Two characteristics, which are very striking in all his works, are harmony and stateliness. His language is so full of rich harmonies that it challenges comparison with poetry. His long, periodic sentences move with a quiet dignity, adapted to the treatment of lofty themes. De Quincey's work possesses also a light, ironic humor, which is happiest in parody. The essay upon Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts is the best example of his humor. This selection is one of the most whimsical: "For, if once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination. Once begin upon this downward path, you never know where you are to stop." De Quincey's gravest fault is digression. He frequently leaves his main theme and follows some line of thought that has been suggested to his well-stored mind. These digressions are often very long, and sometimes one leads to another, until several subjects receive treatment in a single paper. De Quincey, however, always returns to the subject in hand and defines very sharply the point of digression and of return. Another of his faults is an indulgence in involved sentences, which weaken the vigor and simplicity of the style. Despite these faults, De Quincey is a great master of language. He deserves study for the three most striking characteristics of his style, precision, stateliness, and harmony. SUMMARY The tide of reaction, which had for some time been gathering force, swept triumphantly over England in this age of Romanticism. Men rebelled against the aristocracy, the narrow conventions of society, the authority of the church and of the government, against the supremacy of cold classicism in literature, against confining intellectual activity to tangible commonplace things, and against the repression of imagination and of the soul's aspirations. The two principal forces behind these changes were the Romantic movement, which culminated in changed literary ideals, and the spirit of the French Revolution, which emphasized the close kinship of all ranks of humanity. The time was preeminently poetic. The Elizabethan age alone excels it in the glory of its poetry. The principal subjects of verse in the age of Romanticism were nature and man. Nature became the embodiment of an intelligent, sympathetic, spiritual force. Cowper, Burns, Scott, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats constitute a group of poets who gave to English literature a new poetry of nature. The majority of these were also poets of man, of a more ideal humanity. The common man became an object of regard. Burns sings of the Scotch peasant. Wordsworth pictures the life of shepherds and dalesmen. Byron's lines ring with a cry of liberty for all, and Shelley immortalizes the dreams of a universal brotherhood of man. Keats, the poet of the beautiful, passed away before he heard clearly the message of “the still sad music of humanity." While the prose does not take such high rank as the poetry, there are some writers who will not soon be forgotten. Scott will be remembered as the great master of the historical novel, Jane Austen as the skillful realistic interpreter of everyday life, De Quincey for the brilliancy of his style and the vigor of his imagination in presenting his opium dreams, and Lamb for his exquisite humor. In philosophical prose, Mill, Bentham, and Malthus made important contributions to moral, social, and political philosophy, while Coleridge opposed their utilitarian and materialistic tendencies, and codified the principles of criticism from a romantic point of view. REFERENCES FOR FURTHER STUDY HISTORICAL Gardiner,1 Green, Walker, or Cheney. For the social side, see Traill, V., VI., and Cheney's Industrial and Social History of England. LITERARY The Cambridge History of English Literature, Vols. XI., XII. Elton's A Survey of English Literature from 1780–1830, 2 vols. Brandes's Naturalism in England (Vol. IV. of Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature). The Revolution in English Poetry and Fiction (Chap. XXII. of Vol. X. of Cambridge Modern History). Hancock's The French Revolution and the English Poets. Reynolds's The Treatment of Nature in English Poetry between Pope and Wordsworth. Mackie's Nature Knowledge in Modern Poetry. Brooke's Studies in Poetry (Blake, Scott, Shelley, Keats). Symons's William Blake. Payne's The Greater English Poets of the Nineteenth Century (Keats, Shelley, Byron, Coleridge, Wordsworth). Stephens's Hours in a Library, 3 vols. (Scott, De Quincey, Cowper, Wordsworth, Shelley, Coleridge). Dowden's Studies in Literature, 1879-1877. Bradley's Oxford Lectures on Poetry (Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats). Lowell's Among my Books, Second Series (Wordsworth, Keats). Ainger's Life of Lamb. (E. M. L.) 1 For full titles, see p. 50. Lucas's Life of Charles Lamb. Goldwin Smith's Life of Cowper. (E. M. L.) Wright's Life of Cowper. Shairp's Robert Burns. Carlyle's Essay on Burns. (E. M. L.) Lockhart's Life of Scott, Hutton's Life of Scott. (E. M. L.) Yonge's Life of Scott. (G. W.) Goldwin Smith's Life of Jane Austen. (G. W.) Helm's Jane Austen and her Country House Comedy. Mitton's Jane Austen and her Times. Adams's The Story of Jane Austen's Life. Knight's Life of Wordsworth, 3 vols., Myers's Life of Wordsworth (E. M. L.), Raleigh's Wordsworth. Robertson's Wordsworth and the English Lake Country. Traill's Life of Coleridge (E. M. L. ), Caine's Life of Coleridge (G. W.), Garnett's Coleridge. Sneath's Wordsworth, Poet of Nature and Poet of Man. Mayne's The New Life of Byron, 2 vols., Nichol's Life of Byron (E. M. L.), Noel's Life of Byron. · (G. W.) Trelawney's Recollections of the Last Days of Shelley and Byron. Dowden's Life of Shelley, 2 vols., Symonds's Life of Shelley (E. M. L.), Sharp's Life of Shelley (G. W.). Francis Thompson's Shelley. Clutton-Brock's Shelley: The Man and the Poet. Hogg's Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley (contemporary). Angeli's Shelley and his Friends in Italy. Colvin's Life of Keats (E. M. L.), Rossetti's Life of Keats (G. W.), Hancock's John Keats. Miller's Leigh Hunt's Relations with Byron, Shelley, and Keats. H. Buxton Forman's Complete Works of John Keats (includes the Letters, the best edition). Masson's Life of De Quincey. (E. M. L.) Minto's Manuai of English Prose Literature (De Quincey). SUGGESTED READINGS WITH QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS Blake. Some of his best poems are given in Ward, IV., 601-608; Bronson, III., 385-403; Manly, I., 301-304; Oxford, 558-566; Century, 485-489, and in the volume in The Canterbury Poets. Point out in Blake's verse (a) the new feeling for nature, (b) evidences of wide sympathies, (c) mystical tendencies, and (d) compare his verses relating to children and nature with Wordsworth's poems on the same subjects. Cowper. Read the opening stanzas of Cowper's Conversation and note the strong influence of Pope in the cleverly turned but artificial couplets. Compare this poem with the one On the Receipt of my Mother's Picture or with The Task, Book IV., lines 1–41 and 267–332, Cassell's National Library, Canterbury Poets, or Temple Classics and point out the marked differences in subject matter and style. What forward movement in literature is indicated by the change in Cowper's manner? John Gilpin should be read for its fresh, beguiling humor For selections, see Bronson,' III., 310-329; Ward, III., 422–485, Century, 470-479; Manly, I., 285–294. Burns. Read The Cotter's Saturday Night, For a' That and a' That, To a Mouse, Highland Mary, To Mary in Heaven, Farewell to Nancy, I Love My Jean, A Red, Red Rose. The teacher should read to the class parts of Tam o' Shanter. The Globe edition contains the complete poems of Burns with Glossary. Inexpensive editions may be found in Cassell's National Library, Everyman's Library, and Canterbury Poets. For selections, see Bronson, III., 338-385; Ward, III., 512-571; Century, 490-502; Manly, I., 309–326; Oxford, 492–506. In what ways do the first three poems mentioned above show Burns's sympathy with democracy? Quote some of Burns's fine descriptions of nature and describe the manner in which he treats nature. How does he rank as a writer of love songs? What qualities in his poems have touched so many hearts? Compare his poetry with that of Dryden, Pope, and Shakespeare. Scott. Read The Lady of the Lake, Canto III., stanzas iii.-xxv., or Marmion, Canto VI., stanzas xiii.-xxvii. (American Book Company's Eclectic English Classics, Cassell's National Library, or Everyman's Library.) Read in Craik, V., "The Gypsy's Curse" (Guy Mannering), pp. 14-17, "The Death of Madge Wildfire" (Heart of Middlothian), pp. 30-35, and "The Grand Master of the Templars " (Ivanhoe), pp. 3742. The student should put on his list for reading at his leisure: Guy Mannering, Old Mortality, Ivanhoe, Kenilworth, and The Talisman. 1 For full titles, see p. 6. |