cases the interpolated tale is of great merit, but it spoils the unity of the main story, and so it is better out of the way. (d) The Magazine Short Story. The development of the popular magazine led to the establishment of this class of tale. In English its history can be said to begin with Addison, whose Coverley papers are really a collection of short stories; the record continued through the eighteenth century in the miscellaneous work of Goldsmith and Dr. Johnson. During the first half of the nineteenth century there was a decline in the production of the short story. The lighter type of magazine was not yet in favor, and the more ponderous journals, like The Quarterly Review and The Edinburgh Review, which specialized in literary and political articles, held the stage. Blackwood's Magazine and The London Magazine encouraged the more popular kinds of fiction. Among their contributors were James Hogg, De Quincey, and Charles Lamb. Some of the essays of these writers, such as Lamb's famous tale of roast pig, are short stories thinly disguised. Another contributor of the same kind was Douglas Jerrold (1803-57), whose Cakes and Ale (1842) is one of the first collections of short stories and sketches. After the middle of the century there was a rapid increase in part-fiction magazines, such as Dickens's All the Year Round (1859) and Thackeray's Cornhill Magazine (1860). As the century drew near its close the number of lighter magazines largely increased, until nowadays we have a large proportion entirely given over to the supply of fiction. Nearly all the writers of the modern epoch have taken to the short story, and most of them have issued this class of their work in volume form. To the names already mentioned in this chapter we may add those of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (born 1859) and W. W. Jacobs (born 1863). The former struck a rich vein in the popular detective story, and the latter specialized in the humorous presentation of the longshoreman. 3. The Drama. (a) The Poetical Drama. In this class of drama there is little to set on record. The blank-verse tragedy is still written with skill and enthusiasm, but there is little of outstanding merit, and nothing of originality. The poetical dramas of Mr. Yeats-for example, The Countess Cathleen (1892) and The Shadowy Waters (1900)-have all his mystical beauty, and are the most original of their class. Stephen Phillips (1868-1915) achieved some distinction, and even considerable stage success, with his smooth and Tennysonian blank-verse tragedies, such as Paolo and Francesca (1899), Ulysses (1902), and The Virgin Goddess (1910). Mr. Hardy's Dynasts is dramatic only in form; it is rather a philosophical poem with a dramatic setting. (b) The Prose Drama. In this age the activity of the prose drama is second only to that of the novel. The mood of the time is essentially critical, and the prose drama is an excellent medium for expressing such a mood. Among the earliest of the modern dramatists is Sir Arthur Pinero (born 1855), and we can trace the development through the work of Mr. Galsworthy, already mentioned, and of St. John Hankin (1869-1909) and Granville Barker (born 1877). Their plays have the note of the realistic novel in the emphasis they lay upon common life and common speech. The plays of Mr. Shaw, by reason of their wit and high spirits, stand rather apart from this class; and the brilliance of the Wilde comedies is that of a past age. 4. Poetry. (a) The main poetical tendency of the time is toward the lyric, especially toward a chastened and rather tepid form of it. Of this class, the lyrics of Sir William Watson are fairly typical. Mr. Davies's best pieces, and some of Mr. Hardy's, are good examples of the simple and direct lyric, and Francis Thompson excels in the descriptive style. (b) In the class of descriptive-narrative poetry we have the sea-pieces of Mr. Masefield and the rustic poetry of Mr. Drinkwater. To these we must add the work of Ralph Hodgson (born 1871), several of whose poems, in particular The Bull and The Song of Honour, have some of the ecstatic energy of the young Coleridge. (c) In addition to what we may call the standard types of poetry, there are experiments in vers libre, or free verse (that is, rhymeless verse of the type of Matthew Arnold's The Strayed Reveller), and the more daring efforts of others who defy the conventions of rhyme, meter, and even intelligibility. Experiments such as these are all for the good of poetry, which, if it is to live at all, must live by progressing. So far, the attempts of the innovators have produced nothing that is really noteworthy; and with that we must leave them. THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERARY STYLE 1. Poetry. As can easily be understood, in such a troubled age there is little uniformity in style. The average verse is distinguished by a correct and scholarly diction, somewhat ornate, but clear and ably used. Of the highly ornate style there is little to mention, except the more elaborate compositions of Francis Thompson; but from the scholarly elegance of Dr. Bridges (born 1844) we may run down the scale of simplicity through the mannered graces of Mr. Kipling, the crabbed satiric verses of Mr. Hardy, the high simplicity of Mr. Davies, to the sweet child-verse of Walter de la Mare (born 1873), whose Songs of Childhood (1902), Peacock Pie (1913), and other volumes are the almost perfect expression of artless youth. When we arrive here we cannot allow to pass unnoticed the lyrics of James Stephens (born 1882), whose poems of country life are simplicity itself, but full of the deepest sympathy. His short poem called The Snare is a little masterpiece. When simplicity develops further it becomes realism, and in poetry the prevailing taste is revealed. The European War, as was natural, produced a crop of realistic poems. Of this kind are the verses of Siegfried Sassoon (born 1886), whose war-poems are distinguished by a passionate desire to get to grips with reality. 2. Prose. In this age, as in most other ages, there is much lamentation over the decay of English prose. There is probably a great deal of truth in the charge that our prose is lapsing into slovenly ways, and there is no doubt that the stress of modern methods leads to haphazard and makeshift production. On the other hand, we have but to glance at the names that have a place in this chapter to find exponents of prose styles who represent the best traditions: the reverent respect shown for English in the ornate prose of Mr. Conrad; the massive middle prose of Mr. Hardy; the sonorous and poetical mannerisms of the Celts; the eighteenth-century grace and precision of Lord Morley; the swift, clean swoop of the Shavian manner; and the quick ease of Mr. Wells. Surely such an age is not unblessed. With regard to the future none dare dogmatize; but, with a confidence born of the knowledge of nineteen centuries, one can look forward undismayed. GENERAL QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES NOTE.—In answering some of the following questions the General Tables (Appendix I) will be of use. 1. With the aid of the following and other quotations, give an account of the origin and development of English blank verse. Compare and contrast the styles of the given extracts. (1) Now came still evening on, and twilight gray MILTON, Paradise Lost (2) At length a pleasant instantaneous gleam The clear Moon, and the glory of the heavens. Built round by those white clouds, enormous clouds, |