Lectures on General Literature, Poetry, &c., Delivered at the Royal Institution in 1830 and 1831 |
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Page 18
... respect portrait - painting ( however disparaged ) is the highest point of the art itself , being at once the most real , intellectual , and imaginative . A poem is a campaign , in which all the marches , sufferings , toils , and ...
... respect portrait - painting ( however disparaged ) is the highest point of the art itself , being at once the most real , intellectual , and imaginative . A poem is a campaign , in which all the marches , sufferings , toils , and ...
Page 30
... respect dishonourable to the art ) has been a snare by which multitudes of its professors have been tempted to dishonour both it and themselves , by courtly servility to royal and noble patrons ; by yet viler degradation in ministering ...
... respect dishonourable to the art ) has been a snare by which multitudes of its professors have been tempted to dishonour both it and themselves , by courtly servility to royal and noble patrons ; by yet viler degradation in ministering ...
Page 32
... given again till another Sir Walter shall arise to witch the world with noble penmanship . * * The circumstances respecting Mr. West and Sir Walter Scott are I will never degrade poetry so low as to admit 32 THE PRE - EMINENCE OF POETRY .
... given again till another Sir Walter shall arise to witch the world with noble penmanship . * * The circumstances respecting Mr. West and Sir Walter Scott are I will never degrade poetry so low as to admit 32 THE PRE - EMINENCE OF POETRY .
Page 35
... respects , as the transmitter of knowledge concerning the past , is compelled to vail to poetry . Not that the records of actual events can be so properly conveyed in verse ( though bards in all nations were the first Thence to the ...
... respects , as the transmitter of knowledge concerning the past , is compelled to vail to poetry . Not that the records of actual events can be so properly conveyed in verse ( though bards in all nations were the first Thence to the ...
Page 39
... respects , splendid piles of error , on which eloquence , argument , all the power , pene- tration , and subtilty of minds of the highest order were expended in comparatively vain speculations ; resembling their temples , -prodigies of ...
... respects , splendid piles of error , on which eloquence , argument , all the power , pene- tration , and subtilty of minds of the highest order were expended in comparatively vain speculations ; resembling their temples , -prodigies of ...
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admirable Æneid affecting amid ancient beauty blank verse character Christian circumstances colour composition death delight diction Dryden earth eloquence employed English equally excellence express exquisite Faerie Queene Family Library fancy feel genius glory grace Greece Greek hand harmony heart heaven Henry Kirke White hieroglyphics honour human ideas Iliad images imagination immortality intellectual invention Joanna Baillie kind labours Lamech language latter learning less lines literature living Lord Lord Byron manner ment metre Milton mind modern Modern Griselda moral nature never original painting Paradise Lost passions peculiar perfect perpetual poem poet poetical poetry present prose readers rhyme Roman scarcely scene sculpture sentiments Sir Walter Scott song sound Spenserian stanza spirit stanzas stars strains style subjects sublime syllables taste thee theme things thou thought tion tongue truth uncon verse Virgil vols whole words writing
Popular passages
Page 260 - 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 he come to Shiloh ; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
Page 173 - Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows, While proudly riding o'er the azure realm In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes; Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm; Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind's sway, That, hush'd in grim repose, expects his evening prey.
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 28 - I see before me the Gladiator lie : He leans upon his hand ; his manly brow Consents to death, but conquers agony, And his drooped 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 hailed the wretch who won.
Page 241 - 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 114 - Full fathom five thy father lies; Of his bones are coral made; Those are pearls that were his eyes: Nothing of him that doth fade, But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange. Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell : Hark! now I hear them, — ding-dong, bell.
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 169 - 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. By fairy hands their knell is rung; By forms unseen their dirge is sung; There Honor comes, a pilgrim gray, To bless the turf that wraps their clay; And Freedom shall awhile repair, To dwell a weeping hermit there!
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 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.