Lectures On Early English History Classic Reprint

Author : Henry Reed
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781331121282
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (212 download)

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Download or read book Lectures English History Tragic Poetry written by Henry Reed and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-10 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Lectures English History Tragic Poetry: As Illustrated by Illustrated I will endeavour in the lectures partially to notice those intervals; and I propose to extend my subject into a more remote antiquity, by taking the tragedy of King Lear as illustrative of the legendary times, and Cymbeline and Macbeth, of the Roman and Saxon periods, respectively. The nature of this subject renders these lectures literary as well as historical; and they must combine the study of those two high departments of human thought, poetry and history. Now I desire to say, at the outset, that I have sought this combination, not so much as a means of relieving the severity of historical study and making it more attractive, as because I have a deep conviction, that Poetry has a precious power of its own for the preservation of historical truth; that it can so revivify the past - can put such life in it - as to make imperishable. I have it greatly at heart to carry this deep conviction of mine into your minds, and hope to be able to show, if not by argument in this lecture, at least by actual evidence in those that follow, how a great poet may be, at the same time, a great historian. Before going further with the subject of my lecture, let me take two or three minutes to prevent some misapprehensions, which might otherwise occur. While there may be a legitimate and valuable service of the faculty of imagination in the cause of history, there is certainly a great deal that is utterly spurious and deceptive, especially in the shape of historical novels, among which the few excellent stand distinguished from a multitude that are worthless. I have no occasion to refer to them, and wish to be understood as treating my subject altogether apart from them. Again, when I state that the imagination may minister to the knowledge of history, I certainly do not mean to say, that the poetic or dramatic form is better than any other form of history, or, indeed, to make any kind of comparison between them. There is in each its own peculiar value; and so vast is the range of history, that it needs them all: it gives ample duty to every one who labours to save the memory of the past whether it be he who zealously collects authentic documents, or pores over time-worn inscriptions, or gathers unwritten traditions - whether it be annalist, or chronicler, or biographer, or historian. I allude to these various functions, not in the way of comparison, but, on the contrary, to show that no disparagement of them is to be understood, when I assert the use of the imagination in the study of history. 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.