Lectures on the English Poets: Delivered at the Surrey Institution |
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Page 2
... nature and itself . He who has a contempt for poetry , cannot have much respect for himself , or for any thing else . It is not a mere frivolous accomplishment , ( as some persons have been led to imagine ) the trifling amusement of a ...
... nature and itself . He who has a contempt for poetry , cannot have much respect for himself , or for any thing else . It is not a mere frivolous accomplishment , ( as some persons have been led to imagine ) the trifling amusement of a ...
Page 5
... natural man should spoil his mathematical man , who was to be without passions and affections , who was neither to laugh ... nature , but the imagination and the passions are a part of man's We shape things according to our wishes and ...
... natural man should spoil his mathematical man , who was to be without passions and affections , who was neither to laugh ... nature , but the imagination and the passions are a part of man's We shape things according to our wishes and ...
Page 7
... nature , because it is false in point of fact ; but so much the more true and natural , if it conveys the impression which the object under the influence of passion makes on the mind . Let an object , for instance , be presented to the ...
... nature , because it is false in point of fact ; but so much the more true and natural , if it conveys the impression which the object under the influence of passion makes on the mind . Let an object , for instance , be presented to the ...
Page 9
... nature . Tragic poetry , which is the most impassioned species of it , strives to carry on the feeling to the utmost point of sublimity or pathos , by all the force of comparison or contrast ; loses the sense of present suffering in the ...
... nature . Tragic poetry , which is the most impassioned species of it , strives to carry on the feeling to the utmost point of sublimity or pathos , by all the force of comparison or contrast ; loses the sense of present suffering in the ...
Page 12
... nature , as well as of the sensitive — of the desire to know , the will to act , and the power to feel ; and ought ... natural , is in this sense the least so , because it appeals almost ex- clusively to one of these faculties , our ...
... nature , as well as of the sensitive — of the desire to know , the will to act , and the power to feel ; and ought ... natural , is in this sense the least so , because it appeals almost ex- clusively to one of these faculties , our ...
Common terms and phrases
admiration affectation appear Ballads beauty Beggar's Opera blank verse Boccaccio character Chaucer common Cutty Sark death delight describes despair doth equal excellence face Faery Queen fame fancy feeling finest flowers genius gives Gonne grace happy hates hath heart heaven Herbert Croft hire Homer human idea imagination interest kind Knight's Tale labour language less light lines living look Lord Lord Byron Lyrical Ballads manners Milton mind moral mortal engines Muse nature never o'er objects painted passion pathos persons pleasure poem poet poetical poetry Pope praise prose racter reader rhyme satire scene sense sentiment Shakspeare Shanter shew song soul sound Spenser spirit spring story style sublimity sweet ther thing thou thought tion Titian tree truth verse Whan wings wolde words Wordsworth writer youth
Popular passages
Page 139 - Tis with our judgments as our watches, none Go just alike, yet each believes his own.
Page 138 - Favours to none, to all she smiles extends ; Oft she rejects, but never once offends. Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers strike, And like the sun, they shine on all alike. Yet graceful ease, and sweetness void of pride, Might hide her faults if belles had faults to hide : If to her share some female errors fall, Look on her face and you'll forget 'em all.
Page 220 - tis madness to defer: Next day the fatal precedent will plead ; Thus on, till wisdom is push'd out of life. Procrastination is the thief of time ; Year after year it steals, till all are fled, And to the mercies of a moment leaves The vast concerns of an eternal scene.
Page 147 - ... In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half -hung, The floors of plaster, and the walls of dung, On once a flock-bed, but repaired with straw, With tape-tied curtains never meant to draw, The George and Garter dangling from that bed Where tawdry yellow strove with dirty red, Great Villiers lies — alas ! how changed from him, That life of pleasure, and that soul of whim ! Gallant and gay, in Cliveden's proud alcove, The bower of wanton Shrewsbury and love ; Or just as gay at council, in a ring...
Page 124 - Others more mild, Retreated in a silent valley, sing With notes angelical to many a harp Their own heroic deeds and hapless fall By doom of battle ; and complain that fate ' Free virtue should enthrall to force or chance.
Page 321 - What though the radiance which was once so bright Be now for ever taken from my sight, Though nothing can bring back the hour Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower; We will grieve not, rather find Strength in what remains behind ; In the primal sympathy Which having been must ever be, In the soothing thoughts that spring Out of human suffering, In the faith that looks through death, In years that bring the philosophic mind.
Page 120 - What though the field be lost? All is not lost; the unconquerable will, And study of revenge, immortal hate, And courage never to submit or yield: And what is else not to be overcome?
Page 128 - Our lingering parents, and to the eastern gate Led them direct, and down the cliff as fast To the subjected plain; then disappear'd. They looking back all th...
Page 141 - Tis not enough no harshness gives offence, The sound must seem an echo to the sense. Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows, And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows; But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar.
Page 123 - Almighty hath not built Here for his envy, will not drive us hence : Here we may reign secure, and in my choice To reign is worth ambition, though in hell : Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven.