(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 devotedhis 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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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 appearanceof 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 himselfstrictly 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 thoughtsUpon a palace-wall for Rome to see"
"When the young man was flaming out his thoughtsUpon a palace-wall for Rome to see"
"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 scrubGoes up and down our Florence, none cares how,Who, were he set to plan and executeAs you are, pricked on by your popes and kings,Would bring the sweat into that brow of yours!"
"Friend, there's a certain sorry little scrubGoes up and down our Florence, none cares how,Who, were he set to plan and executeAs you are, pricked on by your popes and kings,Would bring the sweat into that brow of yours!"
"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.