History of English Poetry from the Twelfth to the Close of the Sixteen Century, Volume 3Reeves and Turner, 1871 - English poetry |
Common terms and phrases
alfo alſo ancient appears becauſe Bibl Biſhop Bodl Boethius boke Britiſh called Caxton Chaucer church circumftance claffics cloſe compofition court deſcribed deſcription Du Cange edit Edward IV elegant Engliſh eſpecially eſtabliſhed faid fame fatire fays feems fene feven firft firſt flouriſhed fome France French ftanzas ftory fubject fuch fuppofed fupr Gower Greek Harl Henry Henry VII Hift hiftory himſelf houſe Ibid John king kyng ladies laft laſt Latin leaſt Lord Lydgate Lydgate's mentioned moft monk moſt Muſeum muſt obferves Oxford paffage Paris perfon Petrarch pieces poem poet poetry prefent prieſt printed profe Prologue publiſhed queen reign romance Saint Sapience ſays ſcholars ſcience Scotland Secretum Secretorum ſeems ſhe ſhould Skelton ſome ſpeaks ſtage ſtate Stephen Hawes ſtill ſtory ſtyle ſuppoſed thai thair thefe theſe thoſe tranflated univerfity uſed verfe verfion verſe whofe whoſe writer written wrote Wynkyn de Worde
Popular passages
Page 291 - Sometime we see a cloud that's dragonish; A vapour sometime like a bear or lion, A tower'd citadel, a pendent rock, A forked mountain, or blue promontory With trees upon't, that nod unto the world, And mock our eyes with air.
Page 234 - And misty regions of wide air next under, And hills of snow, and lofts of piled thunder, May tell at length how green-eyed Neptune raves, In Heaven's defiance mustering all his waves ; Then sing of secret things that came to pass When beldam Nature in her cradle was ; And last of kings and queens and heroes old, Such as the wise Demodocus* once told, In solemn songs at king Alcinous...
Page 1 - ... variety ; that his merit was not less in painting familiar manners with humour and propriety, than in moving the passions, and in representing the beautiful or the grand objects of nature with grace and sublimity. In a word, that he appeared with all the lustre and dignity of a true poet, in an age which compelled him to struggle with a barbarous language, and a national want of taste : and when to write verses at all, was regarded as a singular qualification...
Page 223 - Their downy breast ; the swan, with arched neck Between her white wings mantling proudly, rows Her state with oary feet ; yet oft they quit The dank, and rising on stiff pennons tower The mid aerial sky.
Page 48 - All the rest of the books, which, like this, being highly ornamented, looked like missals, and conveyed ideas of popish superstition, were destroyed or removed by the pious visitors of the University in the reign of Edward the Sixth, whose zeal was equalled only by their ignorance, or perhaps by their avarice.
Page 234 - Such as may make thee fearch thy coffers round. Before thou clothe my fancy in fit found: Such where the deep tranfported mind may foar Above the wheeling poles...
Page 101 - Mimi, belonging to the family of Lord Clinton, who lived in the adjoining Castle of Maxtoke, to sing, harp, and play in the hall of the Monastery, during the extraordinary refection allowed to the Monks, on that anniversary : — two shillings were given to the priests, and four to the minstrels ; and the latter are said to...
Page 53 - ... and we fondly anticipate a long continuance of gentle gales and vernal serenity. But winter returns with redoubled horrors : the clouds...
Page 12 - So that thai suld the better swink, The wight men that thar ware : Sir Philip of Fraunce fled for dout, And hied him hame with all his rout, Coward, God giff him care. For thare than had the lely flowre Lorn all halely his honowre, That...
Page 52 - All thefe circumftances mufl have concurred to produce a perceptible change in the language of the court. It is rational therefore, and it is equitable, to fuppofe that, inftead of coining new words, they only complied with the common and faihionable modes of fpeech.