A Handbook of Poetics: For Students of English Verse |
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Page 4
... Heroes , Chap . III . It is easy to see that no one of these definitions is scientific ; they are all æsthetic and vague . Or else they simply predicate certain qualities of poetry , as that it is " simple , sensuous , and impassioned ...
... Heroes , Chap . III . It is easy to see that no one of these definitions is scientific ; they are all æsthetic and vague . Or else they simply predicate certain qualities of poetry , as that it is " simple , sensuous , and impassioned ...
Page 11
... hero who is moved to help Hrôthgâr . The hero's name is Beowulf . He bids his men make ready a boat , and with fourteen vassals puts to sea . He arrives at Hrôthgâr's court , and a grand banquet is held in the hall ; but at night the ...
... hero who is moved to help Hrôthgâr . The hero's name is Beowulf . He bids his men make ready a boat , and with fourteen vassals puts to sea . He arrives at Hrôthgâr's court , and a grand banquet is held in the hall ; but at night the ...
Page 12
... hero girds on his armor for a final struggle . He goes down to the dragon's cave ; but at sight of the monster , belching flame , the vassals of Beowulf ignominiously fly , and the king fights single - handed and weary against the fire ...
... hero girds on his armor for a final struggle . He goes down to the dragon's cave ; but at sight of the monster , belching flame , the vassals of Beowulf ignominiously fly , and the king fights single - handed and weary against the fire ...
Page 13
... hero . Songs were sung about him . Wandering min- strels chanted his praise from tribe to tribe . What these ... heroes , kings and queens whom he has visited ( a wild confusion of half historical , half mythical THE EPIC . 13.
... hero . Songs were sung about him . Wandering min- strels chanted his praise from tribe to tribe . What these ... heroes , kings and queens whom he has visited ( a wild confusion of half historical , half mythical THE EPIC . 13.
Page 14
... hero . Little by little , the two became one person ; and myth and legend , hymns and songs , crys- tallized about the common centre , until some gifted minstrel gave them form and unity in the epic of Beo- wulf . Unfortunately the form ...
... hero . Little by little , the two became one person ; and myth and legend , hymns and songs , crys- tallized about the common centre , until some gifted minstrel gave them form and unity in the epic of Beo- wulf . Unfortunately the form ...
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Common terms and phrases
accented syllables action Alexandrine allegory anapestic Anglo-Saxon ballad beautiful beginning-rime Beowulf blank verse Byron cæsura called Century character Chaucer chorus combined comedy common dactylic drama early effect end-rime English verse epic epic poetry example famous folk-song French Germanic Greek half-verse Hamlet harmony heavy syllables hero hexameter hovering accent human hymn iamb iambic imitated Keats King later Latin Layamon legend license light syllables lines literature Lost Love's Labour's Lost Lycidas lyric poetry measure metaphor metre metrical scheme Milton modern moral narrative nature pause personification play poem poet poetical Pope's popular prose quantity regular rhythm rhythmic rime rimed couplets rule satire says Septenary Shak Shakspere Shakspere's simile simply sing slurring song sonnet sort sounds speech stanza story stress style Tennyson thee thing thou tion tone tragedy trochaic trochee trope unaccented syllables Vers de Société verse-accent vowel word-accent words
Popular passages
Page 120 - The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters.
Page 118 - Bitter constraint and sad occasion dear Compels me to disturb your season due; For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime, Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer.
Page 120 - These are thy glorious works, Parent of good, Almighty, thine this universal frame, Thus wondrous fair; thyself how wondrous then ! Unspeakable, who sitt'st above these heavens, To us invisible, or dimly seen In these thy lowest works; yet these declare Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine.
Page 112 - For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn. Or busy housewife ply her evening care; No children run to lisp their sire's return, Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.
Page 239 - Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low, Each like a corpse within its grave, until Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill...
Page 158 - ... apt numbers, fit quantity of syllables, and the sense variously drawn out from one verse into another...
Page 131 - I'll leave you till night: you are welcome to Elsinore. Ros. Good my lord ! [Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Ham. Ay, so, God be wi' you : — Now I am alone. O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I ! Is it not monstrous, that this player here, But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, Could force his soul so to his own conceit...
Page 130 - But neither breath of morn, when she ascends With charm of earliest birds; nor rising sun On this delightful land; nor herb, fruit, flower, Glistering with dew; nor fragrance after showers; Nor grateful evening mild; nor silent night, With this her solemn bird, nor walk by moon, Or glittering starlight, without thee is sweet But wherefore all night long shine these?
Page 200 - You haste away so soon: As yet the early-rising Sun Has not attained his noon. Stay, stay, Until the hasting day Has run But to the even-song; And, having prayed together, we Will go with you along. We have short time to stay, as you, We have as short a Spring; As quick a growth to meet decay As you, or any thing.
Page 108 - As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God : when shall I come and appear before God...