The Writings of James Russell Lowell ...: The old English dramatists. 1892Printed at the Riverside Press, 1892 - 342 pages |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 14
Page 10
... speaking of Marlowe . Who , then , were the Old English Dramatists ? They were a score or so of literary bohemians , for the most part , living from hand to mouth in Lon- don during the last twenty years of the sixteenth century and the ...
... speaking of Marlowe . Who , then , were the Old English Dramatists ? They were a score or so of literary bohemians , for the most part , living from hand to mouth in Lon- don during the last twenty years of the sixteenth century and the ...
Page 11
... speak , had just learned to go alone , and found a joy in its own mere motion , which it lost as it grew older , and to walk was no longer a marvel . Nothing in the history of literature seems more startling than the sudden spring with ...
... speak , had just learned to go alone , and found a joy in its own mere motion , which it lost as it grew older , and to walk was no longer a marvel . Nothing in the history of literature seems more startling than the sudden spring with ...
Page 19
... speak of in this course . Robert Greene is one of them . He has all the inadequacy of imperfectly drawn tea . I thank him , indeed , for the word " brightsome , " and for two lines of Sephestia's song to her child , - " Weep not , my ...
... speak of in this course . Robert Greene is one of them . He has all the inadequacy of imperfectly drawn tea . I thank him , indeed , for the word " brightsome , " and for two lines of Sephestia's song to her child , - " Weep not , my ...
Page 21
... speaking of the obiter dicta , of the fine verses dropt casually by these men when you are beginning to think they have no poetry in them . Fortune tells Fortunatus , in the play of that name , that he shall have gold as countless as ...
... speaking of the obiter dicta , of the fine verses dropt casually by these men when you are beginning to think they have no poetry in them . Fortune tells Fortunatus , in the play of that name , that he shall have gold as countless as ...
Page 33
... speak of Marlowe , I cannot help fearing that I may fail a little in that equanimity which is the first condition of all helpful criticism . Generosity there should be , and enthusiasm there should be , but they should stop short of ...
... speak of Marlowe , I cannot help fearing that I may fail a little in that equanimity which is the first condition of all helpful criticism . Generosity there should be , and enthusiasm there should be , but they should stop short of ...
Common terms and phrases
Arethusa Beaumont and Fletcher beauty Bellario Ben Jonson Brachiano Bussy d'Ambois Cæsar called Chapman character Charles Lamb charm coarse comedies Contarino crime delight doth dramatic Dryden Duchess of Malfi fancy Faustus feel fine madness Flamineo fond genius give hand hath Heaven hell Hero and Leander Homer honor humor Iliad imagination Jew of Malta Jolenta Jonson King Lady language Leonora less literature live Lucifer Marlowe Marlowe's Massinger Massinger's Mephistophilis mind nature never noble Old English Dramatists passage passion pathos perhaps Philaster PHILIP MASSINGER phrase play pleasure plot poem poet poetical poetry Romelio scene seems sense sentiment Shakespeare shows song Song of Roland soul speaking speech Spenser spirit stage style suppose sure sweet Tamburlaine tells theatre thee things thou thought tion tragedy translation true unto verse Vittoria Webster words wrote youth Zanche
Popular passages
Page 37 - Had fed the feeling of their masters' thoughts, And every sweetness that inspired their hearts, Their minds, and muses on admired themes ; If all the heavenly quintessence they still From their immortal flowers of poesy, Wherein, as in a mirror, we perceive The highest reaches of a human wit ; If these had made one poem's period, And all combined in beauty's worthiness, Yet should there hover in their restless heads One thought, one grace, one wonder, at the least, Which into words no virtue can...
Page 31 - Come Sleep! O Sleep, the certain knot of peace, The baiting-place of wit, the balm of woe, The poor man's wealth, the prisoner's release, The indifferent judge between the high and low!
Page 51 - I'll leap up to my God! Who pulls me down? See, see where Christ's blood streams in the firmament! One drop would save my soul, half a drop, ah, my Christ!
Page 105 - Spit, fire! spout, rain! Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters: I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness; I never gave you kingdom, call'd you children, You owe me no subscription: then, let fall Your horrible pleasure; here I stand, your slave, A poor, infirm, weak, and despis'd old man. But yet I call you servile ministers, That have with two pernicious daughters join'd Your high-engender'd battles 'gainst a head So old and white as this.
Page 40 - II.," have no organic unity, and such unity as is here is more apparent than real. Passages in them stir us deeply and thrill us to the marrow, but each play as a whole is ineffectual. Even his " Edward II." is regular only to the eye by a more orderly arrangement of scenes and acts, and Marlowe evidently felt the drag of this restraint, for we miss the uncontrollable energy, the eruptive fire, and the feeling that he was happy in his work. Yet Lamb was hardly extravagant in saying that " the death...
Page 50 - I'll have them fly to India for gold, Ransack the ocean for orient pearl, And search all corners of the new-found world For pleasant fruits and princely delicates; I'll have them read me strange philosophy And tell the secrets of all foreign kings...
Page 31 - Despair at me doth throw. 0 make in me those civil wars to cease: 1 will good tribute pay, if thou do so. Take thou of me smooth pillows, sweetest bed, A chamber deaf to noise and blind to light, A rosy garland and a weary head: And if these things, as being thine by right, Move not thy heavy grace, thou shalt in me, Livelier than elsewhere, Stella's image see.
Page 75 - Call for the robin-red-breast and the wren, Since o'er shady groves they hover, And with leaves and flowers do cover The friendless bodies of unburied men. Call unto his funeral dole The ant, the field-mouse, and the mole To rear him hillocks that shall keep him warm And (when gay tombs are robbed) sustain no harm, But keep the wolf far thence that's foe to men, For with his nails he'll dig them up again.
Page 49 - All things that move between the quiet poles Shall be at my command : emperors and kings Are but obeyed in their several provinces, Nor can they raise the wind or rend the clouds ; But his dominion that exceeds in this Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man, A sound magician is a mighty god : Here, Faustus, tire thy brains to gain a deity.
Page 37 - Our souls, whose faculties can comprehend The wondrous architecture of the world, And measure every wandering planet's course, Still climbing after knowledge infinite, And always moving as the restless spheres, Wills us to wear ourselves, and never rest, Until we reach the ripest fruit of all, That perfect bliss and sole felicity, The sweet fruition of an earthly crown.