Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-03-08
CHAUCER BLAZED THE WAY.
The Influence of the First Great English Poet
Upon Literature-A Scholarly and
Comprehensive Tribute.

The teachers of the Henley School ly-
ceum, under the direction of their pres
ident, Mr.. F. M. Roof, held their regular
meeting on Friday afternoon.
The guest of the circle was Miss Annie
MacIntyre of LIE Grande, Ala.
A discussion of history Omitted States),
based upon the remarks of the commit
tee of fifteen, was led by Miss Norma
Brown of the sixth grade. Miss Brown
also gave a model outline covering 1.-The
discoveries, permanent settlements and
conflicting claims of the colonies lead
ing up to the revolution. The outline
showed careful thought in its prepare
ton, and as 1t was arranged with the OBJ
ject of showing the relation of events,
students would have no cause for not re-
Numbering this period of American his
tory.
Miss Brown was followed by Miss Ma
ME Davis of the seventh grade, who
spoke instructively of such branches as
natural science, vocal music, manual
training, drawing, physical culture, phys
cal geography, general history and liter
ature, outside of the regular course.
While her subject was broad, Miss Davis
was thoroughly prepared upon each
head and gave the teachers many valu-
able suggestions in the method OF pre-
senting them to a class.
The next subject on the programme
was 1.-The Influence of Chaucer's Writ
ings on the English Language, by MISS
jamie Green, also of the seventh grade.
No synopsis of the subject would do the
writer justice, so the following is Miss
Green's excellent paper in full:
CHANGERS Influence on English Language.
To properly appreciate the influence of
Chaucer upon English literature we must
consider its condition at the time he
wrote Norman literature had been i'm
potent to produce anything of merit and
Saxon literature had borne no fruit
TRANSACTIONS and plagiarisms were the
sole products of a long period of literary
effort Such was the condition when
Chaucer, man of education, originality
and genius, appears as the evangel Of the
new tongue.
He was man of the world and of ac-
ton. 1t was a world of chivalry and he
gave expression to its hopes, Its long
ings and it's love. Allied to royalty by
marriage, he had free access to the most
splendid court in Europe, where tour
neys and grand parades were the order
of the day. He was admitted to the
councils of his king, and more than once
was sent on important embassies to for
eign countries, where he received inspi-
ration from personal contact with Pc
trach, Bocassio and Froissart. | shall
not attempt a review of his writings. In
them we find much to condemn and much
to admire.
He has been compared to "a jeweler
with his hands full; pearls and glass
beads. sparkling diamonds and common
agates, black jet and ruby colored. All
that history and Imagination had been
able to gather and fashion during three
centuries in the east, in France, in Wales,
in Province, in Italy; all that had rolled
his way clashed together broken or pol
ished by the stream of centuries and by
the great tumble of human memory. He
holds in his hand, arranges 1t, composes
therefrom long, sparkling ornament
with twenty pendants, a thousand facets,
which, by it's splendor, varieties, con-
trasts, may attract and satisfy the eyes
of those most greedy for amusement and
novelty. He does more. He observes
characters, notes their differences stu
diesEhe conference of their parts. endeav-
ors to bring forward living and distinct
persons-a thing unheard of in his time,
but which the renovators of the sixteenth
century, and first among them Shake
speare, will do afterwards" He was the
prototype of the modern novelist. He
was noted for his exquisite tenderness,
his simplicity of style and his passionate
love for the beauties of nature. He has
left us many bright pictures of wood and
field and brook and stream, and his poet
ry is fragrant with the perfume of 1ow-
ers and musical with the song of birds.
He Is the morning star OF tnSllSn III
erature which preceded the sunrise of the
Eliza bethan era. He enriched and i'm
proved the language by rendering 1t cap
able of the most delicate and vigorous
expression. To properly appreciate what
Chaucer has done for English literature,
we must remember that he lived in an un-
enlightened age and wrote In an undevel-
oped language. 1t was too poor to sup
ply adequate means of expression to the
great thoughts which he conceived and
he became an inventor of words. He was
thus not only the father Of English poet
ry, but the great architect Of the Ei glish
language. Chaucer, Ike Shakesi pare,
was myriad-minded, and while a cdoyist
in a certain sense, WIS truly original.
The thoughts Of others, in the alembic
CT his poetic mind, received new colorng
and shape and pulsated with the spirht
Of his own genius. The writings of
Chaucef were epoch-maklng and world
wide in their influence. No writer before
him and none for nearly 200 years after
can be. compared to him; and, judged by
his influence, in all the tide of time no
greater name has appeared in the literary
armament than that of Godfrey Chaucer.
Ateheir next meeting the circle Will be
led by Miss Alexander, Miss Jessamlne
Roberts and Mrs. ]. A. Nicely. Visitors
xx,tIt he rcIr