INTRODUCTORY The study of literature follows several lines. Attention may be centered, for example, on a single masterpiece considered separately, with a view to under- Ways of standing it thoroughly and training the mind studying in literary appreciation. A little more literature difficult is the study of a group of masterpieces as types of various forms-the essay, the novel, the drama. A third line of study confines itself to the works of a single author, with a view to becoming familiar with his art and his personality in all the stages of development. This too is difficult, but delightful. Finally, it is profitable to study all the works, prose and poetry, of a certain group of authors-the Elizabethan, for example, or the Victorian, noting common characteristics and getting glimpses of the times as reflected in literature. Eventually, however, need is felt of a wide survey of the entire field. The student becomes interested in literature as a growth, from the first faint beginnings down to the present day. He wishes to Need of a general survey know when this literary form appeared, when that, and what changes they have undergone; why we find in one century mountain peaks, in another only dull tablelands of mediocrity. Even in the earlier stages of study, at least a brief historical sketch is convenient, indeed almost necessary, for intelligent study, that each masterpiece may be given its proper setting. The following summary is presented for this purpose for those who lack the time necessary to master a complete manual. It contains the little that a high school pupil ought to know, before graduation, about the history of English literature. The tables of authors and masterpieces are so brief that they may with profit be memorized, save for the dates, just as the student of history memorizes lists of kings. It is assumed that, besides learning the tables, the pupil will study in detail the lives of the few authors read in classroom, finding his material either in the introductory pages of school editions or in such works of reference as are provided in the school library. |