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Article: Songs in the English tongue.(A History of English Literature)(Book Review)
- Article from:
- Quadrant
- Article date:
- September 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Quadrant Magazine Company, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A History of English Literature, by Michael Alexander; Palgrave/Macmillan, 2000, $46.20.
MY FATHER had a tiny version of this sort of book at Auckland Training College in 1923. They're still going strong. His was Stopford A. Brooke's English Literature from A.D. 670 to A.D. 1832--Macmillan 1876, revised 1896, still being reprinted in 1921 and well worth half-a-crown: a summary guide to the "thoughts, feelings, and imagination of a great people ... those who read ... ought to feel a noble pride". Brooke's Beowulf is "our Genesis, the book of our origins". Ealdhelm (fl.680) would "stand on the bridge and sing songs in the English tongue to lure traders to hear the ...