Middletown transcript., 1897-03-06
ALEXIS I. DU POINT SCHOOL BUILDING.

Norman words are to be found. Even the
old poetic tradition remains the same; the
alliterative metre of the earlier verse is
only slightly affected by rhyme. the smiles
are the few natural smiles of Caedmon
the battles are painted with the same rough
simple joy"
| From Beda to the beginning Of the four
teenth century, nearly all literature had
been furnished by the clergy and the monks.
The Church had become almost tyrannical,
and its officers were accused of many
heinous crimes. Court influences and
church tyranny were repulsive to the COM
mon people These wrongs finally aroused
the English, and those who formally had
remained on their farms at their labor be-
gan to iwork themselves into Parliament.
The Great Charter, which King John was
compelled to sign at Runnemede, was the
first great result. State matters began to
| improve; but it was not until John Wyclif
entered upon his noble and brilliant career
that the corruption of the Church received
check. Like Luther who later on was to
weld the dialects of Germany into noble.
national Language in his excellent transla-
ton of the entire Scriptures, Wyclif gave to
the people of Wessex and Sussex, and all
other "sexes" of England complete trans
lation of the Vulgate Bible. This work and
his tracts have gained for him the name Of
the father of later English prose. Along
with him is to be classed William Lang
land, author of "Piers Plowman," noble
satire on the vices of almost every profess
sion, the corrupt clergy and superstition.
He made use of ALTERATION in his versifca-
tion, land preferred the style of the Anglo
Saxon poets to the rising and rapid i'm
provement in the English language.
Edward the Third was an illustrious
patron Of chivalry. His court was one Of
great brillianey. Everything was rich and
everybody was jolly. Even the ladies of
noble families Joined in the fun-making
and lovs-making too. These sweet crea-
lures wore Mosques through which they
made "big eyes" at some body else's hus-
band. The poet of this age was Chaucer,
who knew all the "fads" of this fastidious
court He was a man Of the world. He is
said to be the father Of later English verse,
as well as the first English poet who wrote
POLITICALLY. He was broad, intelligent
man, who was the first writer to delineate
character in mastery way. In this he is
second to none before Shakespeare. he
said he could not do anything with alliter-
alton; but he wrote beautiful smooth verse
adopting whatever he found suitable and
available from the Anglo-Saxon, Italian and
French He introduced into the English
the heroic couplet from the Italian. Like
Longfellow, he possessed that happy faculty
of absorbing and assim ilating the beauty
and grandeur from the writings Of other
authors, and of reproducing them in his
own peculiar way. From the great Italian
poet Boccaccio, he drank deepest, and from
that language he was able to enrich ours,
which seventy years before had appeared
as abarbarian dialect in the mouth of
Robert of Gloucester.
Warton says, sIf Chaucer had not ex-
listed, the compositions of ohm Cover the
next poet in succession, would alone have
been sufficient to rescue the reigns Of Ed
ward the Third and Richard the Second
rom the imputation Of barbarism."
Cover, like Chaucer, tried to establish an
English style and reform its irregularities.
After writing his Contests AnsGntts, at
the request of King Richard the Second to
book some new thing, he wrote on science.
To his credit he was moral and sober man,
John Lydgate follows in the reign of
Henry the Sixth. He was not only poet
and rhetorician, but geometrician, an
astronomer, theologist and a disputant
and good scholar. He had enlarged his
knowledge by travels in France and Italy,
and could write on any theme. Lydgate
and Cover can scarcely be compared with
Chaucer. One critic says, 'sMost of the
poets that Immediately succeed Chaucer
seem rather relapsing into barbarism, than
availing themselves of those striking orna-
ments which his judgment and imagination
had disclosed"
As the steam engine has been of grea
value to commerce, so has the invention of
countries and nations. The art of printing
was introduced into England by Caxton, in
1477. This made more books, and conse-
quently more readers, not only at home but |
abroad. Books came before men all oyer
Europe Caxton, besides being printer,
was a'poet and critic of fair judgment
From the list of books he published we
learn the tastes of his readers. prof |
Craik enumerates forty-five works, which |
comprise all Cations more important typo
graphical performances. OF these, thirteen |
are religious and devotional, twelve are
works Of romance and chivalry or other
prose fiction. seven are historical or legal |
works, five are English versions Of classical |
authors, five hand books or didactic works,
and three editions, of English poets-l
Cover and Lydgate..' 4
About the middle of the sixteenth CEN
tury English began to be cultivated. Roger
Ascham published his "Toxophilusn II
English, and said: He that will write well
in any tongue, must follow this counselI Of
Aristotle to speake as the common people
do. to thlnke as wise men do.n Thomas
Wilson followed with system Of Logic
and Rhetoric, both in English. It may be
considered the FIRST work on criticism in our
language.
In the sixteenth century, classical learn
ing revived. The Earl Of Surrey wrote
pretty sonnets, and was the first polite
writer of love verses. In translation Of
two books of Virgil, he made use of blank
verse. the first time it had ever been used
in The English. Warton says; Surrey. for
his business Of thought, correctness of
style, and purity of expression, may justly
be pronounced the first English classical
poetn As a sonnet writer. Surrey was far
superior to Wyatt who excelIed him in
moral poetry.
Before the sixteenth century what had
been written was intended principally to be
read and not acted. We now have The
drama and the theatre. The theatre pro-
baby had It's origin In the fairs that were
held in The eighth century. Atthess fairs,
had besides their wares which