Lowell had tested many of them on his college
students, and he had noted what served to kindle interest and to produce
results. We may recommend five of his greater literary essays, which would
give a vivid idea of the development of English poetry from Chaucer to the
death of Pope. These five are: _Chaucer_, in _My Study Windows; Spenser_,
in _Among My Books, Second Series; Shakespeare Once More_, and _Dryden_, in
_Among My Books, First Series_; and _Pope_, in _My Study Windows_. If we
add to these the short addresses on _Wordsworth_ and _Coleridge_, delivered
in England, and printed in the volume _Democracy and Other Addresses_
(1886), we shall have the incentive to continue the study of poetry into
the nineteenth century.
Lowell's criticism provokes thought. It will not submit to a passive
reading. It expresses truth in unique and striking ways. Speaking of the
French and Italian sources on which Chaucer drew, Lowell says:--
"Should a man discover the art of transmuting metals, and present us with
a lump of gold as large as an ostrich egg, would it be in human nature to
inquire too nicely whether he had stolen the lead? ...
"Chaucer, like Shakespeare, invented almost nothing.
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