Lectures on General Literature, Poetry, &c: Delivered at the Royal Institution in 1830 and 1831 ; Complete in One Volume |
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Page 12
... taste ; yet in their re- spective countries their great poems have not since been equalled , nor is it probable that they will here after be surpassed by any of their successors . To the peculiar good fortune which , in their re- 12 THE ...
... taste ; yet in their re- spective countries their great poems have not since been equalled , nor is it probable that they will here after be surpassed by any of their successors . To the peculiar good fortune which , in their re- 12 THE ...
Page 32
... taste for elegant and magnificent books , though the latter factitious taste is nearly obsolete , and volumes of compendious literature are now the rage , yet must authors be for ever excluded from the hope of reaping equal pecuniary ...
... taste for elegant and magnificent books , though the latter factitious taste is nearly obsolete , and volumes of compendious literature are now the rage , yet must authors be for ever excluded from the hope of reaping equal pecuniary ...
Page 35
... taste or not , it will hardly be disputed that Xenophon and Thucydides have failed to command the attention which ( not without a cause lying deep in our very nature ) has been won by Anacreon and Horace . But even on its own ground ...
... taste or not , it will hardly be disputed that Xenophon and Thucydides have failed to command the attention which ( not without a cause lying deep in our very nature ) has been won by Anacreon and Horace . But even on its own ground ...
Page 39
... taste , elegance , sublimity , -all that could show the immortality of man even in his mortal works , but dedicated to false gods , to idols , -the wisest among them not knowing that an idol , whe- ther ideal or material , the idol of ...
... taste , elegance , sublimity , -all that could show the immortality of man even in his mortal works , but dedicated to false gods , to idols , -the wisest among them not knowing that an idol , whe- ther ideal or material , the idol of ...
Page 41
... of fine nerve and pure taste can conceive in the silence of thought , while he looks upon the page that records them . Do not the harmonies of Shak- speare himself ring more melodiously in remem- brance than they D2 WHAT IS POETICAL . 41.
... of fine nerve and pure taste can conceive in the silence of thought , while he looks upon the page that records them . Do not the harmonies of Shak- speare himself ring more melodiously in remem- brance than they D2 WHAT IS POETICAL . 41.
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admiration Æneid affecting amid ancient beauty blank verse character circumstances colour composition death delight diction Dryden dwell earth Egyptians eloquence employed English equally excellence express exquisite Faerie Queene fancy feel genius glory Greece Greek hand harmony heart heaven Henry Kirke White hieroglyphics Homer honour human ideas Iliad images imagination immortality invention Joanna Baillie kind labours Lamech language latter learning less lines literature living Lord Lord Byron memory ment metre Milton mind modern moral nature never once original painting Paradise Lost passage passions peculiar perfect perpetual Pisistratus pleonasm poem poet poetical poetry present prose reader rhyme Robert Burns Roman Rome Saracens scarcely scene sculpture sentiments song soul sound Spenserian stanza spirit splendour stanzas stars strains style sublime syllables taste thee theme things thou thought tion tongue touch truth uncon verse Virgil whole words writing
Popular passages
Page 28 - I see before me the Gladiator lie : He leans upon his hand — his manly brow Consents to death, but conquers agony, And his droop'd head sinks gradually low — And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow From the red gash, fall heavy, one by one, Like the first of a thunder-shower; and now The arena swims around him — he is gone, Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hail'd the wretch who won.
Page 29 - And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow From the red gash, fall heavy, one by one, Like the first of a thunder-shower ; and now The arena swims around him— he is gone, Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hail'd the wretch who won. He heard it, but he heeded not— his eyes Were with his heart, and that was far away...
Page 225 - Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up : he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion ; who shall rouse him up ? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come ; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
Page 259 - Binding his foal unto the vine, And his ass's colt unto the choice vine; He washed his garments in wine, And his clothes in the blood of grapes : His eyes shall be red with wine, And his teeth white with milk.
Page 167 - How sleep the Brave who sink to rest By all their country's wishes blest! When Spring, with dewy fingers cold, Returns to deck their hallowed mould, She there shall dress a sweeter sod Than Fancy's feet have ever trod.
Page 78 - And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.
Page 234 - Yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin : and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast Written.
Page 173 - And unburied remain Inglorious on the plain : Give the vengeance due To the valiant crew ! Behold how they toss their torches on high, How they point to the Persian abodes And glittering temples of their hostile gods. — The princes applaud with a furious joy : And the king seized a flambeau with zeal to destroy ; Thais led the way To light him to his prey, And like another Helen, fired another Troy...
Page 212 - And, oh ! may Heaven their simple lives prevent From luxury's contagion, weak and vile ! Then, howe'er crowns and coronets be rent, A virtuous populace may rise the while, And stand a wall of fire around their much-loved Isle.
Page 135 - Could I embody and unbosom now, That which is most within me, — could I wreak My thoughts upon expression, and thus throw Soul, heart, mind, passions, feelings, strong or weak, All that I would have sought, and all I seek, Bear, know, feel, and yet breathe — into one word, And that one word were lightning, I would speak ; But as it is, I live and die unheard, [sword.