Special Article FOUNDATION OF READING.

Temuka Leader, Issue 10977, 14 August 1926, Page 3

Special Article FOUNDATION OF READING.

EARLY LITERATURE,

(By "R”) Written for the “ Leader ” and Guardian,’ J 1 return again to the subject of literature. The foundations of literature are laid deep with the origins of writing and the birth of letters, and they are not always easily discerned. Indeed, we have many fragments of sublime writings, such as the songs of Homer, in the Greek, which were at first probably handed down by oral tradition. Some persons think the beginnings of intelligent writing are to be found amongst the rude monuments and paintings of early peoples. Perhaps the ingenious method of the old Peruvians, who communicated news by means of the Quipes, or variously coloured and knotted cords, may belong to the same order.. Later, the heiroglyphs. and the subsequent written languages served to finally perpetuate the best literatures. The remains of early Semitic writings are extremely rare, and it is difficult to judge of their literary merit. It is thought that a fairly extensive literature existed iu ancient days, for we read of Assyrian, Babylonian and Egyptian libraries. The burning of the great Alexandrian Library, about 48 8.C., is said to have destroyed many ancient writings of note. To-day we have only fragmentary evidence of these things, and the fragments appear to be crude and vague, For the most part they consist of religious and magical formulae, and historic and military records. These are chiefly of value at the present day to scholars, who make them largely a basis for historic conjecture. Those who have entered the realms of learning are amazed at the magnificent wealth and dignity of Hebrew literature. The supreme example is undoubtedly the Bible, but there are also many ancient Talmudic and Rabbinical writings, besides a surprisingly extensive present-day Jewish literature in Russia and Palestine. That Hebrew is not wholly a dead language is amply demonstrated by several current periodicals and a weekly London paper published in that language. What we owe to the Hebrew writings, particularly to the Bible, in their influence on life and conduct, would be hard to estimate hut.judged as literature, they stand supreme. In history, in biography, in poetry, in oratory, in logic, they are beyond compare. The world’s greatest literary men have acknowledged their indebtedness, and have frequently copied the style, and drawn their own inspiration from this fountain head of literary excellence. It is difficult to single out specific qualities where the whole is of such high merit. But perhaps the one outstanding characteristic of Hebrew diction is its profuse imagery. We could almost call it the picture language for its picturesque style. Added to this is its lofty conception of life, and its sublime and dignified grandeur of diction.

Greek writings introduce us to epic poetry, to philosophy and to aesthetic thought. The Greeks excelled in poetry, in art, in grace, and even their physical exertions were designed to promote symmetry and an easy elegance of movement. The same style and beauty is marked in their literature. This literature includes a period of over five hundred years, dating from Homer to Zeno. It includes epic and lyric poetry, history, drama, comedy, oratory and philosophy, each represented by names well known to-day. It is not without reason that the writings of the Greeks have occupied so large a share of human interest. Perhaps no other nation has so fully revealed its character in. its writings. Greek literature is the embodiment of Greek ideals and beauty.. Next to the Hebrew, it has been a constant source of inspiration and power, and its influence is deep to-day. • The epics of Homer, the dramas of Aeschylus and Sophocles, the oratory of Demosthenes, the moral philosophy of Plato, Aristotle and Epictetus, are a part of the great debt we owe to Greek literature.

The Latin is generally regarded as the language of scholarship and science. This era of literature- was subsequen f to the Greek, and occupied a shorter period of time. The Latin Avriters generally are regarded as of a lower order than the Greeks, Virgil alone evincing any marked imaginative skill. The earlier Roman poets were materialists, and Avrote largely in comedy and satire. Terence, Lucretius, Horace and Juvenal are not usually rated very high. Ovid, the Latin love poet, has had a Avide popularity, but his ppems are considered of inferior quality. The Latin prose Avriters were mainly historians, Livy, Sallust and Julius Caesar being well kuoAvu, Quiutillian and Cicero Averc the principal Roman philosophers, the latter being also a brilliant orator. His Avritings are marked by a graceful style and much literary polish. The Roman literature as a whole, however, is marked by gross materialism, and it lacks the refinement and beauty

of the Greeks. Many of the Roman writers excelled in epigram, and perhaps we owe to them something of the terse diction and logical reasoning of the present day. The rise of the Italian school of writers, out of the Middle Ages, marks a new era in literature. These writers had caught something of the long-lost imaginative fire and lofty ideals of the earlier periods, and they added to it a musical richness peculiarly their own. Petrarch and Boccaccio should be well-known examples, although Dante is the best representative. His “Divine Comedy” Is not only a classic, hut

shines with an incomparable beauty and richness. It is at once a commentary on human life, a spiritual, allegory and a sublime lyric. Each successive writer has owed much to Dante. Italy is called the land of song, and its literature is always musical, lively, imaginative and picturesque beyond any other. Any reference to German and French literature must be brief. The former is primarily the literature of modern philosophic and critical thought, Lessing, the first great German writer, was a keen critic, and Schiller, Hitcher and Heine also indulged freely in philosophic speculations, Goethe stands pre-eminent as the German Shakespeare, and his “Faust” and “Wilhelm Meister” are great mystical productions, with a lasting influence and force. Speculative, and sometimes harsh, as the German writ- ■ mgs appear, they often represent an eager and bold search for ultimate truth and light. The French is the language of brightness, buoyancy and grace. From the early satires of Rabelais to the works of Racine and Moliorc, there has been always manifest a genial lightness of. touch, allied to much literary merit. Voltaire and Rousseau, perhaps, best represent the philosophic side, but to the French writers we owe much of the humour and the lighter vein of our English style. English literature, from the time of Chaucer, has had certain outstanding characteristics. Spenser, Shakespeare and Milton, though widely divergent, have much in common. Both in English prose and poetry there are links of a common union. It has been said that our literature is characterised by homeliness, and that in all our, great writers the homely phrase and severe simplicity are never absent. In these modern days we may not equal the lofty thought and style of Elizabethan writers, who regarded literature as a fine art. We may have fallen upon evil days iu some respects, and in our chief writings there may be a conflict of divergent factors. Yes, to be sure! But there still may he traced through all our literature the “noble vulgar speech,” and an ardent love for fact, for utility, for simplicity, and for plain commonsense.