The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-10-29

and from the purely Teutonic, which
lacks intensity. Thus, while the English
mind has not the ready tact and playful
| wit OF the French, nor the metaphysical
| power Of pure thought of the German.
ii is silent and seif-contained until its
! pent-up energies break through all re-
serve in the great epic or tragedy. This
| typical intensity abounds in those early
Gothic works. The characters are silent
until they exclaim. Here is one of their
war chants as awful as war itself:
| THE army goes forth; the birds sing;
the crickets chirp; the war weapons
sound; the lance clangs against the
shield. Now sninsth the moon wander
| ing under the sky. Now arise deeds OF
woe. They seized with their hands the
| hollow wood Of the shield; they smote
through the bones Of the head. The field
| was covered with the warriors blood.
After that the sun on high, the greatest
star, Gods candle bright, glided over
| the earth and FASTENED TO her setting
There lay soldiers, many with darts
struck down. The screamers Of war
| they left behind the raven 20 enjoy; the
| dismal kite; the black raven with horn
| ed beak, and the inoarse toad. The eagle
afterwards 70 feast or the white flesh,
| the greedy battle hawk and the gray
| wolf in the wood
Passing the promising period Of AL
| fred the Great, the highwater mark Of
| Anglo-Saxon literary culture bu, pos
sessing no original work of any merit,
and emitting the circumstance OF the
| in .ha ~
Brittany the legends OF King Arthur and
| his knights Of the Round Table. which
! SUBJECTS have furnished themes for the
poets down to the present, We will note
an event which modified the tone of En-
glish literature.
1.-THE subjugation CO England by Nor
man France in the eleventh century
had the effect OF modifying English
! character, adding to the rugged vigor
Of the north the culture and polish Of
the south. As a new vocabulary was in
PRODUCED, which ultimately grated in
i the parent vine has borne the richest
foliage Of rhetoric and exotic blossoms
Of expression, so new manners and Gus
toms modified English life. The litera-
ture changed accordingly. Courtly prac-
tees suggested courtly themes TO the
poet VINO would mirror his times
| I'm the intricate network of human
history it is interesting to trace the pro-
gress Of enlightenment, how thought ad-
vances from nation to nation by means
and methods which none could foresee
and which we follow with a feeling OF
awe as if We were stepping in the foot
\ tu n< Sh4 1,,:1 h4, -
| in religious discourse how the Romans
nation at the beginning Of the Christian
era became the one suspicious agency
| in the dissemination Of the Christian doc
| trine. Never before in the worlds his
| tory had there been such an opportune
| time for this great work. Had the
worlds history been shaped from the be-
ginning for this purpose but In such
| enormous proportions as not to be dis
cernible until in after ages? We know
not, We can only speculate. But we do
know that for the spread OF learning,
| for the wonderful intellectual awaken
ing of the fifteenth century, much credit
is due to the apparently unfavorable
circumstance OF the conquering of en-
lightened Constantinople by the heather
Turk. resulting in the expulsion Of the
Greek scholars who, with their manu-
scripts, scattered over and inspired all
Europe.
with the same thought in mind,
when in the ninth century, the barbar-
Gus Norsemen swooped down on cultured
France, who could have predicted tina.
| they were really band OF intellectual
missionaries come down here to attend
school couple OF centuries before pro-
| eeeding on their way to conquer and
! civiliZe their own countrymen who flad
settled in England? This was the work
of Norman France, and after this event
we behold in English literature the in
f1uence of French culture
| Consequently, in the fourteenth cen
fury we find two representatives OF En-
| glish literature, one representing the
classes. the other the masses. Chaucer,
the courtier, and Langland, piers, the
! plowman.
Two principles ruled this age. One
was the qualification Of the senses, the
other the publication OF the heart The
one to revel in exuberant strength and
follow the dictates Of fancy, the other
to be guided soberly by truth and duty.
The one to foster the classes, the other
10 protect the masses, and in what age
since has not the voice of justice called
| forth her own advocate?
| "Langland was the forerunner Of re-
forms in church and state, while Chau-
Ger laughed with the court and flung his
gay. if keen, satires al a corrupt church.
Langland wept with the poor and gloom
! lily bewailed existing injustices.
In the poem, Piers, the Plowman,'
the author represents himself in a
dream IN which he beholds vision OF
the world. This poem is astir with life.
J The great and the small. the rich and
the poor. the learned and the ignorant
jostle each other in true life-like man.
ner. To the dreamer who wonders what
il all may mean appears a lady called
Holy Church, who points 20 a much be-
| jeweled parsonage as the solution OF the
mystery. I; is iucre. 20 whom all. high
| and low. clergy and laity. do homage.
The whole tone OF the poem is one %
| bitter satire agains. prevailing vices, e.
pecially in the church. In is allegorical
| form and figures it reminds one OF Spen-
ser and especially 90 Bunyan. II lacks
the clearness, however. OF the latter, for
the search for truth ends in weil-nigh
| hopslesness. Piers. the Plowman' rep
resents Englanj's pessantry. He also
represents the Savior OF Men if he can
only oe found 10 lead the way 10 truth
This is me poem which wrought SO
/ strongly on mems minds, which prepared
the way for Wyciiff's work. and whose
| Influence was alnos: as great in the