The Romantic Movement.—In order to note the difference in feeling, imagery, and ideals, between the romantic and the classic schools, it will be advisable for the student to make a special comparison of Dryden's and Pope's satiric and didactic verse with Spenser's Faerie Queene, Milton's Il Penseroso, and with some of the work of the romantic poets in the next period. What is the difference in the general atmosphere of these poems? See if the influence of Il Penseroso is noticeable in Collins's Ode to Evening (Ward[4], III., 287; Bronson, III., 220; Oxford, 531; Manly, I., 273; Century, 386) and in Gray's Elegy (Ward, III., 331; Bronson, III., 238; Oxford, 516; Manly, I., 267; Century, 398).
What element foreign to Dryden and Pope appears in Thomson's Seasons (Ward, III., 173; Bronson. III., 179; Manly, I., 255; Century, 369-372).
What signs of a struggle between the romantic and the classic are noticeable in Goldsmith's Deserted Village (Ward, III., 373-379; Bronson, III., 282; Manly, I., 278; Century, 463). Pick out the three finest passages in the poem, and give the reasons for the choice.
Read pp. 173-176 of Ossian (Canterbury Poets series, 40 cents; Chambers, II.; Manly, II., 275), and show why it appealed to the spirit of romanticism.
For a short typical selection from Walpole's Castle of Otranto, see
Chambers. II. Why is this called romantic fiction?
In Percy's Reliques, read the first ballad, that of Chevy Chase, and explain how the age could turn from Pope to read such rude verse.
In place of Mallet's Northern Antiquities, twentieth-century readers will prefer books like Guerber's Myths of Northern Lands and Mabie's Norse Stories Retold from the Eddas.
From Chatterton's Aella read nine stanzas from the song beginning: "O sing unto my roundelay." His The Bristowe Tragedy may be compared with Percy's Reliques and with Coleridge's The Ancient Mariner. Selections from Chatterton are given in Bronson, III., Ward, III., Oxford, Manly, I., and Century.
The Novel.—Those who have the time to study the beginnings of the novel will be interested in reading, Guy, Earl of Warwick (Morley's Early Prose Romances) or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Retold in Modern Prose, with Introduction and Notes, by Jessie L. Weston (London: David Nutt, two shillings).
Two Elizabethan novels: Lodge's Rosalynde (the original of Shakespeare's As You Like It) and Greene's Pandosto (the original of The Winter's Tale) are published in The Shakespeare Classics, edited by Gollancz (Duffield & Company, New York, $1 each). Pandosto may be found at the end of the Cassell National Library edition of The Winter's Tale (15 cents). Selections from Lodge's Rosalynde are given in Craik, I., 544-549. These should be compared with the parallel parts of As You Like It. Selections from Nashe's The Unfortunate Traveller are given in Craik, I., 573-576, and selections from Sidney's Arcadia in the same volume, pp. 409-419. Deloney's The Gentle Craft and Jack of Newberry are given in his Works, edited by Mann (Clarendon Press).