Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-04-20
lily be restored by research through
English literature


English literature.
Born In Monastery.
English literature" said DIR. Bar
tholomew, was born in monastery.
Whitly, on the bleak coast of York
shire, has been called the cradle of
English literature. There the great
stream of English literature took its
rise. In Whitly. that ancient seat of
learning and religion, where the man
tie of song mysteriously fell upon
Caedmon. was opened a fountain
whence issued little rilI which, as the
years and centuries went by, widened
and deepened into mighty, majestic
river whose waters have spread over
the face of the globe to the Joy and
edification of the millions. Our liter
ature began with an effort to repro
duce the stories of the bible in the
form of poetry. What it received from
the bible in this initiative it has re-
tanned ever since. In all the subse.
quent epochs of our literary history
the vitalizing efficacy of the sacred
scriptures can be clearly traced. Lit
erature is both an incarnation and a
revelation. AS an incarnation it en-
bodies the thought. the life, the en-
vironment. in short all the formative
forces which have been active in its
production. AS a revelation it trans.
lates these creative forces into forms
of the true, the good, the beautiful.
Two Are Inseparable.
"A masterpiece of literary art is es
teemed great and valuable in proper
ton as 1t embodics. translates and in
terprets the deepest. grandest, divines
things in human life. The particular
truth which | wish to set forth is tina
the thought and history and imagr.
and phraseology of the bible, that tn
essential facts in the lives of tn,
prophets and apostles that the vita
doctrines of the gospel have so EN-
bodied themselves in the literature q
the English language as to be inseI
arabic from it and that PRACTICAL
every element of permanent value );
our great body of literature has bee
derived directly or indirectly from tn
bible. So completely have the teach
ings of the bible gone into the body c
our literature that it can be truthful
Said-if all the copies of the bible i
existence should suddenly be destro.
ed the essential facts and doctrine
1 of the holy scriptures could be n
e stored from the collected words {
, English literature And this is tru
IN, Eoia 1 oil
, but it is profoundly and literally tru'
l The student of literature the NOR
deeply. he looks into the matte
whether from the historical, interpr'
tative or constructive side Of the SUI
iect. the more inevitably and surel
does he come to the conclusion tia
the scriptures are the fountain hea
of all that is best and most endurin
s in our language and literature.
!, Structure From Bible.
THE English language is spoken b
more than 120,0G0,000 peoples an
: wherever this language is spoken tn
. influence of the English bible is fel
The English language in large pa
owes its very structure to our Englis
bible For more than 1000 years tt
n bible has been an active force in oil
language and during this whole periC
y it has been molding the diction of re
It resentative thinkers and literary q
fists. This plastic influence upon En-
lish style has been exercised in va
ious ways. OF these the most impol
n ant are direct quotations and allu
ions. Akin to direct quotations is Il
heightening of style through. the el
ployment of biblical illusions"
'u Traces English Literature.
st DR. Bartholomew traced English
erature as it is influenced by the biz
from Caedmon's time through all t
periods in literature, giving quo
tions from Shelley, from Beowu
Chaucer. Spenser, Shakespeare, d.
den, Alexander. Pope, Cowper, Go
smith, Wordsworth, Lord Byron, Burr
Browning. Longfellow. Lowell, Brya
oil