Lectures on the English Comic Writers |
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Page 32
... given to the comic genius of the poet as erroneous and unfounded , that I should say that he is the only tragic poet in the world in the highest sense , as being on a par with , and the same as Nature , in her greatest heights and ...
... given to the comic genius of the poet as erroneous and unfounded , that I should say that he is the only tragic poet in the world in the highest sense , as being on a par with , and the same as Nature , in her greatest heights and ...
Page 43
... given purpose . The comedy of this author is far from being " lively , audible , and full of vent : " it is for the most part obtuse , obscure , forced , and tedious . He wears out a jest to the last shred and coarsest grain . His ima ...
... given purpose . The comedy of this author is far from being " lively , audible , and full of vent : " it is for the most part obtuse , obscure , forced , and tedious . He wears out a jest to the last shred and coarsest grain . His ima ...
Page 46
... given her guest neat entertainment , a capon being brought upon the table , instead of a spoon , she took a mouthful of claret , and spouted into the hollow bird : such an accident happened in this entertainment : you know - propria ...
... given her guest neat entertainment , a capon being brought upon the table , instead of a spoon , she took a mouthful of claret , and spouted into the hollow bird : such an accident happened in this entertainment : you know - propria ...
Page 47
... that speaks him . " How it should , if it was his real name , and not a nickname given him on purpose by the author , is hard to con- ceive . This play was Dryden's favourite . It is LECTURE II . ] ON SHAKSPEARE AND BEN JONSON . 47.
... that speaks him . " How it should , if it was his real name , and not a nickname given him on purpose by the author , is hard to con- ceive . This play was Dryden's favourite . It is LECTURE II . ] ON SHAKSPEARE AND BEN JONSON . 47.
Page 48
... given by Truewit , the author's favourite , discover great know- ledge and shrewdness of observation , mixed with the acuteness of malice , and approach to the best style of comic dialogue . But I must refer to the play itself for them ...
... given by Truewit , the author's favourite , discover great know- ledge and shrewdness of observation , mixed with the acuteness of malice , and approach to the best style of comic dialogue . But I must refer to the play itself for them ...
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Common terms and phrases
absurdity admiration affectation amusing appearance artificial beauty Beggar's Opera Ben Jonson better 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 lively 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 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 words Wordsworth writer
Popular passages
Page 7 - Never, lago. Like to the Pontic sea, Whose icy current and compulsive course Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on To the Propontic and the Hellespont ; Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace, Shall ne'er look back, ne'er ebb to humble love. Till that a capable and wide revenge Swallow them up. — Now, by yond marble heaven, In the due reverence of a sacred vow {Kneels, I here engage my words.
Page 145 - I thought of Chatterton, the marvellous Boy, The sleepless Soul that perished in his pride; Of Him who walked in glory and in joy Following his plough, along the mountain-side : By our own spirits are we deified : We poets in our youth begin in gladness; But thereof come in the end despondency and madness.
Page 5 - The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven ; And, as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing A local habitation, and a name. Such tricks hath strong imagination, That, if it would but apprehend some joy, It comprehends some bringer of that joy; Or, in the night, imagining some fear, How easy is a bush supposed a bear ! Hip.
Page 107 - Attract his slender feet. The foodless wilds Pour forth their brown inhabitants. The hare, Though timorous of heart, and hard beset By death in various forms, dark snares, and dogs, And more unpitying men, the garden seeks, Urged on by fearless want.
Page 73 - From Heaven they fabled, thrown by angry Jove Sheer o'er the crystal battlements: from morn To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, A summer's day; and with the setting sun Dropt from the zenith, like a falling star, On Lemnos, the Aegean isle.
Page 88 - Tis with our judgments as our watches, none Go just alike, yet each believes his own.
Page 208 - Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall, Godlike erect, with native honour clad In naked majesty, seem'd lords of all ; And worthy seem'd : for in their looks divine The image of their glorious Maker shone, Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure, Severe, but in true filial freedom...
Page 6 - O now, for ever, Farewell the tranquil mind ! Farewell content ! Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars, That make ambition virtue ! O, farewell ! Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump, The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife, The royal banner ; and all quality. Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war...
Page 62 - Why so pale and wan, fond lover? Prithee, why so pale? Will, when looking well can't move her. Looking ill prevail? Prithee, why so pale?
Page 205 - And purple all the ground with vernal flowers. Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies, The tufted crow-toe and pale jessamine, The white pink, and the pansy...