Halleck's New English Literature Part 17

[Ill.u.s.tration: SIR THOMAS WYATT._After Holbein_.]

Wyatt and Surrey adopted Italian subject matter as well as form. They introduced the poetry of the amorists, that is, verse which tells of the woes and joys of a lover. We find Shakespeare in his _Sonnets_ turning to this subject, which he made as broad and deep as life. In 1557, the year before Elizabeth's accession, the poems of Wyatt and Surrey appeared in Tottel's _Miscellany_, one of the earliest printed collections of modern English poetry.

SUMMARY

The first part of the century and a half following the death of Chaucer saw war with France and the Wars of the Roses, in which most of the n.o.bles were killed. The reign of Henry VII. and his successors in the Tudor line shows the increased influence of the crown, freed from the restraint of the powerful lords. The period witnessed the pa.s.sing of serfdom and the extension of trade and manufactures.

The changes in religious views were far-reaching. Henry VIII.

superseded the Pope as head of the English church, dissolved the monasteries, and placed an English translation of the _Bible_ in the churches. Henry's son and successor Edward VI., established the Protestant form of worship, but his half-sister Mary used persecution in an endeavor to bring back the old faith.

The influences of the Renaissance, moving westward from Italy, were tending toward their culmination in the next period. The study of Greek literature, the discovery of the new world, the decline of feudalism, the overthrow of the armed knight, the extension of the use of gunpowder, the invention of printing, the increased love of learning, the demand for scientific investigation, the decline of monastic influence, shown in the new interest in this finite world and life,--all figured as causes or effects of the new influence.

The most important prose works are Sir Thomas Malory's _Morte d'Arthur_, a masterly retelling of the Arthurian legends; Sir Thomas More's _Utopia_, a magnificent Renaissance dream of a new social world; and Tyndale's translation of the _Bible_. The best poetry was written in Scotland, and this verse antic.i.p.ates in some measure that love of nature which is a dominant characteristic of the last part of the eighteenth century. The age is noted for its ballads, which aided in developing among high and low a liking for poetry. At the close of the period, we find Italian influences at work, as may be seen in the verse of Wyatt and Surrey.

REFERENCES FOR FURTHER STUDY

HISTORICAL

An account of the history of this period may be found in either Gardiner,[10] Green, Lingard, Walker, or Cheney. Vols. IV. and V. of _The Political History of England_, edited by Hunt (Longmans), gives the history in greater detail. For the social side, consult Traill's _Social England_, Vols. II. and III., also Cheney's _Industrial and Social History of England_, Field's _Introduction to the Study of the Renaissance_, Einstein's _The Italian Renaissance in England_, Symonds's _A Short History of the Renaissance_.

LITERARY

_The Cambridge History of English Literature_, Vol. II.

Snell's _The Age of Transition_, 1400-1580.

Morley's _English Literature_, Vols. VI. and VII.

Minto's _Characteristics of English Poets_, pp. 69-130.

Saintsbury's _Short History of English Literature_, pp. 157-218.

_Dictionary of National Biography_, articles on _Malory, Caxton, Henryson, Gawain Douglas, Dunbar, Tyndale, Wyatt_, and _Surrey_.

Veitch's _The Feeling for Nature in Scottish Poetry_.

Percy's _Reliques of Ancient English Poetry_.

Gummere's _Old English Ballads_.

Child's _The English and Scotch Popular Ballads_.

Collins's _Greek Influence on English Poetry_.

Tucker's _The Foreign Debt of English Literature_.

SUGGESTED READINGS WITH QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

Malory.--Craik,[11] _Century_, 19-33; Swiggett's _Selections from Malory_; Wragg's _Selections from Malory_,--all contain good selections. The Globe Edition is an inexpensive single volume containing the complete text. The best edition is a reproduction of the original in three volumes with introductions by Oscar Sommer and Andrew Lang (London: David Nutt). Howard Pyle has retold Malory's best stories in simple form (Scribner).

Compare the death (or pa.s.sing) of Arthur in Malory with Tennyson's _The Pa.s.sing of Arthur._ What special dualities do you notice in the manner of Malory's telling a story? Is his work original? Why has it remained so popular? What age specially shows its influence?

More.--The English translation of the _Utopia_ may be found entire in _Everyman's Library_ (35). There are good selections in Craik, I., 162-167.

What is the etymological meaning of _Utopia_? What is its modern significance? Did More really give a new word to literature and speech? The _Utopia_ should be read for an indication of the influence of the Renaissance and for comparison with twentieth-century ideas of social improvement.

Tyndale.--Bosworth and Waring's _Gospels_, containing the Anglo-Saxon, Wycliffe, and Tyndale versions. Specimens of Tyndale's prose are given in Chambers, I., 130; Craik, I., 185-187.

Why is Tyndale's translation of the _Bible_ important to the student of literature? What are some special dualities of this translation?

Early Scottish Poetry.--Selections from fifteenth-century Scottish poetry may be found in Bronson, I, 170-197; Ward, I, _pa.s.sim_; P. & S., 246-277; _Oxford_, 16-33.

From the _King's Quair_ and the poems of Henryson, Dunbar, and Gawain Douglas, select pa.s.sages that show first-hand intimacy with nature.

Compare these with lines from any poet whose knowledge of nature seems to you to be acquired from books.

Ballads.--Ward. I., _pa.s.sim_, contains among others three excellent ballads,--_Sir Patrick Spens, The Twa Corbies, Robin Hood Rescuing the Widow's Three Sons_. Bronson, I., 203-254; P. & S., 282-301; _Oxford_, 33-51; and Maynard's _English Cla.s.sics_, No. 96, _Early English Ballads_ also have good selections. The best collection is Child's _The English and Scotch Popular Ballads_, 5 vols.

What are the chief characteristics of the old ballads? Why do they interest us today? Which of those indicated for reading has proved most interesting? What influence impossible for other forms of literature, was exerted by the ballad? What did Autolycus mean (_Winter's Tale_, IV., 4) when he offered "songs for man or woman, of all sizes"? Have any ballads been written in recent times?

Wyatt and Surrey.--Read two characteristic love sonnets by Wyatt and Surrey, P. & S., 313-319; Ward, I., 251, 257; Bronson, II., 1-4. A specimen of the first English blank verse employed by Surrey in translating Vergil's, _AEneid_ is given in Bronson, II., 4, 5; in P. & S., 322, 323; and Chambers, I., 162.

Why are Wyatt and Surrey called amourists? What contributions did they make to the form of English verse? What foreign influences did they help to usher in?

FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER III:

[Footnote 1: _Knightes Tale_.]

[Footnote 2: _Testament of Cresseid_.]

[Footnote 3: _The Cloud_.]

[Footnotes 4-6: _The Golden Targe_.]

[Footnote 7: _Prologue to AEneid_, Book XII.]

[Footnote 8: _The Winter's Tale_, IV., 4.]

[Footnote 9: Wright's _Songs and Carols of the Fifteenth Century_, p.

30.]

[Footnote 10: For full t.i.tles, see p. 50.]

[Footnote 11: For full t.i.tles, see p. 6.]

CHAPTER IV: THE AGE OF ELIZABETH, 1558-1603

The Reign of Elizabeth.--Queen Elizabeth, who ranks among the greatest of the world's rulers, was the daughter of Henry VIII. and his second wife Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth reigned as queen of England from 1558 until her death in 1603. The remarkable allowances which she made for difference of opinion showed that she felt the spirit of the Renaissance. She loved England, and her most important acts were guided, not by selfish personal motives, but by a strong desire to make England a great nation.