With the 16th century new influences becoate powerful. The revival of classic learning stim ulated English scholars under the leadership of _Gmcyn, Linacre, Colet, cheke. The ideas of the Refoition stirred up clouds of contro versy in which appear the great figures of Tyn dale, Latimer, Coverdale. The spirit of fierce and gloomy satire which infected the whole world is seen in Skelton and Barclay, the former in a number of pieces, the latter in a translation of Brant's 'Ship of Fools) (1508). The spirit of nationality was aroused and More 'Utopia) (1515) and Elyot 'Governour,' (1531) thought deeply on questions of politics. These men wrote not so much for literary reasons as for some particular purpose; later came the impulse of the Renaissance which brought forth in England a wonderful burst of literature, generally included in the age of Elizabeth. Most important was its manifesta tion in the drama. To the mystery plays had succeeded miracle plays, and then moral inter ludes and imitations and translations from Seneca and Terence. By the latter half of the century appeared the first specimens of modern drama, 'Ralph Roister Doister,' by Nicholas Udall (1550) and later called 'Ferrex and Porrex,) by Sackville and Norton (1569). The theatre was built in 1579, the Curtain not long afterward, and in the last decade of the century the Rose, the Globe, the Fortune and others. The theatre of the day de riianded a drama rich in poetry, rhetoric, decla mation and action. The first group of dram atists, Lyly, Peele, Kyd, Greene and greatest of them, Marlowe, were all of necessity experi mentalists. They created the romantic drama, with tragedy, comedy, history, into which Shakespeare poured his inexhaustible stores of imagination, observation and wisdom. His plays are typical of the Elizabethan drama; there is little in the other dramatists that you cannot find in him. Yet there were others of great power. Ben Jonson is usually accorded second place and Beaumont and Fletcher, Mars ton, Middleton, Heywood, Chapman, Massinger, Ford and Shirley, besides others, had each spe cial powers. In time a decline occurred and in 1642 the theatres were closed by order of Par liament and a great dramatic tradition came to an end. One later form deserves special men tion: the masque was originally a form of pri vate theatrical and always remained distinct from the plays presented at the public theatres. It was produced for some special great occa sion and employed all the possibilities of the day in scenery and costume, music and dancing. The words were often written by dramatists of great ability, notably. by Ben Jonson. The most famous and beautiful masque was written at the end of the period, the 'Comus> of John Milton. In lyric poetry as well as to dramatic was the age pre-eminent. In the reign of Henry VIII, Wyatt and Surrey had led the way, though tinder the influence of Italy, and in 1557 appeared Tottel's 'Miscellany,) an anthology which gathered up the verse of preceding years, while some years afterward came another, the 'Paradise of Dainty Delights.) Later collec tions are the 'Bower of Delights' (1591); 'The Phoenix' Nest) (1593) ; 'The Passionate Pilgrim,> (1599); 'England's Helicon,' (1600). Another characteristic production was the sonnet-sequence, of which Sidney's 'Astrophel and Stella) (1591, but written before), is one of the best and earliest examples. Here belong the famous sonnets of Shakespeare, as well as Daniel's 'Delia' (1592), Drryton's 'Idea' (1593), Spenser's (AmorettiJ (1595), among a host of others. One great lyric poet is pre eminent, John Donne, whose poems, written in his earlier years, had immense influence. This form of the lyric is in the imitations fanciful and finespun, but in Donne himself it is alive and wonderful. Last among the lyrics and as important an anything else are the songs. Music had an important place in English life, and where there was so much singing, there had to be good songs. There appeared great numbers, some in the plays and others in song-bobks, of which many still exist. A good many are translations and more are very slight, but Shakespeare's and Jonson's among the dramatists, and Campion's among the song-writers are worthy a high place in any anthology. In the 17th century, while the drama lost power, the lyric sustained itself re markably, though in the hands of fewer artists. They are generally followers along well-known lines in the paths of Spenser, of Jonson, of Donne, but they often produced work quite equal to their masters. The early poems of Milton, the exquisite 'Hesperides) (1647) of Herrick, the courtly and amatory poetry of Carew, Suckling, Lovelace, the religious poetry, passionate and almost sensuous in Crashaw, earnest and devoted in Herbert, these show no failure in power or in genius. One great name in Elizabethan poetry is still to be mentioned, that of Spenser. The 'Amoretti> is as beauti ful as any of the sonnet cycles, the 'Shepherd's Calendar' (1579) was an immense influence for a long time, but his great title to fame is the 'Faerie Queene' (1590-96), a work which in literary form stands a little apart from its time. It is a romantic epic, akin to the Italian poetry of the preceding century, but Spenser's own, in its high idealism, its pictorial quality and its mastery of poetic expression. It had imitations and followers, but none of great merit. It is well-nigh impossible to bring the prose of this period under any series of heads. Poetry always comes first in literary development: in the 16th century prose was commonly written for some practical purpose. It is true there was some growth of style; many men labored at improv ing the vocabulary and elaborating the sen tence-structure and the resources in figure and ornament. Yet there were hardly any well established prose-forms, although the 'Arcadia) (1580-90) of Sidney, the 'Ecclesiastical Polity' (1592-97) of Hooker, the 'Essays) (1597) of Bacon, were each of some influence, especially the last named. Even Lyly's 'Euphues> (1578 79), which was extensively imitated for a dec ade, produced no permanent form. The pamphlet or the tract is the one characteristic Elizabethan production in prose; its master was Tom Nash, who poured forth numbers of these ephemeral pieces, of wonderful vigor and spirit. Of the same sort of prose the succeeding cen tury showed much. The reign of Elizabeth had been a time for Englishmen to get together and establish their position against the world. Hav ing made themselves a place, they turned to put in order their own house; the 17th century is a period of civil strife and contention. Liter ature could not avoid the effect of politics; the disturbance of opinion dragged with it into patical or religious controversy •many who might otherwise have found expression in liter ature. Even Milton for a dozen years wrote chiefly prose. We cannot, therefore, look for a varied and definite literary development. The great work of the century was in prose and the greatest and most influential single monu ment was the King James version of the Bible (1611). The spirit of the Bible is everywhere to be felt in the great prose of the time, trans muted into varying substance in the eloquence of Jeremy Taylor ((Holy Living,' 1650), the quaint richness of Fuller Holy State,' the stately roll of S'r Thomas Browne ((Rel:gio Medici,' 1643), the powerful vigor of Milton's prose— written during the Civil War, to answer in his own way the call of the country— and the intimate simplicity of Bun yan. A few other writers have little tincture of the struggle of the time, Overbury's acters' (1614), Burton's (Anatomy of Melan choly' (1621), Cowley's (Essays' (1656), Wal ton's Angler) (1653), works of a widely different nature, but showing the quiet, contemplative side of the century that was so d:stractcd by controversy. The Civil War oc curred in the very middle of the century and makes a definite bar at least in the poetry of the time. Before it was the Elizabethan age; after it the Restoration. The drama and the lyric before and after are different; even the external form of poetry shows a marked change. At the beginning of the century the verse was free and fluent; at the end it had become concise and brilliant. To the blank verse of Shakespeare succeeded the rhymed couplets of Dryden, organic power giving place to elegant skill. In point of time belonging to both, John Milton in reality belongs to neither. More fully than anybody else he is the repre sentative of Puritanism in literature; its zealous rages, its fanaticisms, its blemishes, its love of liberty and of God give life to his prose tracts on church government, on divorce, on freedom of speech, on the acts of the people: its higher dreams and ideals and aspirations, its unat tained possibilities of beauty in (Paradise Lost' (1667) and his later poems.
With the restoration of Charles II began a new period of literature, often called the classic, most immediately noticeable in the drama. The influence of France in the direction of strictness of classic art and looseness of moral life was strong: added to it was a change in stage condi tions, which allowed the development of scenic effect. A realistic, if not spectacular, char acter, was given to the theatre and the Eliza bethan plays, with all their poetry, fell out of fashion, save in versions of the day. A new set of dramatists sprang up to fulfil the conditions. Dryden was a leader, equally strong in tragedy and comedy and what he called the heroic drama, after French models. Otway had the greatest tragic genius Preserved,' 1682), but could not so well adapt himself to the taste of the age. Congreve, Wycherley, Far quhar and many others wrote comedies depic ting a brilliant social world, but of such gross immorality that Jeremy Collier launched an at tack on the whole theatre (1698). His words had some effect and the drama became more decent, but as it really seems to have been quite representative of the life of the time (not arti ficial as Charles Lamb loved to think of it), the succeeding drama lacked vitality, and for a hun dred years hardly a play was written which is now remembered. Addison's (Cato' (1713), Rowe's (Jane Shore' (1714), Gay's Opera' (1728), Johnson's (1749), Home's (Douglas' (1756), are noteworthy for various reasons, but not as constituting a pow erful drama. It was in other directions that the 18th century was successful and most im mediately in the periodical essay. The example of Bacon had given rise to the essay form; one particular kind called the *character* was espe cially cultivated. The character was like the essay, except that while the essay was usually on some idea, the character was on some per son or kind of person. There was a great num ber of character-books in the 17th century, among the most important ones being those of Overbury and Earle. In this century too come the earliest newspapers. These were generally little more than letters with account of news usually from abroad. The earliest is the 'Coranto' of 1621 of Nathaniel Butters. Be sides Corantos there were (Mercuries,) 'Journals,' By the end of the century the newspaper was a common form. In 1709 Richard Steele published a small paper every other day which he called the Tatter. This was not precisely a newspaper, but con sisted of a series of essays on all sorts of sub jects, sometimes by Steele, sometimes by Addi son, Swift, or a number of others, who lent occasional help to the enterprise. The Tatter was very popular, and was brought to a close only to be continued in the Spectator, in which Addison took the chief part. He took up the idea of Steele and found in it a form of expression exactly suited to his especial powers. His essays were popular in the best sense; they were read with delight by all sorts of people, but they dealt with subjects of intelligent inter est. Addison was a student of human nature, an observer of life and character, a genial philospher, and all these elements of his nature were exhibited in the little essays which he wrote for the Spectator. The success called forth followers. Addison and Steele followed their joint productions with separate publica tions, which were sometimes political as well as literary. Among the many 18th century periodicals should be mentioned the World (1752), by Lord Chesterfield and others; the Rambler (1750) and the Idler (1758), by Samuel Johnson; the Bee (1758), by Gold smith. The influence of this sort of literature abroad was also very great; it continued even to the beginning of the 19th century, when a number of clever young men of New York, Washington Irving among them, joined in the production of Salmagundi One dis tinguishing element in these periodical essays was that of personal character. Some imaginary person was the means by which they were put before the public. The Tatter was edited by Isaac Bickerstaff, the Spectator by a club of the Spectator and others, including the famous Sir Roger de Coverley. This personal element was characteristic of the century, which was extremely sociable and very much interested in human nature. This interest in character for itself is paralleled by an interest in life in ac tion observable in the stories of Defoe. Defoe was a man who lived by his pen (one of the first who had not been connected with the theatre or the court), whose great gift, so far as Lterature was concerned, was his power of representing life. His famous (Robinson Cru (1719) attained inordinate popularity, not only for its adventurous incident, but for its power of realistic story-telling. A little more and these books would have been novels. Addison's 'Sir Roger de Coverley> papers are sketches of life and character without a story. 'Robinson Crusoe> and the many other stories of Defoe have too much action, without atten tion to life and character, in spite of their real ism. These elements were combined by Rich ardson and Fielding: (Pamela' (1741), issa Harlowe' (1748), 'Sir Charles Grandison' (1753), by the former, were extensively read and influenced all Europe; 'Joseph Andrews' (1742), 'Tom Jones' (1749), 'Amelia' (1751), by the latter, are quite as excellent and some what more modern in form. Smollett followed with 'Roderick (1748), 'Peregrine Pickle' (1751), and some others which are a slight variation upon the first of Field ing's. Goldsmith's 'Vicar of Wakefield' (1766) and Miss Burney's 'Evelina> (1778) give us, the one the life of the country and the other of the town, and we have the English novel of domestic life, a form of literature which for a hundred and fifty years has lost and gained but little in essential character. The essay and the novel were new ; such things had been in England before, but never the definite literary understanding necessary to con stitute a true literary form. Meanwhile the older forms of literature were not neglected. There had been no such histories in England before Clarendon's 'History of the Great Re bellion) (1702) and Burnet's 'History of My Own Times' (edited by his son, 1723). These
men wrote of what they had seen; later writers learned to take a larger view and handle larger material. Robertson ( 'Charles V,' 1769), Hume ((History of England,' 1754-61) and Gibbon ((Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,) 1776-88), gave example of the com bination of scholarly research and literary skill. Oratory also flourished in the exciting Parlia mentary struggles which now took the place of court faction. Chatham, Burke, Fox, and many others created a standard and form of elo quence, which yet serves as a model for many speakers and a foundation for more. A special form of oratory becomes important in litera ture; sermons were widely read. Barrow, South, Stillingfleet, Tillotson, published their dis courses in the last half of the 17th century and had many successors in the first half of the 18th. The interest in religion was a part of the gen eral intellectual curiosity of the century; plulos orly also became a part of literature. Locke's 'Essay on the Human Understanding' (1690) was more widely read than any other book of such a kind. Philosophy was discussed by Christian as well as by free-thinkers. Berkeley was the former : his 'Principles of Human Knowledge) (1710) has been of importance in the development of metaphysical ideas. Hume was the latter, so much of a skeptic that his 'Essays' (1746) incited Kant, in Germany, to that profound examination of the human reason that has been the founda tion of modern philosophy. The 18th century was a century of reason and of prose. Prose was first simple, either graceful as in Addi son, nervous in Defoe or everything in turn in the wonderful prose of Dean Swift, an unapproached master of satire as particularly in (Gulliver's Travels) (1726). As the century continued, style became more elaborate, of great dignity and stateliness at its highest points (Gibbon and Burke) and even for ordinary purposes admirably effective as in the best of Johnson. The time was intellectual and loved the things of the intellect; hence its poetry was not such as to satisfy the more emotional periods that came after. It was too obviously didactic or satiric, for one thing. Dryden was the first great master in these directions with the 'Hind and the Panther' (1687), and the (Religio Laici) (1682). In Pope the classic poetry (as it is called) came to perfection; the 'Essay on Criticism' (1711), and the on Man' (1732), the (1728) and the 'Rape of the Lock' (1712), have never been equaled in English for their telling brilliancy. The fol lowers of Pope caught something of his manner, but produced nothing great, save Goldsmith, who infused a charm into this as into every other kind of literature. Dr. Johnson wrote two strong poems, but his chief power lay else where. The minor exemplars of the character istic 18th century poetry are of far less value. Addison as a poet, Garth, Prior in (Solomon' (1718), Young, the author of (Night Thoughts' (1742), Blair in 'The Grave' (1743), even Akenside, the author of 'Pleasures of the Imag ination' (1744), did not all write the character istic couplet, but they are all of the classic school and all wrote that intellectual poetry that now seems so strangely unpoetic. In lighter forms of verse there were more successful prac titioners, Prior and Gay and Swift, but in di dactic and satiric poetry, save in the work of the greatest, the 18th century produced nothing permanent. But during the whole classic century there had existed, in its time had been growing, a feeling for other things than those which the reason could put into brilliant and elegant form. It found expression in various ways, chiefly in love for the medimval past, before the classic conventions had been, and in a feeling for the present wherever those conventions did not ex ist, namely, in nature and in the heart of man. The first feeling came to expression in various ways, often imperfect, as when Thomas Whar ton wrote 'Runic Odes' (1748), when Gray wrote poems inspired by the Norse, 'The Fatal Sisters.) 'The Descent of Odin' (1761), when Sir Horace Walpole imitated Gothic architecture in his house at Strawberry Hill. In 1760 Macpherson published what purported to be translations of Ossian, also (Fingal) (1762) ; 'Temora> (1763), and whether they were genuine or not, the fact that they were read shows the interest that was felt in the remote past. In 1767 Chatterton found that he could gain a public for his poetry by pretending that it had been written by a monk of the 15th cen tury. In 1765 Percy published the 'Reliques of Ancient Poetry,' a collection of old ballads, a kind of literature full of the spirit of the past, and absolutely different from the classic poetry of the day. There had been plenty of ballads printed before, even collections of old ballads Ramsay's 'Tea-Table Miscellany,' 'Evergreen) (1724) ; and they had inspired a few, but now they became an immense influence. In the other direction, love of nature and human sym pathy existed. Thomson's 'Seasons' (1726-30) shows his fresh and charming view of nature, though his use of blank verse and the Spenser ian stanza was more in keeping with earlier times. Gray produced very little poetry, but his best, the famous (Elegy' (1751), has none of the brilliancy and intellectuality which marked the century, and it is noteworthy that in stanza 15, where he originally wrote the classic names of Cato, Tully, Cwsar, he afterward put the national names of Hampden, Milton, Cromwell. Burns was too much of a man to be bound or curbed by fashions, unless more congenial than those of the 18th century. He took inspiration from the ballads and songs of his own country and produced poetry which touched the heart at once. Cowper, though by no means like him, nor apparently of the character of a reformer at all, wrote with a sincere direct ness that seems like that of an earlier or a later time. The turn of the century shows the characteristic works of the Romantic move ment: 'Tintern Abbey) (1798) and 'Michael' (1800), by Wordsworth, may represent the poetry inspired by love of nature and sympathy with man. Coleridge's 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner) (1798), and Scott's (Lay of the Last Minstrel) (1805, preceded by 'Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border) 1802) stand for thc de light in ballads and medivalism. With these fine poems and others only less fine, it is plain that a new form of art had appeared qu'te dif ferent from the classic conventions of the 18th century. The first great excitement of romance was for strange adventure and the glowing life of the Middle Ages. Wordsworth was for the time unread, while the poetry of Scott delighted all. Scott, however, was eclipsed in the popu lar mind by Byron, who really was personally the very thing that Scott and the public ad mired. They longed to hear of men of lofty spirit and recklessness and devotion. Byron was such a man; in 'ChiIde Harold) (1812) he took England out of itself. In the (Giaour,' 'Bride of Abydos,) 'Corsair,) (Lara,) (Para sina) (1813-15), he presented figures full of the romantic spirit. As the century continued, how ever, that spirit expressed itself in all sorts of different ways. Wordsworth presents the com mon delight in nature; Shelley, noble ideas for the regeneration of mankind; Keats, the poveer of beauty. Succeeding poets go in much the same directions. Tennyson is the most rep resentative poet of the century in presenting to us in forms of great poetic beauty all the phases of the thought of the time, religious, scientific, patriotic, literary. Browning gives us a vigorous optimistic conception of life and work, presented in a wonderful series of dra matic figures. Morris, Rossetti, Swinburne (sometimes called Pre-Raphaelites) may be said to follow Keats in their love of beauty. which they seek not only in medimvalism, but through out all history sacred and profane. Matthew Arnold's poetry has classic qualities of style and great elegiac charm of thought, but he rightly saw that his true field lay elsewhere. By the last decade of the 19th century. however, the great poets of the Victorian age were dead or silent and it had for some time been felt that they had left no successors. At about this time there was a strong feeling for realism in poetry as in other forms of literature, and by choice of realistic themes and his realistic manner W. H. Henley became noteworthy. Very different was W. B. Yeats who expressed the craving for some world quite different from current realism. Expressing both of these conunon feelings the poetry of Kipling CBallads) and '13arrack-room Ballads)) met with immediate welcome. It was evidently realistic, but it was also clearly romantic. These two lines of poetic interest and feeling may be seen respectively in John Davidson and Stephen Phillips, and are represented at the beginning of the 20th century by John Masefield and Alfred Noyes. The end of the 19th century had many minor poets, but Francis Thompson by virtue of 'The Hound of Heaven,) will probably have a higher posi tion in the mind of posterity. He had much of the 17th century in his makeup and much of the intense imagination that is generally felt to be the most poetical possession of the poet. In the earlier years of the 20th century there was a great increase of poetic feeling which gradually took more or less definite form in the works of many writers, so that by the 2d decade of the century the *new poetry* was a common phrase. Besides Masefield and Noyes (who was hardly in sympathy with the rest) the chief names that have come to g-eneral knowledge are those of Rupert Brooke (d. 1915) ; James Elroy Fledcer (d. 1915) ; James Walter Delamare, William Davies, Lascelles Abercrombie, James Stephens and D. H. Law rence. The drama has been weak for the whole century, although all the greater poets essayed the form. Only Browning and Tennyson had even temporary success on the stage, while the A-odes of the professional play-writers have without exception failed of a place in literature. By 1890 a new spirit became active. The comedies of Oscar Wilde made a great im pression on the popular mind, by their brilliant dialogue, but the work of Arthur Pinero and Henry Arthur Jones was more representative of the moment in that their effort was usually to deal with the idea of modern social life. The leading spirit in the movement, however, was George Bernard Shaw, who though he began to write plays before 1890 and had some successes as early as 1895, did not seriously Impress people till the beginning of the 20th century. When, however, he did begin to gain considera tion he attracted public attention by his plays which always presented not merely interesting or amusing dramatic situations, but some dis cussion of general social ideas. Other dram atists of importance have beeen James M. Barrie and Grenville Barker, as well as the novelists Bennett and Galsworthy. By 1800 the novel had become a definite form of literature. In the early years of the century Miss Austen, Miss Edgeworth, Miss Fenier produced pic tures of life in England, Ireland and Scotland, respectively, the first of surpassing excellence. A great change was effected by Scott in the Waverley novels (1814-31). It has been pointed out that the lasting power of these novels de pends on their full and vital lcnowledge of Scottish life and character. Scott, at the be ginning, had some idea of doing for Scottish life what Miss Austen had done for English. But the real immediate effect of the Waverley novels was to give an enormous impulse to the romance of adventure and scenery and cos tume, a romance which found its best ex pression in the historical novel. The Waverley novels are great historical novels, though, of course, some have little history in them, and they gave a conception and an inspiration which was not wasted. In 1825 appeared the first works of importance of G. P. It James and of Harrison Ainsworth, who for a quarter of a century achieved a very considerable popularity though they added but little to the possibilities of historical fiction. More powerful than either was Bulwer, whose first work appeared in 1827, and who for 40 years produced not only his torical novels, but novels of every kind, works of great talent, though the judgment of time refuses them genius. At much the same time two other writers somewhat extended the field cf the novel: Marryat, by sea-stories, which remind one of Smollett; Charles Lever, by stories of the army as well as of Irish life. Brilliant historical novels have appeared through the century: Thackeray's < Henry Esmond> (1852), and 'The Virginians) (1857) ; Kings ley's 'Westward Ho' (1855), Dickens' 'A Tale of Two Cities' (1859), Charles Reade's 'The Cloister and the Hearth' (1861). George Eliot's Romola) (1862), Blackmore's 'Lorna Doone' (1869), Shorthouse's 'John Inglesant) (1880), Pater's 'Marius the Epicurean) (1885), Maurice Hewlett's 'Richard Yea and Nay' (1900), con stitute a series of remarkable value. But the great successes of fiction in the middle of the century were made in the long-familiar forms. Charles Dickens had many minor character istics, and so had Thackeray, but their novels, as well as those of George Eliot, are novels of every-day life. In the main these three are realists, striving chiefly to depict the life that they knew and saw about them. So chiefly were those who came after them. The Brontes, George Meredith, Charles Reade, Anthony Trollope, William Black, Thomas Hardy, George Gissing, these are realists also, though in only the last two cases of the consistent type developed by their contemporaries in France. Some of them sought in every-day surround ings the romance of character, like the Brontes; some could perceive the rich spirit of comedy, like Meredith. But none felt the need more than once or twice of straying from the familiar life of England. Toward the end of the cen tury the craving for romance began again: it had never been entirely quieted, but it did not come to full expression till Stevenson and Kipling. Both sought the romance of life and character and of the soul, but both were masters also of adventure and incident and striking cir cumstance and interesting background. Anthony Hope, Stanley Weyman, Conan Doyle, Maurice Hewlett, have in general followed, and in some cases surpassed them. In the last decade of the century appeared several novelists who have since come to be the leading figures of current fiction. Arnold Bennett and H. G. Wells both began with work of an imaginative and even fantastic character, but in different ways turned to something more realistic. Arnold Bennett's 'The Old Wives' Tale> and the books conceived and linked as a series, 'Clay hanger,) 'Hilda Lessways> and 'These Twain,' are careful and thorough presentations of char acter and manners, differing chiefly from the older conceptions of the novel in their recogni tion of the ideas dominating modern life.