Specimens of the British Critics |
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Page 15
... language of the tragic drama . 99 66 This can be done effectually only by following him wher- ever he has treated the subject , and by condensing all his opinions into one consecutive argument . His first play , ( a comedy , ) " The ...
... language of the tragic drama . 99 66 This can be done effectually only by following him wher- ever he has treated the subject , and by condensing all his opinions into one consecutive argument . His first play , ( a comedy , ) " The ...
Page 23
... language , Ben Jonson confined himself to what ought to be said , even in the liberty of blank verse ; and Corneille , the most judicious of the French poets , is still varying the same sense a hundred ways , and dwelling eternally on ...
... language , Ben Jonson confined himself to what ought to be said , even in the liberty of blank verse ; and Corneille , the most judicious of the French poets , is still varying the same sense a hundred ways , and dwelling eternally on ...
Page 28
... languages - and that almost all their Serious Plays are written in it , which , though it be no demonstration that therefore they ought to be so , yet at least the practice first , and the continuation of it , show that it attained the ...
... languages - and that almost all their Serious Plays are written in it , which , though it be no demonstration that therefore they ought to be so , yet at least the practice first , and the continuation of it , show that it attained the ...
Page 29
... language ; but , as in epic poetry all poets have agreed that we shall behold the highest pattern of human life , so in the heroic play , modeled by the rules of an heroic poem , we must be shown only correspondent characters . Gods and ...
... language ; but , as in epic poetry all poets have agreed that we shall behold the highest pattern of human life , so in the heroic play , modeled by the rules of an heroic poem , we must be shown only correspondent characters . Gods and ...
Page 34
... language of conversation . Be it so . Yet here in the Epic , the dialogue is felt to be as natural in hexameters as the heart of man can desire . Hear Agamemnon and Achilles . Call to mind that colloquy in Pelides ' tent . Rhyme is ...
... language of conversation . Be it so . Yet here in the Epic , the dialogue is felt to be as natural in hexameters as the heart of man can desire . Hear Agamemnon and Achilles . Call to mind that colloquy in Pelides ' tent . Rhyme is ...
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Common terms and phrases
admire Æneid ancient Arcite Asmoday beauty Ben Jonson blank verse cæsura Canterbury Tales character Chaucer Cibber comedy criticism death delight divine Dryden Dullness Dunces Dunciad Emelie English excellent eyes fame fancy Fletcher flowers genius goddess grace hand hath heart heaven heroic plays Homer honour Horne human Iliad imagination imitation John Dryden Jonson Joseph Warton judgment king knight Knight's Tale labour ladies language learning living Lucretius manner Milton mind modern moral Muse nature never numbers o'er original Ovid Palamon Paradise Lost passion persons Pindar poem poet poetical poetry Pope Pope's praise prose reader rhyme rules satire says scene sense Shak Shakspeare Shakspeare's song soul speak Spenser spirit stage syllables Tale thee Theseus things thou thought tion tongue translation Troilus and Cressida true truth Tyrwhitt Virgil virtue Warton words writing
Popular passages
Page 299 - Nor public flame, nor private dares to shine; Nor human spark is left, nor glimpse divine Lo, thy dread empire, Chaos ! is restored; Light dies before thy uncreating word : Thy hand, great Anarch, lets the curtain fall, And universal darkness buries all.
Page 99 - First follow Nature, and your judgment frame By her just standard, which is still the same: Unerring Nature! still divinely bright, One clear, unchang'd, and universal light, Life, force, and beauty, must to all impart, At once the source, and end, and test of art. Art from that fund each just supply provides; Works without show, and without pomp presides : In some fair body thus th...
Page 57 - You are my true and honourable wife ; As dear to me as are the ruddy drops That visit my sad heart.
Page 57 - This music crept by me upon the waters, Allaying both their fury and my passion With its sweet air : thence I have follow'd it, Or it hath drawn me rather.
Page 102 - Who haunt Parnassus but to please their ear, Not mend their minds; as some to church repair, Not for the doctrine, but the music there. These equal syllables alone require, Tho...
Page 189 - He must have been a man of a most wonderful comprehensive nature, because, as it has been truly observed of him, he has taken into the compass of his " Canterbury Tales " the various manners and humours (as we now call them) of the whole English nation, in his age. Not a single character has escaped him.
Page 267 - So spake the Son : but Satan, with his Powers, Far was advanced on winged speed : an host Innumerable as the stars of night; Or stars of morning, dew-drops, which the sun Impearls on every leaf and every flower.
Page 101 - Tis more to guide than spur the Muse's steed, Restrain his fury than provoke his speed : The winged courser, like a generous horse, Shows most true mettle when you check his course.
Page 70 - O thou, that, with surpassing glory crown'd, Look'st from thy sole dominion, like the god Of this new world ; at whose sight all the stars Hide their diminish'd heads ; to thee I call, But with no friendly voice, and add thy name, 0 sun ! to tell thee how I hate thy beams, That bring to my remembrance from what state 1 fell, how glorious once above thy sphere...
Page 37 - But he is always great, when some great occasion is presented to him : no man can say he ever had a fit subject for his wit, and did not then raise himself as high above the rest of poets " Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi.