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 ofPart II, and refer not only to them but to theIndexfor 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.
ornate line separator between authors
(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," probablyreminiscent 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.
(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.
(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. 70of 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. Thepetty 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 playerThat stands and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more." ("Macbeth")
"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat stands and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more." ("Macbeth")
"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.
(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, orvice 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.