Give a brief account of Coleridge's early life, his friendship with Southey, and his earliest literary efforts. Tell what you can of the relations between Coleridge and Wordsworth. At what time of his life was Coleridge's best poetry written? How did "The Ancient Mariner " come to be written? What was the purpose of Wordsworth and Coleridge in projecting the volume of "Lyrical Ballads"? What aspect of the "Romantic imagination "did each present ? Illustrate from.

66

'The Ancient Mariner" and "We are Seven." Why were the "Lyrical Ballads" an important landmark in the history of English poetry? Describe the influences of Wordsworth's earlier and later life which helped to give him his peculiar insight into nature. Give an account of Wordsworth's relation to the French Revolution, in its earlier and its later phases. During what period of his life was Wordsworth's best work done? The three qualities of Wordsworth's nature-poetry noted here are its sensitiveness, its truth, and its breadth; find for yourself passages which illustrate each of these qualities. In what respect is Wordsworth's presentation of nature and his presentation of human nature similar? Consider the suggestion made here of the union of Wordsworth's love of nature, with his love of man and of God. Point out some expression of this threefold and united sentiment in the quotation given from "Tintern Abbey" and if possible, in passages found in your own reading. What is the theme of Wordsworth's greatest poem? What quality of Wordsworth's mind does it especially illustrate?

How did Southey's name come to be closely associated with the names of Wordsworth and Coleridge? In what department of literature was Southey's best work done? What general aspect of the Romantic revival of the eighteenth century found its culminating expression in the poetry of Sir Walter Scott? In what way did Scott's poetry serve as an intermediary between that of the preceding age and the delicate melodies of Wordsworth and Coleridge? What value did Scott put on his own poetry? In what field was his most important work to be done?

Give a brief biographical sketch of Byron. For what common attribute are the names of Byron and Shelley associated? What was the cause of Byron's immense popularity? Who was Byron's persistent hero? Say what you can of Byron's strength and weakness as a poet. What was the most significant quality in his earlier versetales? What in his "Childe Harold "? What in his "Don Juan"?

Give a sketch of Shelley's life. How do Shelley's manifestations of the spirit of revolution differ from Byron's? Why is Shelley's "Prometheus" said to be his most characteristic work? What is the underlying thought of this poem? Where is its greatest beauty to be found? Explain the metrical structure of Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind." Of whom is Shelley's poem "Adonais a memorial? What other important English threnodies were written in honor of personal friends who were also poets? (See pages 145 and 306). Study the "Adonais" and explain how it exemplifies Shelley's myth-making power. In what respect is Shelley said to be at the antipodes from Wordsworth?

Give a brief sketch of Keats's life. What were his relations with the following persons: Leigh Hunt, Haydon, Charles Cowden Clark, Fanny Brawne, Shelley, Joseph Severn? What was his own estimate of his first ambitious poem, "Endymion"? What circumstances intervened between the publication of " Endymion" and his last volume to deepen his nature and strengthen his art? From what may it be inferred that Keats, if he had lived, would have turned to poetic themes of a more directly human sort? What is Keats's essential quality as a poet? How may we trace the growth of his feeling for artistic form ?

Who were the most important prose writers of the new Romantic school? Give a brief account of the life of Lamb. What is the quality that gives to Lamb his peculiar influence? How do Lamb's little Istudies of life differ from those of Addison and Steele? What is meant by saying that these studies reveal Lamb's participation in the spiritual awakening of the nineteenth century? In what respect does Lamb resemble the Queen Anne essayists?

Give a brief account of De Quincey's life. What is his best-known work? How did De Quincey impart a new impetus to English prose ?

READING GUIDE.-For class work upon this period the tollowing list of reading, or as large a portion of it as can be accomplished, is recommended. Coleridge: "The Ancient Mariner," "Kubla Khan," the first part of "Christabel." Wordsworth: "Michael," "The LeechGatherer," "Ode on Intimations of Immortality," "Tintern Abbey," "We are Seven," "Lines Written in Early Spring," "To a Sky-lark," "The Solitary Reaper," "Strange Fits of Passion I Have Known," "Three

Years She Grew," "She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways," "A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal," "I Travelled Among Unknown Men"; and the sonnets, "Milton, Thou Shouldst Be Living At This Hour," "Scorn Not the Sonnet," "It Is a Beauteous Evening," sonnet on Westminster Bridge, and to Toussaint L'Ouverture. Southey: "Life of Nelson." Scott: "The Lady of the Lake" or "Marmion." Byron: "Childe Harold," third canto, "Mazeppa," "The Prisoner of Chillon." Shelley: "Ode to the West Wind," "To a Sky-lark," "Adonais," "Swiftly Walk Over the Western Wave." Keats: "Ode to a Nightingale," "Ode to a Grecian Urn," "Eve of St. Agnes," "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," sonnet on Chapman's Homer. Lamb: "A Dissertation on Roast Pig," "Mackery End," "Christ's Hospital," "The Superannuated Man," "Old China," "Dream Children." De Quincey: "Revolt of a Tartar Tribe" (or "The English Mail-Coach"), a portion of the "Confessions," the "Dream Fugue."

EDITIONS: "The Ancient Mariner" can be had in the Riverside Literature series, and many other good school editions. The best selection of Wordsworth's poetry is that edited by Matthew Arnold, in the Golden Treasury series (Macmillan). A cheaper volume, also good, is included in Cassell's National Library. Selections from Shelley, from Byron, and from Keats exist in Cassell's Library, and in the Golden Treasury series. Southey's "Life of Nelson" exists in Morley's Universal Library, and many school editions. "Old China" and eight other Elia essays and Lamb's "Tales from Shakespeare," are to be had in the Riverside Literature series; selected essays also in the Camelot series. For the study of De Quincey, the comprehensive volume of selections by M. H. Turk, in the Athenæum Press series (Ginn) is recommended. Volume LXIX of Cassell's National Library contains "The English Mail-Coach" and "Murder as a Fine Art." "The Revolt of a Tartar Tribe," edited by C. W. French, is published by Scott, Foresman; other school editions are numerous. BIOGRAPHY AND CRITICISM: For advanced biographical study, the English Men of Letters series will furnish abundant material. Essays upon Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Keats may be found in Lowell's works. Matthew Arnold's "Essays in Criticism" contain valuable studies of Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, and Keats. Many of Lamb's essays have an autobiographic interest: "The Old Benchers of the Inner Temple," "Christ's Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago" (with its picture of Coleridge's boyhood), "The South Sea House," "Blakes.

more," and "Mackery End" all deal with places associated with Lamb's history; "Old China," "Dream Children," and "The Superannuated Man" are more directly personal. For De Quincey's biography, his "Autobiographic Sketches," and the "Confessions of an Opium-Eater" are of fundamental intere

CHAPTER XI.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: THE VICTORIAN

ERA

I. INTRODUCTION

Social Changes and Their Effect Upon Literature.-Never before, not even in the troubled seventeenth century, have there been such rapid and sweeping changes in the society of the English-speaking races as have taken place since the beginning of the long reign of Victoria (1837-1901). Among the many circumstances making for change the chief one has been the growth of democracy. The Reform bill of 1832 placed the political power of England in the hands of the middle class, and since that date the ballot has been gradually extended to the working classes. With the growth of democracy has gone the spread of popular education, and a great increase in the number of readers of books. Literature has become in consequence more democratic. It has attempted more and more to reach out to all manner of men, to move, instruct, and inspire them. The great change from hand-labor to machine-labor, which began in the latter half of the eighteenth century, and has continued throughout the nineteenth, has kept the economic basis of society unsettled. Labor troubles have been frequent. Social unrest, and the demand for social justice, have appeared in the work of nearly all the great writers of the time. The growth of manufacture and commerce has brought a great increase of wealth, and added greatly to the comfort and luxury of living; but it has also exposed men to the danger of losing themselves in these external things, at the expense of the inner life. Against this danger the prophets and preachers of the time have striven with all the earnestness that is in them.