An Essay on English Poetry; with notices of the British poets. [Edited by Peter Cunningham.]John Murray, 1848 - 436 pages |
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... edition was intrusted . Various inaccuracies of the former editions have been removed in this - some silently , for it would have burdened the book with useless matter to have retained them in the text , and pointed them out in a note ...
... edition was intrusted . Various inaccuracies of the former editions have been removed in this - some silently , for it would have burdened the book with useless matter to have retained them in the text , and pointed them out in a note ...
Page 5
... editions of this Essay Layamon has been printed by the Society of Antiquaries of London , under the able superintendence of Sir F. Madden . ] [ Nothing can be more difficult , except by an arbitrary line , than to de- termine the ...
... editions of this Essay Layamon has been printed by the Society of Antiquaries of London , under the able superintendence of Sir F. Madden . ] [ Nothing can be more difficult , except by an arbitrary line , than to de- termine the ...
Page 23
... edition of ' Sir Tristrem , ' has presented the public with an ancient Scottish romance , which , according to Mr. Scott's theory , would demonstrate the English language to have been cultivated earlier in Scotland than in England . I ...
... edition of ' Sir Tristrem , ' has presented the public with an ancient Scottish romance , which , according to Mr. Scott's theory , would demonstrate the English language to have been cultivated earlier in Scotland than in England . I ...
Page 25
... edition of ' Sir Tristrem , ' after conjecturing one date for the birth of Thomas the Rhymer , avowedly alters it for the sake of identifying the Rhymer with Gotfried's Thomas of Britania , and places his birth before the end of the ...
... edition of ' Sir Tristrem , ' after conjecturing one date for the birth of Thomas the Rhymer , avowedly alters it for the sake of identifying the Rhymer with Gotfried's Thomas of Britania , and places his birth before the end of the ...
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... edition of the Canterbury Tales , ' accidentally discovered an English versifier older than Chaucer himself . The style of Minot's ten military ballads is frequently alliterative , and has much of the northern dialect . He is an easy ...
... edition of the Canterbury Tales , ' accidentally discovered an English versifier older than Chaucer himself . The style of Minot's ten military ballads is frequently alliterative , and has much of the northern dialect . He is an easy ...
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Common terms and phrases
admiration Æneid afterwards amidst ancient appear ballad beauty Ben Jonson Born century certainly character Chaucer church circumstances comedy court Cowper Creusa death Died drama Dryden Earl eclogues Edinburgh edition Elizabeth England English English poetry entitled Euphuism exhibits expression fancy father fiction Fletcher French gave genius Henry honour humour imagination imitation interest Jonson King Lady language Layamon letters literary lived London Lord manners married Milton mind Mirror for Magistrates moral Muse native nature Oxford passage passion pastoral period pieces poem poet poet's poetical poetry Pope probably prose published Queen racter reign returned rhyme Robert of Gloucester romance satire Saxon says scene Scotland Scottish seems Shakspeare Shakspeare's Sir Philip Sydney Sir Walter Scott Spenser spirit story style supposed Surrey taste Thomas Thomas Warton thought tion tragedy translation verse Warton William writer written wrote Xuthus
Popular passages
Page 109 - He scarce had ceased, when the superior fiend Was moving toward the shore : his ponderous shield, Ethereal temper, massy, large, and round, Behind him cast ; the broad circumference Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views, At evening, from the top of Fesole, Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands, Rivers, or mountains, in her spotty globe.
Page 64 - See what a grace was seated on this brow ; Hyperion's curls, the front of Jove himself, An eye like Mars, to threaten and command; A station like the herald Mercury New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill ; A combination and a form indeed, Where every god did seem to set his seal To give the world assurance of a man : This was your husband.
Page 94 - GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles to-day, To-morrow will be dying. The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, The higher he's a-getting, The sooner will his race be run, And nearer he's to setting. That age is best which is the first, When youth and blood are warmer; But being spent, the worse and worst Times still succeed the former.
Page 112 - But clear and artless pouring through the plain Health to the sick, and solace to the swain. Whose causeway parts the vale with shady rows ? Whose seats the weary traveller repose ? Who taught that heaven-directed spire to rise ? " The Man of Ross," each lisping babe replies. Behold the market-place with poor o'erspread ! The Man of Ross...
Page 110 - Farewell the tranquil mind ! Farewell content ! Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars, That make ambition virtue ! O, farewell ! Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump, The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife, The royal banner ; and all quality. Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war ! And O, you mortal engines, whose rude throats The immortal Jove's dread clamours counterfeit, Farewell ! Othello's occupation's gone ! lago.
Page 381 - To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, To throw a perfume on the violet, To smooth the ice, or add another hue Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish, Is wasteful, and ridiculous excess.
Page 113 - All things are hush'd as Nature's self lay dead, The mountains seem to nod their drowsy head : The little birds in dreams their songs repeat, And sleeping flowers beneath the night dews sweat. Even lust and envy sleep...
Page 110 - Idalia's velvet-green has something of cant. An epithet or metaphor drawn from Nature ennobles Art; an epithet or metaphor drawn from Art degrades Nature.
Page 316 - His best companions, innocence and health; And his best riches, ignorance of wealth. But times are alter'd; trade's unfeeling train Usurp the land and dispossess the swain; Along the lawn, where scatter'd hamlets rose, Unwieldy wealth and cumbrous pomp repose; And every want to luxury allied, And every pang that folly pays to pride.
Page 112 - What modes of sight betwixt each wide extreme, The mole's dim curtain and the lynx's beam ! Of smell, the headlong lioness between And hound sagacious on the tainted green ! Of hearing, from the life that fills' the flood To that which warbles through the vernal wood ! The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine ! Feels at each thread, and lives along the line...