An Introduction to English Literature [antikvár]

Foreword The literature of a country, like its art and music, reflects the life and thought of its people as they change and develop through the centuries. This book gives a brief introduction to the pattern of development in English literature, and to the chief writers who have contributed to its splendid history. Some are seen as outstanding representatives of the times in which they lived, others as individual giants whose genius would be remarkable in any century. Once the creative flow of words in verse and prose had begun in Anglo-Saxon times it increased steadily, gaining force and fullness as the early writers discovered not only their own powers of expression but also the suitability of the English language, rather than Latin, for every presentation of the written word. But before the written word appeared, there was in England as in other countries a wealth of song and story that lived by word of mouth only, from one generation to another. Much of this found a place in the written literature of a later time, such as the old ballads which must have had a long ancestry before settling into the forms known to us, forms belonging mainly to the fifteenth century, with varying versions in different parts of the country. So long as literature was represented by a few handwritten documents available only to the few who could read, progress was of necessity slow, but once the printing press had been established in England late in the fifteenth century, words on paper became an ever-increasing influence in the life of the nation. hte.s*