The following, from a translation by Surrey, of the second and fourth books of Virgil's "Eneid," are some of the first lines of blank verse in English literature— They whist | ěd all | with fix- | ĕd face | in-tent, We have seen how that love of truth and deep, living earnestness, which was to be the soul of the Elizabethan literature, had already sprung into life; and now we find men like Sir Thomas Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey bringing into England some of those artistic forms of the Italian literature which were to prepare a fair and graceful body, as it were, for the noble and heroic soul. H CHAPTER VII. ELIZABETHAN LITERATURE-POETRY (1588-1599). We now pass on in the story of our English Literature to a period so full of works of every kind, that it will be impossible to do more than notice the chief; but while we give attention to these, we must keep in mind that the fulness of life is everywhere bursting forth like the buds and blossoms in a fruitful spring-time. The reign of Queen Elizabeth is like a garden in a very favourable season; while some flowers reach a wonderful degree of growth and beauty, and attract the eyes of all, there are an unusual number also of smaller blossoms, sweet and dainty, which pass unnoticed for the very reason of their profusion. We may remember how through the dreary time which followed after Chaucer, Langland, and Gower, many forces were at work preparing for this fruitful season in our literature. Before we begin the story of the chief writers and greatest works of the Elizabethan time, we must try to understand a little more of those things which were at work among the people, and which helped to form the soul, as it were, of the literature, and which gave to it so much energy and richness of life. These were 1. A more wide-spread independence of thought.-We have seen how scholars and students were stirred by the new learning to search for truth in things, and to question whether all that had been taught them was true and right; and the freer spirit of Greek literature, its unrestrained thought and bold trust in nature, had given courage to its students. Now this spirit had become general; for the breaking up of the idea that the Church alone had authority to decree what was to be believed, and the giving of the Bible to the laity, had stirred the minds of the people and made them think, and this earnest thinking for themselves quickened the intellect and wakened originality. 2. Religious earnestness.-There were many reasons why a strong interest in religion, and deep feeling about it, should be roused at this time. It was a time of conflict, when scarcely any one could be indifferent to those religious questions on which men's minds were divided. There was the question of the old Church; that Church to which many still clung with ardent affection as the Church of their ancestors, while many others looked upon it as the enemy of truth and holiness. Among the Protestants, too, there was conflict, as we shall see, for as soon as measures were taken, on Elizabeth's coming to the throne, to separate the English Church from that of Rome again, questions arose as to what were now to be the articles of faith, the order of government, and the forms of worship in the reformed English Church, for the idea was still almost universal that there was to be but one outward Church. The persecutions too of the last five years, when so many had seen the terrible sight of their best loved friends burning at the stake, deeply stirred the hearts of the English people, and made them feel that religion was something worth caring for and dying for. 3. The spread of a purer, simpler faith.-Men like Latimer had done much to give the people a truer idea of their relation to God, for they taught them what Christ has revealed to us of God, that He is our Father, and near to every one of us; and from this sprang that faith and trust in God Himself which gave courage and joy in the midst of dangers, and that love of God which is the root of duty, so that men were ready to risk all for His honour instead of seeking to buy pardons for breaking his commands. 4. Patriotism.-A strong love of England and the queen runs through all the Elizabethan literature. It was a time of great danger to our country, and the perils at home and abroad called forth all the steadfast heroic love of her true sons for England. With this was so joined an enthusiastic devotion to the queen, that we cannot separate the two feelings. Elizabeth was in every way the very representation of the England of her day, and much that sounds like mere compliment to a woman must be taken as the expression of enthusiasm for all that the queen personified. In her were the independence of thought, the earnestness, the courage, the new love of learning, the bright imagination. and poetry, the artistic skill in the use of words of the England of her day; the dangers of the country were her dangers, and her devotion to England was as strong as England's devotion to her. 5. Vigour of imagination.-There were many things at this time which gave great exercise to the imagination, and set before it many new pictures of life. The old English stories of Chaucer and the old ballads were reprinted and widely read, and many new stories of life in Italy and ancient Greece came into England with the Italian and Greek literature, besides which there were the wonderful tales of South America and other foreign lands which the bold navigators and discoverers of the time. were constantly bringing home. While all these influences were at work in shaping the soul of the Elizabethan literature, the Italian literature gave it outward form. We have seen how Wyatt and Surrey took the form of their poems from the Italian; and in Elizabeth's reign Italian literature was considered to be the model for all other. Its influence is seen in the clever use of words, in the search for similes (comparing one thing to another) and antitheses (contrasting one thing with another), in the introduction of new measures for poetry, of blank verse, and of new forms of literature-sonnets, pastorals, novels. One feature of the Elizabethan literature is the great variety of its forms-poetry, stories, romances, plays, travels, histories, and religious works of many different kinds. We shall perhaps best follow the story of our English Literature by giving account of the chief works in each of these forms, remembering at the same time the rich abundance of smaller works, which are passed over for the sake of dwelling on the greater. The reign of Queen Elizabeth begins like a genial spring-day after a cruel and gloomy winter. "It is the hour of feeling," and from many a full heart there rise little bursts of song in the form of short poems; at first written and handed about among friends, but which by degrees were collected and put together in volumes. Many such collections of poems appeared during Elizabeth's reign; among the most popular were "Tottel's Miscellany," "A Paradise of Dainty Devices," "A Gorgeous Gallery of Gallant Inventions." But about six years before Elizabeth came to the throne, the greatest poet of her reign was born, and in him and in his work we find the most complete representation of the very soul of the Elizabethan literature. This was Edmund Spenser. He was born in London, near the Tower, about the year 1552. It is probable that his parents held strongly to the new teaching of the Reformers, and may themselves have been in danger during the harsh persecution of Queen Mary's time; at all events they would have been deeply stirred by it, and their teachings, joined to Spenser's own earliest recollections, would help to form that antagonism which he held through life to the Church of Rome. Spenser was about six or seven years old when Queen Elizabeth came to the throne; and it was perhaps about that time that he was sent to the Mer |