Lectures on General Literature, Poetry, &c., Delivered at the Royal Institution in 1830 and 1831 |
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Page 1
... taste and judgment of the directors . The discourses read by him in that capacity were listened to by most numerous auditories , and the publication drew forth from the critics of Great Britain the warmest expressions of delight and ...
... taste and judgment of the directors . The discourses read by him in that capacity were listened to by most numerous auditories , and the publication drew forth from the critics of Great Britain the warmest expressions of delight and ...
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 ...
... 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 ...
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 ...
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admirable affecting amid ancient beauty blank verse character circumstances colour composition death delight diction Dryden earth 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 intellectual invention Joanna Baillie kind labours Lamech language latter learning less lines literature living Lord Lord Byron ment metre Milton mind modern moral nature never Novel Paradise Lost passions peculiar perfect perpetual Pisistratus pleonasm poem poet poetical poetry present prose readers rhyme Robert Burns Roman Saracens scarcely scene sculpture sentiments Sir Walter Scott song soul sound Spenserian stanza spirit splendour stanzas stars strains style sublime syllables taste thee theme things thou thought tion tongue truth uncon verse Virgil vols 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 263 - 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? 10 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 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 - And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; Ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: For I have slain a man to my wounding, And a young man to my hurt. 24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, Truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.
Page 243 - Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment; who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain; who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters; who maketh the clouds his chariot; who walketh upon the wings of the wind; who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire.
Page 13 - Before all temples the upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for thou know'st; thou from the first Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread, Dove-like, sat'st brooding on the vast abyss, And mad'st it pregnant: what in me is dark Illumine; what is low, raise and support; That to the height of this great argument I may assert eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men.
Page 227 - And he said, BLESSED be the Lord God of Shem ; And Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, And he shall dwell in the tents of Shem ; And Canaan shall be his servant.
Page 86 - As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
Page 139 - 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, With a most voiceless thought, sheathing it as a sword.
Page 119 - ... the primary laws of our nature: chiefly, as far as regards the manner in which we associate ideas in a state of excitement.