Lectures on English Literature: From Chaucer to TennysonParry & McMillan, 1855 - 411 pages |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 34
Page 30
... means , I think , difficult , when once we see the necessity of making the discrimination . Books that are technical , that are professional , that are sectarian , are not litera- ture in the proper sense of the term . The great charac ...
... means , I think , difficult , when once we see the necessity of making the discrimination . Books that are technical , that are professional , that are sectarian , are not litera- ture in the proper sense of the term . The great charac ...
Page 34
... means " polite literature , " which does not help the matter much . I should not have thought it worth while to stop to comment on this term , if I did not believe it to be not only vague and inadequate , but also mischievous ; and it ...
... means " polite literature , " which does not help the matter much . I should not have thought it worth while to stop to comment on this term , if I did not believe it to be not only vague and inadequate , but also mischievous ; and it ...
Page 36
... means of culture of character , manly and womanly ; but , at the same time , let it be borne in mind that nothing conduces more to the well - being and strength of the soul than to keep it open to all the healthful in- fluences which ...
... means of culture of character , manly and womanly ; but , at the same time , let it be borne in mind that nothing conduces more to the well - being and strength of the soul than to keep it open to all the healthful in- fluences which ...
Page 41
... mean not to enter , but only to touch upon in its connection with my present subject . Let me say , in the first place , that I question whether it is proper , or even practicable , so to detach womanhood from our common human nature as ...
... mean not to enter , but only to touch upon in its connection with my present subject . Let me say , in the first place , that I question whether it is proper , or even practicable , so to detach womanhood from our common human nature as ...
Page 59
... mean , in form , not in spirit . Let him , therefore , turn to the other Essay - writing of our own times , ( and it has been a large outlet for the con- temporary mind , ) the essays of Southey , of Scott , of Washington Irving , the ...
... mean , in form , not in spirit . Let him , therefore , turn to the other Essay - writing of our own times , ( and it has been a large outlet for the con- temporary mind , ) the essays of Southey , of Scott , of Washington Irving , the ...
Common terms and phrases
admirable beauty Byron century character Charles Lamb Chaucer Christian Cowper criticism dark death deep discipline divine duty earnest earth England English language English literature English poetry expression faculties Faery Queen familiar French Revolution genial genius gentle give glory guage habit happy hath heart honour Horace Walpole human imagination influence intellectual Jeremy Taylor Lady language lecture letters light litera literary living look Lord Lord Byron Lord Chatham memory Milton mind moral nature never Paradise Lost pass passage passion philosophy poem poet poet's poetic racter reading remarkable sacred Saxon Scott sense Shakspeare song sorrow soul sound Southey Southey's speak speech Spenser spirit stanzas style sympathy Tenterden thing thou thought and feeling tion true truth uncon utterance verse wisdom wise wit and humour womanly words Wordsworth writings
Popular passages
Page 316 - Yet, even in the Old Testament, if you listen to David's harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like airs as carols : and the pencil of the Holy Ghost hath laboured more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon.
Page 36 - Dreams, books, are each a world ; and books, we know, Are a substantial world, both pure and good : Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood, Our pastime and our happiness will grow.
Page 195 - The oracles are dumb, No voice or hideous hum Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving. Apollo from his shrine Can no more divine, With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving. No nightly trance or breathed spell Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell.
Page 228 - Through all the compass of the notes it ran, The diapason closing full in Man. What passion cannot Music raise and quell? When Jubal struck the chorded shell, His listening brethren stood around, And, wondering, on their faces fell To worship that celestial sound : Less than a god they thought there could not dwell Within the hollow of that shell, That spoke so sweetly, and so well.
Page 325 - The breath whose might I have invoked in song Descends on me; my spirit's bark is driven, Far from the shore, far from the trembling throng Whose sails were never to the tempest given; The massy earth and sphered skies are riven! I am borne darkly, fearfully, afar; Whilst burning through the inmost veil of Heaven, The soul of Adonais, like a star, Beacons from the abode where the Eternal are.
Page 287 - Man knoweth not the price thereof ; Neither is it found in the land of the living. The depth saith, It is not in me: And the sea saith, It is not with me.
Page 194 - But peaceful was the night Wherein the Prince of Light His reign of peace upon the earth began...
Page 115 - There is not wind enough to twirl The one red leaf, the last of its clan, That dances as often as dance it can, Hanging so light, and hanging so high, On the topmost twig that looks up at the sky.
Page 224 - Camoens soothed an exile's grief ; The sonnet glittered a gay myrtle leaf Amid the cypress with which Dante crowned His visionary brow: a glow-worm lamp, It cheered mild Spenser, called from Faery-land To struggle through dark ways; and when a damp Fell round the path of Milton, in his hand The thing became a trumpet ; whence he blew Soul-animating strains — alas, too few...
Page 111 - Scorn not the sonnet; Critic, you have frowned, Mindless of its just honours; with this key Shakespeare unlocked his heart; the melody Of this small lute gave ease to Petrarch's wound; A thousand times this pipe did Tasso sound; With it Camoens soothed an exile's grief; The sonnet glittered a gay myrtle leaf Amid the cypress with which Dante crowned His visionary brow: a glow-worm lamp, It...