FROM CANTERBURY TO CRUSOE'S ISLAND

Do You Understand this English?

Read the following poem which is written in English:

    cwom pa to flode felamodigra
    haegstealdra heap hringnet baeron
    locene leodosyrcan landweard onfand
    eitsid eorla swa he aer dyde
    no he mid hearme of hlioes nosan
    gaestas grette ac him togeanes rad
    cwaed pet wilcuman wedera leodum
    scapan scirhame to scipe forom
Do you understand it? I don't. Except some specialists, almost no people today who know English, understand this English poem, because it is written in Old English. Experts who know Old English tell us that the above is an extract from a very long poem called Beowulf, composed by an unknown bard or bards about a hero called Beowulf who saves the king from a monster called Grendel.

Because English has changed so much, Old English is like a totally different language. Old English refers to the English language used from the beginning of the English language around AD 700 to 1100.

The English language from 1100 to 1500 is called Middle English. A great literary figure, Geoffrey Chaucer (c1340-1400), lived in the later part of this period. The best known of his works is the unfinished Canterbury Tales (1399), which is a collection of stories told in poetry by pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. Here is an example from the Canterbury Tales, which is written in Middle English:

    And with that word Arcite wook and sterte;
    Now trewely, how sore that me smerte;
    Quod he, "to Athenes right now wol I fare.
    Ne for the drede of deeth shal I nat spare
    To see my lady that I love and serve:
    In hir presence I recche nat to sterve.
Though it is still hard to understand, it is nevertheless more familiar to us than the strange words of Old English.

The English language since 1500 until now is known as Modern English. This term "Modern English" is relative; indeed, the words and sentence patterns of the early part of this Modern English period are archaic to us. There was no clear cut division between Old English and Middle English, and between Middle English and Modern English. The change was gradual, and people living at the transition period were not aware of the transformation.


The Elizabethans

The earliest known famous poet at the beginning of the Modern English period is Edmund Spenser (1552-1599). His best remembered literary work is a long poem called The Faerie Queene (1590). The following is a stanza from this epic.

    Then came the Bride, the lovely Medua came,
    Clad in a vesture of unknowen geare
    And uncouth fashion, yet her well became,
    That seem'd like silver, sprinckled here and theare
    With glittering spangs that did like starres appeare,
    And wav'd upon, like water Chamelot,
    To hide the metall, which yet every where
    Bewrayd it selfe, to let men plainely wot
    It was no mortall worke, that seem'd and yet was not.
While the words in the above poem may appear archaic to us in the present time, they are actually very clear when compared to the English of earlier periods. From Spenser onward, we are on familiar ground. You will notice, as we study the history of English literature and the different styles of writing in these three chapters, the nearer in time a piece of writing is to us, the easier we can understand it.

This period in the history of English literature is known as the Elizabethan age, because it was during Queen Elizabeth's long reign (1558-1603). The Elizabethan age is most famous for its drama, and the greatest dramatist in English literature, William Shakespeare (1564-1616), was from this period. Shakespeare wrote all the three types of plays, namely histories, comedies and tragedies. Some examples of his many famous plays are Richard II (1585), Mid-Summer's Night Dream (1595), Much Ado About Nothing (1598), Hamlet (1600) and Macbeth (1606).

Other great dramatists of the Elizabethan age are Christopher Marlowe (1564-1613) and Ben Jonson (1573-1637). Marlowe's Dr Faustus (c1590) depicts the hero selling his soul to the devil for the sake of getting universal knowledge. Ben Jonson's comedy, Everyman in his Humour (1599), shows the weakness of human nature, and his The Alchemist (1610) is regarded by many people as the most brilliant realistic comedy of the age.

The following extract is from Dr Faustus. Notice Marlowe's use of blank verse, which is quite similar to that of Shakespeare.

    Fau: When I behold the heauens, then I repent,
    And curse thee wicked Mephastophilus.
    Because thou hast depriu'd me of those joyes.
    Me: Why Faustus.
    Thinkst thou heauen is such a glorious thing?
    I tel thee tis not halfe so faire as thou,
    Or any man that breathes on earth.
    Fau: How proouest thou that?
    Me: It was made for man, therefore is man more excellent.
    Fau: If it were made for man, twas made for me:
    I wil renounce this magicke, and repent.
Perhaps the best known prose writer of this age is the essayist Francis Bacon (1561-1626), who also wrote much of his most important works in Latin. He was a politician and philosopher, and his philosophical writings on scientific method has led many people to regard him as the father of scientific investigation.

After the Elizabethan age came the Metaphysical poets, the best known are John Donne (1572-1631) and George Herbert 1593-1633). Their poetry goes beyond the physical level and touches on the spiritual. The following stanza is from a short poem Love, which shows the love of God:

    Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,
    Guiltie of dust and sinne.
    But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack
    From my first entrance in,
    Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
    If I lack'd any thing.


Neo-Classical and Augustan

The next important group of poets are the Neo-classicists who considered poetry as a majestic, polished art to be elevated to a high, regal level, and regarded the Greek and Roman masters as best models. Two notable examples are John Milton (1609-1674), and Alexander Pope (1688-1744). Of Milton's numerous works are the pastoral elegy Lycidas (1637), and the epics, Paradise Lost (1667), and Paradise Regained (1671). Pope was a critic and essayist besides a poet. His satirical long poem The Rape of the Lock (1714) was perhaps his most representative work. The following lines from Lycidas show some characteristic features of the Neo-classical poets:

    Yet once more, O ye Laurels, and once more
    Ye Myrtles brown, with Ivy never sear,
    I come to pluck your Berries harse and crude,
    And with forc'd fingers rude,
    Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year.
    Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear,
    Compels me to disturb your season due:
    For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime
    Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer:
    Who would not sing for Lycidas? he well knew
    Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.
The 17th century also produced two outstanding essayists, Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) and John Locke (1632-1704), who contributed greatly to English philosophy. Hobbes is noted for his political thought, suggesting that man surrendered his freedom to a ruler in return for his protection, in a form of a social contract. Locke was an empiricist, believing that the source of all knowledge was the result of experience.

The succeeding period in the 18th century is loosely called the Augustan age, heralded by the poet laureate, John Dryden (1631-1700), who was also a critic, essayist and playwright. Two other outstanding poets of this century are Thomas Gray (1716-71) and William Blake (1787-1827). Blake is a mystical poet: his words are simple and childlike, but his meaning deep and philosophical:

    To see a world in a grain of sand
    And heaven in a wild flower.
    Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
    And eternity in an hour.
In the field of drama, the two dramatists that stand out distinctively in this period are Oliver Goldsmith (1730-74) and Richard Sheridan (1751-1816). Both wrote comedies.

Goldsmith's humour relies on comedy of situations, as in She Stoops to Conquer (1773). Goldsmith was a very versatile writer: he was an accomplished dramatist, poet, novelist and prose-writer. His two long poems are The Traveller (1764) and The Deserted Village (1770), while his novel is The Vicar of Wakefield (1766).

Sheridan's comedy, on the other hand, depends on the skillful use of language to create laughter. His well known plays are The Rival (1775), The School for Scandal (1777), and The Critic (1779). Enjoy the following delightful dialogue at the start of The School for Scandal:

    Lady Sneer: She certainly has talents, but her manner is gross.
    Snake: Tis very true -- She generally designs well, has a free tongue, and a bold invention; but her colouring is too dark, and her outline often extravagant. She wants that delicacy of tint, and mellowness of sneer, which distinguishes your ladyship's scandal.


The Birth of the Novel

The 18th century was the time when the modern novel was born. Earlier in 1678 the greatest fiction writer of the 17th century, John Bunyan (1628-88), published his master¬piece, The Pilgrim's Progress (1678), which is an allegory showing the journey of a man's soul. This led to the emergence of the modern novel in the 18th century. Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) published Robinson Crusoe (1719), an adventure story; Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) published Pamela (1740), which made much use of letter writing to develop the plot; and Henry Fielding (1707-54) published Joseph Andrews (1742), a comic satire which ridiculed Pamela. Horace Walpole (1717-97) wrote The Castle of Otrando (1764), a "terror" novel which led to the development of horror and crime novels later.

The following extract is taken from one of the earliest English novels, Robinson Crusoe. Notice how clear, direct and exact the description is.

    I was under some apprehensions during my absence from the land, that at least my provisions might be devoured on shore; but when I came back, I found no sign of any visitor; only there sat a creature like a wild cat upon one of the chests, which, when I came towards it, ran away a little distance, and then stood still. She sat very composed and unconcerned, and full in my face, as if she had a mind to be acquainted with me. I presented my gun at her; but as she did not understand it, she was perfectly unconcerned at it, nor did she offer to stir away; upon which I tossed her a bit of biscuit, though, by the way, I was not very free of it, for my store was not great.
Defoe's clarity is even more remarkable when we remind ourselves that this passage was written almost three hundred years ago, which is about mid-way between Chaucer's time, generally regarded as the beginning of English literature, and our present day.

Our journey through the history of English literature from the time of Chaucer to Defoe reveals some interesting features. At the early stages, from the 15th to the 17th century, literature was mainly written in verse, with great dramatists and poets like Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, John Donne and Milton dominating. By the time of the novel in the 18th century, prose writing became more popular than verse. Though there were still famous poets, the later stages were the times of prose writers. We shall meet some of the finest English prose writers in the next chapter.

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