Handbook of Universal Literature, from the Best and Latest Authorities |
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Handbook of Universal Literature from the Best and Latest Authorities Anne C. Lynch Botta Limited preview - 2019 |
Handbook of Universal Literature from the Best and Latest Authorities Anne Charlotte Lynch Botta No preview available - 2019 |
Handbook of Universal Literature: From the Best and Latest Authorities Anne Charlotte Lynch Botta No preview available - 2015 |
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16th century ancient Anglo-Saxon antiquity appeared Arabian ballads beauty became belong brilliant Castilian celebrated character Charlemagne Châteaubriand chiefly chivalry Christian chronicles church Cicero classical comedy composed composition contemporary court cultivated dialect distinguished doctrines drama earliest early elegance eloquence eminent England English epic epic poetry Europe feeling France French literature genius German Greece Greek heroes historians honor human imagination imitation influence Italian Italian literature Italy king language Latin Latin language letters literary lived Lope de Vega Louis XIV lyric lyric poetry Madame Madame de Staël mind modern moral narrative native nature numerous original passion period philosophy poems poet poetical poetry political popular principles produced prose Provençal purity Reformation reign religion religious Roman Rome satire sentiment songs Spain Spanish Spanish literature spirit style taste thought tion tone tongue tragedy translated verse writers written wrote
Popular passages
Page 372 - My name and memory I leave to foreign nations, and to mine own countrymen, AFTER SOME TIME BE PAST OVER.
Page 285 - ... defects, in his ease, grace, and sudden resource, in his wildness and extravagance, in the happiness of his versification and the prodigal abundance of his imagery, that a very little more freedom, a very little more indulgence given to his feelings and his fancy, would have made him at once and entirely, not only an improvisator, but the most remarkable one that ever lived.
Page 285 - And so it is with the ancient religious feeling that was so nearly akin to this loyalty. The Christian spirit, which gave an air of duty to the wildest forms of adventure throughout the country, during its long contest with the power of misbelief, was now fallen away into a low and anxious bigotry, fierce and intolerant...
Page 336 - In point of real force and originality of genius, neither the age of Pericles, nor the age of Augustus, nor the times of Leo X., nor of Louis XIV., can come at all into comparison...
Page 285 - ... concludes with the death of St. Ferdinand, the father of Alfonso. The last part, relating to the history of Spain, is by far the most attractive, and sets forth in a truly national spirit all the rich old traditions of the country. This is not only the most interesting of the Spanish chronicles, but the most interesting of all that in any country mark the transition from its poetical and romantic traditions to the grave exactness of historical truth.
Page 374 - Tempest," doubtless his last work, he peopled his haunted island with a group of beings whose conception indicates a greater variety of imagination, and in some points a greater depth of thought than any others which he has bequeathed to us. The name of Shakspeare is the greatest in all literature. No man ever came near him in creative power — no man had ever such strength combined with such variety of imagination.
Page 96 - They made language the object of their study; they aimed at correctness and beauty of style, and they laid the foundation for the polished diction of Plato and Demosthenes. They taught that the sole aim of the orator is to turn the minds of his hearers into such a train as may best suit his own interest; that, consequently, rhetoric is the agent of persuasion, the art of all arts, because the rhetorician is able to speak well and convincingly on every subject, though he may have no accurate knowledge...
Page 301 - ... from their own country on account of the Turkish oppression, and are now settled as colonists along the south-western bank of the Danube, from Semlin to St. Andre near Buda. The southern sky, and the beauties of natural scenery existing throughout nearly all these regions, so favourable in general to the development of poetical genius, appear also to have exerted a happy influence on the language. While it yields to none of the other Slavic dialects in richness, clearness, and precision, it far...
Page 331 - ... tongue, which long continued to be the organ of expression with the principal writers of the country, nearly all of whom, even to the present day, are distinguished for the purity and elegance with which they compose in this language. The Reformation and the great political agitations of the sixteenth century ended in the independence of the northern provinces and the establishment of the Dutch Republic (1581) under the name of the United Provinces, commonly called Holland, from the province...
Page 73 - Aeschylus, was one of the great masters of elegiac song. The epigram was originally an inscription on a tombstone, or a votive offering in a temple, or on any other thing which required explanation. The unexpected turn of thought and...