Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/645

 ENGLAND (LANGUAGE AND LITEEATUEE) 633 Layamon's translation of Wace's Roman de Brut, which was followed in the 13th century by many translations from Latin and Anglo- Norman. The older chronicles were more or less closely followed in the English metrical pieces of Robert of Gloucester and Robert Manning, a monk of Bourne. The Anglo-Nor- man romances were reproduced in the English metrical romances of "Sir Tristrem," "Sir Perceval of Galles," " Ywaine and Gawayne," "Havelok the Dane," "King Horn," " Cceur de Lion," "King Alesaunder," "Morte Ar- thure," "Sir Guy," the "King of Tars," and many others. " Sir Tristrem," one of the old- est, was attributed by Sir Walter Scott, on grounds now generally admitted to be unsat- isfactory, to the Scottish poet Thomas the Rhymer. The body of Latin tales entitled Gesta Romanorum, perhaps of German origin, was now and continued much later to be a source of materials for English authors. The first original English poet, who left the beaten track of translation from chronicles, romances, and legends of the saints, was Laurence Minot (about 1350), the author of some short ballad- like poems on the victories of the English armies in the reign of Edward III. Richard Rolle, a hermit of Hampole, produced about the same time a moral poem entitled "The Pricke of Conscience." The most remarkable production before the age of Chaucer is " The Vision of Piers Ploughman," ascribed to Ro- bert Langlande. It is in alliterative verse, without rhyme, abounds in allegorical personi- fications, and is a satire on the vices of the times and especially of the ecclesiastics. It has passages of humor and extraordinary poeti- cal vigor, but the author adopted an obsolete and unrefined diction. Its popularity caused many imitations to be made of it, the best of which was " Piers Ploughman's Crede." Con- temporary with Chaucer was Gower, whose Confessio Amantis, in octosyllabic metre, is a collection of stories and of physical and metaphysical reflections. Chaucer calls him the "moral Gower," and his poetry is of a grave and sententious turn, professedly se- rious and instructive. Both in genius and style he is much inferior to Chaucer (died in 1400), the first great English author, admirable for the comprehensiveness and variety of his powers. A courtier and traveller, he was one of the earliest English writers who was not an ecclesiastic, and he excels especially in narra- tive and in portraiture of character. He in- troduced and employed with facility the regu- lar iambic pentameter, or heroic couplet, the most approved English metre. The prologue to the " Canterbury Tales " is unsurpassed as a description of character and manners, and the "Knight's Tale" is among the noblest of chivalrous romances. Chaucer has been com- pared to the appearance of a genial day in spring, preceded and followed by dark clouds and wintry blasts. After him there is a barren period of more than a century ; an age of dis- puted successions and civil wars, when, says an old historian, " the bells in the church stee- ples were not heard for the sound of drums and trumpets." Till the accession of Elizabeth, the best of numerous versifiers are John the Chaplain, Occleve, Lydgate, Haws, Skelton the laureate, his rival Barclay, the earl of Sur- rey, Sir Thomas Wyatt, George Gascoyne, Thomas Tusser, and Thomas Sackville, after- ward Lord Buckhurst. Of this series, Surrey (died in 1547) is most esteemed as an improver of English verse. He is said to have made the tour of Europe in the spirit of chivalry, proclaiming the unparalleled charms of his mistress Geraldine, and returned to England distinguished as the most devoted lover, learned nobleman, and accomplished gentleman of his age. In his verses he copied the simplicity and grace of the Italian poets, avoiding learned allusions or elaborate conceits, and naturalized the sonnet in England. He also gives the earliest example of blank verse. Wyatt co- operated with him in seeking the elegances of composition ; but he embarrassed his songs and sonnets with witty and fanciful conceits. John Heywood is remembered only for his in- terludes, but he wrote also 600 epigrams, and his most labored performance, " The Spider and the Flie," is pronounced by Warton to be the most tedious and trifling of apologues, without fancy, meaning, or moral. A remarkable poem of this time is the " Mirrour for Magistrates," written by a combination of authors, the chief of whom was Sackville. He furnished alone its most valuable portion, the " Induction " or prologue, an imitation of Dante, marked by a monotony of gloom and sorrow, but showing both grandeur of imagination and power of language. Spenser's "Faerie Queen " appeared in 1590. He had already established his rep- utation by his " Shepherd's Kalendar," pub- lished the year before. The " Faerie Queen," although unfinished, is really complete in its first book, every canto of which teems with beauties. The following books are altogether inferior, and are rather supplementary, personi- fying the struggles of the virtues with their opposite vices. The poem, after the fashion of the reign, flatters Elizabeth under the char- acters of Gloriana and Belphoebe. Its peculiar stanza, to which Spenser's name has been given, a modification of the Italian ottava rima, with the addition of an Alexandrine to give _ a full and sweeping close, was an innovation in the art of poetry, and has since been much used. Contemporary with Spenser was Sir Philip Sidney, whose songs and sonnets deserve men- tion ; and either contemporary or soon follow- ing were the "Saint Peter's Complaint" and " Mary Magdalene's Funeral Tears " of Robert Southwell; the " Civil Wars," "Complaint of Rosamond," and numerous minor pieces of Samuel Daniel, of a pensive character, and in remarkably pure style; the " Barons' Wars " and the " Poly-olbion " of Michael Drayton, the former a metrical chronicle, and the latter