Author: Horace Hills Morgan

Publisher:

Published: 2015-07-10

Total Pages: 56

ISBN-13: 9781331091875

Excerpt from Representative Names in the History of English Literature The wants of a busy age require some inexpensive book which shall furnish general information, together with a firm grasp of the movement in each field of effort. As auxiliary to our anthologies, dictionaries of authors, bibliographies, and manuals of literature, it has seemed not undesirable to have some "vade mecum" in which should be collected information otherwise accessible only by long and continuous labor. The plan adopted aims at an answer to the various rational questions which might be asked about an author as an author: when did he live, who were his contemporaries, what was his standpoint, what are his representative works, for what and how far can we trust him, who vouched for his reliability, and what did he do to further the progress of literature? The selection of names has been made with reference to the authors whom the world has accepted as representative of English literature; as minor writers there have been added those whose services have an historical value. Literature has been understood in the strictest sense - the perfect adaptation of the form to the thought expressed; judgment is pronounced from the aesthetic point of view, and not from that of Ethics, Politics, or Commerce; Oratory, Theology, Physics, and Metaphysics have been excluded except when their form has entitled them to literary recognition. The time of any author has been indicated by giving the date of his birth and death, together with the "Era" in which he would be classed. The classification of Wm. Francis Collier is noticeably simple and serviceable, and has been used; it is as follows: - 1st Era. From the birth of Chaucer, 1328, to the Introduction of Printing, 1474. IId " " " Introduction of Printing, 1474, to the accession of Elizabeth, 1558. IIId " " " Accession of Elizabeth, 1558, to the shutting of the Theatres, 1648. IVth " " " Shutting of the Theatres, 1648, to the Death of Milton, 1674. Vth " " " Death of Milton, 1674, to the Publication of the Tatler, 1709. VIth " " " Publication of the Tatler, 1709, to the Publication of Pamela, 1740. VIIth Era. " " " " Pamela, 1740, to the Death of Johnson, 1784. VIIIth " " " Death of Johnson, 1784, to the Death of Scott, 1832. IXth " " " " " Scott, 1832, to the Present Time. In the case of American writers the Eras are not used, as contemporaneity is of small consequence; it may be added that less exclusiveness has been thought desirable in the case of those belonging to our own country. The classification of authors and literary forms is believed to be at once simple and exhaustive: if this belief be well-founded, there will be one less want among the many which oppress the earnest scholar. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.