A History of English Literature
A History of English Literature
A History of English Literature
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
y inherited and outworn modes <strong>of</strong> thought.<br />
More's most important work was his 'Utopia,' published in 1516. The name,<br />
which is Greek, means No-Place, and the book is one <strong>of</strong> the most famous <strong>of</strong><br />
that series <strong>of</strong> attempts to outline an imaginary ideal condition <strong>of</strong> society<br />
which begins with Plato's 'Republic' and has continued to our own time.<br />
'Utopia,' broadly considered, deals primarily with the question which is<br />
common to most <strong>of</strong> these books and in which both ancient Greece and Europe<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Renaissance took a special interest, namely the question <strong>of</strong> the<br />
relation <strong>of</strong> the State and the individual. It consists <strong>of</strong> two parts. In the<br />
first there is a vivid picture <strong>of</strong> the terrible evils which England was<br />
suffering through war, lawlessness, the wholesale and foolish application<br />
<strong>of</strong> the death penalty, the misery <strong>of</strong> the peasants, the absorption <strong>of</strong> the<br />
land by the rich, and the other distressing corruptions in Church and<br />
State. In the second part, in contrast to all this, a certain imaginary<br />
Raphael Hythlodaye describes the customs <strong>of</strong> Utopia, a remote island in the<br />
New World, to which chance has carried him. To some <strong>of</strong> the ideals thus set<br />
forth More can scarcely have expected the world ever to attain; and some <strong>of</strong><br />
them will hardly appeal to the majority <strong>of</strong> readers <strong>of</strong> any period; but in<br />
the main he lays down an admirable program for human progress, no small<br />
part <strong>of</strong> which has been actually realized in the four centuries which have<br />
since elapsed.<br />
The controlling purpose in the life <strong>of</strong> the Utopians is to secure both the<br />
welfare <strong>of</strong> the State and the full development <strong>of</strong> the individual under the<br />
ascendancy <strong>of</strong> his higher faculties. The State is democratic, socialistic,<br />
and communistic, and the will <strong>of</strong> the individual is subordinated to the<br />
advantage <strong>of</strong> all, but the real interests <strong>of</strong> each and all are recognized as<br />
identical. Every one is obliged to work, but not to overwork; six hours a<br />
day make the allotted period; and the rest <strong>of</strong> the time is free, but with<br />
plentiful provision <strong>of</strong> lectures and other aids for the education <strong>of</strong> mind<br />
and spirit. All the citizens are taught the fundamental art, that <strong>of</strong><br />
agriculture, and in addition each has a particular trade or pr<strong>of</strong>ession <strong>of</strong><br />
his own. There is no surfeit, excess, or ostentation. Clothing is made for<br />
durability, and every one's garments are precisely like those <strong>of</strong> every one<br />
else, except that there is a difference between those <strong>of</strong> men and women and<br />
those <strong>of</strong> married and unmarried persons. The sick are carefully tended, but<br />
the victims <strong>of</strong> hopeless or painful disease are mercifully put to death if<br />
they so desire. Crime is naturally at a minimum, but those who persist in<br />
it are made slaves (not executed, for why should the State be deprived <strong>of</strong><br />
their services?). Detesting war, the Utopians make a practice <strong>of</strong> hiring<br />
certain barbarians who, conveniently, are their neighbors, to do whatever<br />
fighting is necessary for their defense, and they win if possible, not by<br />
the revolting slaughter <strong>of</strong> pitched battles, but by the assassination <strong>of</strong><br />
their enemies' generals. In especial, there is complete religious<br />
toleration, except for atheism, and except for those who urge their<br />
opinions with <strong>of</strong>fensive violence.<br />
'Utopia' was written and published in Latin; among the multitude <strong>of</strong><br />
translations into many languages the earliest in <strong>English</strong>, in which it is<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten reprinted, is that <strong>of</strong> Ralph Robinson, made in 1551.<br />
THE ENGLISH BIBLE AND BOOKS OF DEVOTION. To this century <strong>of</strong> religious<br />
change belongs the greater part <strong>of</strong> the literary history <strong>of</strong> the <strong>English</strong><br />
Bible and <strong>of</strong> the ritual books <strong>of</strong> the <strong>English</strong> Church. Since the suppression<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Wiclifite movement the circulation <strong>of</strong> the Bible in <strong>English</strong> had been<br />
forbidden, but growing Protestantism insistently revived the demand for it.<br />
The attitude <strong>of</strong> Henry VIII and his ministers was inconsistent and<br />
uncertain, reflecting their own changing points <strong>of</strong> view. In 1526 William