English History - Book Report/Review Example

But Maxim Gorkey in his powerful writings has visualized a liberated society of the proletariats in Russia. The works of Tagore offer a comprehensive study of Indian society at large. In this context it should be mentioned that not too many people who have studied the English at an academic level can possibly be ignorant to the effect a certain Bede (usually referred to as the Venerable Bede) managed to have on the race. The Venerable Bede or Saint Bede was and is of particular importance to the English due to his much acclaimed and extremely famous book called 'The Ecclesiastical History of the English People' (or Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum) which earned him the reverential title of "The father of English History".

Mouthful though that title is Bede himself was not burdened with that salutation for the most of his life. For the larger part of it he remained an innocuous enough Benedictine Monk in Northumbria. Much of his childhood and the rest of his life he spent in the Monastery of St. Peter located in Monkwearmouth. Unfortunately all we really know about Bede's life today is from a small note he himself added at the end of his esteemed book Historia, wherein he describes exactly how he was brought to the aforementioned monastery at the age of 7, how he managed to become a deacon 12 years later and how 18 years after that he finally became a priest.

(Lamb, 2004) In his In his own words it can well be stated that "Thus much concerning the ecclesiastical history of Britain, and especially of the race of the English, I, Baeda, a servant of Christ and a priest of the monastery of the blessed apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, which is at Wearmouth and at Jarrow (in Northumberland), have with the Lord's help composed so far as I could gather it either from ancient documents or from the traditions of the elders, or from my own knowledge." (Monk Preston, 2005) it can be stated that his implications have been thought to suggest that he finished his famous book at the age of 59, but many historians have raised doubts about such supposition.

Bede had a reasonable amount of interest in 'literary' pursuits. Besides the Historia he is also known to have composed commentaries regarding significant historical, theological and even scientific subjects. His works bear witness to the fact that he had a great authority over the learning of his period. As the priest Bede had access to one of the most well stocked libraries (the Wearmoth-Jarrow library) in the whole of England. It is evident that Bede lost no time in taking full advantage of this priviledge and ultimately put all his painstaking studies to good use.

Additionally, he is also known to have been particularly enthusiastic about collecting books from everywhere his infrequent travels took him. He famously wrote "I was born in the territory of the said monastery, and at the age of seven I was, by the care of my relations, given to the most reverend Abbot Benedict [St. Benedict Biscop], and afterwards to Ceolfrid, to be educated." (Monk Preston, 2005) Bede is a considerably proficient storyteller. His narrative is generously scattered with quotations from everything from Pliny to Horace and Virgil, which is in keeping with the conventions of his age which required a man of learning to include considerable evidence of what he knows in his own compositions.

Most of his commentaries on Christian