Lectures on English Literature: From Chaucer to Tennyson |
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Page xix
... once filled as Assistant Professor , being vacant , Mr. Reed became a candidate for the chair , but was not elected . Although no personal disparagement was intended , so earnest and so reasonable was his ambition for what he considered ...
... once filled as Assistant Professor , being vacant , Mr. Reed became a candidate for the chair , but was not elected . Although no personal disparagement was intended , so earnest and so reasonable was his ambition for what he considered ...
Page 30
... once we see the necessity of making the discrimination . Books that are technical , that are professional , that are sectarian , are not litera- ture in the proper sense of the term . The great charac- teristic of literature , its ...
... once we see the necessity of making the discrimination . Books that are technical , that are professional , that are sectarian , are not litera- ture in the proper sense of the term . The great charac- teristic of literature , its ...
Page 44
... of idolatry , is at once false and pernicious ; or there may be that wise and well - adjusted sense of affectionate reverence of womanhood , which is thoughtful of the vast variety of human companionship - matronly , 44 LECTURE FIRST .
... of idolatry , is at once false and pernicious ; or there may be that wise and well - adjusted sense of affectionate reverence of womanhood , which is thoughtful of the vast variety of human companionship - matronly , 44 LECTURE FIRST .
Page 57
... once , to trace the influences of the continental literature of Europe upon English literature . Let me here remark , that while the study of foreign languages and literature , along with many other advantages , may help us the better ...
... once , to trace the influences of the continental literature of Europe upon English literature . Let me here remark , that while the study of foreign languages and literature , along with many other advantages , may help us the better ...
Page 63
... once a symptom and a cause of weakness , and not of health . To the mind that cultivates a thoughtful and well - regulated variety in its reading , this reward will come , that , where before , things seemed separate and insulated ...
... once a symptom and a cause of weakness , and not of health . To the mind that cultivates a thoughtful and well - regulated variety in its reading , this reward will come , that , where before , things seemed separate and insulated ...
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admirable beauty Byron century character Charles Lamb Chaucer Christian Cowper criticism dark death deep discipline divine duty earnest earth England English language English literature English poetry expression faculties Faery Queen familiar French Revolution genial genius gentle give glory guage habit happy hath heart honour Horace Walpole human imagination influence intellectual Jeremy Taylor Lady language lecture letters light litera literary living look Lord Lord Byron Lord Chatham memory Milton mind moral nature never Paradise Lost pass passage passion philosophy poem poet poet's poetic racter reading remarkable sacred Saxon Scott sense Shakspeare song sorrow soul sound Southey Southey's speak speech Spenser spirit stanzas style sympathy Tenterden thing thou thought and feeling tion true truth uncon utterance verse wisdom wise wit and humour womanly words Wordsworth writings
Popular passages
Page 195 - The oracles are dumb; No voice or hideous hum Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving: Apollo from his shrine Can no more divine, With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving: No nightly trance or breathed spell Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell.
Page 231 - It was said of Socrates, that he brought Philosophy down from Heaven to inhabit among Men ; and I shall be ambitious to have it said of me, that I have brought Philosophy out of Closets and Libraries, Schools and Colleges, to dwell in Clubs and Assemblies, at Tea-tables, and in Coffee-houses.
Page 228 - Through all the compass of the notes it ran, The diapason closing full in Man. What passion cannot Music raise and quell? When Jubal struck the chorded shell, His listening brethren stood around, And, wondering, on their faces fell To worship that celestial sound : Less than a god they thought there could not dwell Within the hollow of that shell, That spoke so sweetly, and so well.
Page 167 - Be of good comfort, master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.
Page 305 - Paradise, and groves Elysian, Fortunate Fields — like those of old Sought in the Atlantic Main — why should they be A history only of departed things, Or a mere fiction of what never was ? For the discerning intellect of Man, When wedded to this goodly universe In love and holy passion, shall find these A simple produce of the common day.
Page 275 - Of flowers yet fresh with childhood ; on the ear Drops the light drip of the suspended oar, Or chirps the grasshopper one good-night carol more ; He is an evening reveller, who makes His life an infancy, and sings his fill : At intervals, some bird from out the brakes Starts into voice a moment, then is still. There seems a floating whisper on the hill, But that is fancy — for the starlight dews All silently their tears of...
Page 305 - I have seen A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract Of inland ground, applying to his ear The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell; To which, in silence hushed, his very soul Listened intensely ; and his countenance soon Brightened with joy ; for from within were heard Murmurings, whereby the monitor expressed Mysterious union with its native sea.
Page 111 - Scorn not the sonnet; Critic, you have frowned, Mindless of its just honours; with this key Shakespeare unlocked his heart; the melody Of this small lute gave ease to Petrarch's wound; A thousand times this pipe did Tasso sound; With it Camoens soothed an exile's grief; The sonnet glittered a gay myrtle leaf Amid the cypress with which Dante crowned His visionary brow: a glow-worm lamp, It...
Page 240 - It is come, I know not how, to be taken for granted, by many persons, that Christianity is not so much as a subject of inquiry , but that it is, now at length, discovered to be fictitious.
Page 305 - Beauty — a living Presence of the earth, Surpassing the most fair ideal Forms Which craft of delicate Spirits hath composed From earth's materials — waits upon my steps ; Pitches her tents before me as I move, An hourly neighbour.