He secured
his material at first hand in a way that cannot be repeated. Parkman's
prose presents in a simple, lucid, but vigorous manner the story of the
overthrow of the French by the English in the struggle for a mighty
continent. As a result of this contest, Puritan England left its lasting
impress upon this new land.
ENGLISH LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD
Most of the work of the great New England group of writers was done during
the Victorian age--a time prolific of famous English authors. The greatest
of the English writers were THOMAS CARLYLE (1795-1881), whose _Sartor
Resartus_ and _Heroes and Hero Worship_ proved a stimulus to Emerson and to
many other Americans; LORD MACAULAY (1800-1859), whose _Essays_ and
_History of England_, remarkable for their clearness and interest, affected
either directly or indirectly the prose style of numberless writers in the
second half of the nineteenth century; JOHN RUSKIN (1819-1900), the apostle
of the beautiful and of more ideal social relations; MATTHEW ARNOLD
(1822-1888), the great analytical critic; CHARLES DICKENS (1812-1870),
whose novels of the lower class of English life are remarkable for vigor,
optimism, humor, the power to caricature, and to charm the masses; WILLIAM
MAKEPEACE THACKERAY (1811-1863), whose novels, like _Vanity Fair_, remain
unsurpassed for keen satiric analysis of the upper classes; and GEORGE
ELIOT (1819-1880), whose realistic stories of middle class life show a new
art in tracing the growth and development of character instead of merely
presenting it with the fixity of a portrait.
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