Lectures on the English Comic Writers |
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Page 39
... poetic comedy begins to vegetate and flourish , unpruned , idle , and fantastic . It is hard to " lay waste a country gentleman " in a state of nature , whose humours may have run a little wild or to seed , or to lay violent hands on a ...
... poetic comedy begins to vegetate and flourish , unpruned , idle , and fantastic . It is hard to " lay waste a country gentleman " in a state of nature , whose humours may have run a little wild or to seed , or to lay violent hands on a ...
Page 55
... poets or wits of the age of James and Charles I. , whose style was adopted and carried to a more daz- zling and fantastic excess by Cowley in the following reign , after which it declined , and gave place almost entirely to the poetry ...
... poets or wits of the age of James and Charles I. , whose style was adopted and carried to a more daz- zling and fantastic excess by Cowley in the following reign , after which it declined , and gave place almost entirely to the poetry ...
Page 58
... . He thus notices the circumstance of his wearing his late wife's hair about his arm , in a little poem which is called the Funeral : " Whoever comes to shroud me , do not harm 58 [ LECTURE III . ON COWLEY , BUTLER , ETC.
... . He thus notices the circumstance of his wearing his late wife's hair about his arm , in a little poem which is called the Funeral : " Whoever comes to shroud me , do not harm 58 [ LECTURE III . ON COWLEY , BUTLER , ETC.
Page 60
... poem on the Soul , and of one on Dancing . In both he shows great ingenuity , and some- times terseness and vigour . In the last of these two poems his fancy pirouettes in a very lively and agreeable manner , but some- thing too much in ...
... poem on the Soul , and of one on Dancing . In both he shows great ingenuity , and some- times terseness and vigour . In the last of these two poems his fancy pirouettes in a very lively and agreeable manner , but some- thing too much in ...
Page 61
... poem . Davenant , who was poet - laureate to Charles II . , wrote several masques and plays which were well received in his time , but have not come down with equal ap- plause to us . Marvel ( on whom I have already bestowed such praise ...
... poem . Davenant , who was poet - laureate to Charles II . , wrote several masques and plays which were well received in his time , but have not come down with equal ap- plause to us . Marvel ( on whom I have already bestowed such praise ...
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Common terms and phrases
absurdity admiration affectation appearance artificial beauty Beggar's Opera Ben Jonson blank verse Boccaccio character Chaucer circumstances comedy comic common critics delight describes Don Quixote double entendre dramatic elegance equal excellence face fancy feeling flowers folly genius Gil Blas give grace heart Hogarth Hudibras human humour idea imagination imitation instance interest kind Lady language laugh less light living look Lord Byron lover ludicrous Lycidas Lyrical Ballads manners Milton mind moral Muse nature never objects painted passion person picture play pleasure poem poet poetical poetry Pope prose reader reason refinement ridiculous satire scene School for Scandal seems sense sentiment Shakspeare Shakspeare's sort soul Spenser spirit story style sweet Tartuffe Tatler thee things thou thought tion Tom Jones truth turn verse vice whole wild words Wordsworth writer
Popular passages
Page 116 - The warbling woodland, the resounding shore, The pomp of groves, and garniture of fields; All that the genial ray of morning gilds, And all that echoes to the song of even, All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields, And all the dread magnificence of heaven, O how canst thou renounce, and hope to be forgiven ! X.
Page 133 - At thirty man suspects himself a fool ; Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan ; At fifty chides his infamous delay, Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve; In all the magnanimity of thought Resolves and re-resolves; then dies the same.
Page 187 - But Nature, in due course of time, once more Shall here put on her beauty and her bloom. "She leaves these objects to a slow decay, That what we are, and have been, may be known ; But at the coming of the milder day These monuments shall all be overgrown.
Page 74 - 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 132 - 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 91 - 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 Of mimic statesmen and their merry King.
Page 189 - The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre, Observe degree, priority, and place, Insisture, course, proportion, season, form, Office, and custom, in all line of order...
Page 96 - By a daisy whose leaves spread Shut when Titan goes to bed ; Or a shady bush or tree, She could more infuse in me, Than all Nature's beauties can, In some other wiser man.
Page 158 - Kate soon will be a woefu' woman! Now, do thy speedy utmost, Meg, And win the key-stane of the brig; There, at them thou thy tail may toss, A running stream they dare na cross! But ere the key-stane she could make, The fient a tail she had to shake: For Nannie, far before the rest, Hard upon noble Maggie prest, And flew at Tam wi' furious ettle; But little wist she Maggie's mettle!
Page 193 - Alas! they had been friends in youth; But whispering tongues can poison truth; And constancy lives in realms above; And life is thorny; and youth is vain; And to be wroth with one we love Doth work like madness in the brain.