A History of English Literature |
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Page v
... interest and admiration to the great and permanent books in our literature . These books are not dead but still very much alive , stirring our minds and affecting our deeds to - day . Their history is a continuing record which brings ...
... interest and admiration to the great and permanent books in our literature . These books are not dead but still very much alive , stirring our minds and affecting our deeds to - day . Their history is a continuing record which brings ...
Page vi
... interest only to specialists . 3. The approach to the great authors has been made easy by a careful reconstruction of their personal characteristics and of the social and political surroundings in which they lived and wrote . Each of ...
... interest only to specialists . 3. The approach to the great authors has been made easy by a careful reconstruction of their personal characteristics and of the social and political surroundings in which they lived and wrote . Each of ...
Page 13
... interest beyond the national one . It is the English version of a legend found in many lands which seeks to explain the source of the poet's inspiration . There has always seemed to men to be something supernatural in this , and the ...
... interest beyond the national one . It is the English version of a legend found in many lands which seeks to explain the source of the poet's inspiration . There has always seemed to men to be something supernatural in this , and the ...
Page 14
... interests of his people . The invaders had destroyed the culture of North- umbria , where literature had first flourished ; but now in the ninth century he tried to relight the lamp of learning in the southern kingdom of Wessex . Here ...
... interests of his people . The invaders had destroyed the culture of North- umbria , where literature had first flourished ; but now in the ninth century he tried to relight the lamp of learning in the southern kingdom of Wessex . Here ...
Page 25
... the story was the chief interest , and facts of date and place were not allowed to interfere with free invention . Super- natural characters and events were frequently introduced- dragons , fays FROM THE NORMAN CONQUEST TO CHAUCER 25.
... the story was the chief interest , and facts of date and place were not allowed to interfere with free invention . Super- natural characters and events were frequently introduced- dragons , fays FROM THE NORMAN CONQUEST TO CHAUCER 25.
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Common terms and phrases
admiration ballads Battle beauty Beowulf born Browning Byron Cædmon Carlyle century character Chaucer chief church classical Coleridge comedy criticism death Dickens died drama dramatists Dryden Elizabethan England English literature English poetry essays Europe expression Faerie Queene fiction France French French Revolution Gawain George George Eliot give Gulliver's Travels Henry hero human humor imagination influence interest invention J. S. Mill Jane Austen John Johnson Julius Cæsar King Lamb language later literary lived London Macaulay medieval ment Middle Ages Milton modern Molière moral narrative nature novelists novels period persons Piers Plowman plays poems poet political Pope popular prose Puritan Queen readers reform religious Revolution romance Ruskin Sartor Resartus satire scenes Scott sentiment Shakespeare Shelley songs Spenser spirit story Tell Tennyson Thackeray theaters themes Thomas thought tion to-day tragedy translation verse William women Wordsworth writing written wrote
Popular passages
Page 260 - Among the farthest Hebrides. Will no one tell me what she sings?— Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow For old, unhappy, far-off things, And battles long ago: Or is it some more humble lay, Familiar matter of to-day? Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain, That has been, and may be again?
Page 199 - 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...
Page 160 - Ah ! who hath reft,' quoth he, ' my dearest pledge ? ' Last came, and last did go, The Pilot of the Galilean Lake ; Two massy keys he bore of metals twain (The golden opes, the iron shuts amain). He shook his mitred locks, and stern bespake : ' How well could I have spared for thee, young swain, Enow of such as for their bellies...
Page 359 - But such a tide as, moving, seems asleep, Too full for sound and foam, When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home. Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark ! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark ; For tho...
Page 228 - Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had been kind ; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till I am known, and do not want it.
Page 153 - Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright, The bridal of the earth and sky, The dew shall weep thy fall to-night ; For thou must die. " Sweet rose, whose hue angry and brave, Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye, Thy root is ever in its grave, And thou must die. " Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses, A box where sweets compacted lie, My music shows ye have your closes, And all must die.
Page 271 - Proud Maisie is in the wood, Walking so early; Sweet Robin sits on the bush, Singing so rarely. '"Tell me, thou bonny bird. When shall I marry me?' 'When six braw gentlemen Kirkward shall carry ye.' '"Who makes the bridal bed, Birdie, say truly?' — 'The grey-headed sexton, That delves the grave duly. "The glow-worm o'er grave and stone Shall light thee steady; The owl from the steeple sing, 'Welcome, proud lady.
Page 274 - She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that's best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus mellow'd to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
Page 264 - Sometimes a-dropping from the sky I heard the sky-lark sing; sometimes all little birds that are, how they seemed to fill the sea and air with their sweet jargoning! And now 'twas like all instruments, now like a lonely flute; and now it is an angel's song, that makes the heavens be mute.
Page 180 - Was everything by starts, and nothing long; But, in the course of one revolving moon, Was chemist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon ; Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking, Besides ten thousand freaks that died in thinking.