A Compendious History of English Literature and of the English Language, Volume…


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(5 stars; 1 review)

The History of English Literature and Language may be recommended to the student as a guide always sure, and as satisfactory as its limits will admit, to the gathered harvest of a thousand years -- from ALFRED the Great to VICTORIA -- now existing in a language radically identical for the whole of that period, the common property of all who are born to its use, a personal endowment not to be limited by local accidents, but the rightful possession of those who "claim SHAKESPEARE's language for their mother tongue." As a writer, the principal characteristics of Mr. CRAIK are good sense and a command of ample information, derived usually from the original sources. He has not aimed a producing a brilliant book. From the number of topics necessary to be glanced at, much of it necessarily assumes the appearance of a brief catalogue; but the critical judgments of the writers, as they come under review, are unpretending and correct. - Summary from The New York Times, April 26, 1864. (24 hr 1 min)

Chapters

Preface 11:51 Read by Grant Hicks
1. Introductory. 1. Literature and Language. The Languages of Modern Europe 12:30 Read by Grant Hicks
1.2. Early Latin Literature in Britain 15:10 Read by Grant Hicks
1.3. The Celtic Languages and Literatures 20:37 Read by Grant Hicks
1.4. Decay of the Earliest English Scholarship 15:23 Read by Grant Hicks
1.5. The English Language 9:08 Read by Grant Hicks
1.6. Original English 27:52 Read by Jim Locke
2. The Norman Period. 1. The Norman Conquest. Arabic and the New Learning 32:17 Read by Jim Locke
2.2. Schools and Universities. Rise of the Scholastic Philosophy. John of Salis… 24:52 Read by Jim Locke
2.3. Classical Learning. Mathematics. Medicine. Law. Books. The Latin Language.… 18:09 Read by Jim Locke
2.4. Latin Chroniclers. Ingulphus. William of Poitiers. Ordericus Vitalis. Gest… 34:19 Read by Jim Locke
2.5. Ailred. Geoffrey of Monmouth. Alfred of Beverley. Giraldus Cambrensis. Hen… 31:25 Read by Jim Locke
2.6. The French language in England. The Langue d'Oc and the Langue d'Oyl. Norm… 25:32 Read by Jim Locke
2.7. Anglo-Norman Poets. King Henry I. His Queens, Matilda and Alice. Philip d… 29:37 Read by Jim Locke
2.8. Luc de la Barre. Guichard de Beaulieu. Arthurian Romance. The Saint Greal.… 24:05 Read by Jim Locke
2.9. Vernacular Language and Literature: A.D. 1066-1216 26:15 Read by Jim Locke
2.10. The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. Ascendancy of the Scholastic Phi… 21:30 Read by Jim Locke
2.11. Latin Historical Works of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. Use an… 31:51 Read by Jim Locke
2.12. Anglo-Norman Poets. French Prose Romances. Froissart. Resurrection of the… 23:42 Read by Jim Locke
3. Second English. 1. St. Godric. The Here Prophecy 13:27 Read by Jim Locke
3.2. The Brut of Layamon 30:38 Read by Jim Locke
3.3. The Ormulum. The Ancren Riwle 36:51 Read by Jim Locke
3.4. Metrical Legends. Land of Cokayne. Guldevord. Wille Gris. Early English So… 20:40 Read by Jim Locke
3.5. History of the English Metrical Romance. Metrical Chronicle of Robert of G… 23:04 Read by Jim Locke
3.6. Alliterative Verse: Piers Ploughman. Piers Ploughman's Creed. 31:33 Read by Jim Locke
4. Third English (mixed or compound English). 1. Geoffrey Chaucer, Part 1 31:43 Read by Jim Locke
4.2. Geoffrey Chaucer, Part 2 29:23 Read by Jim Locke
4.3. Geoffrey Chaucer, Part 3 31:32 Read by Jim Locke
4.4. Geoffrey Chaucer, Part 4 27:37 Read by Jim Locke
4.5. Geoffrey Chaucer, Part 5 21:38 Read by Jim Locke
4.6. John Gower 22:40 Read by Jim Locke
4.7. Barbour 30:16 Read by Jim Locke
4.8. Compound English Prose: Mandevil and Trevisa 37:24 Read by Jim Locke
4.9. Compound English Prose: Wycliffe and Chaucer 31:59 Read by Jim Locke
4.10. Literature and Learning in the Fifteenth Century Universities. Revival of… 38:43 Read by Jim Locke
4.11. Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester. Woodville, Earl Rivers. Science in England. A… 34:19 Read by Jim Locke
4.12. English Poets. Occleve, Lydgate. Scottish Poets. Wynton, James I, Henryso… 34:37 Read by Jim Locke
4.13. Classical Learning 41:34 Read by Jim Locke
4.14. Prose Writers. More, Elyot, Tyndal, Cranmer, Latimer 30:23 Read by Jim Locke
4.15. Scottish Prose Writers. English Poets: Hawes, Barklay. Skelton. Roy, John… 34:46 Read by Jim Locke
4.16. The Elizabethan Literature. The Mirror for Magistrates. Origin of Regular… 25:04 Read by Jim Locke
4.17. Gammer Gurton's Needle. Misogonus. Chronicle Histories. Bale's Kynge Joha… 35:20 Read by Jim Locke
4.18. Marlow. Lyly, Kid, Lodge. Earlier Elizabethan Prose. Lyly, Sidney, Spense… 39:09 Read by Jim Locke
4.19. Edmund Spenser, Part 1 26:46 Read by Jim Locke
4.20. Edmund Spenser, Part 2 31:09 Read by Jim Locke
4.21. Edmund Spenser, Part 3 36:26 Read by Jim Locke
4.22. Other Elizabethan Poetry. Warner 23:31 Read by Jim Locke
4.23. Daniel. Drayton. Joseph Hall 29:12 Read by Jim Locke
4.24. Sylvester. Chapman's Homer. Harington; Fairfax; Fanshawe. Drummond. Davie… 35:39 Read by Jim Locke
4.25. Shakespeare's Minor Poems. Shakespeare's Dramatic Works 18:57 Read by Jim Locke
4.26. Chapman, Webster, Middleton, Decker, Chettle, Marston, Tailor, Tourneur, … 31:54 Read by Jim Locke
4.27. Later Elizabethan Prose Writers. Translation of the Bible. Theological Wr… 37:05 Read by Jim Locke