloses it in a masculine envelope with a feminine address to his
darling, though neuter, Gretchen. He has a masculine head, a feminine
hand, and a neuter heart."
Prefixes, Suffixes, and Self-explaining Compounds.--The English
tongue lost much of its power of using prefixes. A prefix joined to a
well-known word changes its meaning and renders the coining of a new
term unnecessary. The Anglo-Saxons, by the use of prefixes, formed ten
compounds from their verb _fl=owan_, "to flow." Of these, only one
survives in our "overflow." From _sittan_, "to sit," thirteen
compounds were thus formed, but every one has perished. A larger
percentage of suffixes was retained, and we still have many words like
"wholesome-ness," "child-hood," "sing-er."
The power of forming self-explaining compounds was largely lost. The
Saxon compounded the words for "tree," and "worker," and said
_tr=eow-wyrhta_, "tree-wright," but we now make use of the single word
"carpenter." We have replaced the Saxon _b=oc-craeft_, "book-art," by
"literature"; _=aefen-gl=om_, "evening-gloom," by "twilight";
mere-sw=in, "sea-swine," by "porpoise"; _=eag-wraec_, "eye-rack," by
"pain in the eye"; _leornung-cild_, "learning-child," by "pupil." The
title of an old work, _Ayen-bite of In-wit_, "Again-bite of In-wit,"
was translated into "Remorse of Conscience." _Grund-weall_ and
_word-hora_ were displaced by "foundation" and "vocabulary." The
German language still retains this power and calls a glove a
"hand-shoe," a thimble a "finger-hat," and rolls up such clumsy
compound expressions as _Unabhängigkeits-erklärung_.
We might lament this loss more if we did not remember that Shakespeare
found our language ample for his needs, and that a considerable number
of the old compounds still survive, as _home-stead, man-hood,
in-sight, break-fast, house-hold, horse-back, ship-man, sea-shore,
hand-work_, and _day-light_.
Introduction of New Words and Loss of Old Ones.--Since the Normans
were for some time the governing race, while many of the Saxons
occupied comparatively menial positions, numerous French words
indicative of rank, power, science, luxury, and fashion were
introduced. Many titles were derived from a French source. English
thus obtained words like "sovereign," "royalty," "duke," "marquis,"
"mayor," and "clerk." Many terms of government are from the French;
for instance, "parliament," "peers," "commons." The language of law
abounds in French terms, like "damage," "trespass," "circuit,"
"judge," "jury," "verdict," "sentence," "counsel," "prisoner." Many
words used in war, architecture, and medicine also have a French
origin. Examples are "fort," "arch," "mason," "surgery." In fact, we
find words from the French in almost every field. "Uncle" and
"cousin," "rabbit" and "falcon," "trot" and "stable," "money" and
"soldier," "reason" and "virtue," "Bible" and "preach," are instances
in point.
French words often displaced Saxon ones. Thus, the Saxon _Haelend_,
the Healer, gave way to the French _Savior_, _wanhope_ and _wonstead_
were displaced by _despair_ and _residence_. Sometimes the Saxon
stubbornly kept its place beside the French term. The English language
is thus especially rich in synonyms, or rather in slightly
differentiated forms of expression capable of denoting the exact shade
of thought and feeling. The following words are instances:--
SAXON FRENCH
body corpse
folk people
swine pork
calf veal
worth value
green verdant
food nourishment
wrangle contend
fatherly paternal
workman laborer
English was enriched not only by those expressions, gained from the
daily speech of the Normans, but also by words that were added from
literary Latin. Thus, we have the Saxon "ask," the Norman-French
"inquire" and "question," and the Latin "interrogate." "Bold,"
"impudent," "audacious"; "bright," "cheerful," "animated"; "earnings,"
"wages," "remuneration," "short," "brief," "concise," are other
examples of words, largely synonymous, from the Saxon, the
Norman-French, and the Latin, respectively. These facts explain why
modern English has such a wealth of expression, although probably more
than one half of the Anglo-Saxon vocabulary has been lost.
The Superiority of the Composite Tongue.--While we insist on the
truth that Anglo-Saxon gained much of its wonderful directness and
power from standing in close relations to earnest life, it is
necessary to remember that many words of French origin did, by an
apprenticeship at the fireside, in the field, the workshop, and the
laboratory, equally fit themselves for taking their place in the
language. Such words from French-Latin roots as "faith," "pray,"
"vein," "beast," "poor," "nurse," "flower," "taste," "state," and
"fool" remain in our vocabulary because they were used in everyday
life.
Pure Anglo-Saxon was a forcible language, but it lacked the wealth of
expression and the flexibility necessary to respond to the most
delicate touches of the master-musicians who were to come. When
Shakespeare has Lear say of Cordelia:--
"Her voice was ever soft,
Gentle, and low; an excellent thing in woman,"
we find that ten of the thirteen words are Saxon, but the other three
of Romance (French) origin are as necessary as is a small amount of
tin added to copper to make bronze. Two of these three words express
varying shades of quality.
Lounsbury well says: "There result, indeed, from the union of the
foreign and native elements, a wealth of phraseology and a
many-sidedness in English, which give it in these respects a
superiority over any other modern cultivated tongue. German is
strictly a pure Teutonic speech, but no native speaker of it claims
for it any superiority over the English as an instrument of
expression, while many are willing to concede its inferiority."
The Changes Slowly Accomplished.--For over a hundred years after the
Conquest, but few French words found their way into current English
use. This is shown by the fact that the _Brut_, a poem of 32,250
lines, translated from a French original into English about 1205, has
not more than a hundred words of Norman-French origin.
At first the Normans despised the tongue of the conquered Saxons, but,
as time progressed, the two races intermarried, and the children could
hardly escape learning some Saxon words from their mothers or nurses.
On the other hand, many well-to-do Saxons, like parents in later
times, probably had their children taught French because it was
considered aristocratic.
Until 1204 a knowledge of French was an absolute necessity to the
nobles, as they frequently went back and forth between their estates
in Normandy and in England. In 1204 King John lost Normandy, and in
the next reign both English and French kings decreed that no subject
of the one should hold land in the territory of the other. This
narrowing of the attention of English subjects down to England was a
foundation stone in building up the supremacy of the English tongue.
In 1338 began the Hundred Years' War between France and England. In
Edward the Third's reign (1327-1377), it was demonstrated that one
Englishman could whip six Frenchmen; and the language of a hostile and
partly conquered race naturally began to occupy a less high position.
In 1362 Parliament enacted that English should thereafter be used in
law courts, "because the laws, customs, and statutes of this realm, be
not commonly known in the same realm, for that they be pleaded,
shewed, and judged in the French tongue, which is much unknown in the
said realm."
LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD 1066-1400
Metrical Romances.--For nearly three hundred years after the Norman
Conquest the chief literary productions were metrical romances, which
were in the first instance usually written by Frenchmen, but sometimes
by Englishmen (_e.g._ Layamon) under French influence. There were four
main cycles of French romance especially popular in England before the
fifteenth century. These were tales of the remarkable adventures of
King Arthur and his Knights, Charlemagne and his Peers, Alexander the
Great, and the heroes at the siege of Troy. At the battle of Hastings
a French minstrel is said to have sung the _Song of Roland_ from the
Charlemagne cycle.
These long stories in verse usually present the glory of chivalry, the
religious faith, and the romantic loves of a feudal age. In _Beowulf_,
woman plays a very minor part and there is no love story; but in these
romances we often find woman and love in the ascendancy. One of them,
well known today in song, _Tristram and Iseult_ (Wagner's _Tristan und
Isolde_), "a possession of our composite race," is almost entirely a
story of romantic love.
The romances of this age that have most interest for English readers
are those which relate to King Arthur and his Knights of the Round
Table. The foundation suggestions for the most of this cycle are of
British (Welsh) origin. This period would not have existed in vain, if
it had given to the world nothing, but these Arthurian ideals of
generosity, courage, honor, and high endeavour, which are still a
potent influence. In his _Idylls of the King_, Tennyson calls Arthur
and his Knights:--
"A glorious company, the flower of men,
To serve as model for the mighty world,
And be the fair beginning of a time."
The _Quest of the Holy Grail_ belongs to the Arthurian cycle. Percival
(Wagner's Parsifal), the hero of the earlier version and Sir Galahad
of the later, show the same spirit that animated the knights in the
Crusades. Tennyson introduces Sir Galahad as a knight whose strength
is as the strength of ten because his heart is pure, undertaking "the
far-quest after the divine." The American poet Lowell chose Sir
Launfal, a less prominent figure in Arthurian romance, for the hero of
his version of the search for the Grail, and had him find it in every
sympathetic act along the common way of life.
The story of _Gawayne and the Green Knight_, "the jewel of English
medieval literature," tells how Sir Gawayne, Arthur's favorite, fought
with a giant called the Green Knight. The romance might almost be
called a sermon, if it did not reveal in a more interesting way a
great moral truth,--that deception weakens character and renders the
deceiver vulnerable in life's contests. In preparing for the struggle,
Sir Gawayne is guilty of one act of deceit. But for this, he would
have emerged unscathed from the battle. One wound, which leaves a
lasting scar, is the result of an apparently trivial deception. His
purity and honor in all things else save him from death. This story,
which reminds us of Spenser's _Faerie Queene_, presents in a new garb
one of the oft-recurring ideals of the race, "keep troth" (truth).
Chaucer sings in the same key:--
"Hold the hye wey, and let thy gost thee lede,
And trouthe shall delivere, it is no drede."
We should remember that these romances are the most characteristic
literary creations of the Middle Ages, that they embody the new spirit
of chivalry, religious faith, and romantic love in a feudal age, that
they had a story to tell, and that some of them have never lost their
influence on human ideals.
A Latin Chronicler.--One chronicler, Geoffrey of Monmouth,
although he wrote in Latin, must receive some attention because of his
vast influence on English poetry. He probably acquired his last name
from being archdeacon of Monmouth. He was appointed Bishop of St.
Asaph in 1152 and died about 1154. Unlike the majority of the monkish
chroniclers, he possessed a vivid imagination, which he used in his
so-called _History of the Kings of Britain_.
Geoffrey pretended to have found an old manuscript which related the
deeds of all British kings from Brutus, the mythical founder of the
kingdom of Britain, and the great-grandson of Aeneas, to Caesar.
Geoffrey wrote an account of the traditionary British kings down to
Cadwallader in 689 with as much minuteness and gravity as Swift
employed in the _Voyage to Lilliput_. Other chroniclers declared that
Geoffrey lied saucily and shamelessly, but his book became extremely
popular. The monks could not then comprehend that the world's greatest
literary works were to be products of the imagination.
In Geoffrey of Monmouth's _History of the Kings of Britain_ we are
given vivid pictures of King Lear and his daughters, of Cymbeline, of
King Arthur and his Knights, of Guinevere and the rest of that company
whom later poets have immortalized. It is probable that Geoffrey was
not particular whether he obtained his materials from old chroniclers,
Welsh bards, floating tradition, or from his own imagination. His book
left its impress on the historical imagination of the Middle Ages. Had
it not been for Geoffrey's _History_, the dramas of _King Lear_ and
_Cymbeline_ might never have been suggested to Shakespeare.
Layamon's Brut.--About 1155 a Frenchman named Wace translated into
his own language Geoffrey of Monmouth's works. This translation fell
into the hands of Layamon, a priest living in Worcestershire, who
proceeded to render the poem, with additions of his own, into the
Southern English dialect. Wace's _Brut_ has 15,300 lines; Layamon's,
32,250. As the matter which Layamon added is the best in the poem, he
is, in so far, an original author of much imaginative power. He is
certainly the greatest poet between the Conquest and Chaucer's time.
A selection from the _Brut_ will give the student an opportunity of
comparing this transition English with the language in its modern
form:--
"And Ich wulle varan to Avalun: And I will fare to Avalon,
To vairest alre maidene To the fairest of all maidens,
To Argante ðere quene, To Argante the queen,
Alven swiðe sceone; Elf surpassing fair;
And heo scal mine wunden And she shall my wounds
Makien alle isunde, Make all sound,
Al hal me makien All hale me make
Mid halweige drenchen. With healing draughts.
And seoðe Ich cumen wulle And afterwards I will come
To mine kineriche To my kingdom
And wunien mid Brutten And dwell with Britons
Mid muchelere wunne." With much joy.
With this, compare the following lines from Tennyson's _The Passing of
Arthur_:--
"...I am going a long way
* * * * *
To the island-valley of Avilion,
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,
Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies
Deep-meadow'd, happy, fair with orchard lawns
And bowery hollows crown'd with summer sea,
Where I will heal me of my grievous wound.
* * * * *
He passes to be King among the dead,
And after healing of his grievous wound
He comes again."
Layamon employed less alliteration than is found in Anglo-Saxon
poetry. He also used an occasional rime, but the accent and rhythm of
his verse are more Saxon than modern. When reading Tennyson's _Idylls
of the King_, we must not forget that Layamon was the first poet to
celebrate in English King Arthur's deeds. The _Brut_ shows little
trace of French influences, not more than a hundred French words being
found in it.
Orm's Ormulum.--A monk named Orm wrote in the Midland dialect a
metrical paraphrase of those parts of the _Gospels_ used in the church
on each service day throughout the year. After the paraphrase comes
his metrical explanation and application of the _Scripture_.
He says:--
"Diss boc iss nemmnedd Orrmulum
Forrði ðatt Ormm itt wrohhte."
This book is named Ormulum
For that Orm it wrote.
There was no fixed spelling at this time. Orm generally doubled the
consonant after a short vowel, and insisted that any one who copied
his work should be careful to do the same. We shall find on counting
the syllables in the two lines quoted from him that the first line has
eight; the second, seven. This scheme is followed with great precision
throughout the poem, which employs neither rime nor regular
alliteration. Orm used even fewer French words than Layamon. The date
of the _Ormulum_ is probably somewhere between 1200 and 1215.
The Ancren Riwle.--About 1225 appeared the most notable prose work
in the native tongue since the time of Alfred, if we except the
_Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_. Three young ladies who had secluded
themselves from the world in Dorsetshire, wished rules for guidance in
their seclusion. An unknown author, to oblige them, wrote the _Ancren
Riwle_ (Rule of Anchoresses). This book not only lays down rules for
their future conduct in all the affairs of life, but also offers much
religious consolation.
The following selection shows some of the curious rules for the
guidance of the anchoresses, and furnishes a specimen of the Southern
dialect of transitional English prose in the early part of the
thirteenth century:--
"ße, mine leoue sustren,
ne schulen habben no best
bute kat one... ße schulen
beon i-dodded four siðen,
iðe ßere, uorto lihten ower
heaued... Of idelnesse awakeneð
muchel flesshes fondunge...
Iren ðet lið stille gedereð
sone rust."
Ye, my beloved sisters,
shall have no beast
but one cat... Ye shall
be cropped four times
in the year for to lighten your
head... Of idleness ariseth
much temptation of the flesh...
Iron that lieth still soon gathereth
rust.
The keynote of the work is the renunciation of self. Few productions
of modern literature contain finer pictures of the divine love and
sympathy. The following simile affords an instance of this quality in
the work:--
"De sixte kunfort is ðet
ure Louerd, hwon he iðolð
ðet we beoð itented, he plaieð mid
us, ase ðe moder mid hire ßunge
deorlinge; vlihð from him, and
hut hire, and let hit sitten one,
and loken ßeorne abuten, and cleopien
Dame! dame! and weopen
one hwule; and ðeonne mid ispredde
ermes leapeð lauhwinde
vorð, and cluppeð and cusseð and
wipeð his eien. Riht so ure
Louerd let us one iwurðen oðer
hwules, and wiðdraweð his grace
and his kunfort, ðet we ne ivindeð
swetnesse in none ðinge ðet we wel
doð, ne savor of heorte; and ðauh,
iðet ilke point ne luveð he us
ure leove veder never ðe lesce,
auh he deð hit for muchel luve
ðet he haveð to us."
The sixth comfort is that
our Lord, when he suffers
that we be tempted, he plays with
us, as the mother with her young
darling; she flees from it, and
hides herself, and lets it sit alone
and look anxiously about and cry
"Dame! dame!" and weep
awhile; and then with outspread
arms leaps laughing
forth and clasps and kisses it and
wipes its eyes. Exactly so our
Lord leaves us alone once in a
while and withdraws his grace
and his comfort, that we find
sweetness in nothing that we do well,
no relish of heart; and notwithstanding,
at the same time, he, our dear
Father, loves us nevertheless,
but he does it for the great love
that he has for us.
Professor Sweet calls the _Ancren Riwle_ "one of the most perfect
models of simple, natural, eloquent prose in our language." For its
introduction of French words, this work occupies a prominent place in
the development of the English language. Among the words of French
origin found in it, we may instance: "dainty," "cruelty," "vestments,"
"comfort," "journey," "mercer."
Lyrical Poetry.--A famous British Museum manuscript, known as
_Harleian MS., No. 2253_. which was transcribed about 1310, contains a
fine anthology of English lyrics, some of which may have been composed
early in the thirteenth century. The best of these are love lyrics,
but they are less remarkable for an expression of the tender passion
than for a genuine appreciation of nature. Some of them are full of
the joy of birds and flowers and warm spring days.
A lover's song, called _Alysoun_, is one of the best of these
lyrics:--
"Bytuene Mershe ant[3] Averil[4]
When spray biginneth to spring,
The lutel[5] foul hath hire wyl
On hyre lud[6] to synge."
A famous spring lyric beginning:--
"Lenten[7] ys come with love to toune,[8]
With blosmen ant with briddes[9] roune."[10]
is a symphony of daisies, roses, "lovesome lilies," thrushes, and
"notes suete of nyhtegales."
The refrain of one love song is invigorating with the breath of the
northern wind:--
"Blou, northerne wynd!
Send thou me my suetyng!
Blou norterne wynd! blou, blou, blou!"
The _Cuckoo Song_, which is perhaps older than any of these, is the
best known of all the early lyrics:--
"Sumer is i-cumen in
Lhude sing cuccu
Groweth sed and bloweth med
And springeth the wde nu.
Sing cuccu, cuccu."
Summer is a-coming in,
Loud sing cuckoo,
Groweth seed and bloometh mead,
And springeth the wood now.
Sing cuckoo, cuckoo.
A more somber note is heard in the religious lyrics:--
"Wynter wakeneth al my care,
Nou this leves waxeth bare;
Ofte I sike[11] ant mourne sare[12]
When hit cometh in my thoht
Of this worldes joie, hou hit goth al to noht."
We do not know the names of any of these singers, but they were worthy
forerunners of the later lyrists of love and nature.
Robert Manning of Brunne.--We have now come to fourteenth-century
literature, which begins to wear a more modern aspect. Robert Manning,
generally known as Robert of Brunne, because he was born at Brunne,
now called Bourn, in Lincolnshire, adapted from a Norman-French
original a work entitled _Handlyng Synne_ (_Manual of Sins_). This
book, written in the Midland dialect in 1303, discourses of the Seven
Deadly Sins and the best ways of living a godly life.
A careful inspection of the following selection from the _Handlyng
Synne_ will show that, aside from the spelling, the English is
essentially modern. Most persons will be able to understand all but a
few words. He was the first prominent English writer to use the modern
order of words. The end rime is also modern. A beggar, seeing a beast
laden with bread at the house of a rich man, asks for food. The poem
says of the rich man:--
"He stouped down to seke a stone,
But, as hap was, than fonde he none.
For the stone he toke a lofe,
And at the pore man hyt drofe.
The pore man hente hyt up belyue,
And was thereof ful ferly blythe,
To hys felaws fast he ran
With the lofe, thys pore man."
He stooped down to seek a stone,
But, as chance was, then found he none.
For the stone he took a loaf,
And at the poor man it drove.
The poor man caught it up quickly,
And was thereof full strangely glad,
To his fellows fast he ran
With the loaf this poor man.
Oliphant says: "Strange it is that Dante should have been compiling
his _Inferno_, which settled the course of Italian literature forever,
in the selfsame years that Robert of Brunne was compiling the earliest
pattern of well-formed New English... Almost every one of the Teutonic
changes in idiom, distinguishing the New English from the Old, the
speech of Queen Victoria from the speech of Hengist, is to be found in
Manning's work."
Mandeville's Travels.--Sir John Mandeville, who is popularly
considered the author of a very entertaining work of travels, states
that he was born in St. Albans in 1300, that he left England in 1322,
and traveled in the East for thirty-four years. His _Travels_ relates
what he saw and heard in his wanderings through Ethiopia, Persia,
Tartary, India, and Cathay. What he tells on his own authority, he
vouches for as true, but what he relates as hearsay, he leaves to the
reader's judgment for belief.
[Illustration: WHAT MADEVILLE SAW. _Old print from Edition of
1725._]
No such single traveler as Mandeville ever existed. The work
attributed to him has been proved to be a compilation from the
writings of other travelers. A French critic says wittily: "He first
lost his character as a truthful writer; then out of the three
versions of his book, French, English, and Latin, two were withdrawn
from him, leaving him only the first. Existence has now been taken
from him, and he is left with nothing at all." No matter, however, who
the author was, the book exists. More manuscripts of it survive than
of any other work except the _Scriptures_. It is the most entertaining
volume of English prose that we have before 1360. The sentences are
simple and direct, and they describe things vividly:--
"In Ethiope ben many dyverse folk: and Ethiope is clept[13] Cusis.
In that contree ben folk, that han but o foot: and thei gon so fast,
that it is marvaylle: and the foot is so large, that it schadewethe
alle the body azen[14] the Sonne whanne thei wole[15] lye and reste
hem."[16]
Mandeville also tells of a bird that used to amuse itself by flying
away with an elephant in its talons. In the land of Prester John was a
valley where Mandeville says he saw devils jumping about as thick as
grasshoppers. Stories like these make the work as interesting as
_Gulliver's Travels_.
The so-called Mandeville's _Travels_ was one of the few works that the
unlearned of that age could understand and enjoy. Consequently its
popularity was so great as to bring large number of French words into
familiar use. The native "againbought" is, however, used instead of
the foreign "redeemed."
[Illustration: JOHN WYCLIFFE. _From an old print_.]
John Wycliffe.--Wycliffe (1324-1384) was born at Hipswell, near
Richmond, in the northern part of Yorkshire. He became a doctor of
divinity and a master of one of the colleges at Oxford. Afterward he
was installed vicar of Lutterworth in Leicestershire, where he died.
In history he is principally known as the first great figure in the
English Reformation. He preceded the other reformers by more than a
century. In literature he is best known for the first complete
translation of the _Bible_,--a work that exerted great influence on
English prose. All the translation was not made by him personally, but
all was done under his direction. The translation of most of the _New
Testament_ is thought to be his own special work. He is the most
important prose writer of the fourteenth century. His prose had an
influence as wide as the circulation of the _Bible_. The fact that it
was forced to circulate in manuscript, because printing had not then
been invented, limited his readers; but his translation was,
nevertheless, read by many. To help the cause of the Reformation, he
wrote argumentative religious pamphlets, which are excellent specimens
of energetic fourteenth-century prose.
Of his place in literature, Ten Brink says: "Wycliffe's literary
importance lies in the fact that he extended the domain of English
prose and enhanced its powers of expression. He accustomed it to terse
reasoning, and perfected it as an instrument for expressing rigorous
logical thought and argument; he brought it into the service of great
ideas and questions of the day, and made it the medium of polemics and
satire. And above all, he raised it to the dignity of the national
language of the _Bible_."
The following is a specimen verse of Wycliffe's translation. We may
note that the strong old English word "againrising" had not then been
displaced by the Latin "resurrection."
"Jhesu seith to hir, I am agenrisyng and lyf; he that bileueth in
me, he, if he schal be deed, schall lyue."
Piers Plowman.--_The Vision of William Concerning Piers the
Plowman_, popularly called _Piers Plowman_, from its most important
character, is the name of an allegorical poem, the first draft ("A"
text) of which was probably composed about 1362. Later in the century
two other versions, known as texts "B" and "C" appeared. Authorities
differ in regard to whether these are the work of the same man. _The
Vision_ is the first and the most interesting part of a much longer
work, known as _Liber de Petro Plowman_ (_The Book of Piers the
Plowman_).
The authorship of the poem is not certainly known, but it has long
been ascribed to William Langland, born about 1322 at Cleobury
Mortimer in Shropshire. The author of _Piers Plowman_ seems to have
performed certain functions connected with the church, such as singing
at funerals.
_Piers Plowman_ opens on a pleasant May morning amid rural scenery.
The poet falls asleep by the side of a brook and dreams. In his dream
he has a vision of the world passing before his eyes, like a drama.
The poem tells what he saw. Its opening lines are:--
"In a _s_omer _s_eson * whan _s_oft was the _s_onne
I _sh_ope[17] me in _sh_roudes[18] * as I a _sh_epe[19] were
In _h_abite as an _h_eremite[20] - un_h_oly of workes
_W_ent _w_yde in þis _w_orld - _w_ondres to here
Ac on a _M_ay _m_ornynge - on _M_aluerne hulles[21]
Me by_f_el a _f_erly[22] - of _f_airy me thouß te
I _w_as _w_ery for_w_andred[23] - and _w_ent me to reste
Under a _b_rode _b_ank - _b_i a _b_ornes[24] side,
And as I _l_ay and _l_ened[25] - and _l_oked in þe wateres
I _s_lombred in a _s_lepyng - it _s_weyved[26] so merye."
[Illustration: TREUTHE'S PILGRYME ATTE PLOW. _From a manuscript in
Trinity College, Cambridge._]
The language of _Piers Plowman_ is a mixture of the Southern and
Midland dialects. It should be noticed that the poem employs the old
Anglo-Saxon alliterative meter. There is no end rime. _Piers Plowman_
is the last great poem written in this way.
The actors in this poem are largely allegorical. Abstractions are
personified. Prominent characters are Conscience, Lady Meed or
Bribery, Reason, Truth, Gluttony, Hunger, and the Seven Deadly Sins.
In some respects, the poem is not unlike the _Pilgrim's Progress_, for
the battle in passing from this life to the next is well described in
both; but there are more humor, satire, and descriptions of common
life in Langland. Piers is at first a simple plowman, who offers to
guide men to truth. He is finally identified with the Savior.
Throughout the poem, the writer displays all the old Saxon
earnestness. His hatred of hypocrisy is manifest on every page. His
sadness, because things are not as they ought to be, makes itself
constantly felt. He cannot reconcile the contradiction between the
real and the ideal. In attacking selfishness, hypocrisy, and
corruption; in preaching the value of a life of good deeds; in showing
how men ought to progress toward higher ideals; in teaching that "Love
is the physician of life and nearest our Lord himself,--" _Piers
Plowman_ proved itself a regenerating spiritual force, a
stepping-stone toward the later Reformation.
The author of this poem was also a fourteenth-century social reformer,
protesting against the oppression of the poor, insisting on mutual
service and "the good and loving life." In order to have a
well-rounded conception of the life of the fourteenth century, we must
read _Piers Plowman_. Chaucer was a poet for the upper classes. _Piers
Plowman_ gives valuable pictures of the life of the common people and
shows them working--
"To kepe kyne In þe field, þe corne fro þe bestes,
Diken[27] or deluen[28] or dyngen[29] vppon sheues,[30]
Or helpe make mortar or here mukke a-felde."
We find in the popular poetry of _Piers Plowman_ almost as many words
of French derivation as in the work of the more aristocratic Chaucer.
This fact shows how thoroughly the French element had become
incorporated in the speech of all classes. The style of the author of
_Piers Plowman_ is, however, remarkable for the old Saxon sincerity
and for the realistic directness of the bearer of a worthy message.
John Gower.--Gower, a very learned poet, was born about 1325 and
died in 1408. As he was not sure that English would become the
language of his cultivated countrymen, he tried each of the three
languages used in England. His first important work, the _Speculum
Meditantis_, was written in French; his second, the _Vox Clamantis_,
in Latin; his third, the _Confessio Amantis_, in English.
[Illustration: EARLY PORTRAIT OF GOWER HEARING THE CONFESSION OF A
LOVER (CONFESSIO AMANTIS). _From the Egerton MS., British Museum._]
The _Confessio Amantis_ (_Confession of a Lover_) is principally a
collection of one hundred and twelve short tales. An attempt to unify
them is seen in the design to have the confessor relate, at the
lover's request, those stories which reveal the causes tending to
hinder or to further love. Gower had ability in story-telling, as is
shown by the tales about Medea and the knight Florent; but he lacked
Chaucer's dramatic skill and humor. Gower's influence has waned
because, although he stood at the threshold of the Renaissance, his
gaze was chiefly turned backward toward medievalism. His contemporary,
Chaucer, as we see, was affected by the new spirit.
GEOFFREY CHAUCER, 1340?-1400.
[Illustration: GEOFFREY CHAUCER. _From an old drawing in Occleve's
Poems, British Museum._]
Life.--Chaucer was born in London about 1340. His father and
grandfather were vintners, who belonged to the upper class of
merchants. Our first knowledge of Geoffrey Chaucer is obtained from
the household accounts of the Princess Elizabeth, daughter-in-law of
Edward III., in whose family Chaucer was a page. An entry shows that
she bought him a fine suit of clothes, including a pair of red and
black breeches. Such evidence points to the fact that he was early
accustomed to associating with the nobility, and enables us to
understand why he and the author of _Piers Plowman_ regard life from
different points of view.
In 1359 Chaucer accompanied the English army to France and was taken
prisoner. Edward III. thought enough of the youth to pay for his
ransom a sum equivalent to-day to about $1200. After his return he was
made valet of the king's chamber. The duties of that office "consisted
in making the royal bed, holding torches, and carrying messages."
Later, Chaucer became a squire.
In 1370 he was sent to the continent on a diplomatic mission. He seems
to have succeeded so well that during the next ten years he was
repeatedly sent abroad in the royal service. He visited Italy twice
and may thus have met the Italian poet Petrarch. These journeys
inspired Chaucer with a desire to study Italian literature,--a
literature that had just been enriched by the pens of Dante and
Boccaccio.
We must next note that Chaucer's life was not that of a poetic
dreamer, but of a stirring business man. For more than twelve years he
was controller of customs for London. This office necessitated
assessing duties on wools, skins, wines, and candles. Only a part of
this work could be performed by deputy. He was later overseeing clerk
of the king's works. The repeated selection of Chaucer for foreign and
diplomatic business shows that he was considered sagacious as well as
trustworthy. Had he not kept in close touch with life, he could never
have become so great a poet. In this connection we may remark that
England's second greatest writer, Milton, spent his prime in attending
to affairs of state. Chaucer's busy life did not keep him from
attaining third place on the list of England's poets.
There are many passages of autobiographical interest in his poems. He
was a student of books as well as of men, as is shown by these lines
from the _Hous of Fame_:--
"For whan thy labour doon al is,
And halt y-maad thy rekeninges,
In stede of rest and newe thinges,
Thou gost hoom to thy hous anoon,
And, also domb as any stoon,
Thou sittest at another boke,
Til fully daswed[31] is thy loke,
And livest thus as an hermyte."[32]
Chaucer was pensioned by three kings,--Edward III., Richard II., and
Henry IV. Before the reign of Henry IV., Chaucer's pensions were
either not always regularly paid, or they were insufficient for
certain emergencies, as he complained of poverty in his old age. The
pension of Henry IV. in 1399 must have been ample, however; since in
that year Chaucer leased a house in the garden of a chapel at
Westminster for as many of fifty-three years as he should live. He had
occasion to use this house but ten months, for he died in 1400.
He may be said to have founded the Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey,
as he was the first of the many great authors to be buried there.
Chaucer's Earlier Poems.--At the age of forty, Chaucer had probably
written not more than one seventh of a total of about 35,000 lines of
verse which he left at his death. Before he reached his poetic prime,
he showed two periods of influence,--French and Italian.
During his first period, he studied French models. He learned much
from his partial translation of the popular French _Romaunt of the
Rose_. The best poem of his French period is _Dethe of Blanche the
Duchesse_, a tribute to the wife of John of Gaunt, the son of Edward
III.
Chaucer's journey to Italy next turned his attention to Italian
models. A study of these was of especial service in helping him to
acquire that skill which enabled him to produce the masterpieces of
his third or English period. This study came at a specially opportune
time and resulted in communicating to him something of the spirit of
the early Renaissance.
The influence of Boccaccio and, sometimes, of Dante is noticeable in
the principal poems of the Italian period,--the _Troilus and Criseyde,
Hous of Fame_, and _Legende of Good Women_. The _Troilus and Criseyde_
is a tale of love that was not true. The _Hous of Fame_, an unfinished
poem, gives a vision of a vast palace of ice on which the names of the
famous are carved to await the melting rays of the sun. The _Legende
of Good Women_ is a series of stories of those who, like Alcestis, are
willing to give up everything for love. In _A Dream of Fair Women_
Tennyson says:--
"'The Legend of Good Women,' long ago
Sung by the morning star of song, who made
His music heard below;
Dan Chaucer, the first warbler, whose sweet breath
Preluded those melodious bursts that fill
The spacious times of great Elizabeth
With sounds that echo still."
In this series of poems Chaucer learned how to rely less and less on
an Italian crutch. He next took his immortal ride to Canterbury on an
English Pegasus.
General Plan of the Canterbury Tales.--People in general have always
been more interested in stories than in any other form of literature.
Chaucer probably did not realize that he had such positive genius for
telling tales in verse that the next five hundred years would fail to
produce his superior in that branch of English literature.
[Illustration: CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL.]
All that Chaucer needed was some framework into which he could fit the
stories that occurred to him, to make them something more than mere
stray tales, which might soon be forgotten. Chaucer's great
contemporary Italian storyteller, Boccaccio, conceived the idea of
representing some of the nobility of Florence as fleeing from the
plague, and telling in their retirement the tales that he used in his
_Decameron_. It is not certain that Chaucer received from the
_Decameron_ his suggestions for the _Canterbury Tales_, although he
was probably in Florence at the same time as Boccaccio.
In 1170 Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered at the
altar. He was considered both a martyr and a saint, and his body was
placed in a splendid mausoleum at the Cathedral. It was said that
miracles were worked at his tomb, that the sick were cured, and that
the worldly affairs of those who knelt at his shrine prospered. It
became the fashion for men of all classes to go on pilgrimages to his
tomb. As robbers infested the highways, the pilgrims usually waited at
some inn until there was a sufficient band to resist attack. In time
the journey came to be looked on as a holiday, which relieved the
monotony of everyday life. About 1385 Chaucer probably went on such a
pilgrimage. To furnish amusement, as the pilgrims cantered along, some
of them may have told stories. The idea occurred to Chaucer to write a
collection of such tales as the various pilgrims might have been
supposed to tell on their journey. The result was the _Canterbury
Tales_.
Characters in the Tales.--Chaucer's plan is superior to Boccaccio's;
for only the nobility figure as story-tellers in the _Decameron_,
while the Canterbury pilgrims represent all ranks of English life,
from the knight to the sailor.
The _Prologue_ to the _Tales_ places these characters before us almost
as distinctly as they would appear in real life. At the Tabard Inn in
Southwark, just across the Thames from London, we see that merry band
of pilgrims on a pleasant April day. We look first upon a manly figure
who strikes us as being every inch a knight. His cassock shows the
marks of his coat of mail.
"At mortal batailles hadde he been fiftene.
* * * * *
And of his port as meke as is a mayde.
He never yet no vileinye ne sayde
In al his lyf, un-to no maner wight.
He was a verray parfit gentil knight."
His son, the Squire, next catches our attention. We notice his curly
locks, his garments embroidered with gay flowers, and the graceful way
in which he rides his horse. By his side is his servant, the Yeoman,
"clad in cote and hood of grene," with a sheaf of arrows at his belt.
We may even note his cropped head and his horn suspended from green
belt. We next catch sight of a Nun's gracefully pleated wimple,
shapely nose, small mouth, "eyes greye as glas," well-made cloak,
coral beads, and brooch of gold. She is attended by a second Nun and
three Priests. The Monk is a striking figure:--
"His heed was balled, that shoon as any glas,
And eek his face, as he hadde been anoint.
He was a lord ful fat and in good point."
[Illustration: PILGRIMS LEAVING THE TABARD INN. _From Urry's
Chaucer._]
There follow the Friar with twinkling eyes, "the beste beggere in his
hous," the Merchant with his forked beard, the Clerk (scholar) of
Oxford in his threadbare garments, the Sergeant-at-Law, the Franklyn
(country gentleman), Haberdasher, Carpenter, Weaver, Dyer, Tapycer
(tapestry maker), Cook, Shipman, Physician, Wife of Bath, Parish
Priest, Plowman, Miller, Manciple (purchaser of provisions), Reeve
(bailiff of a farm), Summoner (official of an ecclesiastical court),
and Pardoner. These characters, exclusive of Baily (the host of Tabard
Inn) and Chaucer himself, are alluded to in the _Prologue_ to the
_Tales_ as--
"Wel nyne and twenty in a companye,
Of sondry folk, by aventure y-falle
In felawshipe, and pilgrims were they alle,
That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde."
[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF LINES DESCRIBING THE FRANKLYN[33]. _From
the Cambridge University MS._]
[Illustration: THE FRANKLYN[34].]
[Illustration: THE FRIAR.]
The completeness of the picture of fourteenth century English life in
the _Canterbury Tales_ makes them absolutely necessary reading for the
historian as well as for the student of literature.
Certainly no one who has ever read the _Prologue_ to the _Tales_ will
question Chaucer's right to be considered a great _original_ poet, no
matter how much he may have owed to foreign teachers.
The Tales.--Harry Baily, the keeper of the Tabard Inn, who
accompanied the pilgrims, proposed that each member of the party
should tell four tales,--two going and two returning. The one who told
the best story was to have a supper at the expense of the rest. The
plan thus outlined was not fully executed by Chaucer, for the
collection contains but twenty-four tales, all but two of which are in
verse.
[Illustration: THE KNIGHT.]
[Illustration: THE PRIORESS.]
[Illustration: THE SQUIRE.]
The _Knightes Tale_, which is the first, is also the best. It is a
very interesting story of love and chivalry. Two young Theban
nobleman, Palamon and Arcite, sworn friends, are prisoners of war at
Athens. Looking through the windows of their dungeon, they see walking
in the garden the beautiful sister of the queen. Each one swears that
he will have the princess. Arcite is finally pardoned on condition
that he will leave Athens and never return, on penalty of death; but
his love for Emily lures him back to the forbidden land. Reduced
almost to a skeleton, he disguises himself, goes to Athens, and
becomes a servant in the house of King Theseus. Finally, Palamon
escapes from prison, and by chance encounters Arcite. The two men
promptly fight, but are interrupted by Theseus, who at first condemns
them to death, but later relents and directs them to depart and to
return at the end of a year, each with a hundred brave knights. The
king prescribes that each lover shall then lead his forces in mortal
battle and that the victor shall wed the princess.
[Illustration: THE CLERK OF OXFORD.]
On the morning of the contest, Palamon goes before dawn to the temple
of Venus to beseech her aid in winning Emily, while Arcite at the same
time steals to the temple of Mars to pray for victory in war. Each
deity not only promises but actually grants the suppliants precisely
what they ask; for Arcite, though fatally wounded, is victorious in
the battle, and Palamon in the end weds Emily. Although Boccaccio's
_Teseide_ furnished the general plot for this _Knightes Tale_,
Chaucer's story is, as Skeat says, "to all intents, a truly original
poem."
The other pilgrims tell stories in keeping with their professions and
characters. Perhaps the next best tale is the merry story of
_Chanticleer and the Fox_. This is related by the Nun's Priest. The
Clerk of Oxford tells the pathetic tale of _Patient Griselda_, and the
Nun relates a touching story of a little martyr.
Chief Qualities of Chaucer.--I. Chaucer's descriptions are unusually
clear-cut and vivid. They are the work of a poet who did not shut
himself in his study, but who mingled among his fellow-men and noticed
them acutely. He says of the Friar:--
"His eyes twinkled in his heed aright,
As doon the sterres in the frosty night."
Our eyes and ears distinctly perceive the jolly Monk, as he canters
along:--
"And, whan he rood, men might his brydel here
Ginglen in a whistling wind as clere,
And eek as loude as dooth the chapel-belle."
II. Chaucer's pervasive, sympathetic humor is especially
characteristic. We can see him looking with twinkling eyes at the
Miller, "tolling thrice"; at the Monk, "full fat and in good point,"
hunting with his greyhounds, "swift as fowl in flight," or smiling
before a fat roast swan; at the Squire, keeping the nightingale
company; at the Doctor, prescribing the rules of astrology. The Nun
feels a touch of his humor:--
"Ful wel she song the service divyne,
Entuned in hir nose ful semely."
Of the lawyer, he says:--
"No-wher so bisy a man as he ther nas,
And yet he semed bisier than he was."
Sometimes Chaucer's humor is so delicate as to be lost on those who
are not quick-witted. Lowell instances the case of the Friar, who,
"before setting himself softly down, drives away the cat," and adds
what is true only of those who have acute understanding: "We know,
without need of more words, that he has chosen the snuggest corner."
His humor is often a graceful cloak for his serious philosophy of
existence. The humor in the _Prologue_ does not impair its worth to
the student of fourteenth-century life.
III. Although Chaucer's humor and excellence in lighter vein are such
marked characteristics, we must not forget his serious qualities; for
he has the Saxon seriousness as well as the Norman airiness. As he
looks over the struggling world, he says with a sympathetic heart:--
"Infinite been the sorwes and the teres
Of olde folk, and folk of tendre yeres."[35]
In like vein, we have:--
"This world nis but a thurghfare ful of wo,
And we ben pilgrimes, passinge to and fro;
Deeth is an ende of every worldly sore."[36]
"Her nis non hoom, her nis but wildernesse.
Forthe, pylgrime, forthe! forthe, beste out of thi stal!
Knowe thi contree, look up, thank God of al!"[37]
The finest character in the company is that of the Parish Priest, who
attends to his flock like a good Samaritan:--
"But Cristes lore, and his apostles twelve,
He taughte, and first he folwed it him-selve."
IV. The largeness of his view of human nature is remarkable. Some
poets, either intentionally or unintentionally, paint one type of men
accurately and distort all the rest. Chaucer impartially portrays the
highest as well as the lowest, and the honest man as well as the
hypocrite. The pictures of the roguish Friar and the self-denying
Parish Priest, the Oxford Scholar and the Miller, the Physician and
the Shipman, are painted with equal fidelity to life. In the breadth
and kindliness of his view of life, Chaucer is a worthy predecessor of
Shakespeare. Dryden's verdict on Chaucer's poetry is: "Here is God's
plenty."
V. His love of nature is noteworthy for that early age. Such lines as
these manifest something more than a desire for rhetorical effect in
speaking of nature's phenomena:--
"Now welcom somer, with thy sonne softe,
That hast this wintres weders over-shake,
And driven awey the longe nightes blake[38]!"[39]
His affection for the daisy has for five hundred years caused many
other people to look with fonder eyes upon that flower.
VI. He stands in the front rank of those who have attempted to tell
stories in melodious verse. Lowell justly says: "One of the world's
three or four great story-tellers, he was also one of the best
versifiers that ever made English trip and sing with a gayety that
seems careless, but where every foot beats time to the tune of the
thought."
[Illustration: MORRIS DANCERS._From a Manuscript of Chaucer's
Time._]
VII. He is the first great English author to feel the influence of the
Renaissance, which did not until long afterward culminate in England.
Gower has his lover hear tales from a confessor in cloistered quiet.
Chaucer takes his Pilgrims out for jolly holidays in the April
sunshine. He shows the spirit of the Renaissance in his joy in varied
life, in his desire for knowledge of all classes of men as well as of
books, in his humor, and in his general reaching out into new fields.
He makes us feel that he lives in a merrier England, where both the
Morris dancer and the Pilgrim may show their joy in life.
What Chaucer did for the English Language.--Before Chaucer's works,
English was, as we have seen, a language of dialects. He wrote in the
Midland dialect, and aided in making that the language of England.
Lounsbury says of Chaucer's influence: "No really national language
could exist until a literature had been created which would be admired
and studied by all who could read, and taken as a model by all who
could write. It was only a man of genius that could lift up one of
these dialects into a preëminence over the rest, or could ever give to
the scattered forces existing in any one of them the unity and vigor
of life. This was the work that Chaucer did." For this reason he
deserves to be called our first modern English poet. At first sight,
his works look far harder to read than they really are, because the
spelling has changed so much since Chaucer's day.
SUMMARY
The period from the Norman Conquest to 1400 is remarkable (1) for
bringing into England French influence and closer contact with the
continent; (2) for the development of (_a_) a more centralized
government, (_b_) the feudal system and chivalry, (_c_) better civil
courts of justice and a more representative government, _Magna Charta_
being one of the steps in this direction; (3) for the influence of
religion, the coming of the friars, the erection of unsurpassed Gothic
cathedrals; (4) for the struggles of the peasants to escape their
bondage, for a striking decline in the relative importance of the
armored knight, and for Wycliffe's movement for a religious
reformation.
This period is also specially important because it gave to England a
new language of greater flexibility and power. The old inflections,
genders, formative prefixes, and capability of making self-explaining
compounds were for the most part lost. To supply the places of lost
words and to express those new ideas which came with the broader
experiences of an emancipated, progressive nation, many new words were
adopted from the French and the Latin. When the time for literature
came, Chaucer found ready for his pen the strongest, sincerest, and
most flexible language that ever expressed a poet's thought.
In tracing the development of the literature of this period, we have
noted (1) the metrical romances; (2) Geoffrey of Monmouth's (Latin)
_History of the Kings of Britain_, and Layamon's _Brut_, with their
stories of Lear, Cymbeline and King Arthur; (3) the _Ormulum_, a
metrical paraphrase of those parts of the _Gospels_ used in church
service; (4) the _Ancren Riwle_, remarkable for its natural eloquent
prose and its noble ethics, as well as for showing the development of
the language; (5) the lyrical poetry, beginning to be redolent of the
odor of the blossom and resonant with the song of the bird; (6) the
_Handlyng Synne_, in which we stand on the threshold of modern
English; (7) Mandeville's _Travels_, with its entertaining stories;
(8) Wycliffe's monumental translation of the _Bible_ and vigorous
religious prose pamphlets; (9) _Piers Plowman_, with its pictures of
homely life, its intense desire for higher ideals and for the
reformation of social and religious life; (10) Gower's _Confessio
Amantis_, a collection of tales about love; and (11) Chaucer's poetry,
which stands in the front rank for the number of vivid pictures of
contemporary life, for humor, love of nature, melody, and capacity for
story-telling.
REFERENCES FOR FURTHER STUDY
HISTORICAL
An account of the history of this period may be found in either
Gardiner[40], Green, Lingard, Walker, or Cheney. Volumes II. and III.
of the _Political History of England_, edited by Hunt (Longmans), give
the history in greater detail. For the social side, consult Traill, I.
and II. See also Rogers's _Six Centuries of Work and Wages_. Freeman's
_William the Conqueror_, Green's _Henry II_., and Tout's _Edward I_.
(_Twelve English Statesmen Series_) are short and interesting.
Kingsley's _Hereward the Wake_ deals with the times of William the
Conqueror and Scott's _Ivanhoe_ with those of Richard the
Lion-Hearted. Archer and Kingsford's _The Story of the Crusades_,
Cutt's _Parish Priests and their People in the Middle Ages in
England_, and Jusserand's _English Wayfaring Life in the fourteenth
Century_ are good works.
LITERARY
_Cambridge History of English Literature_, Vols. I. and II.
Bradley's _Making of English_.
Schofield's _English Literature from the Conquest to Chaucer_.
Ker's _Epic and Romance_.
Saintsbury's _The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory_.
Lawrence's _Medieval Story_ (excellent).
Weston's _The Romance Cycle of Charlemagne and his Peers_.
Weston's _King Arthur and his Knights_.
Maynadier's _The Arthur of the English Poets_.
Nutt's _The Legends of the Holy Grail_.
Jusserand's _Piers Plowman_.
Warren's _Langland's Vision of Piers the Plowman, Done into Modern
Prose_.
Savage's _Old English Libraries_.
Schofield's _Chivalry in English Literature_.
Snell's _The Age of Chaucer_.
Root's _The Poetry of Chaucer_.
Tuckwell's _Chaucer_ (96 pp.).
Pollard's _Chaucer_ (142 pp.).
Legouis's _Chaucer_.
Coulton's _Chaucer and his England_.
Lowell's _My Study Windows_ contains one of the best essays ever
written on Chaucer.
Mackail's _The Springs of Helicon_ (Chaucer).
SUGGESTED READINGS WITH QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
Romances.--The student will be interested in reading from Lawrence's
_Medieval Story_, Chapters III., _The Song of Roland_; IV., _The
Arthurian Romances_; V., _The Legend of the Holy Grail_; VI., _The
History of Reynard the Fox_. Butler's _The Song of Roland_ (_Riverside
Literature Series_) is an English prose translation of a popular story
from the Charlemagne cycle. _Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight_ has
been retold in modern English prose by J.L. Weston (London: David
Nutt). A long metrical selection from this romance is given in
Bronson.[41] I., 83-100, in _Oxford Treasury_, I., 60-81, and a prose
selection in _Century_, 1000-1022.
Stories from the Arthurian cycle may he found in Newell's _King Arthur
and the Table Round_. See also Maynadier's _The Arthur of the English
Poets_, and Tennyson's _The Idylls of the King_.
Geoffrey of Monmouth's _History of the Kings of Britain_ is translated
in Giles's _Six Old English Chronicles_ (Bohn Library).
Selections from Layamon's _Brut_ may be found in Bronson, I.; P. & S.;
and Manly, I.
What were the chief subjects of the cycles of Romance? Were they
mostly of English or French origin? What new elements appear, not
found in Beowulf? Which of these cycles has the most interest for
English readers? How does this cycle still influence twentieth-century
ideals? In what respect is the romance of _Gawayne_ like a sermon?
What Shakespearean characters does Geoffrey of Monmouth introduce? How
is Layamon's _Brut_ related to Geoffrey's chronicle? Point out a
likeness between the _Brut_ and the work of a Victorian poet.
Ormulum, Lyrics, and Robert Manning of Brunne.--Selections may be
found in P. & S.; Bronson, I.; Oxford (lyrics, pp. 1-10); Manly, I.;
Morris's _Specimens of Early English_. Among the lyrics, read
specially, "Sumer is i-cumen in," "Alysoun," "Lenten ys come with love
to toune," and "Blow, Northern Wind."
What was the purpose of the _Ormulum_? What is its subject matter?
Does it show much French influence?
What new appreciation of nature do the thirteenth-century lyrics show?
Point out at least twelve definite concrete references to nature in
"Lenten ys come with love to toune." How many such references are
there in the _Cuckoo Song_?
What difference do you note between the form of Robert Manning of
Brunne's _Handling Synne_ and Anglo-Saxon poetry? Can you find an
increasing number of words of French derivation in his work?
Prose.--Manly's _English Prose_, Morris's _Specimens of Early
English_, Parts I. and II., Chambers, I., Craik, I., contain specimens
of the best prose, including Mandeville and Wycliffe. Mandeville's
_Travels_ may be found in modern English in Cassell's _National
Library_ (15¢). Bosworth and Waring's edition of the _Gospels_
contains the Anglo-Saxon text, together with the translations of
Wycliffe and Tyndale. No. 107 of Maynard's _English Classics_ contains
selections from both Wycliffe's _Bible_ and Mandeville's _Travels_.
What is the subject matter of the _Ancren Riwle_? What is the keynote
of the work? Mention some words of French origin found in it. What is
the character of Mandeville's _Travels_? Why was it so popular?
In what does Wycliffe's literary importance consist? Compare some
verses of his translation of the _Bible_ with the 1611 version.
Piers Plowman and Gower.--Selections are given in P. & S.; Bronson,
I.; Ward, I.; Chambers, I.; and Manly, I. Skeat has edited a small
edition of _Piers the Plowman_ ("B" text) and also a larger edition,
entitled _The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman, in Three
Parallel Texts_. G.C. Macaulay has a good volume of selections from
Gower's _Confessio Amantis_.
What is the difference between the form of the verse in _Piers
Plowman_ and _Handling Synne_? Who is Piers? Who are some of the other
characters in the poem? What type of life is specially described? In
what sort of work are the laborers engaged? Why may the author of
_Piers Plowman_ be called a reformer?
Why was Gower undecided in what language to write? What is the subject
matter of the _Confessio Amantis_?
Chaucer.--Read the _Prologue_ and if possible also the _Knightes
Tale_ (Liddell's, or Morris-Skeat's, or Van Dyke's, or Mather's
edition). Good selections may be found in Bronson, I.; Ward, I.; P.
and S., and _Oxford Treasury_, I. Skeat's Complete Works, 6 vols., is
the best edition. Skeat's _Oxford Chaucer_ in one volume has the same
text. The _Globe Edition of Chaucer_, edited by Pollard, is also a
satisfactory single volume edition. Root's _The Poetry of Chaucer_,
292 pp., is a good reference work in connection with the actual study
of the poetry.
Give a clear-cut description of the six of Chaucer's pilgrims that
impress you most strongly. How has the _Prologue_ added to our
knowledge of life in the fourteenth century? Give examples of
Chaucer's vivid pictures. What specimens of his humor does the
_Prologue_ contain? Do any of Chaucer's lines in the _Prologue_ show
that the Reformation spirit was in the air, or did Wycliffe and
Langland alone among contemporary authors afford evidence of this
spirit? Compare Chaucer's verse with Langland's in point of subject
matter. What qualities in Chaucer save him from the charge of cynicism
when he alludes to human faults? Does the _Prologue_ attempt to
portray any of the nobler sides of human nature? Is the _Prologue_
mainly or entirely concerned with the personality of the pilgrims? Has
Chaucer any philosophy of life? Are there any references to the
delights of nature? Note any passages that show special powers of
melody and mastery over verse. Does the poem reveal anything of
Chaucer's personality? In your future reading see if you can find
another English story-teller in verse who can be classed with Chaucer.
FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER II:
[Footnote 1: _The Tempest_, V., I.]
[Footnote 2: For the location of all the English cathedral towns, see
the _Literary Map_, p. XII.]
[Footnote 3: and.]
[Footnote 4: April.]
[Footnote 5: little.]
[Footnote 6: in her language.]
[Footnote 7: Spring.]
[Footnote 8: in its turn.]
[Footnote 9: birds.]
[Footnote 10: song.]
[Footnote 11: sigh.]
[Footnote 12: sorely.]
[Footnote 13: called.]
[Footnote 14: against.]
[Footnote 15: will.]
[Footnote 16: them.]
[Footnote 17: arrayed.]
[Footnote 18: garments.]
[Footnote 19: shepherd.]
[Footnote 20: hermit.]
[Footnote 21: hills.]
[Footnote 22: wonder.]
[Footnote 23: tired out with wandering.]
[Footnote 24: brook.]
[Footnote 25: reclined.]
[Footnote 26: sounded.]
[Footnote 27: to make dykes or ditches.]
[Footnote 28: to dig.]
[Footnote 29: to thrash (ding).]
[Footnote 30: sheaves.]
[Footnote 31: dazed.]
[Footnote 32: hermit.]
[Footnote 33: _The Prologue_, Lines 331-335.]
[Footnote 34: The cuts of the Pilgrims are from the Fourteenth Century
Ellesmere MS. of _Canterbury Tales_.]
[Footnotes 35-36: _Knightes Tale_.]
[Footnote 37: _Truth: Balade de bon Conseyl_.]
[Footnote 38: black.]
[Footnote 39: _The Parlement of Foules_.]
[Footnote 40: For full titles, see p. 50.]
[Footnote 41: For full titles, see p. 6.]