Chapter XII: The Post-Victorian Age (3)

(1) Tam was able
To note upon the haly table
A murderer’s banes in gibbet airns;[238]
Twa span-lang, wee unchristened bairns;
A thief new-cutted frae a rape,[239]
Wi’ his last gasp his gab[240] did gape;
Five tomahawks, wi’ blude red-rusted;
Five scimitars wi’ murder crusted;
A garter, which a babe had strangled,
A knife, a father’s throat had mangled,
Whom his ain son o’ life bereft,
The grey hairs yet stack to the heft.
BURNS, _Tam o’ Shanter_

(2) Here is a thing that happened. Like wild beasts whelped, for
den,
In a wild part of North England, there lived once two wild men
Inhabiting one homestead, neither a hovel nor hut,
Time out of mind their birthright: father and son, these--but--
Such a son, such a father! Most wildness by degrees
Softens away: yet, last of their line, the wildest and worst
were these.

* * * * *

Thus were they found by the few sparse folk of the countryside;
But how fared each with other? E’en beasts couch, hide by hide,
In a growling, grudged agreement: so, father and son aye curled
The closelier up in their den because the last of their kind in
the world.
BROWNING, _Halbert and Hob_

(3) (_A newcomer overhears some men discussing his wife._)

“And he knows nothing of her past;
I am glad the girl’s in luck at last;
Such ones, though stale to native eyes,
Newcomers snatch at as a prize.”

“Yes, being a stranger he sees her blent
Of all that’s fresh and innocent,
Nor dreams how many a love-campaign
She had enjoyed before his reign!”

That night there was the splash of a fall
Over the slimy harbour-wall:
They searched, and at the deepest place
Found him with crabs upon his face.
HARDY, _Satires of Circumstance_

(4) Some ancient man with silver locks
Will lift his weary face to say:
“War was a fiend who stopped our clocks
Although we met him grim and gay.”
And then he’ll speak of Haig’s last drive,
Marvelling that any came alive
Out of the shambles that men built
And smashed, to cleanse the world of guilt.
But the boys, with grin and sidelong glance,
Will think, “Poor grandad’s day is done.”
And dream of those who fought in France
And lived in time to share the fun.
SASSOON, _Songbooks of the War_

7. Trace the presence of realistic elements in the English novel from Fielding to Thomas Hardy.

8. The following extracts illustrate the history of the ballad. What features have they in common, and in what respects do they differ? Trace the history of the ballad in English literature.

(1) The lady she walked in yon wild wood,
Aneath the hollin tree,
And she was aware of two bonny bairns
Were running at her knee.

“Now why pull ye the red rose, fair bairns,
And why the white lilie?”
“O we sue wi’ them at the seat of grace
For the soul of thee, ladie.”

She heard a voice, a sweet, low voice,
Say, “Weans, ye tarry lang”--
She stretched her hand to the youngest bairn,
“Kiss me before ye gang.”

She sought to take a lily hand,
And kiss a rosy chin--
“Oh nought sae pure can abide the touch
Of a hand red-wet wi’ sin!”

“O! where dwell ye, my ain sweet bairns,
I’m woe and weary grown!”
“O! lady, we live where woe never is,
In a land to flesh unknown.”

There came a shape that seemed to her
As a rainbow ’mang the rain;
And sair these sweet babes pled for her,
And they pled and pled in vain.

“And O! and O!” said the youngest babe,
“My mother maun come in.”
“And O! and O!” said the eldest babe,
“Wash her twa hands frae sin.”

“And O! and O!” said the youngest babe,
“She nursed me on her knee.”
“And O! and O!” said the eldest babe,
“She’s a mither yet to me.”
ANONYMOUS

(2) Good people all, of every sort,
Give ear unto my song;
And if you find it wondrous short,
It cannot hold you long.

In Islington there was a man
Of whom the world might say,
That still a goodly race he ran
When’er he went to pray.

A kind and gentle heart he had,
To comfort friends and foes;
The naked every day he clad
When he put on his clothes.

And in that town a dog was found,
As many dogs there be,
Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound,
And curs of low degree.

This dog and man at first were friends;
But when a pique began,
The dog, to gain some private ends,
Went mad and bit the man.

Around from all the neighbouring streets
The wondering neighbours ran,
And swore the dog had lost his wits,
To bite so good a man.

The wound it seem’d both sore and sad
To every Christian eye;
And while they swore the dog was mad,
They swore the man would die.

But soon a wonder came to light,
That showed the rogues they lied:
The man recover’d of the bite,
The dog it was that died.
GOLDSMITH, _Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog_

(3) Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall
meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment
Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor
Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from
the ends of the earth!

Kamal is out with twenty men to raise the Border-side,
And he has lifted the Colonel’s mare that is the Colonel’s
pride:
He has lifted her out of the stable-door between the dawn and
the day,
And turned the calkins upon her feet, and ridden her far away.
KIPLING, _The Ballad of East and West_

9. What effects had Milton’s politics and public work upon his prose and verse? In this respect compare him with Dryden. Write a general essay upon “The Influence of Contemporary Events upon the Poet and the Man of Letters.”

10. Observe the style and subject of each of the following extracts, and name the author of each. Write a critical comparison of the extracts. In what respects is each typical of its period?

(1) Then said Christian, “You make me afraid, but whither shall
I fly to be safe? If I go back to mine own country, that is
prepared for fire and brimstone; and I shall certainly perish
there. If I can get to the celestial city, I am sure to be in
safety there. I must venture. To go back is nothing but death;
to go forward is fear of death, and life everlasting beyond it.
I will yet go forward.” So Mistrust and Timorous ran down the
hill; and Christian went on his way. But thinking again of what
he heard from the men, he felt in his bosom for his roll, that
he might read therein and be comforted; but he felt and found it
not.

(2) His prose is the model of the middle style: on grave
subjects not formal, on light occasions not grovelling; pure
without scrupulosity, and exact without apparent elaboration;
always equable and always easy, without glowing words or pointed
sentences. Addison never deviates from his track to snatch a
grace; he seeks no ambitious ornaments and tries no hazardous
innovations. His page is always luminous, but never blazes in
unexpected splendour.

(3) Two men I honour, and no third. First, the toilworn
Craftsman that with earth-made Implement laboriously conquers
the Earth, and makes her man’s. Venerable to me is the hard
Hand; crooked, coarse; wherein notwithstanding lies a cunning
virtue, indefeasibly royal, as of the Sceptre of this Planet.
Venerable too is the rugged face, all weather-tanned, besoiled,
with its rude intelligence; for it is the face of a Man living
manlike. O, but the more venerable for thy rudeness, and even
because we must pity as well as love thee! Hardly-entreated
Brother! For us was thy back so bent, for us were thy straight
limbs and fingers so deformed: thou wert our Conscript, on whom
the lot fell, and fighting our battles wert so marred.

11. Compare Shakespeare’s methods of description and characterization with those of Chaucer. Wherein lies the difference, and wherein the resemblance?

12. Give a historical account of the sonnet in English, from its inception to the death of Tennyson. Who were the most successful writers in this type of poetry, and why were they so successful?

13. Distinguish between wit and humor. In which class would you place the works of Chaucer, Bernard Shaw, Swift, Thackeray, Charles Lamb, Wilde, Goldsmith, and Shakespeare? Give reasons for your classification.

14. In what respects is Burns a national poet? Try to explain why in this respect he is unique in British literature.

15. It has been said that Shakespeare’s women characters are more important in his comedies than they are in his tragedies. Quote the examples of some of his plays in support of this statement, and try to account for it.

16. Compare any one of Shakespeare’s comedies with one by Goldsmith or Sheridan.

17. Trace the Celtic (Irish and Scottish) influence in English literature. Can you account for the comparative poverty of the Welsh influence in English?

18. Mention some of the great English nature-poets. What is their outlook upon nature? What aspects of nature particularly appealed to them? State your preference among the poets you mention, quote from his works, and give reasons for your choice.

19. Discuss the statement that “Wycliff, Langland, and Chaucer are the three great figures of English literature in the Middle Ages.” Would you place any of their contemporaries along with them?

20. What is Chaucer’s attitude to chivalry and to the Church? Compare his Knight (in _The Prologue_) with a similar character of Spenser and Tennyson.

21. Give a historical account of the English essay (_a_) from its origin to the death of Addison; (_b_) from the death of Addison to the death of Charles Lamb; (_c_) from the time of Lamb to modern times. Then give a brief summary of the history of the essay, indicating its periods of progress and decay.

22. What are the chief merits of the literary essay? Mention some English essayists who approach the ideal essay-manner.

23. Distinguish between the tale and the novel. Show how the one developed into the other. Give some account of one medieval and one modern prose tale-teller.

24. Mention five books of exploration and travel. Give a more detailed account of the one that appeals most strongly to you. What are the ideals to which in your opinion the travel-book ought to aspire?

25. Compare Milton’s _Samson Agonistes_ with any tragedy by Shakespeare.

26. Account for the late appearance of historical literature, and sketch its subsequent development.

27. In the light of your knowledge of the English lyric criticize Shelley’s statement that “Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.”

28. Give an account of the verse-tale (_a_) from Chaucer to Dryden and (_b_) from Crabbe to William Morris. What style and meter are best adapted to the verse-tale? Illustrate by means of extracts.

29. Estimate the importance of journalism as an aid to literature; give a short account of its rise; and add a note upon the literary attainments of modern journalism.

30. What effect had the attitude of the Church upon the early drama? Has the Church exerted any influence, good or bad, on any other kind of literature?

31. Mention some of the earliest literary critics in English; and continue with a brief history of literary criticism up to modern times.

32. Mention three important biographies in English. In what respects do they conform to the ideal biography?

33. Consider the works of Dickens, Wordsworth (especially his sonnets), Samuel Butler (1835–1902), Milton (both prose and verse), Gibbon, Bunyan, and Shelley as political, religious, or social propaganda. Write a general essay on the use and abuse of propaganda in works of literature.

34. Estimate the value of the work of the female novelist and the poetess. In which of these two departments of literature is woman’s achievement the higher? Does the level of her accomplishment show any signs of rising?

35. Discuss Charles Lamb, Meredith, Walter Pater, John Ruskin, and R. L. Stevenson as prose stylists. Write an account of prose style during the nineteenth century.

36. What are the qualities of good poetical satire? Trace the course of the satire in English from Dryden to Byron.

37. Compare Scott and Byron as poetical tale-tellers, as lyrical writers, and as men. Comment upon the history of their respective reputations.

38. What is meant by an “ode”? What are the requirements of a good ode? Mention the chief odes in English, from those of Spenser to those of Tennyson.

39. Compare _Lycidas_, _Adonais_, and _The Scholar-Gipsy_ as elegies. Add to this an account of other important English elegies, and sketch the growth of this type of poem.

40. Give a short account of six heroines in standard English novels; add an account of six heroines of poems; and conclude with a description of six of Shakespeare’s heroines.

41. What was Scott’s contribution to the historical novel? How far has the historical novel advanced since his death?

42. Mention some patriotic poems in English. What are the merits and chief weaknesses of this particular kind of poetry?

43. In Irish and Scottish literature are there any literary peculiarities that are essentially Irish and Scottish? Discuss the general question of nationality in literature.

44. Taking Lamb, Scott, George Eliot, Charlotte Brontë, and Junius as the chief examples, consider the use of the _nom de plume_ or of anonymity in literature. To what extent is anonymity a feature of modern journalism?

45. What novels dealing with life in India or British colonial life are known to you? Have they any features in common?

46. Has the spread of modern education affected the standard of literature? What species of literature has it encouraged, and which has it depressed?

47. Discuss the statement that “the English epic began and ended with Milton.” Trace the course of the epic in English.

48. Justify the statement that “English poetry is full of the color and odor of the sea.” Who are the chief sea-poets in English?

49. Is the cinematograph likely to affect the literature of the future? Is it likely to affect in any way the literature of the past?

50. (_a_) Write a paragraph of description and criticism upon each of the following works:

_Gulliver’s Travels_, _Sesame and Lilies_, _The Fortunes of Nigel_, _Doctor Faustus_, _Ancren Riwle_, _Henry Esmond_, _The Nigger of the Narcissus_, _Absalom and Achitophel_, _Euphues and his England_, _The Faithful Shepherdess_, _Locksley Hall_, _Jude the Obscure_, _Il Penseroso_, _The Pickwick Papers_, _Abt Vogler_, _Urne Buriall_, _Northanger Abbey_, _The Blessed Damozel_, _To a Mouse_, _The Vanity of Human Wishes_, _The Egoist_, _Paradise Regained_, _Satires of Circumstance_, _The Woman in White_, _Lady Windermere’s Fan_, _The Dance of the Sevin Deidlie Sins_, _Old Mortality_, _Tono-Bungay_, _Plays for Puritans_.

(_b_) Write a paragraph on each of the following characters. Mention the work in which each appears, and write a critical estimate:

Jeanie Deans, Prospero, Sir Charles Grandison, Michael Fane, Delilah, Sir Galahad, Mr. Collins, Jos Sedley, Mrs. Proudie, Falstaff, Roderick Random, Major Barbara, Enoch Arden, Mr. Worldly Wiseman, Arthur Kipps, Maggie Tulliver, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Childe Harold, Hilda Lessways, Marmion, Angel Clare, Archimago, Sairey Gamp, Alan Breck, Peter Pan, Dr. Primrose, Amyas Leigh, the Wife of Bath, Mrs. Battle, Lord Jim.

(_c_) Mention works in which the following types or professions are depicted. Estimate the degree of success attained in each character.

Miser; hypocrite; jester; soldier of fortune; adventuress; undergraduate; surgeon; country parson; detective; Puritan; peasant-farmer; artist; cook; innkeeper; magician; statesman; religious fanatic; garrulous woman; dominie; shepherd; dunce; usurer; boaster; murderer; fisherman; tramp; carpenter; naval officer; conspirator; antiquary.