The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1877-12-06
ENGLISH Literature.
[ Lectures Delivered Be
fore z classin E!n,ggsh 4
- literature, ar~or-s@
Ellington, by the
Editor Of the
Advance.
d. MISUNDERSTANDING ERA
CHAUCER. 1927
LICTU7K2~I.

~.. MISUNDERSTANDING:
CHAUCER.
In the brief course Of Lectures on
English Literature contemplated, we
cannot pretend to thoroughness. We
have neither the time nor the facilities
for complete course, and we must
draw largely upon memory and use the
books at hand. AS a textbook, we
shall use Shaw's Manual of English
Literature, since his is probably the
most: condensed and comprehensive
work of the kind now in use. In this
course we can expect to do no more
than to f;,miliarize our minds with the
dates or periods, the several schools and
the leading authors with all estimate of
their works. =
LANGUAGE.
A course upon the literature of any
language is necessarily, to great ex.
tent, history and an estimate of the
language in which that literature is ex-
pressed. If we had the time, we might
open the. course with three lectures, one
upon language in general; another upon
English Prose and third upon Eng
lish Poetry.
The history of language, further
more, is, to Il great extent, the history
of the race which speaks the language
So true is this, that philologists often
settle disputed points of history by the
language Of ancient races. The origin
of races may be found by tracing the
language, so that where the languages
of two races are similar, or have the
same root, we may conclude that the
races sprung from y common stock
AS an extreme illustration of this, we
may note the fact that some claim I.
common origin for the Mountain In
dams of California and the Chinese, for
it is said that when a Mountain Indian
and aChinaman meet, they can carry
Oh a rude conversation, us many CT the
words used have the same meaning in
both languages.
WHAT IS LANGUAGE?
A brief and comprehensive definition
of language would he, A Means of Ex-
pressing Thought. Thus, whether by
sounds, or signs, or touch, thought is
expressed, it is all by language, although
the common meaning Of the term is,
Expression by Oral Sounds, which
sounds, in written language, are repre-.
sented by certain signs.
NATURAL LANGUAGE.
1t will be seen at once, when atten-
ton is called to the fact, that there
must be natural or universal Ian.
guage. Otherwise, men could never
understand each other long enough to
agree that certain sounds or signs
should represent certain ideas. Uni.
versally, then, natural language is I'M.
derstood by men. Expressions OF
anger, love, fear, hate, etc., are under
stood by civilized and savage races alike
and also by the lower animals. The
infant cries at an angry look or answers
Il smile with smile. This natural Ian
guage is the four dation of all arbitrar,
language.
GODS LANGUAGE.
Nature is often called language
God does not speak to us with the Ian
guage Of the tongue: but His thoughts
or ideas are expressed by Nature or by
His works. Hence, there are those who
claim that nature was made to he Ian
guage and that, in his original state
man understood this language clearly
BY sill, the clear understanding Of this
language was lost, and man was driver
to all arbitrary language to express lis
| thoughts, and the loss of this Original
language is what ismeant by the confu
sion of tongue at the Tower of Babel
Thus, it is said, sky represents truth
sun represents love, sea represent:
knowledge, birds represent thoughts
etc. AID it is claimed that with ;
knowledge of this language, we can un
derstand the interior or spiritual mean
ing of the Bible, which is written in til,
language Of God. This much of Ian
guage in general.
LITERATURE.
The word Literature, in its wides
sense, means the written thoughts O
men, or the whole collective body O
written productions. In the more lin
tied and ordinary sense, it means tn
written compositions of Il language, ex
Guiding the positive sciences. TIL
word is used as Synonymous with Let
ters, the meaning Of which is Learnin:
or Eruditi0n. Letters, III another sense
means the alphabetical characters o
which words are formed. The origin
of letters, or alphabetical characters
seems to be still in dispute, but tn,
weight of authority seems to be in ia
y0r OF their having originated in Egypt
The Phoenicians, however, general,
receive the credit of having given al
phabetical characters to the world. j
they did not originate them. JOIN
Quincy Adams, III his admirable Let
tiers to his Son, mentions us an accepte,
fact the view that letters came out O
Egypt and says that, if a discovery o
man. it is the most wonderful discov
cry ever made by the human race. Pla
to said that letters we're either the dis
covery OF a god or of man divinely in
spired.
For my own part, Ihave long though
that letters were revealed for the pul
pose of writing the Bible. and were pre-
pared for the pen Of Moses when lie wa
called to receive the law and the sacre,
oracles and to put them on record 70
mankind. 1t is claimed that the fiv
books of Moses were the first book
written and that they are the oldes
books extant. So also I think that tn
, primary object of giving the art o
printing to the world was to print Il,
Bible, and til JUS to make every man
pocket an ark to contain the Word.-
And it is a striking coincidence at leas
that the first book ever printed was til
: Latin Bible of Gutenberg. For a lon
time after the invention of printing til
Bible was the only book printed, w
shall haye opportunity as we procee
with the course to develop this idea flu
Their and to see what the Bible has bee
to two Of the: great languages, that j:
how the English Bible fixed and estal
p lished the English language and ho,
:, Luther's German, translation did til