Outlines of English Literature |
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Page 30
... greatest number of vocables expressing the simpler ideas and the most uni- versally known objects — such objects and ideas , in short , as cannot but possess equivalents in every human speech , however rude its state or imperfect its ...
... greatest number of vocables expressing the simpler ideas and the most uni- versally known objects — such objects and ideas , in short , as cannot but possess equivalents in every human speech , however rude its state or imperfect its ...
Page 49
... greatest among mankind ; and is but an example of that deep truth which Nature herself has taught as , when she placed in the human heart the spring of Laughter fast by the fountain of Tears . We shall now proceed to examine the ...
... greatest among mankind ; and is but an example of that deep truth which Nature herself has taught as , when she placed in the human heart the spring of Laughter fast by the fountain of Tears . We shall now proceed to examine the ...
Page 69
... greatest English poet after Chaucer , Edmund Spenser , was born in London about the year 1553 , that is , a year before . Sidney , and educated at Pembroke College , Cambridge . On leaving the University he retired ( it is supposed in ...
... greatest English poet after Chaucer , Edmund Spenser , was born in London about the year 1553 , that is , a year before . Sidney , and educated at Pembroke College , Cambridge . On leaving the University he retired ( it is supposed in ...
Page 70
... greatest use to his modest and sen- sitive friend . The projects to which we have alluded were , among others , nothing less than the employment of the classical or syllabic mode of versification in English poetry . He has left us some ...
... greatest use to his modest and sen- sitive friend . The projects to which we have alluded were , among others , nothing less than the employment of the classical or syllabic mode of versification in English poetry . He has left us some ...
Page 73
... greatest among poets - for Shakspeare and Spenser both praised , in deathless verse , this extraordinary ruler - found in the achievements and the wisdom of their patroness a subject which they could adorn , but hardly exaggerate . The ...
... greatest among poets - for Shakspeare and Spenser both praised , in deathless verse , this extraordinary ruler - found in the achievements and the wisdom of their patroness a subject which they could adorn , but hardly exaggerate . The ...
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Common terms and phrases
admirable adventures ancient appeared Bacon beautiful Boccaccio burlesque Byron Canterbury Tales character charm Chaucer comedy comic composition criticism degree delineation drama dramatists Dryden Dunciad eloquence England English English language English literature exhibited existence expression exquisite Faery Queen feeling fiction French genius give glory grace hero Hudibras human humour idea immortal impressive inimitable intellectual intense interest language learning less literary literature lyric manners merit Middle Ages Milton mind mock-heroic modern moral narrative nature noble novel original Paradise Lost passages passion pathos peculiar perhaps period personages persons Petrarch philosophy picture picturesque poem poet poetical poetry political Pope popular possessed principles productions prose racter reader religious remarkable rich romantic romantic fiction satire Saxon scenery scenes Scotland Scott sentiment Shakspeare singular society species Spenser spirit splendour style sublime sympathy tale taste thought tion tone Trouvères true verse versification wonderful words writings written
Popular passages
Page 71 - Full little knowest thou, that hast not tried, What hell it is in suing long to bide ; To lose good days that might be better spent ; To waste long nights in pensive discontent; To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow ; To feed on hope ; to pine with fear and sorrow ; To have thy Prince's grace, yet want her peers...
Page 241 - Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer; Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike, Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike...
Page 191 - ... of pain and ruin to despise, To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land, And read their history...
Page 234 - I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives, to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth.
Page 244 - Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.
Page 168 - Homer, and those other two of Virgil and Tasso, are a diffuse, and the book of Job a brief model: or whether the rules of Aristotle herein are strictly to be kept, or nature to be...
Page 51 - Teach us, sprite or bird, What sweet thoughts are thine : I have never heard Praise of love or wine That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine.
Page 288 - It was on the day, or rather night, of the 27th of June 1787, between the hours of eleven and twelve, that I wrote the last lines of the last page, in a summer-house in my garden. After laying down my pen, I took several turns in a berceau, or covered walk of acacias, which commands a prospect of the country, the lake, and the mountains.
Page 134 - Invest me in my motley ; give me leave To speak my mind, and I will through and through Cleanse the foul body of the infected world, If they will patiently receive my medicine.
Page 168 - Gods; and what resounds In fable or romance of Uther's son Begirt with British and Armoric knights ; And all who since, baptized or infidel, Jousted in Aspramont, or Montalban, Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond, Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore, When Charlemain with all his peerage fell By Fontarabbia.