The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1853-06-09
Fer the Journal
Sonic thing of English Poetry. prev
OuS tn llOn.

ed with the people who spoke il, into Vale
Cornwall and the remote quarters of th
island; and in its stead was introduced III
tongue Of the Saxons, which was n branch
the Teutonic, the spoken language of the il
habitants of Central Europe before the daw
of history. This Anglo. Saxon, introduce
into England in tn, fifth century, underwer
little change in it, construction, except b
the introduction OF words from the Lat n, al
til the Norman conquest, which took plac
five centuries after it's first establishment.
During this period literature fourished to
much greater extent than the State of civil
ization would have seemed to have induced
1t was mainly cultivated by men belongin
to the religious orders, they having confne
to themselves all the few facilities for it's pur
suit which existed, and some Of them bav
shown that genius of no contemplate cha
racter had been given them. True we hav
but faint tLaceS o! the workings ofthe genit
of that period; but dim glmmerings of its iI
iellectual fires, but enough has come down 4
us TO prove that there were minds in thoi
days OF no mean proportions.
When we measure the intellects of thos
men, we must connect with them the age /
which they lived, placing its rudeness an
want Ut culture beside thei efforts, and rul
these accordingly. The standard OF exec
lence. by which are judged Milton, Cowps
Dr' den. Pope or Young, should not be rapd
for their Judgment; for as each class live n
der different environments of circm.
stances" SO each class demands its own stad-
ard of merit, which should be in proporbn
to the degree of advancement in enlightn-
ment enjoyed by those of each age. he
sixth century is to be clearly pictured in on's
mind, when its poetry is read, as is the eigE-
zenith century with its poetry.
There are names associated with the lite.
ature of that perio between 500 and 100
of which any certain and definite know
ledge is SO limited, that it is now doubtd
whether any such persons ever really existe
or this description is the name of Gilda,
connected with a small history of Britain
written in Latin. He has first been repr-
scented as furnishing at two different period,
more than a century distant from each othe;
then as two different m n of the same naue
living at separate times; then lastly as 10
man at all. n minus is another name of this
age, which has latterly been pronounced Is
belonging TO no actual parsonage.
The first UNIQUE stionable real author oil
note of the age is St. Columbanus, a native
o. Ireland, who wro'e relig Gus treatisrs snC
Latin poetry, and died about els The Latin
tongue was almost invariably used by the
learned OF that time in all their compost
tions, for they despised their native Ian
guage as harsh and barren, aud held the Lat
IN only to be fit for the expression Of though
as was the case at u mucu later time in Eng
llsh literary history, for in the fifteenth an,
sixteenth centuries the best writers used Lat
in almost altogether on account of its ina
gned superiority in strength and beauty.
The first Anc lo-Saxon writer of whom
there are any remains, who composed in hi
vernacular tongue, is Caedmon, a monk
who died about $50. He is described as hav
mere Is marveious story rofu ABOUT tn
manner In which he received the gift
song. 1t Is said That in the first part Of hi
HE ne was more than ordinarily defcien,
not being able To accomplish what was don,
by the humblest OF his compa mons; ,ha
once being in deep sumber, a stranger an
Peared to him and said: "Caedman, sing mt
something" Caedmon replied: 81 know
nothing to sing" "Nay!" said the .tran
ger, "thou hast something to sinp.n ..Wba,
shall sing" said Caedmon. "Sing the ere.
atom" replied the stranger; and Caedmon
sang song, such as was never heard before
ana ever after his lips were like bed OF
roses SO sweet the Poesy that flowed from
hem. He wrote about the fall If man. and
some OF his descriptions are much after the
manner OF Milton, and one passage, where
Satan speaks. commencing:
This narrow place is mostunlike
u ~ other that we formerly knew
nlgh IN Heavens Kingdom,
which my master slowed on me-
though we it, for the all powerful,
May not possess.
Is thought to have had sonetb;no to do :,
ss,uggestin the grand soiloquy of Satan in
PARADISE lost.
a ter Caedmon, there existed a few writ.
ers of inferior note, who bring rs dawn r.
venerable Bede" Bede wrote in nil, n
together, his works consisting of scrin,ur,I
trahsiatIons and commentaries, relipious
tire, t'ses, biographies, &c, amounting in al
TO iorty volumes, the las one being finished
on the DAY OF his death which was IN 735.-
rom Dede until Alfred the Great, (who was
oorn In SiS. and died in 9OD the literature is
maui. !. up OIL comp irativeiy obscure Names
=. urea translated Bede, Esop's Fables, and
.ne rsaims OF David into the Anglo. Saxon
.uneue' FROM him to the Norman invasion,
.oou. century and half, no writer's of dis.
tinction appear
me conquest, by which Norman govern
heht and nobility were imposed upon the
people OF England, brought about also great
coAnges IN their langua e, but such as we're
favorable to the expansion of literature. more
especially of poetry. Much of it's harsbness |
gave way to the softer infections of the
rench' many of its unseemly redurdances
were CUT OIL and grace and polish added to
It's whole construction.
e before the invasion of England by Will
lam, The French had cultivated The noe,;c art
% some consld ,rable extent and with a Good
ieai OF spirit and taste. The LANGUAGE.
@ =. rom It's origin was called Romano, was
l'Vioed In o two great divisions; that of the