A History of English Literature; a Practical Text-book |
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Page 21
... beauty , and there is a sweet melancholy inflection in some of the verses that is rare indeed among the fumbling poetasters of the time . The meter is extra- ordinarily complicated : heavily alliterated twelve - lined stanzas , with ...
... beauty , and there is a sweet melancholy inflection in some of the verses that is rare indeed among the fumbling poetasters of the time . The meter is extra- ordinarily complicated : heavily alliterated twelve - lined stanzas , with ...
Page 22
... beauty , but they have an exultation and stern energy that make them conspicuous among the poems of the period . They are composed in a kind of alliterative blank verse . Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of the most captivating of ...
... beauty , but they have an exultation and stern energy that make them conspicuous among the poems of the period . They are composed in a kind of alliterative blank verse . Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of the most captivating of ...
Page 35
... beauty , abound in excellent lines that often suggest the sonnets of Shake- speare . The poem suffers from the prevailing diffuseness ; but the pathos of the story is touched upon with a passion- ate intensity . " If no love is , O God ...
... beauty , abound in excellent lines that often suggest the sonnets of Shake- speare . The poem suffers from the prevailing diffuseness ; but the pathos of the story is touched upon with a passion- ate intensity . " If no love is , O God ...
Page 38
... beauty , impressiveness , and humor . Even when he follows the common example of the time , as when giving details of conventional spring mornings and flowery gardens , he has a vivacity that makes his poetry unique . Many poets before ...
... beauty , impressiveness , and humor . Even when he follows the common example of the time , as when giving details of conventional spring mornings and flowery gardens , he has a vivacity that makes his poetry unique . Many poets before ...
Page 50
... beauty , but not vital to the metrical scheme . As regards the actual poetic diction of the period , there is a considerable liking shown for ornate French and classi- cal terms . This can be observed in the earlier poems of Chaucer and ...
... beauty , but not vital to the metrical scheme . As regards the actual poetic diction of the period , there is a considerable liking shown for ornate French and classi- cal terms . This can be observed in the earlier poems of Chaucer and ...
Common terms and phrases
Addison allegorical alliteration appeared ballad beauty became Beowulf blank verse Byron Cædmon called career century characters Chaucer chief classical Coleridge comedy Cynewulf death DEVELOPMENT OF LITERARY died drama Dryden early educated Elizabethan England English prose essays example extract fiction genius give heroic couplet Hudibras humor importance John Johnson Keats kind King lack Lady large number later letters literature living Lord lyrical manner Matthew Arnold meter Milton miscellaneous narrative nature never night novel novelist Oxford passages passion period picaresque novel Pickwick Papers plays plot poems poet poetical poetry political Pope popular prose style published rhyme royal romance satire Scott Scottish Shakespeare Shelley shows song sonnets Spenser Spenserian stanzas spirit stanzas story success sweet Swift tale Tennyson Thackeray thee theme thou tion took tragedy W. E. Henley Whig Wordsworth writing written wrote
Popular passages
Page 448 - twas a pleasing fear, For I was as it were a child of thee, And trusted to thy billows far and near, And laid my hand upon thy mane— as I do here.
Page 202 - He was the man who of all modern, and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul, All the images of Nature were still present to him, and he drew them, not laboriously, but luckily: when he describes any thing, you more than see it, you feel it too.
Page 259 - Peace to all such ! but were there one whose fires True genius kindles, and fair fame inspires; Blest with each talent and each art to please, And born to write, converse, and live with ease; Should such a man, too fond to rule alone, Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne...
Page 184 - Our two souls, therefore, which are one, Though I must go, endure not yet A breach, but an expansion, Like gold to airy thinness beat. If they be two, they are two so As stiff twin compasses are two: Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show To move, but doth if th
Page 392 - He has outsoared the shadow of our night; Envy and calumny and hate and pain, And that unrest which men miscall delight, Can touch him not and torture not again...
Page 224 - Of fleeting things, so certain to be lost. Clouds of affection from our younger eyes Conceal that emptiness which age descries. The soul's dark cottage, battered and decayed, Lets in new light through chinks that Time hath made...
Page 562 - Now came still evening on, and twilight gray Had in her sober livery all things clad; Silence accompanied; for beast and bird, They to their grassy couch, these to their nests Were slunk, all but .the wakeful nightingale; She all night long her amorous descant sung...
Page 137 - Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.
Page 165 - For, so to interpose a little ease, Let our frail thoughts dally with false surmise; Ay me ! whilst thee the shores and sounding seas Wash far away, where'er thy bones are hurled; Whether beyond the stormy Hebrides, Where thou perhaps under the whelming tide Visit'st the bottom of the monstrous world...
Page 295 - In all my wanderings round this world of care, In all my griefs, — and God has given my share, — I still had hopes, my latest hours to crown, Amidst these humble bowers to lay me down ; To husband out life's taper at the close, And keep the flame from wasting by repose.