Lanterna Rally

Author: S. L. Edwards

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2018-01-17

Total Pages: 426

ISBN-13: 9780483215078

Excerpt from An Anthology of English Prose: From Bede to R. L. Stevenson The trend of English prose, always more elusive than that of poetry, and its gradual development from infancy to gigantic growth, afford a voyage of adventure for him who seeks. The temper of the English mind, the growth of its national sensibility, have found an idealized expression in the pages of poetry, but in the realms of prose have been reflected in all their many moods and changes with kaleidoscopic vigour and detail. It was characteristic of English prose during its earliest period that it should have little universal interest; until the eighteenth century it was the instrument for the individual expression of enthusiasm for a particular religious belief, or a favourite line of thought. What there was of general interest to mankind came into England in the form of translations - most influential of all, the Authorized Version of the Bible in 1611. The writers of English prose ploughed small and isolated plots, while poetry early swept over its head and rained benefits upon rich and poor, learned and lewd. Yet the national energy from earliest times has found its expression, fleeting though that was at first, in prose, as well as in poetry; and as the Saxon element absorbed the Norman and all other influxes of alien growth, so English prose has enriched itself from many foreign sources and yet remains thoroughly English. 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.