STUDIES OF GREAT AUTHORS
In making use of these Studies, the reader is advised to adopt the
following method:
Read the sketches of the author in the Study and in front of the
selections and then read the selections themselves. Next answer the
questions in the Study, taking care to give reasons for each answer,
with illustrations carefully chosen from the author's work, wherever
possible. In making comparisons between authors or selections
remember that points of contrast as well as of likeness should be
considered.
Be sure to keep in mind the essentials of PART II, and refer not only
to them but to the INDEX for references to national characteristics,
history, and authors.
Further reading should be selected from the author's works given in
the notes which precede the selections and from the biographical and
critical works mentioned at the end of each Study.
ROBERT BURNS
(1759-1796)
Robert Burns was born and spent most of his life in Ayrshire, in
the lowlands of Scotland. Broad-minded, tolerant, and trusting, he
had a place in his heart for all men, whatever their failings. His
thoughtless love of good-fellowship was the principal cause of his
untimely end.
His best songs, dealing with the common life of the Lowlands and
written in the Scottish dialect, were as a rule spontaneous; though
"The Cotter's Saturday Night," probably reminiscent of his boyhood
home, is a more finished and careful production.
He is the greatest of Scotch poets. Since Shakespeare there has been
no better interpreter of the human heart.
THE MAN
1. Why is Burns called the Ayrshire Bard? Locate Ayrshire on the
map.
2. From what rank of society did Burns come?
3. What was his attitude toward the humbler classes of society?
II, 379. Toward men in general?
4. What can you say as to his patriotism?
5. Was he a favorite with the public?
6. See Carlyle's opinion of his reception by the public, III, 55;
of his worth, III, 102.
7. To what may we ascribe his rapid decline and early death?
8. What do you judge his views would be as to the merits of
Romanticism and Classicism?
STYLE AND WORKS
1. What portion of Great Britain is the scene of most of Burns'
poems?
2. Were they the product of deliberate art or spontaneous impulse?
3. Have his poems any great influence at the present time?
4. Is his best work in English or in the Scotch dialect? Explain
why?
5. Do you consider it worth while to master the difficulties of
the dialect?
6. What is your opinion as to the love element in his poetry?
7. There have been but few better interpreters of nature.
8. Like many a Scotchman of his day he seems to have had a full
appreciation of the joys of conviviality.
9. Had Burns the element of humor in any marked degree?
10. Compare his songs with those of Shakespeare, Jonson, Byron,
Shelley, and Tennyson; for feeling, polish, and power.
"THE COTTER'S SATURDAY NIGHT"
1. Is the scene laid in the Highlands or the Lowlands?
2. Does the fact that the poem is written in the Scotch dialect
add to or detract from its beauty? The mingling of literary
language and dialect is intentional; discuss the value of this.
3. Would you judge Burns to have been at heart a religious man?
4. What comparison does the author draw between Scotch and
Italian songs?
5. What contrast is drawn between the worship of the poor and
that of the rich?
6. To what does Burns ascribe the grandeur of Scotland?
7. Compare with the "Deserted Village" and the "Elegy in a
Country Churchyard," in purpose and in style. Which of the three
breathes the greatest moral earnestness?
8. "The Cotter's Saturday Night" is a typical poem of the latter
half of the eighteenth century. What other poems of the period
resemble it in their treatment of rural life? VI, 94, 106.
9. Does the poem belong to the Age of Classicism or Romanticism
or both; in what respects?
10. For other pictures of Scotch life and character see the
selections from Barrie, Scott, and Watson.
FOR REFERENCE
"Life of Robert Burns."--CUNNINGHAM.
"Modern Idols; Studies in Biography and Criticism."--THORNE.
"Critical and Miscellaneous Essays."--CARLYLE.
"The Burns Country."--DOUGALL.
"The Ayrshire Homes and Haunts of Burns."--SHELLEY.
SIR WALTER SCOTT
(1771-1832)
Scott first achieved success as a poet; but as his fame began to pale
before the rising star of Byron, he wisely dropped verse and appeared
as a writer of fiction, in which he was far more successful. Some
critics consider "Ivanhoe" the greatest romance ever written. Many
of his early novels are of almost equal merit. With "Woodstock" and
"Anne of Geierstein," a decline in his powers is perceptible.
Scott may be considered the founder of the historical novel, and it
is doubtful if he has ever been excelled. His scenes of medieval life
are somewhat overdrawn, it is true, though possibly no more so than
the requirements of successful fiction demanded.
Several of his ancestors had taken a prominent part in the warfare of
the Border, a fact which largely accounts for his great interest in
Scottish legend.
He earned more by his writings than any other literary man of
the period. At his country seat, Abbotsford, he entertained with
lavish hospitality. It became a resort of scholars; and Washington
Irving and many other Americans visited him there. He lived and
died practically without an enemy, even Byron, who assailed him so
bitterly at one time, being won over by his magnanimity. He refused
the post of poet laureate in favor of his friend Southey.
His publishing house failing in 1828 with a shortage of over half a
million, Scott chivalrously devoted the last six years of his life to
the payment of the debt, a feat which he had almost accomplished when
death overtook him.
Although among the first and best of the prose writers of the
Romantic period and a decided follower of the Romantic principles in
his work, yet Scott was so conservative in politics and so patriotic
a supporter of monarchy that the revolutionary spirit of the French
Revolution and the passion for liberty that inspired many authors of
the day had slight influence on him.
THE MAN
1. What fact in Scott's family history explains his great
interest in Scottish history and tradition?
2. What were his earnings from his writings as compared with
those of other writers of his time?
3. Would you consider his tastes democratic or the reverse? See
illustration opposite X, 388. See also Thackeray's account of him
under the title of the Baron of Bradwardine, XII, 66.
4. How did Scott bear himself toward contemporary poets?
5. Your opinion as to his hospitality? His charity? His industry?
VIII, 206.
6. What striking event in Scott's life conclusively shows him to
have been a man of honor?
7. By what appellation is he often known? XI, 289.
8. His fondness for dumb animals was proverbial. VIII, 208.
STYLE AND WORKS
1. In what branch of literature did Scott first achieve
distinction? Why did he abandon it for fiction?
2. Why did the revolutionary wave which so powerfully affected
his contemporaries, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, and Southey,
leave Scott unaffected?
3. In whose favor did Scott decline the honor of being appointed
poet laureate?
4. From what sources did he derive the materials for his poems?
I, 181.
5. Of his three best poems, "The Lay of the Last Minstrel" is
considered the most natural, "Marmion," the most powerful, and
"The Lady of the Lake," the most romantic and picturesque.
6. Which is esteemed his greatest novel? Mention two novels which
seem to indicate a decline in his powers.
7. Was he greater in verse or in fiction?
8. Do Scott's works give a true picture of the times to which
they relate?
9. Manzoni, Dumas, and Hugo all owe much to Scott. Compare their
work.
10. Is Scott more intent on his narrative and general scenes, or
on drawing characters clearly and describing their development
and change?
11. Compare Scott with Dickens, Eliot, and Balzac as regards the
traits mentioned in question 10.
"THE LADY OF THE LAKE"
1. Had Fitz-James formerly visited Roderick Dhu's dominions?
2. What was his errand this time?
3. What period in Scottish history do you understand to be
covered by the poem?
4. Is the sense of honor and hospitality towards strangers
characteristic of the Highland Scotch?
5. Draw a comparison between the fate of the Highlanders and that
of the American Indian. X, 385.
6. In what sense are the terms "Gael" and "Saxon" used?
7. Why does Fitz-James hesitate to fight with Roderick Dhu after
being safely led beyond the Coilantogle Ford?
8. In the combat was the victory won by physical strength or
skill in the use of weapons?
9. Which is the hero, Fitz-James or Roderick Dhu, and why?
10. Byron surpassed Scott in poetry; can you see how? Compare the
two.
FOR REFERENCE
"Famous English Authors of the Nineteenth Century."--BOLTON.
"Sir Walter Scott."--CROCKETT AND CAW.
"Edinburgh under Sir Walter Scott."--FYFE.
"Life of Sir Walter Scott."--LOCKHART.
"In the Days of Scott."--JENKS.
"Sir Walter Scott."--LANG.
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
(1770-1850)
Wordsworth, the first of the English poets of Romanticism, came of
age just as the storm of the French Revolution broke over Europe. In
1791, after he had taken his degree at Cambridge University, he went
to France, where he spent nearly a year, fascinated by the struggle
for freedom, and only returned when his friends stopped his allowance
and so compelled him to withdraw from danger.
He deliberately chose poetry as his profession, working with
Coleridge for the purpose of establishing new laws of poetic
composition. In 1798 they published a little volume, the "Lyrical
Ballads," which marked a radical departure from the artificial and
affected style of the latter days of the Classic Age. (See also notes
on Coleridge, p. 70 of this volume.)
He eventually settled in the Lake District, in the north-west of
England, where Coleridge and Southey, the other two 'Lake Poets,'
spent many years. His income was a mere trifle, but he and his sister
Dorothy lived in tranquil simplicity on the borders of Grasmere
until his circumstances improved. In 1802 he was able to marry and
soon after he moved to Rydal Mount, a larger abode near by, and also
overlooking a stretch of water enclosed by the heathery mountains.
Here he spent the last thirty-eight years of his life, dying at the
age of eighty. Almost all the greater writers of his day were among
his friends and acquaintances.
As a lover of nature, delighting in travel amid lovely scenery, he
found his answer to the problem of life in the tranquillity and ever
present spirit of law and duty which he perceived in all nature's
forms. For him the presence of God was manifest in fields and
mountains, in flowers and brooks, as much as in the lives of men and
women.
Poetry, in his conception, was the preservation of impressions in
such form that when read it would again create those impressions.
Its language should be extremely simple, hardly departing from that
of everyday life and conversation. The petty incidents of daily
experience for him often contained such deep suggestions of beauty
and good that he recorded them at length.
It was this utter simplicity of attitude and tone that made him the
object of slashing criticism for some time. An absolute innovator,
his work was as absurd in the eyes of the critics as the wildest
freaks of the cubists are to us. At last he became a subject of
discussion instead of ridicule, then of praise, and finally of
lasting fame. Yet much of his work is far better unread to-day; only
in his earlier verse, when the inspiration of youth and the freshness
of his message still urged him, is there any true greatness evident.
His later work, like his later years, is cold and conservative. He
made no further progress, once he had given expression to his first
radical ideas. This tendency was rebuked by Browning in "The Lost
Leader."
THE MAN
1. Did Wordsworth take an active part in the life of his time? I,
180.
2. How did Browning look on this side of his character? II, 265.
3. What two poets were intimately associated with Wordsworth?
III, 310; XI, 221.
4. The following illustrations are closely associated with his
life and work: III, _Frontispiece_, 322; IV, 178; XI, 228; XII,
_Frontispiece_, 324.
5. What influences molded his ideas of poetry and life?
6. How does his length of life compare with that of his
contemporaries, Byron, Keats, Shelley, Southey, Lamb, and De
Quincey?
7. Is it customary for a person to grow more conservative with
age?
STYLE AND WORKS
1. Are his poems uniformly of good quality? III, 265.
2. What peculiarly English characteristic is present in them?
VIII, 272.
3. State Wordsworth's historical position in literature.
4. Name some of his choicest short poems.
5. With what school of poets is he classed?
6. What element predominates in Wordsworth's poetry?
7. What elements detract from his power, in your opinion?
8. How do you rank him among nineteenth century poets?
9. Does he fulfil his idea of poetry in his work?
10. Read "The Daffodils," 339, and "Upon Westminster Bridge,"
354. These are two of his best short poems. Which do you prefer?
Why?
"ODE ON INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY FROM RECOLLECTIONS OF EARLY
CHILDHOOD"
1. How does a child view his surroundings?
2. Why cannot an adult see the same objects in like manner?
3. Is the Soul in existence before the body which it is to
inhabit?
4. What forces are constantly at work to crush and suppress a
child's imaginative power?
5. In what way is the shepherd boy the embodiment of joy?
6. What phases of Nature are most attractive to all people in
general?
7.
"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That stands and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more." ("Macbeth")
Find passages in Wordsworth's poem which contradict this
sentiment.
8. Is this the best of his poems here selected? Why?
9. Is the simplicity of style effective? How?
10. Contrast with "We are Seven"; why is there so marked a
simplicity in the lesser poem?
FOR REFERENCE
"Wordsworth" ("English Men of Letters").--MYERS.
"Story-Lives of Great Authors."--ROWBOTHAM.
"Essays in Criticism."--ARNOLD.
"Biographia Literaria."--COLERIDGE.
"The Makers of Modern English."--DAWSON.
"Essays on the Poets."--DE QUINCEY.
"The Age of Wordsworth" ("Handbooks of English
Literature").--HERFORD.
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE
(1772-1834)
A victim of the opium habit after the age of thirty and by nature
irresolute and dreamy, Coleridge led a wandering life, leaving his
family with his friend Southey.
Most of his poetry, small in volume, though unexcelled in quality,
was written before he was thirty, "The Ancient Mariner," his first
poem, having been composed at the age of twenty-four. After this he
devoted himself for the most part to metaphysical speculation of no
permanent value.
He excelled all other writers of his day in dealing with the
supernatural. "The Ancient Mariner," his masterpiece, is a successful
attempt to revive the metrical ballad of the middle ages. By the use
of rubrics the medieval effect is heightened, while the introduction
of the wedding guest relieves the credibility of the reader by making
of an improbable account simply 'a tale that is told.'
He lived for some time at Keswick in Cumberland near its group
of celebrated lakes, where Wordsworth and Southey also resided,
and hence the appellation of "Lake Poets," given to the three
distinguished friends.
Joining with Wordsworth in 1798 in the publication of a little volume
of verse, "Lyrical Ballads," he became one of the first to give voice
to the movement known as Romanticism.
THE MAN
1. What influence had Coleridge on the literature of his day?
2. What is said of him as a conversationalist? As a critic? III,
92 ff.
3. Why is he known as one of the "Lake Poets"?
4. Was he more useful to his friends than they to him, or _vice
versa_?
5. To what do you attribute the early decline of his poetic
powers?
6. What other English writer of the same period was addicted to
the opium habit? IV, 171.
7. What great mental defect militated most against Coleridge's
success? III, 94.
8. What traits of character especially endeared him to his
friends?
9. What can you say of his religious faith? III, 91.
STYLE AND WORKS
1. What poets constituted the "Lake School," and from what lakes
was the term derived?
2. Name his three principal poems.
3. What can you say as to the volume of his poetry?
4. Between what years was most of it written?
5. Are his other works--philosophical, religious, and
critical--quoted to-day?
6. In what one element does Coleridge outdistance the other poets
of his day?
7. Read the poems by Wordsworth, XII, 332-339; these were
published in the volume, "Lyrical Ballads," with "The Ancient
Mariner"; how are they characteristic of Romanticism?
8. "Kubla Khan," like Poe's "Raven," has frequently been
attributed to an opium vision. This cannot be proved, but it
is well known that he dreamed these lines and many more which
he forgot before he could write them down. In character it is
closely akin to De Quincey's account of opium dreams, IV, 171 ff.
"THE ANCIENT MARINER"
1. How old was Coleridge when he wrote the poem?
2. What led him to write it?
3. In writing the poem did Coleridge draw his inspiration from
classical, medieval, or modern sources?
4. Where is the scene laid?
5. What is the purpose of the rubrics or running commentary in
the margin?
6. Why is the wedding guest introduced, and what is the purpose
of the constant interruptions in the narrative?
7. Look up the term "albatross" in reference works.
8. What punishment was inflicted on the Ancient Mariner for
having shot the Albatross?
9. What broke the spell which had been cast upon him?
10. What would the repeated allusion to the mariner's "glittering
eye," seem to indicate?
11. The moral which this tale is supposed to teach?
FOR REFERENCE
"Coleridge" ("Bell's Miniature Series.")--GARNETT.
"Coleridge" ("Lives of Famous Poets.")--ROSSETTI.
"Selected Poems of Samuel Taylor Coleridge."--GEORGE.
"S. T. Coleridge; a Narrative of the Events of his
Life."--CAMPBELL.
"Selections from the Poets; Coleridge."--LANG.
"Table Talk" ("Bohn's Standard Library")--Ed. ASHE.
GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON
(1788-1824)
George Gordon, sixth Lord Byron, was born in London. His father,
a profligate captain of the guards, having squandered most of his
wife's property, she parted from him, retiring on a small income to
Aberdeen, Scotland. In his eleventh year, however, the son inherited
the title and estate of his grand-uncle, and the mother and son left
Scotland and settled down at Newstead Abbey, near Nottingham, in
Sherwood Forest.
Byron prepared for the university at Harrow and then went to
Cambridge, where he published "Hours of Idleness," a volume of verse
of no merit that brought down the unduly savage review of Brougham,
to which Byron replied anonymously with "English Bards and Scotch
Reviewers," a dashing satire that he later suppressed, when he became
a friend of many whom he there held up to ridicule.
Soon after receiving his M.A. he made a two years' tour of Portugal,
Spain, Albania, and Greece, composing meanwhile the first two
cantos of "Childe Harold," published in 1812. So immediate was its
success that he literally "woke up one morning and found himself
famous." Though not so fine as the last two cantos, yet they are
full of the new spirit of Romanticism. The poetic tales of "The
Giaour," "The Bride of Abydos," "The Corsair," and "Lara" followed
in quick succession. All this time he had felt financial pressure
and several of his friends had died, including his mother, whom he
loved notwithstanding her uncertain temper, so that his life had
by no means been happy, and the cynical tone of much of his verse
was a direct expression of his feelings. His health was also marred
by a tendency to corpulence which he tried to check by a rigid and
scanty diet, while a deformed foot gave him both pain and constant
embarrassment.
It is true that he was given to the dissipation then so rife in
England, yet although a libertine from the modern point of view,
there is not sufficient reason for the bitterly relentless tone
adopted by many biographers and critics. He determined to remedy
matters by marrying, but the experiment proved unfortunate, the
couple separated and at the outburst of public indignation that
followed, though unjustified, Byron went into voluntary exile, never
to return.
Most of his subsequent life was spent at various places in Italy,
where he completed "Childe Harold," and wrote "Don Juan" and a number
of shorter poems, and tried his hand at drama. For a time he worked
together with Leigh Hunt and Shelley at Pisa.
His life in Italy was licentious, a tendency that colored his later
works, notably "Don Juan"; although his intellectual powers would
seem to have grown up to the time of his premature death.
The close of his life went far toward redeeming his wayward career.
He flew to the assistance of the Greeks struggling for independence
from the barbaric Turkish rule, and devoted his means and his life
to their service. Finding them at sixes and sevens among themselves,
he showed the qualities of a statesman and soldier and soon brought
order out of chaos. But a few months' exposure led to a fever from
which he died.
THE MAN
1. To what is the so-called "satanic" element in his life to be
ascribed?
2. Where were Byron's early years spent?
3. In what manner did he acquire Oriental coloring for his poetic
romances?
4. What led to his withdrawal from England?
5. Among his intimate friends were Moore and Shelley; Leigh
Hunt, Scott, and Coleridge were also appreciative acquaintances.
Compare their work with his.
6. Give the circumstances of his death.
7. Goethe refers to Byron's love of exercise. IV, 398.
8. He seems to have been something of a dandy and a snob, but
with redeeming features. VII, 38; XII, 89.
9. Why is his life, as well as his work, typical of the extreme
tendency of the Romantic Period?
10. Read Hunt's account of Byron. VII, 217 ff.
STYLE AND WORKS
1. Give Matthew Arnold's estimate of Byron. I, 190.
2. Was he as fully equipped as Tennyson for the position of the
supreme modern poet? I, 191.
3. Does Chesterton's estimate of Byron coincide with that of
Arnold? III, 267.
4. As to Goethe's views of Byron's pictorial powers, see IV, 388.
5. In his choice of themes, did he favor cheerful subjects? IV,
388.
6. Was Byron's early death a real loss to literature? IV, 399.
7. Why were Byron's tragedies his least successful performances?
VIII, 357.
8. Is his fame destined to endure? I, 181.
9. Why did Byron fail, while Spenser succeeded, in applying the
spirit of his age to English literature? I, 180.
10. What characteristics of Romanticism appear in his work?
Contrast it with that of Pope and Goldsmith. Compare it with
Burns.
FROM "CHILDE HAROLD"
1. The selections from "Childe Harold" represent Byron at his
best in spirit and in style.
2. "Greece"; why does Byron use the phrase, "sad relic of
departed worth"?
3. "Waterloo"; show how the poet by skilful changes in wording,
as well as in choice of expressions, works steadily to the climax
of the last line. Note the breaks and varied measure of the
metrical rhythm.
4. Contrast the feeling in "Venice" and in "Rome"; in which is it
more melancholy; more profound; more sentimental; more forceful?
Why?
5. Which impresses you more, "The Dying Gladiator" or "Laocoon
and Apollo"? Which of these pieces of statuary do you think Byron
was most affected by? Why?
6. "Solitude" and "The Ocean" are famous examples of the Byronic
attitude toward nature. Is this the same as Wordsworth's or
Shelley's, apart from the difference in their styles?
7. Does Byron ever leave his own emotions and personality out
of his work? Compare him in this respect with Goldsmith, Gray,
Bryant, Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Longfellow. Write down the
dates of their births and draw conclusions.
FOR REFERENCE
"Famous English Authors."--BOLTON.
"Recollections of a Long Life."--BROUGHTON.
"The Love Affairs of Lord Byron."--GRIBBLE.
"Byron."--MAYNE.
"With Byron in Italy."--MCMAHAN.
"Essays in Criticism."--ARNOLD.
"Byron and Byronism in America."--LEONARD.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY
(1792-1822)
Shelley was from his earliest youth equally distinguished by poetic
gifts of the highest order and by a reckless and ungovernable
disposition. After thorough preliminary education, he was sent to
Oxford, where he displayed rare literary talent, but from which he
was expelled for publishing a tract on "The Necessity of Atheism."
After eloping with the sixteen-year-old daughter of a retired
tavern-keeper, Harriet Westbrook, whom he married in Scotland, he
led a wandering life for a time until his financial position was
improved upon his coming of age in 1813. By this time he and his
wife had become estranged, and Shelley eloped with Mary Godwin and
settled on the Continent. Two years later his wife committed suicide
by drowning, and when Shelley attempted to secure the custody of his
two children, it was denied him. Shelley now left England for good,
visited one Italian city after another, and finally settled down at
Pisa. Keats, Byron, and Hunt were among his close friends. "Adonais"
is an elegy to Keats's memory.
His poems may be divided into two classes. In the first class we
have his three long poems, "Queen Mab," "The Revolt of Islam," and
"Prometheus Unbound," each an attempt to apply the revolutionary
principles of the period. In these he displays a progressive
improvement, appearing at his best in "Prometheus Unbound."
The second class, embracing "Alastor," "Adonais," and many shorter
poems, includes his subjective works. They exceed in melody and
illusive and mysterious beauty anything else of the century. The
spirit of freedom and the spirit of beauty were the subjects of his
muse.
With some faults he had much beauty of character. He was beloved
by all who knew him. He was kindness itself and spent much of
his time dispensing charity among the poor, even to the point
of self-deprivation. Easily excited to indignation at the least
suspicion of oppression or wrong, he was at other times the gentlest
of men.
THE MAN
1. In what respect was Shelley preëminently a child of the French
Revolution?
2. Compare his religious influence with that of Tennyson. XII, 6.
3. Give an account of his unfortunate marriages.
4. What may be said in his defense?
5. In what respect were the lives of Keats and Shelley similar?
6. Read Hunt's account of his death and cremation. VII, 220 ff.
7. Was Shelley irreligious? VII, 223 ff.
STYLE AND WORKS
1. In what three poems does Shelley outline his views on human
society?
2. Will his name outlast the interest in his writings? I, 181.
3. Why did Shelley fail in his attempt to apply freely the modern
spirit to literature? I, 180.
4. With what great poems is "Adonais" classified, and why? IX,
105; XII, 47.
5. What qualities characterize his shorter poems?
6. In what respects does he outrank all subsequent poets? XI, 95.
7. State the qualities in which he resembles Keats. VII, 380.
"TO A SKYLARK" AND OTHER POEMS
1. Where does the skylark remain while singing?
2. Which of the numerous similes that Shelley uses do you think
most appropriate in a description of the skylark?
3. What are the qualities of the skylark's song which make it so
famous?
4. To what does Shelley ascribe the unexcelled beauty of the
bird's music?
5. Is the skylark a native of America? (See encyclopedia.)
6. Compare this with Wordsworth's "To a Skylark," XII, 340, in
language and style, and in spirit.
7. "The Ode to the West Wind" and "The Cloud" are especially
characteristic of Shelley in his loftier flights of imaginative
beauty. Compare them with Keats's "Ode to a Nightingale" and "Ode
on a Grecian Urn," VII, 381, 383. Which of these is most vivid;
which most musical?
8. "Arethusa" and "The Invitation," are among his more vigorous
light verse.
9. Compare the powerful sonnet, "England in 1819," with Milton's
sonnet "On His Blindness," IX, 119; and with Wordsworth's
sonnets, XII, 353, 354.
10. In his day Shelley was regarded by many as an atheist; an
opinion which is no longer generally held. Does his work indicate
atheism to your mind?
11. Much of his work is impalpable, has insufficient strength
to grip any but a mind with delicate powers of perception. Find
examples of this characteristic.
FOR REFERENCE
"Famous English Authors."--BOLTON.
"Shelley, the Man and the Poet."--CLUTTON-BROCK.
"Romantic life of Shelley."--GRIBBLE.
"Literary Studies."--BAGEHOT.
"Studies in Poetry."--BROOKE.
"Essays on the Poets."--DE QUINCEY.
"Leigh Hunt's Relations with Byron, Shelley, and Keats."--MILLER.
JOHN KEATS
(1795-1821)
The son of an hostler in a livery-stable, with only a partial
education, John Keats certainly would not be chosen as a possible
equal of Shelley, Byron, Wordsworth, or Coleridge. Yet such was his
genius that he attained this position with no other training than
came from his love of reading, especially in the fields of mythology
and poetry.
After a few years at school he was apprenticed to a surgeon, and
studied at the hospitals for a time, but disliking the profession
he gave himself up to reading and then to authorship. Shakespeare,
Wordsworth, the Italian poets, and later, Milton, were among his
favorites. He was well built and strong, yet exposure brought on
consumption in 1818, shortly after the publication of "Endymion."
Whether the decline in his health was due to the violent attacks upon
his poem by the reviewers or to the fact that he nursed a consumptive
brother for the three months preceding the latter's death is still
considered an open question by many. Shelley and Byron were bitter
against the reviews and attributed his steady decline to that source
alone. Meanwhile he worked on his last and greatest poems, while
his health went to pieces. When it was too late for hope he sailed
to Italy with his friend Severn, in whose arms he died a few months
later. Not quite two years afterward Shelley's remains were laid
beside him in the Protestant Cemetery at Rome, and in 1881 Severn,
too, found his last resting-place there.
The epitaph which Keats had inscribed on his tomb,
"Here lies one whose name was writ in water,"
is happily proved false. Even to-day it is probable that he has not
reached the highest recognition which he is to win in the world of
poetry.
The one idea at the foundation of all his writings is the
much-quoted phrase which begins "Endymion,"--"A thing of beauty
is a joy forever," or as he expressed it in the "Ode on a Grecian
Urn,"--"Beauty is truth." He is the poet of the senses, luxuriant,
yet sublime. The Odes, "The Eve of St. Agnes," and "Hyperion" are
hardly to be matched in the whole realm of English poetry. Strange
to say Keats never studied Greek, leaving school before he reached
that subject. Yet his work is nearer that of the Greeks in its
exquisite balance of reason and feeling, in its absolute appreciation
of beauty, and in purity of tone and style, nearer than that of all
other English writers. But this is only true of his best work; in his
other verse he lacks in taste and proportion, lavishing description
without measure on every object of any charm.
THE MAN
1. What was Keats's origin and education?
2. How do you explain his poetic talent?
3. Who were his contemporaries?
4. What was the probable reason for his early death?
5. What other poets of his time also died at an early age?
6. Where is he buried and with whom?
7. Are modern book reviews commonly unjust or harsh?
8. Shelley's "Adonais" was written as an elegy on Keats, and is
more like Keats's own work than any other of his poems. See if
you can trace the resemblance in style.
STYLE AND WORKS
1. Keats belongs to the Romantic school, yet he is so great as to
possess certain characteristics of the Classic. What are they?
2. What are the best lines in each of the selections? Why?
3. What are the leading differences between Keats and Shelley in
style and thought?
4. In the "Ode to a Nightingale" there are several lines which
might easily have been taken from Shakespeare, they are so
similar to his style: can you find any of them?
5. Have you ever seen a Grecian urn or vase? (See encyclopedia or
other reference work for illustrations.)
6. What English poet, much read by Keats, is suggested by
"Hyperion"?
7. Judging by "Hyperion," did Keats possess narrative power?
8. Compare Keats with Wordsworth and Swinburne. Which do you
prefer and why?
9. How does Arnold sum up Keats's work? I, 181.
"THE EVE OF ST. AGNES"
1. How many stanzas are introductory?
2. Trace the growing sense of action in these.
3. Is Porphyro like Romeo? How?
4. At what general period in history does the action occur?
5. Is the narrative or descriptive quality predominant?
6. Note that the poet appeals to each of the senses.
7. Give examples of Keats's eye for color.
8. Is this poem superior to the two Odes? Why?
FOR REFERENCE
"Keats" ("English Men of Letters").--COLVIN.
"Studies in Interpretation."--HUDSON.
"Life, Letters, and Literary Remains."--MILNES.
"John Keats: a Study."--OWEN.
"John Keats. A Literary Biography."--HANCOCK.
"Studies in Poetry."--BROOKE.
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
(1809-1892)
Alfred Tennyson, generally accounted the greatest English poet since
Milton, was born at Somersby, Lincolnshire, where his early studies
were for the most part personally directed by his father, the rector
of the parish. He then studied at Cambridge, where "The Lady of
Shalott" and "A Dream of Fair Women," were written.
Criticism and the death of a dearly loved friend, Arthur Hallam, now
drove the tender-souled Tennyson into a retirement from which he
did not reappear for nine years. He was busy during all this time,
composing and perfecting "Locksley Hall," "Dora," "Morte D'Arthur,"
and other poems whose publication placed him in the front rank as a
poet. "The Princess" followed in 1847 and "In Memoriam," his noblest
work, an elegy on the death of Arthur Hallam, in 1850, seventeen
years after his friend's decease.
In the same year he was appointed poet laureate and married a Miss
Sellwood. Nine years later appeared his great epic cycle, "Idylls
of the King." In 1884 he was raised to the peerage. "Crossing the
Bar," published shortly before his death, was a fitting close to a
literary life nobly consecrated to the combat against skepticism and
materialism.
THE MAN
1. Would you place Tennyson among the aristocracy of England? He
is known as "Alfred, Lord Tennyson": was he of noble extraction?
2. What position did he hold at the Court of St. James?
3. Who preceded and who succeeded him as poet laureate? XII, 324;
I, 235.
4. How may we account for his strong religious bent?
5. Locate on the map two districts intimately connected with the
life of Tennyson, Lincolnshire and the Isle of Wight.
6. Compare England in his lifetime with conditions in the days of
Byron and Shelley. XI, 434 ff.
STYLE AND WORKS
1. What poems are classed with "In Memoriam" as the great elegies
of English Literature? VI, 106; IX, 105; XI, 95.
2. What great contribution did Tennyson make to epic poetry?
3. From what sources did Tennyson derive the material for his
"Idylls of the King"? VIII, 262; IX, 15.
4. Which of his poems was instrumental in establishing his
reputation? XII, 5.
5. What poem indicates his religious feeling?
6. Name some of his best early poems.
7. In memory of whom was "In Memoriam" written?
8. Name three works based on the Arthurian legend; two dealing
with the romance of common life; and two dealing with immortality.
9. What are the principal excellences of his style?
10. Compare "The Revenge" with Raleigh's account of the battle,
X, 124, from which Tennyson took his facts and even his phrases.
What does this show with regard to Raleigh's power as an author?
FROM "IN MEMORIAM"
1. Find the two stanzas which contain the central thought on
which the poem is based.
2. What attitude did Tennyson take in regard to his friend's
death?
3. Why does nature fail to comfort human beings in this type of
sorrow?
4. Was Tennyson interested in social and political problems?
5. To what Scriptural event yet to be fulfilled does "Ring in the
Christ that is to be" refer?
6. What traits of character does Tennyson exhibit in this poem?
7. The marriage introduced toward the close of the poem helps
to present Tennyson's eventual reconciliation with the earthly
separation from his friend.
8. In this marriage scene is Tennyson addressing his dead friend,
or other persons? What phrases refer unmistakably to Hallam?
FOR REFERENCE
"Tennyson and his Friends."--TENNYSON.
"The Story of the Idylls of the King."--MCFEE.
"Essays in Biography and Criticism."--BAYNE.
"Tennyson, his Homes, his Friends and his Work."--CARY.
"Literary Leaders of Modern England."--DAWSON.
"Men I Have Known."--FARRAR.
"Poets in the Pulpit."--HAWEIS.
"Nature Knowledge in Modern Poetry."--MACKIE.
"The Poetry of Tennyson."--VAN DYKE.
"Tennyson" ("English Men of Letters Series").--LYALL.
ROBERT BROWNING
(1812-1889)
Of German descent, Browning was, like so many other famous English
writers, a native of London. His father was a ready versifier and
his mother an accomplished musician, and they encouraged in every
possible manner the appearance of like talent in their son. In
his youth he drank deep of those fountains of romanticism, Byron,
Shelley, and Keats.
His schooling finished and the tour of the Continent made, he devoted
his life to literature, producing a number of dramatic poems of more
or less merit. It was not, however, until the period 1841 to 1846
that, by the publication of the series of poems entitled "Bells
and Pomegranates," which included "Pippa Passes," he attained any
great literary fame. The latter play attracted the attention of Miss
Barrett, and led to an acquaintance which resulted in their marriage
in 1846.
The Brownings left at once for Florence, Italy, where they led an
ideal married life until the death of Mrs. Browning in 1861. Like his
wife, he took a great interest in Italy, and after her death his time
was divided between England, where his son was being educated, and
Italy. In the years immediately following Mrs. Browning's death, he
composed "The Ring and the Book," a long epic poem commonly accounted
his masterpiece; he continued writing until his death in 1889, his
last work being published as he lay on his deathbed.
Browning was a short, stocky, active man, mingling freely with all
classes of society and totally unlike the generality of poets. His
works largely reflect the man, one noticeable feature being the
entire absence of poetic melancholy.
Browning and Tennyson loomed above all the other poets of their
day, and their comparative merits were a fertile source of argument
even then. Both men were, however, too large to be affected by such
considerations, and their relations were always of the most cordial
nature.
Browning is deeply analytic, a trait perhaps derived from his German
ancestors along with his peculiarities of syntax and vocabulary and
his obscurity of expression. The latter characteristic has largely
discouraged the general public, so that the reading of Browning is
limited to people with a literary turn. His poetry is, however, well
worth the reading. He is by far the deepest poet of the nineteenth
century. He leaves environment to lesser poets and concentrates all
his energies upon man himself, his passions and emotions. His nature
is essentially dramatic, and had he devoted himself strictly to
drama, instead of lyric verse, he doubtless would have been far more
appreciated by the public. His poetic monologues, such as "Andrea del
Sarto," "Confessions," and "Prospice," dramatic in nature, are rather
hampered and confusing because of their form.
THE MAN
1. In what place was Robert Browning born?
2. Account for his musical and poetic proclivities.
3. What incident led to his union with Elizabeth Barrett Browning?
4. Florence has what connection with the lives of the Brownings?
5. Describe Browning's life after the death of his wife.
6. Give a description of his general appearance.
7. What personal relations did Browning and Tennyson sustain
toward one another?
8. Who were the leading American contemporaries of Browning? II,
293; VIII, 253; XII, 301.
9. Give "Ouida's" opinion of Browning's moral courage. VIII, 107.
STYLE AND WORKS
1. When did Browning first begin to write poetry?
2. When were his last works written?
3. Upon what models were the poems of his youth written?
4. Which is considered his masterpiece?
5. In what characteristic is he preëminent among
nineteenth-century poets?
6. State the defects in his style.
7. Why is it proper to say that Browning is essentially dramatic?
8. State the limitations on Browning's popularity.
9. What form of verse in which Mrs. Browning was preëminent was
never attempted by Robert Browning? II, 239, 251.
10. Compare the styles of Browning and Tennyson as shown in
"Hervé Riel" and "The Revenge," XII, 39.
"ANDREA DEL SARTO"
1. In what country is this scene laid?
2. Can you name a few contemporaneous artists?
3. Had Andrea Del Sarto attained distinction as a painter yet?
4. How do an artist's circumstances very often affect his
paintings?
5.
"When the young man was flaming out his thoughts
Upon a palace-wall for Rome to see"
What great work of Raphael's do these lines suggest?
6. Explain the following quotation of Agnolo's:
"Friend, there's a certain sorry little scrub
Goes up and down our Florence, none cares how,
Who, were he set to plan and execute
As you are, pricked on by your popes and kings,
Would bring the sweat into that brow of yours!"
7. Account for the different spelling of the artist's names
(_e.g._ Rafael for Raphael, etc.).
FOR REFERENCE
"Browning, Poet and Man."--CARY.
"Robert Browning."--DOWDEN.
"The Brownings, Their Life and Art."--WHITING.
"Browning's Verse-Form."--BEATTY.
"Browning and the Christian Faith."--BERDOE.
"Literary Leaders of Modern England."--DAWSON.
"Robert Browning."--CHESTERTON.
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING
(1809-1861)
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, easily first among English poets of
her sex, was born in Durham. The daughter of a rich retired India
merchant, she was remarkably precocious, reading Homer in the
original, and writing verse at the age of eight years.
In 1836 the family removed to London, where she commenced her
life-work. Despite the fact that she was a chronic invalid, she
was familiar with the language and literature of several nations.
Her poems of this period reflect her deep interest in social and
humanitarian questions.
At this very time, when her fame far exceeded his, Robert Browning
called on her to thank her for a compliment paid him in one of her
poems. It seems to have been a case of love at first sight. They were
married in 1846 and soon removed to Florence, Italy.
The "Sonnets from the Portuguese," among the world's noblest love
poems, contain the record of her courtship and marriage.
In Italy she regained her health somewhat, and it was here that most
of her best works were written. She took a great interest in the
cause of Italian independence, as appears from "Casa Guidi Windows,"
and many lesser poems.
Although she began to write at an early age, she reached maturity
slowly, producing her best works only after her fortieth year. She
died in 1861.
Her characteristic note is that of sympathy, but her insight into
human character was not particularly deep. The greatest faults in
her style are vagueness and lack of self-restraint, probably to be
attributed to her extremely sensitive temperament and overflowing
imagination.
In the "Sonnets" these faults are not so noticeable, the rigid rules
of that species of verse restraining her within bounds.
THE WOMAN
1. How does she rank among the women writers and especially the
poets of the nineteenth century?
2. What can you say as to the early development of her faculties;
and when did she reach her full poetic power?
3. What was her attitude toward questions of the day?
4. What qualities would make her as much admired at the present
time as during the period in which she lived?
5. How were Robert and Elizabeth Browning brought together?
6. Where did they make their home?
7. Which was the better known at the time of their first meeting,
Robert or Elizabeth?
8. Where was most of her best poetry written?
9. Why are her writings after marriage colored with Italian hopes
and aspirations?
10. With what essentially feminine attribute was she abundantly
endowed?
STYLE AND WORKS
1. Name her leading works.
2. What unique position in the English language is filled by the
"Sonnets from the Portuguese"?
3. For what purpose did she write "Casa Guidi Windows"?
4. Had she a profound knowledge of man?
5. What particular defects strike one in her style?
6. Why is she at her best when writing in the sonnet form?
7. Compare her verse with that of Mrs. Hemans, Lucy Larcom,
Shelley, Keats, and Longfellow.
"THE CRY OF THE CHILDREN"
1. What protest does "The Cry of the Children" voice?
2. Since this poem was written have steps been taken to improve
the condition of children who work? Name some of the limitations
of child labor in your state.
3. To what country does "our happy Fatherland" refer?
4. What potent evil now partially remedied by law was prevalent
in the factories and mines of those days?
5. Were the sanitary conditions of the factories regulated by
law, such as light, cleanliness, etc.? (See encyclopedia.)
6. How is the moral and physical life of a child affected by such
close and continuous application to work of this character?
7. What would Mrs. Browning make the guiding principle in the
solution of economic ills?
FOR REFERENCE
"The Book of Noble Englishwomen."--BRUCE.
"Elizabeth Barrett Browning" ("Famous Women.")--INGRAM.
"The Brownings; Their Life and Art."--WHITING.
"Florence in the Poetry of the Brownings."--MCMAHAN.
"The Letters of E. B. Browning."--Ed. KENYON.
WASHINGTON IRVING
(1783-1859)
Washington Irving has the distinction of being the only one of our
early writers of eminence born in the metropolis; and, with the
exception of Cooper, the only one born outside of New England.
The youngest son of a well-to-do New York merchant, he was born
in 1783, just after the close of the Revolutionary War. He was,
therefore, very properly christened "Washington." It is said that
some years after, he was brought to President Washington, who,
on being told that he was a namesake, laid his hand upon him and
bestowed his blessing. Little could the Father of His Country have
realized that the benediction would bear fruit and that the recipient
thereof was to become the Prince of American Letters.
Like many other authors he studied for the bar, but found neither
law nor politics congenial. Though well-read, his education was
unsystematic. His first literary endeavors appeared in "Salmagundi,"
a semimonthly periodical in which he collaborated with his brother
and James Kirk Paulding. This was followed by his inimitable
"Knickerbocker's History of New York," still among the greatest
masterpieces of American humor, which established his reputation.
In 1814 he sailed for Europe, where the next seventeen years of his
life were spent. Several years were divided between Great Britain
and France, where the "Sketch-Book," "Bracebridge Hall," and "Tales
of a Traveler" were written. Afterwards he spent some years in Spain
writing his striking series of works descriptive of Spanish history
and antiquities--"The Conquest of Granada," "The Alhambra," etc.
Returning to America, he built a beautiful home at "Sunnyside"
(rightly named for one who always looked on the sunny side of life),
where he resided continuously during the remaining twenty-seven years
of his life, with the exception of four years spent as minister of
the United States at the Court of Spain. These latter years were full
of labor, the most notable results being his lives of Goldsmith and
Washington.
His writings are distinguished by an easy grace, a flowing rhythm,
a light play of fancy and humor, a delicate and tender sentiment
sometimes suffused with a gentle melancholy, smooth and unaffected
narrative, picturesque description, and graphic delineation of
character.
Thackeray describes him as being in his family "gentle, generous,
good-humored, and self-denying;" and in society "a delightful example
of complete gentlemanliness."
THE MAN
1. What peculiarity of birth distinguishes Irving from all other
ante bellum writers?
2. What was his education; his social position?
3. Note points of resemblance between his life and that of Bryant.
4. In what countries was a considerable portion of his life spent?
5. Where did he spend his days after his return from Europe?
6. What public service did Irving render his country?
7. Summarize his character.
8. In view of the many years he voluntarily spent abroad, would
you consider him a patriotic man?
STYLE AND WORKS
1. What work established his reputation?
2. What writing did he do abroad?
3. What are his principal serious works?
4. State the prevailing characteristics of his style.
5. Contrast Irving's humor with that of Dickens.
6. Is his humor "American"? Why?
7. Compare his style with Hawthorne's. Which do you prefer? Why?
FROM "KNICKERBOCKER'S NEW YORK"
1. In proportion to its population, how would the record of crime
to-day in New York compare with that in the administration of
Governor Van Twiller?
2. Give reasons for this difference.
3. What was the Dutch ideal of family life?
4. Judging from this account, was the social distinction between
the different classes as great as it is to-day?
5. What was the style of dress worn by the ladies of those days?
6. Discuss its merits or inconveniences as compared with the
style of dress to-day.
7. To what extent would you consider this history authoritative?
8. Wherein lies the charm of Irving's power as a writer?
9. Compare the tone of this selection with that of "Rip Van
Winkle."
FOR REFERENCE
"Washington Irving."--BOYTON.
"Four Famous American Writers."--CODY.
"Irving" ("American Men of Letters").--WARNER.
"Literary Likings."--BURTON.
"Literary and Social Essays."--CURTIS.
"Backgrounds of Literature."--MABIE.
EDGAR ALLAN POE
(1809-1849)
Although born in Boston, Poe was of Southern descent and received his
early education in England and Virginia. He belonged to no school
of writers. His works are _sui generis_ and bear no local color or
imprint.
Though a loving husband, he was throughout his life practically
without friends, his caustic criticism in particular making him
many enemies in the world of letters, with disastrous effect on
the reception of his writings. His life was consequently one long
struggle for bare necessities, in spite of which, working with
unflagging energy, he left behind several volumes of poems, tales,
and criticism of a high order.
The wonderful technique, faultless form, and painstaking choice of
detail, combined with the grotesque and morbid beauty of both his
poetry and his prose have secured for Poe an abiding place in our
literature. It is the perfection of literary style that has given
him his great popularity abroad and especially in France. Indeed,
Poe's neglect of the moral point of view and his constant achievement
of artistic perfection of form are French rather than English or
American characteristics.
THE MAN
1. Poe was born in Boston. Would you class him with the New
England school of writers?
2. Where did he receive his early education? Does this account
for certain peculiarities in his writings?
3. Was Poe a man of warm sympathies?
4. What were his relations with other writers of his day?
5. Was the circle of his friendship extensive? What effect had
this on his ultimate success as a writer?
6. Compare Scott and Poe as money-makers.
7. What is your opinion of Poe as a husband?
8. He was not a hard drinker as compared with men of his time.
The malevolence of his literary executor is responsible in part
for the belief to the contrary. On the other hand his will was
not strong enough to resist the insidious craving for alcohol and
opium, and his high-strung temperament was affected by a slight
quantity of either poison.
STYLE AND WORKS
1. What rank do you assign to Poe among American poets? Among
short-story writers?
2. Wherein lay his strength?
3. What elements of weakness do you observe?
4. In "The Fall of the House of Usher" notice how the atmosphere
of horror is fixed in the opening paragraph by a series of
adjectives and adverbs expressive of ever increasing gloom and
culminating in the word "torture."
5. Compare the nightmare dread that is attained both at the
end of "The Fall of the House of Usher" and in "The Cask of
Amontillado" with De Quincey's description of the dreams caused
by opium and the attendant melancholia. IV, 171-181.
6. However, Poe was not merely recording fragments of opium
dreams; the earliest prose work of the romantic period, now
forgotten because of its many weaknesses and imperfections,
consisted largely of just such tales of horror. Bürger's
"Lenore," Walpole's "Castle of Otranto," Mrs. Radcliffe's
"Mysteries of Udolpho," and Mrs. Shelley's "Frankenstein" were
among the foremost of these.
7. Can you discover any suggestions of religious or moral feeling
in either of these tales? If so, do they impress you as Poe's
actual conviction or as a part of the picture which he is drawing?
8. Is this type of tale worth preserving apart from its
excellence in style? Do you think it easy or difficult to tell
such a story? Why?
9. Is Poe immoral or unmoral?
"THE RAVEN"
1. Why is the raven chosen as the bird of ill omen?
2. Compare the raven with the albatross in Coleridge's "Ancient
Mariner."
3. It has been often claimed that the poem was written by Poe in
a fit of delirium. As a matter of fact it was composed during his
wife's illness and then polished into its present shape during
subsequent months of grief. "The Bells" was written at the same
time.
4. "Annabel Lee" is another expression of his passionate love for
his wife.
5. "The Raven" is written in the first person. Is this
characteristic of Poe? Does he gain anything by it? What does he
lose?
6. Whence was the name, Lenore, derived?
7. What do you understand by the reference to "the Night's
Plutonian shore"?
8. As "The Raven" may be said to be the masterpiece of American
poetry, so the stanza, "Then methought the air grew denser," is
considered the supreme moment in the poem. Can you see why?
9. For a critical analysis of the structure of this poem see
Poe's essay, "The Philosophy of Composition," in the complete
editions of his works.
FOR REFERENCE
"Four Famous American Writers."--CODY.
"Life and Letters of Edgar Allan Poe."--HARRISON.
"Edgar Allan Poe; the Man, the Master, the Martyr."--LEIGH.
"The Home Life of Poe."--WEISS.
"Poe" ("American Men of Letters").--WOODBERRY.
"The Mind and Art of Poe's Poetry."--FRUIT.
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
(1804-1864)
Nathaniel Hawthorne, by general repute the greatest of American
novelists, was of sound New England lineage, and his forefathers
had for generations followed the sea. After graduating from Bowdoin
College, where he had formed a close friendship with Longfellow and
Pierce, he returned to Salem, resolved to take up literature as a
life-work.
Here he wrote for years, but with so little success that he was
glad to accept of George Bancroft, the historian, the offer of a
subordinate position in the Boston Custom House. He had, however,
just previously published his first work, "Twice-Told Tales," to be
followed, upon his retirement from the custom house with the change
of administration, by "Grandfather's Chair."
Some years after he was appointed surveyor of customs at Salem, then
an important port, and the succession of tales which had come from
his pen for so many years suddenly ceased. But during the following
four years of apparent cessation of literary endeavor, he was but
husbanding his forces for a final effort, and the year 1850 witnessed
the publication of his masterpiece, "The Scarlet Letter," the epic of
sin and remorse, by common consent the best American romance and by
many held without an equal, either here or abroad.
His old schoolmate, Franklin Pierce, having become President of the
United States, Hawthorne was appointed Consul to Liverpool, and upon
the expiration of his term spent two years traveling in France,
Switzerland, and Italy. The "English Note Books" and "Our Old Home"
tell of his life in England, and "The Marble Faun," one of his
greatest works, is the product of his wanderings in Italy.
His writings are distinguished by a wonderful power of analysis, and
a singularly graceful diction. He seems in a way the incarnation of
the old Puritan spirit, probes the innermost recesses of the heart,
and appears to take a strange delight in the darker side of life.
But he is in no sense morbid; his musings are merely the offspring
of a solitary but eminently manly spirit. All through his works one
realizes the dominating and all-pervading supremacy of conscience.
THE MAN
1. With what historic towns do we associate the name of Hawthorne?
2. What led to his deep interest in New England lore?
3. Would you judge him to be a good business man? Why?
4. How did he happen to visit Europe?
5. Under what circumstances was "The Scarlet Letter" produced?
6. How does Hawthorne rank among American writers?
7. To what trait of character must his slow acceptance by the
public be attributed?
8. Was he a Puritan? Why?
STYLE AND WORKS
1. Which was the first of Hawthorne's works to attract public
attention?
2. What rank does "The Scarlet Letter" hold in American
literature? In world literature?
3. Wherein lies its great hold upon the human heart?
4. Name his works dealing with English life.
5. What elements of strength do you discover in his style?
6. In what respects does he resemble Poe; wherein does he differ
from him?
7. Is his work indicative of his education as well as of his
character? How?
"THE OLD MANSE"
1. How long did Hawthorne live in the "Old Manse"?
2. Does Hawthorne show a detailed knowledge of nature?
3. What qualities must a book possess to retain its interest and
value for centuries beyond its time of writing?
4. According to Hawthorne's views, what is the best remedy for a
troubled mind or worn body?
5. What qualities does Hawthorne's style possess which make an
otherwise uninteresting subject have such charm?
6. Notice the passages which bring out the personal character of
the author. From these give a complete character sketch of the
man.
7. What places of interest in Concord attract visitors? VI,
312, 316, also _Frontispiece_ and illustrations, 310, 338; V,
_Frontispiece_, 82; XII, 116.
8. Does this selection offer good material for illustration? Find
several scenes especially beautiful in color or shading.
9. What was Hawthorne's view of Emerson? Do you agree with it?
Why?
FOR REFERENCE
"Nathaniel Hawthorne and his Wife."--HAWTHORNE (JULIAN).
"Memories of Hawthorne."--LATHROP.
"Nathaniel Hawthorne."--FIELDS.
"Hawthorne" ("English Men of Letters").--JAMES.
"Life and Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne."--STEARNS.
"American Prose Masters."--BROWNELL.
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT
(1794-1878)
William Cullen Bryant was born among the Berkshire hills, in Western
Massachusetts, the son of a country physician of limited means. He
did not complete his college course, and after devoting several
years to the practice of law, he removed to New York, where for
nearly fifty years he remained as editor of one of the principal
metropolitan papers. He took a leading part in all public affairs,
and was a most uncompromising abolitionist.
In appearance patriarchal, a "grand old man," he was lofty,
self-contained, and cold. He died at the age of 83, his mental powers
still in full vigor.
He was the first poet of high rank which America produced; and above
all, the first to paint American scenes with a discerning eye. His
poems are American in subject, imagery, and spirit. The volume of his
poetry is not large, nor is its range wide, but it is characterized
by a dignity and simplicity which imparts a peculiar charm.
His "Thanatopsis," written at the remarkably early age of eighteen,
was the first poem written on the American continent destined to win
enduring fame.
His works are almost entirely devoted to nature. Man is generally
treated merely in the abstract. In all his verse the tendency to
moralize is strongly apparent; but his writings, though instinct with
morality and religion, never rise above the teachings of natural
theology.
THE MAN
1. What were his antecedents?
2. To what extent was he an educated man?
3. What was Bryant's calling?
4. Where did Bryant's political sympathies lie?
5. Was his personal appearance in keeping with his profession?
6. What celebrity of antiquity would you say he most resembled in
this respect?
7. For what reason does Bryant lack in popularity?
8. Though his first poem was his greatest, can we say that there
was any decline in Bryant's mental powers?
9. Does he belong to the New England authors or to the New York
group? Why?
STYLE AND WORKS
1. At what age did he write "Thanatopsis"?
2. What unique position does "Thanatopsis" occupy in American
literature?
3. Were his literary remains extensive?
4. What pleasing qualities characterize his style?
5. His rank as a poet of nature?
6. For what scenes does Bryant appear to have a special
predilection?
7. In which was Bryant more deeply versed, nature or man?
8. What other poets does his work suggest?
"THANATOPSIS"
1. What is the connection between the title of the poem and its
subject-matter?
2. How does communion with nature affect the thought of death?
3. Is the description of death effective?
4. What consolation is derived from the manner of our burial?
5. Does Bryant consider preparation for death essential?
6. Are there indications of youthfulness in the poem?
7. Do any passages suggest Bryant's early home?
FOR REFERENCE
"Atlas Essays."--PALMER.
"William Cullen Bryant" ("American Authors").--HILL.
"Throne Makers."--THAYER.
"Bryant and His Friends."--WILSON.
"Studies in Bryant" ("Literature Primers").--ALDEN.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807-1882)
Longfellow was born at Portland, Maine, a lineal descendant of
"Priscilla, the Puritan Maiden." He was educated at Bowdoin
College, in which he was subsequently offered a professorship. To
prepare himself for the position he traveled extensively in Europe,
acquainting himself with its languages and institutions.
After some years at Bowdoin he was appointed to the chair of
modern languages and literature at Harvard. He now settled down at
Cambridge, which remained his home till the day of his death, though
he made several trips to Europe.
After several ineffectual essays at authorship, he won recognition
with his "Voices of the Night." Some years later appeared a second
collection of poems, "Poems of Slavery," which, with Whittier's poems
and Mrs. Stowe's works, were largely instrumental in stirring up New
England to the evils of slave-holding. Finally, in 1847, appeared
the greatest of all his works, "Evangeline." It is also remarkable
as introducing the dactylic hexameter of the ancients, ever since
popular in America.
In his choice of subjects Longfellow oscillated between America and
Europe, and, although he doubtless was not conscious of the fact,
his American poems were easily best; especially "Hiawatha" (based on
a Finnish epic, the "Kalevala"), "The Courtship of Miles Standish,"
and the "Tales of a Wayside Inn,"--all three of which may vie with
"Evangeline" for excellence. He was less successful with his European
poems, though "The Golden Legend," and his translation of the "Divine
Comedy" are good.
Longfellow made several attempts at writing prose fiction, notably in
"Hyperion" and "Kavanaugh," but none of his prose works proved to be
of any permanent value.
Longfellow was neither original nor deep. He attempts to discover no
new secrets in nature. But, like Scott, he was a lover of the heroic,
of the spirit of self-sacrifice. His poems, whatever their form, are
ever subjective, have ever a moral to teach. And so, like Scott, he
has ever been and ever will be popular. In England and Canada he is
said to be even more popular than Tennyson.
Of all American authors, Longfellow was the model Christian; noted
for his superabundant sympathy, love, and charity. It is recorded
that when Poe lashed him with his merciless criticism, he was
delivering enthusiastic discourses on Poe's poetry to his classes.
THE MAN
1. What was Longfellow's origin; his education?
2. In what respect does his life resemble that of Irving?
3. His profession was literature. What chair did he occupy, and
in what colleges?
4. What interest, if any, did Longfellow take in public affairs?
5. Give the salient points in his character.
6. Was his foreign experience as significant as that of Irving,
Hawthorne, and Lowell?
STYLE AND WORKS
1. With what collection of poems did Longfellow first win public
notice?
2. What work links his name with those of Whittier and Harriet
Beecher Stowe?
3. Name his best poems.
4. In which is the dactylic hexameter popularized?
5. From what two sources was his "Hiawatha" derived?
6. How is Longfellow's name connected with that of Dante?
7. What are the merits of his style; the defects?
8. Longfellow is easily the most popular American poet. Why?
9. What British poet does he most resemble in his shorter poems?
In what respects?
10. What can you say as to his popularity abroad?
FROM "EVANGELINE"
1. Who were the Druids, and why are they appropriately associated
with the "forest primeval"?
2. What is the present name of the territory once called Acadie?
3. What lines express the central thought underlying the tale?
4. What is there peculiarly appropriate in the words "turbulent
tides"? (See geography on Bay of Fundy, etc.)
5. Select a few of the most beautiful similes or metaphors which
illustrate the poet's power of imagination.
6. Is the cruelty of the English exaggerated?
7. During what period of history did this event occur?
8. What picture of Acadian life pleases you most?
9. Compare this narrative style with that of the narrative poems
of Scott, Tennyson, Macaulay, and Homer.
FOR REFERENCE
"Life of Longfellow."--LONGFELLOW (SAMUEL).
"Henry W. Longfellow, Life, Works, Friendships."--AUSTIN.
"Henry Wadsworth Longfellow."--CARPENTER.
"Four American Poets."--CODY.
"Longfellow's Country."--CLARKE.
"Authors and Friends."--FIELDS.
"Old Cambridge."--HIGGINSON.
"Longfellow."--NORTON.
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER
(1807-1892)
Whittier was born at Haverhill, Mass., the son of a poor Quaker
farmer. His boyhood was spent at work on his father's farm and he
had few opportunities for schooling. But he showed his talent for
verse at an early age, and in this manner attracted the interest
and friendship of William Lloyd Garrison. Determined to obtain an
education, he learned the trade of making slippers, and with this as
a means of support was able to attend two years at Haverhill Academy.
For some years after this he led a shifting life, sometimes editing
one of a number of periodicals with which he was successively
connected, and at other times working the ancestral farm. In 1836
the farm was sold and the Whittiers removed to Amesbury, destined to
remain his home until his death in 1892, fifty-six years after.
Whittier was a Quaker, and, like most of that sect, a zealous
champion of abolition. To that cause he sacrificed ambition and love;
and, like most of the early abolitionists, he suffered for his faith.
While editor of the "Pennsylvania Freeman," at Philadelphia, his
printing plant was sacked and burned by the mob.
Whittier never married. His sister Elizabeth, who became his lifelong
companion, and whose verse is preserved with his own, shared likewise
in the war he made on slavery.
His poems may be divided into two classes: those descriptive of
rural life and scenery, among which the best are "Snow Bound," his
masterpiece, "The Tent on the Beach," "Maud Muller," and "Among
the Hills"; and his polemics against slavery, including "Voices of
Freedom," "Barbara Frietchie," and "The Slaves of Martinique." He
also collaborated with Lucy Larcom in the compilation of "Child
Life," "Child Life in Prose," and "Songs of Three Centuries."
Poetry was no fine art with him, and his verse seldom rises above
the ballad; but his style is characterized by great simplicity,
sincerity, directness, and fervor. The elements of passion and
sturdier humor are lacking, but he was the master-painter of New
England scenery, as evidenced in his "Snow Bound," the best verse of
that kind since "The Deserted Village," and "The Cotter's Saturday
Night." Rustic winter scenes have never been more beautifully
described.
THE MAN
1. From what rank in life did Whittier come?
2. What can you say of his childhood?
3. How would his education compare with that of most of the
authors of his day?
4. The formation of what friendship had a lasting effect on his
life?
5. What profession did he enter in common with many other
American authors?
6. Of what faith was he an adherent?
7. At what place did he live during the greater part of his life?
8. Explain the part taken by him in political matters.
9. What can you tell of his sister Elizabeth?
10. Why is he called "The Quaker Poet," and "The Amesbury Sage"?
STYLE AND WORKS
1. Wherein does his style resemble that of Mrs. Browning?
2. What great poems of Burns and Whittier are properly classed
together, and why?
3. Name four poems descriptive of New England life and scenery.
4. What are his best poems on slavery?
5. In what field do he and Longfellow meet? VIII, 222.
6. State what shows his great interest in children.
7. What form did his verse generally take?
8. How does he compare as to form with Poe and Bryant?
9. Why is he esteemed the New England poet _par excellence_?
10. In the description of what particular scenes does he excel?
11. Give the elements of strength in his style.
"MAUD MULLER"
1. What is meant by the "mock-bird" in the third couplet? Are
these mocking birds in New England?
2. Of what class is Maud with her "vague unrest" a type?
3. Is city life still as attractive to country girls and boys?
4. Is the Judge's aimless talk well worked out by the poet?
5. Had Maud and the Judge married, would they have been happier
in the end?
6. Have lawyers changed with the flight of years?
7. Is it true that "humming" is a telltale habit?
8. What do you understand by "spinnet," "astral," and "chimney
lug"?
9. Point out a couplet which has passed into a proverb.
10. What "sweet hope" is intended in the next to the last stanza?
FOR REFERENCE
"Life of John Greenleaf Whittier" ("Great Writers
Series").--LINTON.
"John Greenleaf Whittier" ("American Men of letters").--CARPENTER.
"Whittier-Land."--PICKARD.
"Reminiscences of Whittier's life at Oak Knoll."--WOODMAN.
"Biographic Clinics."--GOULD.
"Authors and Friends."--FIELDS.
"John Greenleaf Whittier" ("English Men of Letters").--HIGGINSON.
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
(1819-1891)
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, the son of a Unitarian minister, was born in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, the home of so many of our eminent authors.
Educated at Harvard University, where he also prepared for the
practice of law, he entered that profession, but finding it little to
his taste quickly abandoned it for literature. In 1855 he succeeded
Longfellow in the chair of modern languages at Harvard, a position
which he held for the following twenty-two years. During this period
he was for a time editor of the _Atlantic Monthly_, and the _North
American Review_. In 1877 he was appointed minister to Spain, and in
1880 was transferred to the Court of St. James, where he remained
five years. He died in 1891 at the age of seventy-two years.
Lowell was a many-sided character, eminent as a poet, an essayist,
a critic, and a public speaker. His friends included all the New
England writers of his day and many English authors, who for the
first time appreciated America's intellectual standing. His poetry
is very uneven; this is due largely to the fact that he wrote
principally for immediate effect, and, while his poems sparkle
with wit and humor, they very commonly lack polish and form. This
criticism would hardly apply to "The Vision of Sir Launfal," his best
poem, or to the "Commemoration Ode."
Lowell is probably better known as an essayist and critic, his best
works in this line being "Fireside Travels," "My Study Windows," and
"Among my Books." He was the leading American critic of his time.
In closing, two anomalous works should be mentioned. His "Biglow
Papers" are two series of satirical poems, ordinary verse rather than
actual poetry, but very fine as satire. The former series, published
in 1846, was directed against the Mexican war, and the latter,
published during the Civil War, against the slavery party. They
served to popularize the 'Yankee dialect,' here used for the first
time.
The second is the "Fable for Critics," a criticism in verse of his
leading contemporaries, like the "Biglow Papers," full of wit and
striking puns and keenly critical, though lacking in true poetic
value.
THE MAN
1. What similarity between Lowell's antecedents and those of
Emerson?
2. How does his first choice of a profession resemble that of
Bryant and Irving?
3. Whom did he succeed at Harvard and what chair did he fill in
that institution?
4. Give his connection with journalism.
5. What diplomatic missions did he fill, and what other famous
American authors had filled the same positions?
6. Did he, like Irving, Prescott, and Hawthorne, make any great
use of his European experience for literary purposes?
7. What impression did he make in England?
STYLE AND WORKS
1. Mention seven different lines along which Lowell directed his
energies.
2. What is the principal defect in his style?
3. What are his strong points?
4. Mention his three best poems. His three best collections of
essays.
5. Against what evil were the "Biglow Papers" directed?
6. What new element did they bring into American literature?
7. Name a favorite poem in the Yankee dialect.
8. Why is some of his verse scarcely to be considered poetry?
FROM "THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL"
1. Compare "druid wood" with the opening lines of Longfellow's
"Evangeline," VIII, 231, and explain the allusion.
2. Point out the best couplet in the extract.
3. What beautiful metaphor is near the close of the poem?
4. What analogy may we draw between the tide and the year-cycle?
5. What is the purpose of the first stanza?
6. Explain the line "Each ounce of dross costs its ounce of
gold," and find examples in life to verify it.
7. What are the signs of summer?
8. How does this season of the year affect the human heart?
9. Compare the second stanza with the theme and the style of
Wordsworth's "Ode on Immortality," XII, 324.
FOR REFERENCE
"Four Famous American Writers."--CODY.
"James Russell Lowell."--SCUDDER.
"American Prose Masters."--BROWNELL.
"James Russell Lowell."--CURTIS.
"Essays in London and Elsewhere."--JAMES.
"Nature Knowledge in Modern Poetry."--MACKIE.
"Stelligeri, and other Essays."--WENDELL.
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
(1809-1894)
The "genial Autocrat" was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was
the son of a Congregational minister. After graduating at Harvard, he
began the study of law, but, like so many other authors, not finding
it to his taste, changed to medicine. After finishing his studies in
Paris he returned to America, and opened office in Boston. Despite
his fondness for literature, he gained a fair practice.
In 1847, however, he was elected Professor of Anatomy in Harvard
University, a position he held for thirty-five years. His duties were
far from arduous, so that like Emerson, he was able to devote much of
his time to lecturing and poetry.
The founding of _The Atlantic Monthly_ was an important event in his
life. He was engaged to write for it, and the result was his greatest
work, "The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table," a series of talks on
many subjects, interspersed with some poems. Of the same nature are
"The Professor at the Breakfast Table," "The Poet at the Breakfast
Table," and "Over the Teacups," written at intervals of many years.
They are distinguished by careless grace and irrepressible humor. The
"Autocrat" is the most original and brilliant, and the series became
successively more serious as the doctor grew older.
These are the works by which he will be remembered, but, like Lowell,
he was a man of many parts, and chose to work in several fields. He
was eminent as a physician, lecturer, poet, and essayist, as we have
seen, and he even tried his hand at fiction. "The Guardian Angel,"
his best novel, "Elsie Venner," and "A Mortal Antipathy," have been
called 'medicated novels,' dealing as they do with questions of
heredity and prenatal influence.
He also appeared in the rôle of biographer, with the lives of his
friends, Motley and Emerson.
Holmes was a lovable man, genial, brilliant, witty, and yet deeply in
earnest for all that. He was a thoroughly religious man and a firm
believer in immortality, holding his life to be merely the avenue or
vestibule to a greater beyond. He was, however, conservative, and
took little part in the abolitionist movement which so agitated his
brethren.
He died at the advanced age of eighty-five, having outlived all his
companions in the field of letters.
THE MAN
1. Give a brief account of Holmes's birth and antecedents.
2. Where was he educated, and on what lines?
3. What connection did he subsequently form with Harvard
University?
4. In what respect does his life resemble that of Emerson, and
how does he resemble Lowell?
5. Mention several different fields in which he achieved
distinction.
6. Give a summary of his character.
7. According to Holmes, what is it that makes life worth living?
STYLE AND WORKS
1. Which is esteemed to be Holmes's best work?
2. Enumerate the four books of the Autocrat series.
3. What is the general character of these books?
4. What progressive difference is noted in the successive books
of the series?
5. Give the main elements of his style.
6. Name three novels written by Holmes.
7. For what biographies are we indebted to him?
8. As a humorist compare him with Lowell, VIII, 255; with Irving,
VII, 271; with Lamb, VIII, 73, 86.
FROM "THE AUTOCRAT OF THE BREAKFAST TABLE"
1. Is there a moral to the poem "The Wonderful One-hoss-shay"? If
so, what is it?
2. When is slang permissible, according to Holmes?
3. To whom does the title of this selection refer?
4. Account for the sudden changes of topic and their diversity of
character.
5. What is the effect of the quotation connected with the poem
"Contentment"?
6. Is the intermingling of poetry and prose common? How is it
peculiarly suitable here?
7. What are Holmes's views concerning the literary talent of the
United States?
8. If the works of an author portray his character, how would you
classify Oliver Wendell Holmes as a man?
FOR REFERENCE
"Holmes: The Autocrat and his Fellow Boarders."--CROTHERS.
"Authors and Friends."--FIELDS.
"Old Cambridge" ("National Studies in American
Letters").--HIGGINSON.
"The Poet Among the Hills."--SMITH.
HOMER
(1000 B.C.)
The ancient Greek tradition assigned the authorship of the "Iliad"
and the "Odyssey" to the blind bard, Homer, of whose origin and
personality nothing is known, although seven cities claimed to be his
birthplace. More than a century of the closest study and research,
including the investigation of ancient Troy, has shown that these
two immortal epic poems are hardly to be called the work of one man,
but that they have been compiled and unified by one poet from several
shorter works, dealing with incidents leading to the fall of Troy and
the wanderings of Odysseus.
The site of Troy, close to the entrance to the Dardanelles, has been
occupied by nine cities, excavations showing their remains resting
in distinct layers, five of which belong to the pre-Homeric times,
the sixth being the city of the "Iliad," sacked in the year 1184 B.C.
Its fall was due, originally, to a dispute among the gods as to which
was the fairest, Hera, the wife of Zeus, goddess of earthly dominion,
Athene, goddess of wisdom, or Aphrodite, goddess of love. Paris, the
son of Priam, king of Troy, was chosen judge and awarded the prize to
Aphrodite, tempted by her offer of the most beautiful woman in the
world for his wife and rejecting the bribes of empire and of wisdom
which were offered by the others.
Helen, the wife of Menelaus, whose beauty was acclaimed as divine,
accordingly was abducted by Paris. Menelaus and his brother, both
powerful kings in Greece, collected an army with the aid of several
other Greek princes and set sail at once for Troy, which they
besieged in vain for nine years and finally captured by the stratagem
of the Trojan horse. This was a huge wooden figure of a horse, in
which certain of the Greek leaders lay hid while the rest sailed
away, apparently giving up the siege and leaving the horse as an
offering to the gods. The Trojans, rejoicing, dragged the monster
within their walls, broken down to admit it, and at nightfall the
concealed Greeks came out and opened the gates to the rest of their
army, which had landed again under cover of darkness.
Helen's life was spared, as she seems to have been regarded as a
being of another world, guiltless of wrong intent, driven by fate
into these misfortunes. The tragedies that befell upon the return
of Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus form the subject of the great
dramas of Æschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles.
The "Iliad" narrates events in the course of the siege, in which
Achilles is the Greek hero, angered by Agamemnon and refusing to
lead the troops to battle, until roused by the death of his friend
Patroclus he rushes to the fray and slays Hector, the Trojan prince
and leader, with whose funeral rites the poem closes.
The fall of Troy is not treated by Homer; in fact it did not receive
the consideration due its dramatic possibilities until a thousand
years later, when Vergil, the Roman poet, described it in his
"Æneid." This may be explained by the fact that the Greeks desired
to hear the tale of their heroism and their leader's triumph rather
than the sorrows of the enemy, while the Roman emperor Augustus, at
whose request Vergil composed the "Æneid," wished to glorify Rome by
tracing her origin back to the son of the Trojan prince, Æneas, who
fled to Italy after Troy's downfall.
The "Odyssey" recounts the wanderings of the Greek prince, Odysseus,
detained by various casualties on his way home round the south of
Greece to Ithaca, his island home in the Adriatic, and also deals
with his vengeance on the suitors whom he found endeavoring to win
the hand of his faithful wife Penelope.
The "Iliad," as a piece of literature, seems to belong to a somewhat
earlier day than the "Odyssey." The latter is more unified in
construction, and shows greater knowledge of travel and a higher
religious and social standard.
The selections of the former are from the two great metrical
translations of Pope and of Chapman. Pope's work (1715) is in
the full flower of the Age of Classicism, and is thoroughly
characteristic of that period. Chapman's (1611), less polished,
belongs to the late Renaissance, whose rugged, adventurous spirit was
far nearer that of the Homeric age and is preferred by many on this
account.
The prose translation, from which the passages of the "Odyssey"
are taken, is better suited to present-day taste, trained by prose
fiction rather than verse. It retains as far as has ever been done
the Greek feeling and ideas, with all its richness of imagery and
none of the affectation which we feel to-day in lengthy verse.
THE MAN AND THE AGE
1. Who was Homer?
2. What is the history of Troy?
3. What was the value of its geographical situation in those
days? (Consult an atlas, classical, if possible.)
4. What was the character of social conditions in those days? See
V, 432.
5. Apart from scientific progress, what distinctions can you make
between this era and that of Homer?
6. The fall and sack of Troy is told by whom, in what epic?
Explain why Homer did not deal with this dramatic episode.
STYLE AND WORKS
1. Why has Achilles' fame lasted two thousand years? III, 266.
2. What is one of Homer's leading merits? VIII, 356.
3. What was Alexander the Great's opinion of the "Iliad"? IX, 8.
4. Which do you prefer, the prose or the verse translation? Why?
5. In what respects are the verse translations molded by the
spirit of the periods when they were made?
6. How is it that the Renaissance, when Chapman made his
translation, was more like the Homeric period than the twentieth
century?
FROM THE "ODYSSEY"
1. What phrases suggest the Greek love of beauty?
2. Do you conclude that the poet was observant of life in times
of peace as well as in times of war?
3. Had he ever lived on a farm? What makes you think so?
4. How did Odysseus treat the minstrel? Was the writer himself
probably just such a bard?
5. Compare Circe's palace and the home of Odysseus; what was the
probable status of the hero, king or chieftain? Why?
6. Note the use of sulphur for purifying the house. What does
this show you regarding early Greek civilization?
7. Outline the social and political conditions of life in the
Homeric period as shown in the "Odyssey."
FOR REFERENCE
The "Iliad," translated by LANG, LEAF, and MYERS.
The "Odyssey," translated by BUTCHER and LANG.
"Homer and his Age."--LANG.
"The World of Homer."--LANG.
"On Translating Homer."--ARNOLD.
"Ethics of the Heroic Age."--GLADSTONE.
"Life in the Homeric Age."--SEYMOUR.
VERGIL
(70 B.C.-19 B.C.)
Unlike most distinguished Roman writers, Vergil was country born,
coming from the district of Andes, near Mantua--hence 'the Mantuan,'
as he was known to the scholastics.
After studying at Cremona and Rome, he returned to his father's small
estate and wrote pastoral poetry; but being obliged to flee when the
lands of Italy were assigned by the Triumvirs to their adherents, he
again visited Rome, where he speedily became a favorite of Augustus.
The liberality of Augustus and his own thrift enabled him to live in
comparative opulence. Most of his life he spent in retirement on his
estate in Campania. Here his time was given wholly to his art, except
in so far as he was taken up with scientific and antiquarian studies,
which he thought essential to elevate his thought and strengthen his
grasp of profound subjects.
His character is universally commended. He was gentle, innocent,
modest, and of a singular sweetness of disposition. He is generally
conceded to be the greatest Roman poet and the most patriotic.
Like other epic poets he was of a philosophic nature, and unlike
the generality of Roman writers, he was reserved as to his personal
feelings. He never married.
Before coming to Rome he had written his "Eclogues," the first of
Latin pastorals, in imitation of Theocritus. His next poems, the
"Georgics," were written to create fresh interest in agriculture,
which had been the mainstay of republican Rome but was fast falling
into decay. But his enduring fame rests upon the "Æneid," written
at the request of Augustus, which treats of the founding of Rome
by a colony from ancient Troy under the leadership of Æneas. In it
Vergil sums up the glory of Rome and its culmination under Augustus.
The "Æneid," the "Divine Comedy," and "Paradise Lost" enjoy the
distinction of being the only great epics written in the full light
of civilized society, and the inspiration of the latter works was
largely drawn from Vergil.
He was a master of literary form, seen at its best in the "Georgics"
and the "Æneid," though the latter is an unfinished work with which
Vergil was so little satisfied that in his will he directed its
destruction. This wish was rightly regarded as the fastidious,
nervous whim of the poet and was therefore unheeded.
The "Messianic Eclogue" prophesies the birth of a child under
whose rule the Golden Age with prosperity and happiness should be
restored to the earth. It is not certain what child the poet had in
mind, though the phrase, "a world by righteous father tamed," would
indicate a flattering reference to Antony or Augustus, who then
shared the control of the world. In the Middle Ages it was firmly
believed by the scholars that Vergil had been divinely inspired with
the knowledge of the coming of Christ, and his fame as a magician was
partly based on this idea.
THE MAN
1. In what part of Italy was the childhood of Vergil spent?
2. Why do subsequent epic poets refer to him as 'the Mantuan' and
'father Vergil'?
3. Of what court may we call him the poet laureate?
4. Did Vergil realize that in the reign of Augustus the Roman
world had reached its zenith? XII, 188, 189.
5. Where was most of his literary work done?
6. Give the salient points in Vergil's character.
7. What element in his character especially fitted him for the
post of Rome's epic poet?
8. Did he enjoy "a long life's evening" to sing the praises of
Pollio? XII, 190.
9. Compare the civilization of Vergil's time with that of the
Homeric age. V, 143, 432.
STYLE AND WORKS
1. What rank is generally accorded Vergil among Roman poets?
2. Name his three principal productions.
3. The "Eclogues" or "Bucolics" were written in imitation of what
Greek author?
4. What field of literature did the Romans cultivate, which is
best treated in the "Georgics," and almost entirely neglected by
the writers of the other nations of antiquity?
5. Give Montaigne's opinion of the "Georgics." IX, 209.
6. Why was Vergil regarded as an enchanter in the Middle Ages?
VIII, 95. Give another reason.
7. What two good qualities of Vergil's character ennoble his
verse?
FROM THE "ÆNEID"