Chaucer 1340 ? -- 1400 Spenser, 1552 ? -- 1599 Shakespeare, 1564 -- 1616 Milton, 1608 -- 1674 Dryden, 1631 -- 1700 Pope, 1688 -- 1744 Wordsworth, 1770 -- 1850 Coleridge, 1772 -- 1834 Byron, 1788 -- 1824 Shelley, 1792 -- 1822 Keats, 1795 -- 1821 Tennyson, 1809 -- 1892 Browning, 1812 -- 1889 We do not enjoy the work of all these poets equally; in any case, boys and girls, men and {231} women, have individual preferences. Some people find greater enjoyment in the work of Byron than in the work, let us suppose, of Tennyson. Others greatly prefer Tennyson to Browning; and again these may not care for Byron. But many people find delight in reading Browning's poetry. Still, we should remember that all these writers are great poets, and that each has had power over his own generation and other generations as well. Chaucer, as you know, is difficult to read because he lived so many hundreds of years ago, and the English language has changed considerably since the time when he wrote poetry. The same may be said of Spenser, although in a less degree. Dryden and Pope helped to perfect the style of English poetry, and this, possibly, is their outstanding claim to greatness. It may help us to know and enjoy poetry if we choose one or two of the poems written by these great poets. You may have found the work of Chaucer already, but it is the Prologue to the _Canterbury Tales_ which most people, who read Chaucer at all, know best. A little study will help us to read some of Chaucer's lines. We know also of Spenser's _Faery Queen_, of Una and the Red Cross Knight. Shakespeare lives as the master of English literature. We have some knowledge of his plays, but we have not yet spoken of his sonnets. A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines, usually divided into an octave--eight lines--and a sestet--six lines. There are three varieties of the {232} sonnet form in English poetry. That used by Shakespeare has three four-line stanzas, the first line in each stanza rhyming with the third, and the second line with the fourth; these stanzas are followed by a rhyming couplet. Those of you who are specially interested in verse forms will find under the heading "technical terms", an interesting note on the sonnet in Mr. H. W. Fowler's _Dictionary of Modern English Usage_. Some of the most beautiful short poems in the world have taken the form of the sonnet. Read Shakespeare's sonnet beginning with the lines,-- That time of year thou may'st in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruin'd choirs where late the sweet birds sang.