1 2 Brief History of English and American Literature Henry A. Beers 2Brief History of English and American Literature Books iRead http://booksiread.org http://apps.facebook.com/ireadit http://myspace.com/ireadit Author: Henry A. Beers Release Date: April 15, 2007 [eBook #21090] Language: English ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG http://booksiread.org 3 EBOOK BRIEF HISTORY OF ENGLISH AND AMER- ICAN LITERATURE*** E-text prepared by Al Haines Transcriber’s note: The volume from which this e-book was pre- pared contains two of Beers’ books, ”An Outline Sketch of English Literature” and ”An Outline Sketch of American Literature,” which start on pages 7 and 317, respectively. Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers enclosed in curly braces, e.g. 99, to facilitate use of the index. They have been lo- cated where page breaks occurred in the orig- inal book. For its Index, a page number has been placed only at the start of that section. by Introduction and Supplementary Chapters on the Religious and Theological Literature of Great Britain and the United States 4Brief History of English and American Literature by John Fletcher Hurst New York: Eaton & Mains Cincinnati: Jen- nings & Pye Copyright, 1886, 1887, by Phillips & Hunt New York Copyright, 1897, by Eaton & Mains New York 3 INTRODUCTION. At the request of the publishers the undersigned has prepared this Introduction and two Supple- mentary Chapters on the Religious and Theo- logical Literature of Great Britain and the United States. To the preacher in his preparation for the pulpit, and also to the general reader and student of religious history, the pursuit of the study of literature is a necessity. The sermon it- self is a part of literature, must have its literary finish and proportions, and should give ample proof of a familiarity with the masterpieces of the English tongue. 5 6Brief History of English and American Literature The world of letters presents to even the ca- sual reader a rich and varied profusion of fas- cinating and luscious fruit. But to the earnest student who explores with thorough research and sympathetic mind the intellectual products of countries and times other than his own, the infinite variety, so strikingly apparent to the su- perficial observer, resolves itself into a beautiful and harmonious unity. Literature is the record of the struggles and aspirations of man in the boundless universe of thought. As in physics the correlation and conservation of force bind all the material sciences together into one, so in the world of intellect all the diverse depart- ments of mental life and action find their com- mon bond in literature. Even the 4 signs and formulas of the mathematician and the chemist are but abbreviated forms of writing–the stenog- raphy of those exact sciences. The simple chron- http://booksiread.org 7 icles of the annalist, the flowing verses of the poet, clothing his thought with winged words, the abstruse propositions of the philosopher, the smiting protests of the bold reformer, either in Church or State, the impassioned appeal of the advocate at the bar of justice, the argument of the legislator on behalf of his measures, the very cry of inarticulate pain of those who suffer under the oppression of cruelty, all have their literature. The minister of the Gospel, whose mission is to man in his highest and holiest relations, must know the best that human thought has produced if he would successfully reach and influence the thoughtful and inquiring. Per- haps our best service here will be to suggest a method of pursuing a course of study in liter- ature, both English and American. The follow- ing work of Professor Beers touches but lightly 8Brief History of English and American Literature and scarcely more than opens these broad and inviting fields, which are ever growing richer and more fascinating. While man continues to think he will weave the fabric of the men- tal loom into infinitely varied and beautiful de- signs. In the general outlines of a plan of literary study which is to cover the entire history of En- glish and American literature, the following di- rections, it is hoped, will be of value. 1. Fix the great landmarks, the general periods– each 5 marked by some towering leader, around whom other contemporary writers may be grouped. In Great Britain the several and successive pe- riods might thus be well designated by such au- thors as Geoffrey Chaucer or John Wiclif, Thomas More or Henry Howard, Edmund Spenser or Sir Walter Raleigh, William Shakspere or Fran- cis Bacon, John Milton or Jeremy Taylor, John http://booksiread.org 9 Dryden or John Locke, Joseph Addison or Joseph Butler, Samuel Johnson or Oliver Goldsmith, William Cowper or John Wesley, Walter Scott or Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth or Thomas Chalmers, Alfred Tennyson, Thomas Carlyle, or William Makepeace Thackeray. A similar list for American literature would place as leaders in letters: Thomas Hooker or Thomas Shepard, Cotton Mather, Jonathan Ed- wards, Benjamin Franklin, Philip Freneau, Noah Webster or James Kent, James Fenimore Cooper or Washington Irving, Ralph Waldo Emerson or Edward Everett, Joseph Addison Alexander or William Ellery Channing, Henry Wadsworth Longfel- low, James Russell Lowell, or Nathaniel Hawthorne. 2. The prosecution of the study might be carried on in one or more of several ways, ac- cording either to the purpose in view or the tastes of the student. Attention might prof- 10Brief History of English and American Literature itably be concentrated on the literature of a given period and worked out in detail by taking up in- dividual authors, or by classifying all the writ- ers of the period 6 on the basis of the character of their writings, such as poetry, history, belles- lettres, theology, essays, and the like. 3. Again, the literature of a period might be studied with reference to its influence on the religious, commercial, political, or social life of the people among whom it has circulated; or as the result of certain forces which have preceded its production. It is well worth the time and ef- fort to trace the influence of one author upon another or many others, who, while maintain- ing their individuality, have been either in style or method of production unconsciously molded by their -confreres- of the pen. The divisions of writers may, again, be made with reference to their opinions and associations in the different http://booksiread.org 11 departments of life where they have wrought their active labors, such as in politics, religion, moral reform, or educational questions. The influence of the great writers in the lan- guages of the Continent upon the literature of England and America affords another theme of absorbing interest, and has its peculiarly good results in bringing the student into close broth- erhood with the fruitful and cultured minds of every land. In fact, the possible applications of the study of literature are so many and varied that the ingenuity of any earnest student may devise such as the exigencies of his own work may require. JOHN F. HURST, -Washington-. 12Brief History of English and American Literature 7 PREFACE. In so brief a history of so rich a literature, the problem is how to get room enough to give, not an adequate impression–that is impossible–but any impression at all of the subject. To do this I have crowded out everything but -belles- lettres-. Books in philosophy, history, science, etc., however important in the history of En- glish thought, receive the merest incidental men- tion, or even no mention at all. Again, I have omitted the literature of the Anglo-Saxon pe- riod, which is written in a language nearly as hard for a modern Englishman to read as Ger- 13 14Brief History of English and American Literature man is, or Dutch. Caedmon and Cynewulf are no more a part of English literature than Vergil and Horace are of Italian. I have also left out 8 the vernacular literature of the Scotch before the time of Burns. Up to the date of the union Scotland was a separate kingdom, and its lit- erature had a development independent of the English, though parallel with it. In dividing the history into periods, I have followed, with some modifications, the divisions made by Mr. Stopford Brooke in his excellent little -Primer of English Literature-. A short reading course is appended to each chapter. 9 CONTENTS. I. FROM THE CONQUEST TO CHAUCER, 1066- 1400 . 11 II. FROM CHAUCER TO SPENSER, 1400-1599 . 42 III. THE AGE OF SHAKSPERE, 1564-1616 . 76 IV. THE AGE OF MILTON, 1608-1674 . 125 V. FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE DEATH OF POPE, 1660-1744 . 163 VI. FROM THE DEATH OF POPE TO THE FRENCH REVOLU- TION, 1744-1789 . 193 VII. FROM THE FRENCH REVOLUTION TO THE DEATH OF SCOTT, 1789-1832 . 15 16Brief History of English and American Literature . 222 VIII. FROM THE DEATH OF SCOTT TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1832-1886 . 266 IX. THEOLOGI- CAL AND RELIGIOUS LITERATURE IN GREAT BRITAIN . 299 11 OUTLINE SKETCH OF ENGLISH LITERA- TURE. I. FROM THE CONQUEST TO CHAUCER. 1066-1400. The Norman conquest of England, in the 11th century, made a break in the natural growth of the English language and literature. The old English or Anglo-Saxon had been a purely Germanic speech, with a complicated grammar and a full set of inflections. For three hundred years following the battle of Hastings this native tongue was driven from the king’s court and the courts of law, from parliament, school, and university. During all this time there were two languages spoken in England.