PRESENT PROBLEMS OF ENGLISH LITERARY HISTORY 



BY JOHANNES HOOPS 



[Johannes Hoops, Ordinary Professor of English Philology, University of Heidel- 

 berg, b. Rablinghausen, Germany, July 20, 1865. Gymnasium Bremen, 1876- 

 85; University of Jena, 1885; Freiburg, 1886-89; Ph.D. Freiburg, 1889. In- 

 structor in English, University of Tubingen, 1893-96; called to Heidelberg, 

 1896. Author of On Old English Plant-Names; Keats' s Youth and Juvenile Poems; 

 Forest-Trees and Cultivated Plants in Germanic Antiquity; and other works and 

 memoirs. Editor of Englische Studien; Englische Textbibliothek; and Anglis- 

 tische Forschungen.] 



THE subject which was assigned to me for my address would seem 

 naturally to require a certain choice and limitation. The number 

 of problems with which students of English literary history are at 

 present occupied is endless; only the principal ones can come into 

 consideration for our purpose, and even among these a selection is 

 necessary, which must needs be of a subjective character: opinions 

 will differ as to the importance of different problems. Nor can 

 a solution of the problems discussed be attempted in the scope of 

 a lecture; only some suggestions can be given. 



Significant problems present themselves in all periods of English 

 literary history. In Old English literature the Beowulf question still 

 awaits its final settlement. Some points, to be sure, are almost unani- 

 mously accepted to-day. So far as the historical basis of the Beowulf 

 epic, the age and the dialect of the manuscript, the scene of the 

 action, and the home of the saga is concerned, there seems to be an 

 almost general agreement; but as to locality, time, and mode of the 

 genesis of the Beowulf poem, as to its mythological foundation, the 

 author, etc., opinions at present still differ widely, and it surely will 

 be some time before the controversy about it will subside, if this will 

 ever be the case. 



In Chaucer philology one important task is above all to be solved; 

 the establishment of a critical text. Meritorious as Skeat's great 

 edition certainly is by reason of its valuable introductions, notes, 

 glossary, and various readings the text is treated too arbitrarily 

 and cannot be regarded as final. No doubt, the establishment of 

 a critical Chaucer text is particularly difficult: it is not only a task, 

 it involves a problem. But it must be tackled and will be achieved 

 some day. John Koch's critical edition of The Pardoner's Tale, lately 

 published, on the basis of the entire material, is an encouraging 

 attempt in this direction. 



In spite of the thousands of books that have been written on 

 Shakespeare during the last two centuries, in spite of the legion of 

 authors, both learned and dilettante, who are still engaged in editing, 

 criticising, and commenting upon the works of the greatest British 



