Brief History of English and American Literature

Brief History of English and
American
by Henry A. Beers, et
al

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Literature, by Henry A. Beers, et al
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Title: Brief History of English and American Literature
Author: Henry A. Beers

Release Date: April 15, 2007 [eBook #21090]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRIEF
HISTORY OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE***
E-text prepared by Al Haines

Transcriber's note:
The volume from which this e-book was prepared contains two of
Beers' books, "An Outline Sketch of English Literature" and "An
Outline Sketch of American Literature," which start on pages 7 and 317,
respectively.
Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers enclosed in curly
braces, e.g. {99}, to facilitate use of the index. They have been located
where page breaks occurred in the original book. For its Index, a page
number has been placed only at the start of that section.

BRIEF HISTORY OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE
by
HENRY A. BEERS
Introduction and Supplementary Chapters on the Religious and
Theological Literature of Great Britain and the United States
by
John Fletcher Hurst

New York: Eaton & Mains Cincinnati: Jennings & Pye
Copyright, 1886, 1887, by Phillips & Hunt New York Copyright, 1897,
by Eaton & Mains New York

{3}
INTRODUCTION.

At the request of the publishers the undersigned has prepared this
Introduction and two Supplementary Chapters on the Religious and
Theological Literature of Great Britain and the United States. To the
preacher in his preparation for the pulpit, and also to the general reader
and student of religious history, the pursuit of the study of literature is a
necessity. The sermon itself is a part of literature, must have its literary
finish and proportions, and should give ample proof of a familiarity
with the masterpieces of the English tongue.
The world of letters presents to even the casual reader a rich and varied
profusion of fascinating and luscious fruit. But to the earnest student
who explores with thorough research and sympathetic mind the
intellectual products of countries and times other than his own, the
infinite variety, so strikingly apparent to the superficial observer,
resolves itself into a beautiful and harmonious unity. Literature is the
record of the struggles and aspirations of man in the boundless universe
of thought. As in physics the correlation and conservation of force bind
all the material sciences together into one, so in the world of intellect
all the diverse departments of mental life and action find their common
bond in literature. Even the {4} signs and formulas of the
mathematician and the chemist are but abbreviated forms of
writing--the stenography of those exact sciences. The simple chronicles
of the annalist, the flowing verses of the poet, clothing his thought with
winged words, the abstruse propositions of the philosopher, the smiting
protests of the bold reformer, either in Church or State, the impassioned
appeal of the advocate at the bar of justice, the argument of the
legislator on behalf of his measures, the very cry of inarticulate pain of
those who suffer under the oppression of cruelty, all have their
literature.
The minister of the Gospel, whose mission is to man in his highest and
holiest relations, must know the best that human thought has produced
if he would successfully reach and influence the thoughtful and
inquiring. Perhaps our best service here will be to suggest a method of
pursuing a course of study in literature, both English and American.
The following work of Professor Beers touches but lightly and scarcely
more than opens these broad and inviting fields, which are ever

growing richer and more fascinating. While man continues to think he
will weave the fabric of the mental loom into infinitely varied and
beautiful designs.
In the general outlines of a plan of literary study which is to cover the
entire history of English and American literature, the following
directions, it is hoped, will be of value.
1. Fix the great landmarks, the general periods--each {5} marked by
some towering leader, around whom other contemporary writers may
be grouped. In Great Britain the several and successive periods might
thus be well designated by such authors as Geoffrey Chaucer or John
Wiclif, Thomas More or Henry Howard, Edmund Spenser or Sir Walter
Raleigh, William Shakspere or Francis Bacon, John Milton or Jeremy
Taylor, John Dryden or John Locke, Joseph Addison or Joseph Butler,
Samuel Johnson or Oliver Goldsmith, William Cowper or John Wesley,
Walter Scott or Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth or