And ther-up-on the wyn was fet anon; The morrow, and the prosecution of the plan A-morwe, whan that day bigan to springe, 820 825 And seyde; "Lordinges, herkneth, if yow leste. Ye woot your forward, and I it yow recorde. 830 If even-song and morwe-song acorde, Shal paye for al that by the weye is spent. 835 He which that hath the shortest shal biginne. Sire knight," quod he, " my maister and my lord, Cometh neer," quod he, " my lady prioresse; And ye, sir clerk, lat be your shamfastnesse, 840 Ne studieth noght; ley hond to, every man." Anon to drawen every wight bigan, And shortly for to tellen, as it was, Were it by áventúre, or sort, or cas, The sothe is this, the cut fil to the knight, 845 Of which ful blythe and glad was every wight; And telle he moste his tale, as was resoun, By forward and by composicioun, As ye han herd; what nedeth wordes mo? 850 He seyde: "Sin I shal biginne the game, Here endeth the prolog of this book. 855 D CHAPTER III THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY THE IMITATORS OF CHAUCER; THE RENAISSANCE; THE PRINTING PRESS; THE BALLAD THE fifteenth century is ordinarily regarded as the most barren period in English literary history. It is true that the century produced no poet who can be considered in any way comparable with Chaucer, or who may be regarded as having any place among the greater English poets. Various explanations for this literary inactivity have been suggested. Some believe that it was owing to the distracting influence of the civil and foreign wars which so largely make up the history of the age; others, that the intellectual energies of the nation were too largely centred in an effort to discard, once for all, the medieval fashion of thought and expression the lifeless formalities of tradition and to fit itself out anew with the free and flowing garments of culture and romance presented by the Italian Renaissance. However, this period, though barren of great poets, is by no means unimportant in the historical development of our poetry. In the first place its literary judgment was sufficiently true to recognize in a Chaucer the master that he was. A considerable school of imitators followed him, both in Scotland, where the productions at times attain to a really high standard, and in England, where the verse, though of third-rate excellence, did much to preserve Chaucer's standard of poetic style, and to insure the permanence and the nationalization of the East Midland dialect which he had used. More important than the actual literary output of this period is the wonderful intellectual impulse which England was beginning to receive through the inspiration of the Renaissance. Many new schools were organized. Oxford and Cambridge grew apace. The great universities of Scotland sprang up. The literature of the classics was studied, and the taste and culture of ancient Greece and Rome again became the possession of the world. The scholasticism of the Middle Ages, with its musty and pedantic controversies concerning matters of no actual significance, shrivelled away before the vivifying and illuminat ing blaze of the new learning. Finally the mediæval romantic poetry, by whose influence France had dominated English letters to the time of Chaucer, gave place to a poetry dominated for nearly three centuries by the influence of Italy. But one event of the fifteenth century has played a greater part than any other — perhaps greater than all others combined — in the development of literature. The printing press was invented in Germany near the middle of the century, and was brought into England by Caxton about 1476. In our present day of many books it is hard to imagine the situation that had existed before printing lent its aid to the dissemination of thought. After 1476 it was for the first time possible in England that the world of letters might become the actual possession of the world of men. Among the hundred volumes that came from Caxton's press were two or three editions of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, as well as the Morte Darthur of Sir Thomas Malory, a splendid work in prose, which, as we shall see, was destined to be the forerunner of Tennyson's Idylls of the King. As has been said, no English poets of the fifteenth century attained to any considerable eminence. But in spite of this fact the literary importance of this period will be apparent when we note that, in all probability, this was the especial springtide of most of our finest old English ballads. While, therefore, the more formal and artistic poetry was absent, this popular lyric strain in English verse reached a higher level than any to which it had previously risen. As a factor in awakening the poetic sensibilities of the whole people, in increasing the flexibility of English verse forms, and in furnishing, through their sincerity and directness and simplicity, a model for all subsequent "literary" poets, the importance of these ballads cannot easily be overestimated. They are, for the most part, the work of unknown authors, — unwritten songs from the heart of the people, handed down from generation to generation. Constantly added to, constantly changing, they appear as a growth, rather than a conscious literary production; and they are a growth for which much credit must be given to this so-called “barren " fifteenth century. CHAPTER IV THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 1. THE PRE-ELIZABETHAN ERA-A PERIOD OF PREPARATION THE Renaissance in England bore fruit more tardily than in most other European countries. Here, both in the fifteenth century and in the early part of the sixteenth, there was in existence a process of absorption and unconscious growth, sooner or later destined to find expression in a new English literature. Presently, under the impulse of these influences, poetry began to assume the form and spirit of modern English verse. As we have seen, the prime stimulus was derived from Italy; and with two English noblemen, Italian travellers and scholars, this new poetry really had its origin. These students of the literary art of Italy were Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. Though neither of the two can in any sense be considered an eminent poet, still their influence on our literature was so opportune that they deserve at least a passing glance. WYATT (1503-1542) was a native of Kent and a graduate of Cambridge. He was a favorite at the court of Henry VIII, and was sent by the king on numerous missions to foreign countries. This life familiarized him with the best literature of the time and did much to develop his style; for Wyatt was very early a maker of verse. He experimented with many forms of rhyme and metre, the most important of which was the sonnet, a stanza devised by Petrarch, the sweet Italian lyrist of the fourteenth century. To Wyatt, accordingly, the English language owes what has always been regarded as one of its most expressive and harmonious verse forms. SURREY (1518-1547) was both friend and disciple of Wyatt. He was educated at Oxford, became popular at court, served with distinction in a war with France, travelled and studied in Italy. At length, falling under the displeasure of King Henry, he was accused of treason and beheaded at the early age of twenty-nine. Though less serious and thoughtful than Wyatt, he shows in his poetry a livelier wit and a more delicate fancy. He not only tried his hand at practically all the metres which his master had attempted, but went farther by adding one which has proved of the very highest importance in English poetry,—the |