A History of English Poetry, Volume 1Macmillan and Company, 1895 - English poetry |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
accent allegory ancient Anglo-Saxon ballad Beowulf Cædmon Canterbury Canterbury Tales century Chanson de Geste character Chaucer chivalrous Christian Church composed composition Confessio Amantis court Dante dramatic encyclopædic England English Poetry fabliau feudal French genius Gower Greek House of Fame Ibid idea illustrated imagination imitation influence invention king knight lady Langland language Latin Layamon Legend literary literature lord lover Lydgate manner Mary Mede mediæval metre metrical Middle Ages minstrel minstrelsy Miracle Plays moral narrative nature original Petrarch Piers the Ploughman Piers the Plowman poem poet poetical political Pope principle Prologue quod reader reign religious Renaissance rhyme Robert of Brunne Rose Saxon says Scripture shal shows society song spirit stanza story style syllables Tale taste Temple of Glass Teutonic thee thou thought tion tradition translation Troilus and Criseyde troubadours trouvère verse Vision of Piers words write
Popular passages
Page 41 - And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day.
Page 42 - For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds: I will be like the most High.
Page 2 - Milton was the poetical son of Spenser, and Mr. Waller of Fairfax, for we have our lineal descents and clans as well as other families.
Page 111 - THE Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold; And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea, When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
Page 293 - His berd as any sowe or fox was reed, And ther-to brood, as though it were a spade. Up-on the cop...
Page 110 - They now to fight are gone, Armour on armour shone, Drum now to drum did groan, To hear was wonder ; That with the cries they make, The very earth did shake, Trumpet to trumpet spake, Thunder to thunder.
Page 40 - See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; in that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his...
Page 273 - Orbe locus medio est inter terrasque fretumque caelestesque plagas, triplicis confinia mundi: unde quod est usquam, quamvis regionibus absit, inspicitur, penetratque cavas vox omnis ad aures. Fama tenet summaque domum sibi legit in arce, innumerosque aditus ac mille foramina tectis addidit, et nullis inclusit limina portis.
Page 186 - Sir, will you grant and keep, and by your oath confirm to the people of England, the laws and customs to them granted by the kings of England, your lawful and religious predecessors ; and namely, the laws, customs, and franchises' granted to the clergy by the glorious king St. Edward, your predecessor, according to the laws of God, the true profession of the gospel established in this kingdom...
Page 470 - A multitude, like which the populous north Pour'd never from her frozen loins, to pass Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous sons Came like a deluge on the south, and spread Beneath Gibraltar to the Libyan sands.