A Handbook of Poetics: For Students of English Verse |
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Page 3
... song . Fables and traditions all point - to the great age of poetry . The Greeks said that poetry was invented by the gods . In the Norse myth , Sagâ was Odin's daughter : " like the Muse , Zeus ' daughter , she instructs men in the art ...
... song . Fables and traditions all point - to the great age of poetry . The Greeks said that poetry was invented by the gods . In the Norse myth , Sagâ was Odin's daughter : " like the Muse , Zeus ' daughter , she instructs men in the art ...
Page 10
... song full of myth and legend , but centred in the person of the tribal god . Now what is such a song ? It is The Epic . [ Epic , from Greek Epos , a " word , " then a " narration " : cf. Sagâ = something said . ] It is important to ...
... song full of myth and legend , but centred in the person of the tribal god . Now what is such a song ? It is The Epic . [ Epic , from Greek Epos , a " word , " then a " narration " : cf. Sagâ = something said . ] It is important to ...
Page 11
... song ' the monster reels away to die amid his fen . That day the Danes and their deliverers rejoice , and there is another feast . The Danes now remain in the hall ; Beowulf goes elsewhere . With night comes the mother of Grendel , a ...
... song ' the monster reels away to die amid his fen . That day the Danes and their deliverers rejoice , and there is another feast . The Danes now remain in the hall ; Beowulf goes elsewhere . With night comes the mother of Grendel , a ...
Page 12
... song . This is the epic of Beowulf . Now let us try to trace those threads of myth and legend mentioned above . We should guard against a too implicit trust in appar- ently conclusive parallels between mythology and epic ; but still ...
... song . This is the epic of Beowulf . Now let us try to trace those threads of myth and legend mentioned above . We should guard against a too implicit trust in appar- ently conclusive parallels between mythology and epic ; but still ...
Page 13
... Songs were sung about him . Wandering min- strels chanted his praise from tribe to tribe . What these wandering minstrels were , and how important was their profession , may be gathered from an Anglo- Saxon poem , which is probably ...
... Songs were sung about him . Wandering min- strels chanted his praise from tribe to tribe . What these wandering minstrels were , and how important was their profession , may be gathered from an Anglo- Saxon poem , which is probably ...
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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...