An Essay on English Poetry; with notices of the British poets. [Edited by Peter Cunningham.]John Murray, 1848 - 436 pages |
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Page 4
... lines of St. Godric , in all probability earlier than Laya- mon's ; and yet does the English reader find Layamon at all more intelli- gible , or does he seem to make anything like a sudden transition to English as the poetical successor ...
... lines of St. Godric , in all probability earlier than Laya- mon's ; and yet does the English reader find Layamon at all more intelli- gible , or does he seem to make anything like a sudden transition to English as the poetical successor ...
Page 5
... line , than to de- termine the commencement of the English language . When we compare the earliest English of the thirteenth century with the Anglo - Saxon of the twelfth , it seems hard to pronounce why it should pass for a separate ...
... line , than to de- termine the commencement of the English language . When we compare the earliest English of the thirteenth century with the Anglo - Saxon of the twelfth , it seems hard to pronounce why it should pass for a separate ...
Page 9
... and Boniface's Latin verses . We meet also , in the same writers , with lines which resemble modern verse in their trochaic and regard to our forms of versification , the chief employment PART I. ] 9 FORMATION OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE .
... and Boniface's Latin verses . We meet also , in the same writers , with lines which resemble modern verse in their trochaic and regard to our forms of versification , the chief employment PART I. ] 9 FORMATION OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE .
Page 10
... lines as these • " Ut floreas cum domino In sempiterno solio Qua Martyres in cuneo , " & c.— 6 which flow exactly like the lines in L'Allegro : ' - " The mountain nymph , sweet Liberty . * * * * And pomp , and feast , and revelry , With ...
... lines as these • " Ut floreas cum domino In sempiterno solio Qua Martyres in cuneo , " & c.— 6 which flow exactly like the lines in L'Allegro : ' - " The mountain nymph , sweet Liberty . * * * * And pomp , and feast , and revelry , With ...
Page 14
... lines in the ' Saxon Chronicle ' on the death of William I. , and a few religious rhymes , which , according to Matthew Paris , the Blessed Virgin was pleased to dictate to St. Godric , the hermit , near Durham ; unless we add to these ...
... lines in the ' Saxon Chronicle ' on the death of William I. , and a few religious rhymes , which , according to Matthew Paris , the Blessed Virgin was pleased to dictate to St. Godric , the hermit , near Durham ; unless we add to these ...
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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...