Excerpt from The Foundations of English Literature The object of this book is to present a careful study of the origins of English literature, and to trace its development up to the time when it assumed its permanent form. The author has attempted to show that the literature of England has been a gradual growth; that it has flowed out of the national life and is inseparably intertwined with the national history; that its development has been constant and consecutive from the very first, and that it commences not with Chaucer but with the primal poetry. The accumulation of a mass of names and dates, of biographical matter and encyclopaedic information, has not been attempted. All writers who were not materially concerned in the evolution of the literature have been omitted. The book is not "a storehouse of facts"; its aim is rather to clear away the confusing mass of details which has grown up about the subject and to expose the main outlines, to trace causes and effects, and to show that no author and no period exist as isolated phenomena, but that they are merely natural results of previous conditions. An attempt has been made to study the growth of the English spirit and to weigh all influences that have prominently affected it in any way. The civil and religious history of England has been kept constantly in view. 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."

Excerpt from Foundation English the Expression of Ideas As high school teachers we have been slow to arise to the occasion. Our teaching has often been too aca demic; we have copied the college methods without examining them to see whether they were pedagogically sound as high school methods. The consequence has been that we have allowed our classes to drift along, with the burden of real preparation placed on the pupils of the upper classes. Such slipshod work as this not only has failed to prepare classes properly for college, but has left out of account those pupils who are not preparing for college, as well as those who leave school before the course is completed. We are beginning to see, how ever, that English as well as other branches of study can be taught in a definite and logical manner; that the proper time for beginning the work, whether in prepara tion for college or for the world at large, is in the first year; that, sound as college methods may be for the col lege, they may;r not be sound for the high school; that the whole of rhetoric should not be taught in the first year, or in any year, any more than the whole of algebra or the whole of Latin; that a book containing all the prin ciples of rhetoric is, at this early stage, in the highest degree confusing; and that practice under direction is essential to coherent expression. 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.

Excerpt from The Development of English Literature: The Old English Period The present volume traces the growth and development of Old English Thought as expressed in Old English Literature, from the first dawnings of history down to the Norman Conquest. It goes back of the written word to the life, the aspirations, and the motives that gave it expression. It seeks in the manners and customs, the religion and law and government and international relations of the Old English people, the sources whence the literature of that people derives its tone and coloring. For this purpose, the author has laid every available source of information under contribution. Dry land-grants, antiquated law-codes, the decrees of councils, the lives of saints, legend and history, the researches of scholar and critic and antiquarian, have all of them directly or indirectly been brought to bear upon the subject, and have been made use of to throw light upon the purely literary document. 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.

Excerpt from The Story of English Literature It has been my endeavour, in writing this volume, to tell the story of the beginning and growth of English literature, in a form simple enough to interest the youngest students in our schools and homes and likely to help them to take pleasure in studying this too often neglected subject. In treating the various periods into which I have divided the history, I have devoted some space to describing the character of the age under consideration. All teachers are conscious of the difficulties which surround young students in their efforts to understand the works of authors who lived in times so distant and so different from our own. I need, therefore, make no apology for thus travelling outside the main province of a history of literature, if by so doing I have helped the reader to enter into the spirit of past ages. As biography is of special interest to the young, the lives of the great writers of each age are given a prominent place. 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.

Are you ready for a journey back in time? Let's discover the authors and writings from the foundation of Western Literature, as well as reading some great historical fiction and fairy tales. The foundations of Western Literature include Hebrew, Greek, Roman, and modern works. Starting with the Book of Genesis from the HOLY BIBLE, we will time travel through history by reading classic literature that has stood the test of time from Creation to the Middle Ages. Writing assignments help students to present ideas and information in an engaging way through sentences, paragraphs, paraphrases, thesis statements, essays, blog posts, paraphrases, and writing their own fairy tale. Use this course in a book club, family, or co-op setting. You will need to purchase the following books: The Book of Genesis from THE HOLY BIBLE (can be downloaded free online) Adam and His Kin by Ruth Beechick Hittite Warrior by Joann Williamson The Iliad for Boys & Girls by A.J. Church (both can be downloaded free online) The Odyssey for Boys & Girls by A.J. Church (both can be downloaded free online) Aesop's Fables by Aesop (can be downloaded free online) The Aeneid for Boys & Girls by A.J. Church (both can be downloaded free online) The Gospel of Matthew from THE HOLY BIBLE (can be downloaded free online) Lantern Bearer by Rosemary Sutcliff The Book of Acts from THE HOLY BIBLE (can be downloaded free online) Augustine Came to Kent by Barbara Willard Son of Charlemagne by Barbara Willard City of God by St. Augustine (can be downloaded free online) The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle (can be downloaded free online) Tales from the Arabian Nights (can be downloaded free online) Grimm's Fairy Tales compiled by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (can be downloaded free online) Collection Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen (can be downloaded free online) D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths by Ingri D'Aulaire & Edgar Parin D'aulaire The Following Writings are Included in this Foundations of Western Literature Book The Holy Bible: "David & Goliath," "Prodigal Son," & "The Sower and the Seed"

Excerpt from A History of English Literature The Beginnings of English Literature. The Difficulties attending them. The Advisability of taking Chaucer as our Starting Point. The Necessity of Knowing the Outlines of Earlier Days before even Chaucer is attempted. English Literature may be said to begin with some fragments of poetry that date back as far as the fourth century; and, for the ten centuries following, our literature is extremely difficult to understand, because it is written either in Anglo-Saxon, or else in one of the dialects of Middle English. It took a thousand years for English literature to develop properly; and we do not come across any author who can be easily mastered until we arrive at the middle of the fourteenth century. Then we find Geoffrey Chaucer one of the greatest of our poets, who died in the year 1400. We cannot, however, properly appreciate even his work unless we know something of the condition of English between the fourth and the fourteenth centuries; and this knowledge we must try to obtain by learning a little about the principal things that happened to the language before Chaucer's time. II. The Old English Times. I. The Teutonic Tribes in Britain. Nature of their Poetry. Alliteration, and what it means. How the Fragments of Ancient Songs have been preserved. Examples of them. "The Fight at Finnesburg," and "Beowulf." We have to begin by thinking of the tribes that came over to Britain in the fifth century, and slowly transformed it into England. They were Teutonic tribes, and spoke various Teutonic tongues. 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.