Chapter VI: Part III: Studies of Great Authors (1)

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?