A History of English Literature | Page 6

(5) Satiric; and (6) Didactic.
Highly important in poetry is Rhythm, but the word means merely
'flow,' so that rhythm belongs to prose as well as to poetry. Good
rhythm is merely a pleasing succession of sounds. Meter, the
distinguishing formal mark of poetry and all verse, is merely rhythm
which is regular in certain fundamental respects, roughly speaking is
rhythm in which the recurrence of stressed syllables or of feet with
definite time-values is regular. There is no proper connection either in
spelling or in meaning between rhythm and rime (which is generally
misspelled 'rhyme'). The adjective derived from 'rhythm' is 'rhythmical';
there is no adjective from 'rime' except 'rimed.' The word 'verse' in its
general sense includes all writing in meter. Poetry is that verse which
has real literary merit. In a very different and narrower sense 'verse'
means 'line' (never properly 'stanza').
CLASSICISM AND ROMANTICISM. Two of the most important
contrasting tendencies of style in the general sense are Classicism and
Romanticism. Classicism means those qualities which are most
characteristic of the best literature of Greece and Rome. It is in fact
partly identical with Idealism. It aims to express the inner truth or
central principles of things, without anxiety for minor details, and it is
by nature largely intellectual in quality, though not by any means to the

exclusion of emotion. In outward form, therefore, it insists on correct
structure, restraint, careful finish and avoidance of all excess. 'Paradise
Lost,' Arnold's 'Sohrab and Rustum,' and Addison's essays are modern
examples. Romanticism, which in general prevails in modern literature,
lays most emphasis on independence and fulness of expression and on
strong emotion, and it may be comparatively careless of form. The
Classical style has well been called sculpturesque, the Romantic
picturesque. The virtues of the Classical are exquisiteness and incisive
significance; of the Romantic, richness and splendor. The dangers of
the Classical are coldness and formality; of the Romantic,
over-luxuriance, formlessness and excess of emotion. [Footnote: All
these matters, here merely suggested, are fully discussed in the present
author's 'Principles of Composition and Literature.' (The A. S. Barnes
Co.)]

A TABULAR VIEW OF ENGLISH LITERATURE

I. The Britons and the Anglo-Saxon Period, from the beginning to the
Norman Conquest in 1066 A. D. A. The Britons, before and during the
Roman occupation, to the fifth century. B. Anglo-Saxon Poetry, on the
Continent in prehistoric times before the migration to England, and in
England especially during the Northumbrian Period, seventh and eighth
centuries A. D. Ballads, 'Beowulf,' Caedmon, Bede (Latin prose),
Cynewulf. C. Anglo-Saxon Prose, of the West Saxon Period, tenth and
eleventh centuries, beginning with King Alfred, 871-901. The
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. II. The Norman-French, Period, 1066 to about
1350. Literature in Latin, French, and English. Many different forms,
both religious and secular, including the religious drama. The Metrical
Romances, including the Arthurian Cycle. Geoffrey of Monmouth,
'Historia Regum Britanniae' (Latin), about 1136. Wace, 'Brut' (French),
about 1155. Laghamon, 'Brut' (English), about 1200. III. The End of
the Middle Ages, about 1350 to about 1500. The Hundred Years' War.
'Sir John Mandeyille's' 'Voyage.' Chaucer, 1338-1400. John Gower.
'The Vision Concerning Piers the Plowman.' Wiclif and the Lollard
Bible, about 1380. Popular Ballads. The War of the Roses. Malory's

'Morte Darthur,' finished 1467. Caxton and the printing press, 1476.
Morality Plays and Interludes. IV. The Renaissance and the Elizabethan
Period, about 1500 to 1603. Great discoveries and activity, both
intellectual and physical. Influence of Italy. The Reformation. Henry
VIII, 1509-47. Edward VI, to 1553. Mary, to 1558. Elizabeth,
1558-1603. Defeat of the Armada, 1588. Sir Thomas More, 'Utopia.'
Tyndale's New Testament and other translations of the Bible. Wyatt
and Surrey, about 1540. Prose Fiction. Lyly's 'Euphues,' 1578. Sidney's
'Arcadia.' Spenser, 1552-1599. 'The Shepherd's Calendar,' 1579. 'The
Faerie Queene,' 1590 and later. Lyric poetry, including sonnet
sequences. John Donne. The Drama. Classical and native influences.
Lyly, Peele, Greene, Marlowe. Shakspere, 1564-1616. Ben Jonson and
other dramatists. V. The Seventeenth Century, 1603-1660. The First
Stuart Kings, James I (to 1625) and Charles I. Cavaliers and Puritans.
The Civil War and the Commonwealth. Cromwell. The Drama, to 1642.
Francis Bacon. The King James Bible, 1611. Lyric Poets. Herrick. The
'Metaphysical' religious poets--Herbert, Crashaw, and Vaughan.
Cavalier and Puritan poets. Milton, 1608-1674. John Bunyan, 'Pilgrim's
Progress.' 1678.
VI. The Restoration Period, from the Restoration of Charles II in 1660
to the death of Dryden in 1700. Charles II, 1660-1685. James II, 1685
to the Revolution in 1688. William and Mary, 1688-1702. Butler's
'Hudibras.' Pepys' 'Diary.' The Restoration Drama. Dryden, 1631-1700.
VII. The Eighteenth Century. Queen Anne, 1702-1715. The four
Georges, 1715-1830.
PSEUDO-CLASSIC LITERATURE. Swift, 1667-1745. Addison,
1672-1719. Steele, 1672-1729. Pope, 1688-1744. Johnson, 1709-1784.
THE LATER PROSE. Burke, 1729-1797. Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall,'
1776-1788. Boswell, 'Life of Johnson,' 1791.
THE NOVEL. 'Sir Roger de