Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets |
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Page 9
... literary fame as any nation on earth ; but from his distant position , the Father of English poetry beams like a star of the first magnitude in the eternal hemisphere of genius . Like Shakspeare , he has , for the most part , seized on ...
... literary fame as any nation on earth ; but from his distant position , the Father of English poetry beams like a star of the first magnitude in the eternal hemisphere of genius . Like Shakspeare , he has , for the most part , seized on ...
Page 34
... literary men of the day , to the peaceful place of his birth , and the purity of his wedded home , without respecting his moral character as much as we admire his genius . The praises and the practice of drunken- ness by literary men ...
... literary men of the day , to the peaceful place of his birth , and the purity of his wedded home , without respecting his moral character as much as we admire his genius . The praises and the practice of drunken- ness by literary men ...
Page 38
... literary and influential individuals to agitate the question , and commence the subscription . I made the attempt , but in vain . Some parties gave professions which ended in nothing , others which began in nothing ; some doubted the ...
... literary and influential individuals to agitate the question , and commence the subscription . I made the attempt , but in vain . Some parties gave professions which ended in nothing , others which began in nothing ; some doubted the ...
Page 74
... literary hurry of his life prevented this ; but he contemplated for years a national epic on Prince Arthur ; and probably , had he possessed per- fect leisure for carrying out this design , he would have astonished us as much with the ...
... literary hurry of his life prevented this ; but he contemplated for years a national epic on Prince Arthur ; and probably , had he possessed per- fect leisure for carrying out this design , he would have astonished us as much with the ...
Page 75
... literary events in his life we must pass , and fix our attention on his homes and haunts . For nearly forty years , from 1660 to 1700 , he was before the public as an active author ; and on the disappearance of Milton from the field of ...
... literary events in his life we must pass , and fix our attention on his homes and haunts . For nearly forty years , from 1660 to 1700 , he was before the public as an active author ; and on the disappearance of Milton from the field of ...
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Common terms and phrases
Addison admiration afterwards Allan Cunningham amid amongst ancient Ballymahon beautiful Burns Burns's Byron called castle character charming Chatterton church Coleridge Colston's school cottage death delight died Earl Ebenezer Elliott Edinburgh England fame father feeling friends garden genius Goldsmith ground hand haunts heart hills Hogg honour Ireland Joanna Baillie Kilkenny lady Leigh Hunt letters literary lived London look Lord Lord Byron miles Milton mind monument mother nature neighbourhood never noble Oliver Goldsmith once pleasure poem poet poet's poetical poetry poor Pope residence river Robert Burns says scene Scotland Scott seems Shakspeare Shanter Shelley side Sir Walter Sir Walter Scott soon soul Southey Spenser spirit stands stone Swift things Thomson Tighe took tower town trees Twickenham verses village walk wall whole wife William William Canynge wonder woods Wordsworth writing wrote young
Popular passages
Page 200 - Near yonder copse, where once the garden smiled, And still where many a garden flower grows wild ; There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose, The village preacher's modest mansion rose. A man he was to all the country dear, And passing rich with forty pounds a year ; Remote from towns he ran his godly race, Nor e'er had changed, nor...
Page 193 - Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, And all the air a solemn stillness holds, Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds : Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower The moping owl does to the moon complain Of such as, wandering near her secret bower, Molest her ancient solitary reign.
Page 202 - Imagination fondly stoops to trace The parlour splendours of that festive place ; The white-wash'd wall, the nicely sanded floor, The varnish'd clock that click'd behind the door ; The chest contrived a double debt to pay, A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day...
Page 205 - A man he was to all the country dear, And passing rich with forty pounds a year; Remote from towns he ran his godly race, Nor e'er had changed, nor wished to change his place; Unpractised he to fawn, or seek for power, By doctrines fashioned to the varying hour; Far other aims his heart had learned to prize, More skilled to raise the wretched than to rise.
Page 34 - O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide, The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds, That did not better for my life provide Than public means which public manners breeds. Thence comes it that my name receives a brand, And almost thence my nature is subdued To what it works in, like the dyer's hand.
Page 295 - Homer ruled as his demesne: Yet did I never breathe its pure serene Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold: Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken; Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes He stared at the Pacific — and all his men Looked at each other with a wild surmise — Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
Page 272 - Dupe of to-morrow even from a child. Thus many a sad to-morrow came and went, Till all my stock of infant sorrow spent, I learned at last submission to my lot, But, though I less deplored thee, ne'er forgot. Where once we dwelt our name is heard no more, Children not thine have trod my nursery floor ; And where the gardener, Robin, day by day, Drew me to school along the public way, Delighted with my bauble coach, and wrapped In scarlet mantle warm, and velvet cap, 'Tis now become a history little...
Page 306 - And then I clasped my hands, and looked around — (But none was near to mock my streaming eyes, Which poured their warm drops on the sunny ground) — So without shame I spake — I will be wise, And just, and free, and mild, if in me lies Such power ; for I grow weary to behold The selfish and the strong still tyrannize Without reproach or check.
Page 192 - There at the foot of yonder nodding beech That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high, His listless length at noontide would he stretch, And pore upon the brook that babbles by.
Page 59 - Enow of such, as for their bellies' sake Creep and intrude and climb into the fold! Of other care they little reckoning make Than how to scramble at the shearers' feast, And shove away the worthy bidden guest; Blind mouths!