The Outline of Literature

THE

OUTLINE OF LITERATURE

EDITED BY

JOHN DRINKWATER

WITH ABOUT 500 ILLUSTRATIONS

OF WHICH MANY ARE IN COLOUR

IN THREE VOLUMES

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The knickerbocker Press

1923

This One

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

I. THE FIRST BOOKS IN THE WORLD

Scribes and priests-The works of Confucius-Latin literature-
The change in form-The incentive to write-Myths and
legends-Cupid and Psyche-A co-operative beginning.

II. HOMER

Achilles the hero-Helen of Troy-The rank and file-The Iliad

-The wrath of Achilles-The forge of Vulcan-The wander-

ings of Ulysses-The writing of the Odyssey-Ulysses' adven-

tures-English translations-Pope's translation-Lord Derby's

version-Butcher and Lang-Homeric similes-The Homeric

world.

III. THE STORY OF THE BIBLE. BY E. W. BARNES,

Sc.D., F.R.S., CANON OF WESTMINSTER

A book of many books-The Israelites-The people of the Old
Testament-Moses-The beginning of the Bible: The Law-
The books of the Old Testament-The priestly writers-The
growth of the Old Testament-The Prophets-The loss of early
documents-The spirit of Hebrew monotheism-The planning
and preaching of Ezekiel—"The Writings"-The national
literature of the Jews-A great drama-The Apocrypha-The
Wisdom literature of the Jews-The dignified beauty of
Ecclesiasticus-The New Testament-The writers of the New
Testament-Jesus of Nazareth-The four Gospels-St. Paul—
Translations of the Bible-The first printed English Bible.

IV. THE ENGLISH BIBLE AS LITERATURE

The Bible and our national style-Tributes to the authorized ver-

sion-The English versions-Four versions compared-An

error of form-Parallelism in Hebrew poetry-A "balance of

thought"-The Hebrew mind-Other Hebrew poetry-Two

noble eulogies.

PAGE

113

V. THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST

The Vedas of the Brahmans-Thirty-three thousand gods-The

castes-A feat of memory-The Buddhist scriptures-The

early days of Gautama-The Gospel of Buddha-The Books

of Confucius-The literary and religious ideals of China-The

Book of Zoroaster-The teachings of Zoroaster-The Koran-

Mohammed-What the Koran teaches-The Talmud.

VI. GREEK MYTH AND THE POETS

Words and phrases-The great god Pan-Mercury's son-Cupid

and Psyche The road to ruin--The chariot of the Sun-Stories

of the stars-Perseus and Andromeda-Echo and Narcissus-

In the beginning-The birth of Jupiter-The Olympians-The

rape of Proserpine.

PAGE

137

. 163

The Greek spirit-The love of justice, freedom, and truth-The

Greek theatre-The dress of actors-Eschylus-Sophocles—

The Antigone-Euripides-Aristophanes-Sappho and the

Greek Anthology-The Greek orators and historians-Plato—

The Roman spirit-Virgil-A national story-Horace-Lu-

cretius, Ovid, and Juvenal-Catullus-Cicero-Cæsar and the

historians-The last phase.

In darkest Europe-The gradual creation of nationalities-St.

Jerome Saint Augustine-The Niebelungen Lied-The

Troubadours-Fantastic legends-Dante-Dante and Beatrice

—The life of Dante-The Divine Comedy-Froissart's Chron-

icles-History of the Fourteenth Century-Chaucer and his

contemporaries-The Father of English Poetry-Malory's

Morte d' Arthur-A translation from French romances-

François Villon, poet and thief-An anomaly.

IX. THE RENAISSANCE

The new learning-The causes of the awakening-Ariosto and

Machiavelli-The influence of Italian Renaissance literature-

The Renaissance-Rabelais and Montaigne-Cervantes-Don

Quixote-Erasmus-Thomas More-Spenser and his contem-

poraries-The Faerie Queen.

235

273

ILLUSTRATIONS

"A READING FROM HOMER," BY SIR LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA Coloured Frontispiece

Photo: Rischgitz Collection.

PORTION OF THE STORY OF THE DELUGE, FROM A TABLET WHICH
PROBABLY BELONGED TO THE PALACE LIBRARY AT NINEVEH

Photo: W. A. Mansell & Co.

ENGRAVING, TAKEN FROM A DRAWING IN GELL'S Pompeiana, CONSIST-
ING OF A UNION OF ALL THE IMPLEMENTS OF WRITING, COLLECTED
FROM A GREAT NUMBER OF ANCIENT PAINTINGS IN POMPEII AND
HERCULANEUM

FACING

PAGE

FACSIMILE OF THE PAPYRUS INSCRIBED With HierogLYPHIC TEXT OF The
Book of the Dead

Photo: W. A. Mansell & Co.

PAPYRUS INSCRIBED IN THE HIERATIC CHARACTER WITH AN EGYPTIAN
ROMANCE AND BEARING THE NAMES OF ANTEF, ELEVENTH DYNASTY,
ABOUT B.C. 2600, AND THOTHMES III, EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY, ABOUT
B.C. 1600

Photo: W. A. Mansell & Co.

JEAN MIELOT, A FAMOUS SCHOLAR AND CALLIGRAPHER OF THE MIDDLE
AGES.

Photo: Rischgitz Collection.

THE VIRGIN AND CHILD ATTENDED BY ANGELS, FROM A COPY OF THE "OFFICES OF THE VIRGIN"

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