The Writings of James Russell Lowell ...: Literary essaysPrinted at the Riverside Press, 1890 - 452 pages |
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Page 2
... less is it attainable by any art or study . " The man who speaks of ele- gancy as coming nearest , certainly shared , if he was not repeating , the opinions of him who thirty years before had said that " decorum " ( meaning a higher or ...
... less is it attainable by any art or study . " The man who speaks of ele- gancy as coming nearest , certainly shared , if he was not repeating , the opinions of him who thirty years before had said that " decorum " ( meaning a higher or ...
Page 3
... less damaging because indirect , of the superficial poetry then in vogue . His praise of the old bal- lads condemned by innuendo the artificial elabora- tion of the drawing - room pastoral by contrasting it with the simple sincerity of ...
... less damaging because indirect , of the superficial poetry then in vogue . His praise of the old bal- lads condemned by innuendo the artificial elabora- tion of the drawing - room pastoral by contrasting it with the simple sincerity of ...
Page 14
... less indulgent to our fau'ts , And patience had to cultivate our thoughts , Our Muse would flourish , and a nobler rage Would honor this than did the Grecian stage . " It is a curious comment on these verses in favor of careful writing ...
... less indulgent to our fau'ts , And patience had to cultivate our thoughts , Our Muse would flourish , and a nobler rage Would honor this than did the Grecian stage . " It is a curious comment on these verses in favor of careful writing ...
Page 22
... less strange such mighty wits as those Should use a style in tragedy like prose ; Well - sounding verse , where princes tread the stage , Should speak their virtue and describe their rage . " That it should be beneath the dignity of ...
... less strange such mighty wits as those Should use a style in tragedy like prose ; Well - sounding verse , where princes tread the stage , Should speak their virtue and describe their rage . " That it should be beneath the dignity of ...
Page 25
... less art and pain , Can do it with their native brain ? " Butler knew very well that precisely what stamps a man as an artist is this power of finding out what is " the best of all the best . " I confess that I come to the treatment of ...
... less art and pain , Can do it with their native brain ? " Butler knew very well that precisely what stamps a man as an artist is this power of finding out what is " the best of all the best . " I confess that I come to the treatment of ...
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Popular passages
Page 45 - Dreading e'en fools, by flatterers besieged, And so obliging, that he ne'er obliged; Like Cato, give his little senate laws, And sit attentive to his own applause; While wits and Templars every sentence raise, And wonder with a foolish face of praise — Who but must laugh, if such a man there be? Who would not weep, if Atticus were he? What though my name stood rubric on the walls, Or plaster'd posts, with claps, in capitals? Or smoking forth, a hundred hawkers load, On wings of winds came flying...
Page 39 - Who sees with equal eye, as God of all, A hero perish, or a sparrow fall, Atoms or systems into ruin hurled, And now a bubble burst, and now a world.
Page 45 - 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; View him with scornful, yev with jealous eyes.
Page 294 - O ! wonder ! How many goodly creatures are there here ! How beauteous mankind is ! O brave new world, That has such people in't ! Pro. Tis new to thee.
Page 110 - Him the Almighty Power Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky, With hideous ruin and combustion, down To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In adamantine chains and penal fire, Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms.
Page 41 - Lives through all life, extends through all extent; Spreads undivided, operates unspent! Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part, As full, as perfect in a hair as heart; As full, as perfect in vile Man that mourns, As the rapt Seraph that adores and burns; To him no high, no low, no great, no...
Page 382 - The majority of the following poems are to be considered as experiments. They were written chiefly with a view to ascertain how far the language of conversation in the middle and lower classes of society is adapted to the purposes of poetic pleasure.
Page 85 - Lastly, I should not choose this manner of writing, wherein knowing myself inferior to myself, led by the genial power of nature to another task, I have the use, as I may account, but of my left hand.
Page 369 - THE cock is crowing, The stream is flowing, The small birds twitter, The lake doth glitter, The green field sleeps in the sun ; The oldest and youngest Are at work with the strongest ; The cattle are grazing, Their heads never raising ; There are forty feeding like one ! Like an army defeated The Snow hath retreated, And now doth fare ill On the top of the bare hill...
Page 44 - Teach me, like thee, in various nature wise, To fall with dignity, with temper rise ; Form'd by thy converse, happily to steer From grave to gay, from lively to severe ; Correct with spirit, eloquent with ease, Intent to reason, or polite to please.