Excerpt from Readings in Poetry: A Selection From the Best English Poets, From Spenser to the Present Times; And Specimens of Several American Poets of Deserved Reputation English Poetry occupies a proud station in the literature of Modern Europe: yielding to none in sublimity, extent, and variety, it surpasses all in the highest species of.poetry, - that which is ennobled by the spirit of piety, and derives its in spiration, not 'from fabled fountains, but from the wells of water springing up to everlasting life. Truly ungrateful are the British bards, that forget their obligation to the Bible: from its sacred pages were derived the first impulses of English genius; our literature has grown with pure religion, shared in its temporary obscurations, and participated in all its triumphs. From the days of the Saxon Alfred, to the present hour, there has not been a period remarkable for the brilliancy of its literary triumphs, that was not also distinguished by zeal in the' diffusion of religious truth; and the epochs marked by tameness and dulness in the annals of our literature, were also those when the religious historian could complain, that the love of many had waxed cold. Of the literature of our Saxon ancestors too little' IS generally known. Being hopelessly ignorant of their metrical laws, and the quantity of their syllables, we cannot derive from the songs of the ancient bards all the pleasure that they afforded their contemporaries; but we can trace in them that stubborn Strength of character and manly independence, which soon roused the jealous vengeance of the Roman pontiff, and in duced him not merely to sanction, but direct, the invasion of the Norman William. The Norman Conquest established the papal power in England, on a basis apparently permanent. The same policy that had induced the popes to aid the Franks in their exterminating war against the Gauls and the Goths. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.