Chambers's Cyclopædia of English Literature: A History, Critical and Biographical, of British and American Authors, with Specimens of Their Writings, Volumes 1-2Robert Chambers American Book Exchange, 1880 - American literature |
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Results 1-5 of 79
Page 3
... born about the year 672 , entered the monastery of St. Peter at Wearmouth , county of Durham , at the age of seven , removed in his nineteenth year to the neighbouring monastery of Jarrow , where he took orders , and was ordained priest ...
... born about the year 672 , entered the monastery of St. Peter at Wearmouth , county of Durham , at the age of seven , removed in his nineteenth year to the neighbouring monastery of Jarrow , where he took orders , and was ordained priest ...
Page 6
... born at Wantage , in Berkshire , in 849 , succeeded to the crown at the age of 23 , was driven from his throne by the Danes , who overran the kingdom of the West Saxons ; but after experiencing various reverses , completely routed the ...
... born at Wantage , in Berkshire , in 849 , succeeded to the crown at the age of 23 , was driven from his throne by the Danes , who overran the kingdom of the West Saxons ; but after experiencing various reverses , completely routed the ...
Page 20
... born about 1332 , supposed to be a native of Cleobury Mortimer , in Shropshire , and the son of a franklin or freeman . He wore the clerical tonsure , probably as hav- ing taken minor orders , and earned a precarious living by singing ...
... born about 1332 , supposed to be a native of Cleobury Mortimer , in Shropshire , and the son of a franklin or freeman . He wore the clerical tonsure , probably as hav- ing taken minor orders , and earned a precarious living by singing ...
Page 24
... born in 1328. The poet's own testimony , however , seems at variance with this state- ment . In the famous controversy in 1386 between Richard , Lord Scrope , and Sir Robert Grosvenor , concerning their coat of arms , Chaucer was ...
... born in 1328. The poet's own testimony , however , seems at variance with this state- ment . In the famous controversy in 1386 between Richard , Lord Scrope , and Sir Robert Grosvenor , concerning their coat of arms , Chaucer was ...
Page 54
... born at St. Albans in the year 1300 , and received the liberal education requisite for the profession of medicine , During the thirty - four years previous to 1356 , he travelled in Eastern countries ( where he appears to have been ...
... born at St. Albans in the year 1300 , and received the liberal education requisite for the profession of medicine , During the thirty - four years previous to 1356 , he travelled in Eastern countries ( where he appears to have been ...
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Common terms and phrases
afterwards beauty Ben Jonson blank verse born Cæsar called character Chaucer court death delight doth drama Earl earth Edward VI Elizabeth England English eyes Faery Queen fair father Faustus fear flowers gentle Giles Fletcher give grace gude hand hast hath hear heart heaven Henry Henry VIII honour James John Jonson king king's labour lady language learning live look Lord Macbeth Marlowe master merry mind nature never night noble nought Nut-brown Maid passion play pleasure poem poet poetical poetry poor praise pray prince published Queen quoth Raleigh reign rich saith satire sche Scotland Scottish Shakspeare Shakspeare's shew sing Sir Patrick Spens Sir Philip Sidney song sonnets soul Spenser spirit style sweet tell thee things Thomas thou art thought tragedy translation unto verse virtue words write wrote young youth
Popular passages
Page 186 - When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, And with old woes new wail my dear time's •waste...
Page 6 - Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; .and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.
Page 271 - I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race, where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat.
Page 184 - ... That time of year thou may'st in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. In me thou seest the twilight of such day As after sunset fadeth in the west, Which by and by black night doth take away, Death's second self, that seals up all in rest. In me thou seest the glowing of such fire, That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, As the death-bed whereon it must expire, Consumed with...
Page 159 - Lap me in soft Lydian airs, Married to immortal verse, Such as the meeting soul may pierce, In notes with many a winding bout Of linked sweetness long drawn out With wanton heed and giddy cunning, The melting voice through mazes running, Untwisting all the chains that tie The hidden soul of harmony; That Orpheus...
Page 271 - I know they are as lively and as vigorously productive as those fabulous dragon's teeth ; and, being sown up and down, may chance to spring up armed men. And yet, on the other hand, unless wariness be used, as good almost kill a man as kill a good book. Who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's image ; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself ; kills the image of God, as it were, in the eye.
Page 380 - And in the dust be equal made With the poor crooked scythe and spade. Some men with swords may reap the field, And plant fresh laurels where they kill: But their strong nerves at last must yield; They tame but one another still: Early or late They stoop to fate, And must give up their murmuring breath, When they, pale captives, creep to death. The garlands wither on your brow, Then boast no more your mighty deeds; Upon Death's purple altar now See, where the victor-victim bleeds: Your heads must...
Page 164 - Their dread commander: he, above the rest In shape and gesture proudly eminent, Stood like a tower: his form had yet not lost All her original brightness; nor appeared Less than arch-angel ruined, and the excess Of glory obscured: as when the sun, new risen, Looks through the horizontal misty air Shorn of his beams; or from behind the moon, In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds On half the nations, and with fear of change Perplexes monarchs.
Page 166 - Air, and ye elements, the eldest birth Of Nature's womb, that in quaternion run Perpetual circle, multiform, and mix And nourish all things ; let your ceaseless change Vary to our great Maker still new praise. Ye mists and exhalations, that now rise From hill or steaming lake, dusky or gray, Till the sun paint your fleecy skirts with gold, In honour to the world's great author, rise...
Page 162 - Neaera's hair ? Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise (That last infirmity of noble mind) To scorn delights, and live laborious days ; But the fair guerdon when we hope to find, And think to burst out into sudden blaze, Comes the blind Fury with the abhorred shears, And slits the thin-spun life.