The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-08-12
GOLDEN AGES OF LITERATURE


Elizabethan dav is pure and fresh and joy
ous at the beginning In tha poetry OF sid,
ney and sponser: II is glorious with radiant
warmth in the masnlhcent work Of shnkos-
pcare II Is increasingly sad though lovely.
and suffused with tragic crimson at last.
as II Stops to evening In the Jacobean drama.
We must remember that tho E,lizabothau
period lasted really only very short time.
Centuries had dragged their slow length
along with oniv here and Tiers voice lifted
to break ths Stiffness then suddenly. In ths
last quarter Of the sixteenth century. Eng
land burst forth In chorus OF song, We
call the literary period that followed -
Elizabethan age but II does not really coin
eide with the reign OF the great queen. She
had assembled tho throne in 1851 and during
The hrst half OF her reign a hush rested upon
the land
We can not wonder at this when We realize
that men were vet breathless as 1t were with
the shock aud terror OF the experiences in
nicted on the nation in the reign OF Queen
Mary Men whose fathers had perhaps burned
at tho stake were in no mood to chant mad.
rsals, But in the silence OF the first TWEEN.
ty years of Elizabeths reign tho keen OBJ.
server can trace ample signs Of promise
All things Indeed made ready for great
imaginative expansion. Tho foundations OF
tho national power had at last been laid
firm The young nation was at peace within.
lenjoyinE new commercial prosperity,
abroad she was measuring herself in noble
warfare against SPAIN heroic foe.
~
Excited by the still recent discovery OF
new worlds and OF tho classic past men
looked away from tho heavens whereon their
gaze all through the middle ages had been
Fixed, beheld with thrill OF freedom the
horizons OF earth ever widening receding.
beckonlng, and felt themselves. with Puck.
able to clan glrdlc round The earth. A
new temper was arising, a temper OF un-
bounded enthusiasm for human art. beauty
and learning. for human passion and for
human life. Tread softly for we are enter
ing the days of Shakespeare the days OF
snenser also and Of Sir Philip sidney, OF
Bacon and Hooker and Raleigh and Ben
Jonson. the DAYS OF tho sweetest lyrics Eng
land has ever had OF a noble reflective
prose. OF supreme drama.
1t was In the year 1879 that three notable
books were published, 'lpuphuss." quaint
! romance which attempted the unaccustomed
feat OF describing with what tried to be real
ism the experiences of Young gentleman
} OF the day: North's translation of "Piu-
terch's Lives" book on which Shakespeare
was nourshed; and Sponsors lovely series
. of pastoral eologues the Shepherds Calrn-
dar" Tho Elizabethau period OF literature
had begun.
4 \ =
To mark Ns close is less easy We may
take the death OF the queen In 1903 the
wear after that in which Hamlet was acted
Or, and this is more sensible wo may take
tho death OF Shakespeare. in 1916. Or we may
20 on still further for great things continued
to be written during a quarter OF century
more All tho forces. however, which ere
ated the literature OF the renaissance were
well under way before Shakespeare died. after
him thev we're in their decline and no new
method or power manifested itsen TIL the
dying renaissance. tho dominant puritanism
and The promise of tho stately classical re
, action, all met in the work Of Milton.
' From 1879 10 1915 Is less than half a cen
fury but In Significance and beauty II means
r more than all the aGss that had zone before
, And 1t Witnessed complete and profoundly
, interesting literary development in three
clearly marked phases.
The first phase lasted until the publica-
ton Of the first three books of the "E9erie
Queen" in 1880. This is non-dramatic
period, though tho drama is beginning, Sir
Pbilip Sidney and spenser are ltd two char
actorshc men. tho work OF spenser In mar
ticular spans ana sums II ALL The rest OF
the Elizabethan ago is dominated by the
drama. and with the drama it passes through
two distinct moods though we can not put
, our finger on tho exact date when ono mood
, changed into the other.
~
Let us look at the first phase. When fret
the mysterious impulse toward artistic ex-
preston began To stir. men did not take it
, very seriously They toyed with life and
art, poetry and prose They were 'empas-
} stoned" TO use a fine word of Spenser's with
felicity of phrase. They tried countless
literary experiments.
What for Instance. was tho right way OF
writing English verse7 should they COPY the
/ ouantitatiye, unrhymed measures OF the an
clients? Yes. answered for a time some OF
the best critics Absurd though this answer
, appear to US. For the dignity aud beauty
OF classic meters fell fresh on peoples ears.
and OF English models thew had few or none.
SO they set to work solemnly to concoct
hexamcters sapphies, what you william ex-
traordnarv work they made of It. But the
lovely. newborn muse OF English song
laughed at their pedantry and her laughter
rippled through their veins like music. and
! In snto OF themselves they began to sing
these would-be learned poets, Soon they be-
} came intoxicated with tho beauty OF their own
words, They did not approve OF rhyme. but
= rhyme they did with delicate ease and
: abundance They wanted to write solemn
} cumulative verse. and melodies inhnits in
variety and charm rose unbidden to their
lips No lyrical DEVELOPMENT has ever been
seen like that OF the EhzabeChan age
} What caused the whole nation 70 break
forth at once into singingg Who can tenf
Tho more we study tho moro amazed we
grow at tho singing quality that was in tho
Elizabsthan air. inspiring not only great
poets like Sidney and Spenser. but also hosts
Of minor singers unnamed and unknown.
The numerous sntholoSies published during
this period attest the strength OF the lyrical
impulse. Their very names are redoient OF
: fantasy and sweetness Tho Paradise OF
painty Deyices," "A Gorgeous Gallery OF
Gallant Inventions" '.The Phoenixs Nest,
: 1.-THE Passionate Pilgrim. 'England's He'll
con-, "payisons Political Rhapsody. are
> ~ ~ bQv