English Literature
to a land, exquisite beyond all words, where he comes suddenly upon a
stream that he cannot cross. As he wanders along the bank, seeking in vain
for a ford, a marvel rises before his eyes, a crystal cliff, and seated
beneath it a little maiden who raises a happy, shining face,--the face of
his little Margaret.
More then me lyste my drede aros,
I stod full stylle and dorste not calle;
Wyth yghen open and mouth ful clos,
I stod as hende as hawk in halle.
He dares not speak for fear of breaking the spell; but sweet as a lily she
comes down the crystal stream's bank to meet and speak with him, and tell
him of the happy life of heaven and how to live to be worthy of it. In his
joy he listens, forgetting all his grief; then the heart of the man cries
out for its own, and he struggles to cross the stream to join her. In the
struggle the dream vanishes; he wakens to find his eyes wet and his head on
the little mound that marks the spot where his heart is buried.
From the ideals of these three poems, and from peculiarities of style and
meter, it is probable that their author wrote also _Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight_. If so, the unknown author is the one genius of the age whose
poetry of itself has power to interest us, and who stands between Cynewulf
and Chaucer as a worthy follower of the one and forerunner of the other.
MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE OF THE NORMAN PERIOD. It is well-nigh impossible
to classify the remaining literature of this period, and very little of it
is now read, except by advanced students. Those interested in the
development of "transition" English will find in _the Ancren Riwle_, i.e.
"Rule of the Anchoresses" (_c_. 1225), the most beautiful bit of old
English prose ever written. It is a book of excellent religious advice and
comfort, written for three ladies who wished to live a religious life,
without, however, becoming nuns or entering any religious orders. The
author was Bishop Poore of Salisbury, according to Morton, who first edited
this old classic in 1853. Orm's _Ormulum_, written soon after the _Brut_,
is a paraphrase of the gospel lessons for the year, somewhat after the
manner of Cædmon's _Paraphrase_, but without any of Cædmon's poetic fire
and originality. _Cursor Mundi_ (_c_. 1320) is a very long poem which makes
a kind of metrical romance out of Bible history and shows the whole dealing
of God with man from Creation to Domesday. It is interesting as showing a
parallel to the cycles of miracle plays, which attempt to cover the same
vast ground. They were forming in this age; but we will study them later,
when we try to understand the rise of the drama in England.
Besides these greater works, an enormous number of fables and satires
appeared in this age, copied or translated from the French, like the
metrical romances. The most famous of these are "The Owl and the
Nightingale,"--a long debate between the two birds, one representing the
gay side of life, the other the sterner side of law and morals,--and "Land
of Cockaygne," i.e. "Luxury Land," a keen satire on monks and monastic
religion.[57]
While most of the literature of the time was a copy of the French and was
intended only for the upper classes, here and there were singers who made
ballads for the common people; and these, next to the metrical romances,
are the most interesting and significant of all the works of the Norman
period. On account of its obscure origin and its oral transmission, the
ballad is always the most difficult of literary subjects.[58] We make here
only three suggestions, which may well be borne in mind: that ballads were
produced continually in England from Anglo-Saxon times until the
seventeenth century; that for centuries they were the only really popular
literature; and that in the ballads alone one is able to understand the
common people. Read, for instance, the ballads of the "merrie greenwood
men," which gradually collected into the _Geste of Robin Hood_, and you
will understand better, perhaps, than from reading many histories what the
common people of England felt and thought while their lords and masters
were busy with impossible metrical romances.
In these songs speaks the heart of the English folk. There is lawlessness
indeed; but this seems justified by the oppression of the times and by the
barbarous severity of the game laws. An intense hatred of shams and
injustice lurks in every song; but the hatred is saved from bitterness by
the humor with which captives, especially rich churchmen, are solemnly
lectured by the bandits, while they squirm at sight of devilish tortures
prepared before their eyes in order to make them give up their golden
purses; and the scene generally ends in a bit of wild horse-play. There is
fighting enough, and ambush and sudden death lurk at every turn of the
lonely roads; but there is also a rough, honest chivalry for women, and a
generous sharing of plunder with the poor and needy. All literature is but
a dream expressed, and "Robin Hood" is the dream of an ignorant and
oppressed but essentially noble people, struggling and determined to be
free.
Far more poetical than the ballads, and more interesting even than the
romances, are the little lyrics of the period,--those tears and smiles of
long ago that crystallized into poems, to tell us that the hearts of men
are alike in all ages. Of these, the best known are the "Luve Ron" (love
rune or letter) of Thomas de Hales _(c_. 1250); "Springtime" _(c_. 1300),
beginning "Lenten (spring) ys come with luve to toune"; and the melodious
love song "Alysoun," written at the end of the thirteenth century by some
unknown poet who heralds the coming of Chaucer:
Bytuene Mersh and Averil,
When spray biginneth to springe
The lutel foul[59] hath hire wyl
On hyre lud[60] to synge.
Ich libbe[61] in love longinge
For semlokest[62] of all thinge.
She may me blisse bringe;
Icham[63] in hire baundoun.[64]
An hendy hap ichabbe yhent,[65]
Ichot[66] from hevene it is me sent,
From alle wymmen mi love is lent[67]
And lyht[68] on Alysoun.
SUMMARY OF THE NORMAN PERIOD. The Normans were originally a hardy race of
sea rovers inhabiting Scandinavia. In the tenth century they conquered a
part of northern France, which is still called Normandy, and rapidly
adopted French civilization and the French language. Their conquest of
Anglo-Saxon England under William, Duke of Normandy, began with the battle
of Hastings in 1066. The literature which they brought to England is
remarkable for its bright, romantic tales of love and adventure, in marked
contrast with the strength and somberness of Anglo-Saxon poetry. During the
three centuries following Hastings, Normans and Saxons gradually united.
The Anglo-Saxon speech simplified itself by dropping most of its Teutonic
inflections, absorbed eventually a large part of the French vocabulary, and
became our English language. English literature is also a combination of
French and Saxon elements. The three chief effects of the conquest were
_(1)_ the bringing of Roman civilization to England; _(2)_ the growth of
nationality, i.e. a strong centralized government, instead of the loose
union of Saxon tribes; _(3)_ the new language and literature, which were
proclaimed in Chaucer.
At first the new literature was remarkably varied, but of small intrinsic
worth; and very little of it is now read. In our study we have noted: (1)
Geoffrey's History, which is valuable as a source book of literature, since
it contains the native Celtic legends of Arthur. (2) The work of the French
writers, who made the Arthurian legends popular. (3) Riming Chronicles,
i.e. history in doggerel verse, like Layamon's _Brut_. (4) Metrical
Romances, or tales in verse. These were numerous, and of four classes: (a)
the Matter of France, tales centering about Charlemagne and his peers,
chief of which is the Chanson de Roland; (b) Matter of Greece and Rome, an
endless series of fabulous tales about Alexander, and about the Fall of
Troy; (c) Matter of England, stories of Bevis of Hampton, Guy of Warwick,
Robin Hood, etc.; (d) Matter of Britain, tales having for their heroes
Arthur and his knights of the Round Table. The best of these romances is
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. (5) Miscellaneous literature,--the Ancren
Riwle, our best piece of early English prose; Orm's Ormulum; Cursor Mundi,
with its suggestive parallel to the Miracle plays; and ballads, like King
Horn and the Robin Hood songs, which were the only poetry of the common
people.
SELECTIONS FOR READING. For advanced students, and as a study of language,
a few selections as given in Manly's English Poetry and in Manly's English
Prose; or selections from the Ormulum, Brut, Ancren Riwle, and King Horn,
etc., in Morris and Skeat's Specimens of Early English. The ordinary
student will get a better idea of the literature of the period by using the
following: Sir Gawain, modernized by J. L. Weston, in Arthurian Romances
Series (Nutt); The Nun's Rule (Ancren Riwle), modern version by J. Morton,
in King's Classics; Aucassin and Nicolete, translated by A. Lang (Crowell &
Co.); Tristan and Iseult, in Arthurian Romances; Evans's The High History
of the Holy Grail, in Temple Classics; The Pearl, various modern versions
in prose and verse; one of the best is Jewett's metrical version (Crowell &
Co.); The Song of Roland, in King's Classics, and in Riverside Literature
Series; Evans's translation of Geoffrey's History, in Temple Classics;
Guest's The Mabinogion, in Everyman's Library, or S. Lanier's Boy's
Mabinogion (i.e. Welsh fairy tales and romances); Selected Ballads, in
Athenæum Press Series, and in Pocket Classics; Gayley and Flaherty's Poetry
of the People; Bates's A Ballad Book.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.[69]
_HISTORY. Text-book_, Montgomery, pp. 58-86, or Cheyney, pp. 88-144. For
fuller treatment, Green, ch. 2; Traill; Gardiner, etc. Jewett's Story of
the Normans (Stories of the Nations Series); Freeman's Short History of the
Norman Conquest; Hutton's King and Baronage (Oxford Manuals of English
History).
_LITERATURE. General Works_. Jusserand; Ten Brink; Mitchell, vol. I, From
Celt to Tudor; The Cambridge History of English Literature.
_Special Works_. Schofield's English Literature from the Norman Conquest to
Chaucer; Lewis's Beginnings of English Literature; Ker's Epic and Romance;
Saintsbury's The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory; Newell's
King Arthur and the Round Table; Maynadier, The Arthur of the English
Poets; Rhys's Studies in the Arthurian Legends.
_Ballads_. Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads; Gummere's Old
English Ballads (one volume); Hazlitt's Early Popular Poetry of England;
Gayley and Flaherty's Poetry of the People; Percy's Reliques of Ancient
English Poetry, in Everyman's Library.
_Texts, Translations, etc_. Morris and Skeat's Specimens of Early English;
Morris's Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, in Early English Text Series;
Madden's Layamon's Brut, text and translation (a standard work, but rare);
The Pearl, text and translation, by Gollancz; the same poem, prose version,
by Osgood, metrical versions by Jewett, Weir Mitchell, and Mead; Geoffrey's
History, translation, in Giles's Six Old English Chronicles (Bohn's
Antiquarian Library); Morley's Early English Prose Romances; Joyce's Old
Celtic Romances; Guest's The Mabinogion; Lanier's Boy's Mabinogion;
Arthurian Romances Series (translations). The Belles Lettres Series, sec. 2
(announced), will contain the texts of a large number of works of this
period, with notes and introductions.
_Language_. Marsh's Lectures on the English Language; Bradley's Making of
English; Lounsbury's History of the English Language; Emerson's Brief