SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS. 1. The fifteenth century in English literature is
sometimes called "the age of arrest." Can you explain why? What causes
account for the lack of great literature in this period? Why should the
ruin of noble families at this time seriously affect our literature? Can
you recall anything from the Anglo-Saxon period to justify your opinion?

2. What is meant by Humanism? What was the first effect of the study of
Greek and Latin classics upon our literature? What excellent literary
purposes did the classics serve in later periods?

3. What are the chief benefits to literature of the discovery of printing?
What effect on civilization has the multiplication of books?

4. Describe More's _Utopia_. Do you know any modern books like it? Why
should any impractical scheme of progress be still called Utopian?

5. What work of this period had the greatest effect on the English
language? Explain why.

6. What was the chief literary influence exerted by Wyatt and Surrey? Do
you know any later poets who made use of the verse forms which they
introduced?

7. Which of Malory's stories do you like best? Where did these stories
originate? Have they any historical foundation? What two great elements did
Malory combine in his work? What is the importance of his book to later
English literature? Compare Tennyson's "Idylls of the King" and Malory's
stories with regard to material, expression, and interest. Note the marked
resemblances and differences between the _Morte d'Arthur_ and the
_Nibelungen Lied_.

CHRONOLOGY
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HISTORY | LITERATURE
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1413. Henry V |
1415. Battle of Agincourt |
1422. Henry VI | 1470. Malory's Morte d' Arthur
1428. Siege of Orleans. Joan of Arc | 1474(c). Caxton, at Bruges,
1453. End of Hundred Year's War | prints the first book in
1455-1485. War of Roses | English, the Recuyell of the
1461. Edward IV | Histories of Troye
1483. Richard III | 1477. First book printed in
| England
1485. Henry VII | 1485. Morte d'Arthur printed
| by Caxton
1492. Columbus discovers A