An Introduction to English LiteratureH. Holt, 1907 - 700 pages Based on the author's Representative English literature. |
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Addison ballads beauty became Ben Jonson Beowulf BIOGRAPHY Bunyan Byron Cædmon Carlyle Celt Celtic century character charm Chaucer Church Clarendon Press classic Coleridge comedy Cowper CRITICISM death Defoe delight drama dramatists Dryden early Elizabethan England English literature English poetry English prose Essays famous feel French genius George Eliot greatest human humour influence Italy John John Dryden Johnson Keats King Latin learning Letters literary lived London Lord lyrical Macmillan master mediæval Milton miracle play modern moral nation nature noble Norman Norman Conquest novel Paradise Lost passion period Pilgrim's Progress plays poem poet poetic political Pope Pope's popular Puritan Queen religious Renaissance romance satire Scott Scribner seems Shakespeare Shelley shows songs soul Spenser spirit story style Swift Tatler Tennyson things Thomas Thomas Carlyle thought tion tragedy translation truth verse vols William Wordsworth writing wrote youth
Popular passages
Page 231 - WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. (1564-1616.) "I loved the man, and do honour his memory, on this side idolatry, as much as any. He was indeed honest, and of an open and free nature; had an excellent phantasy, brave notions, and gentle expressions, wherein he flowed with that facility that sometimes it was necessary he should be stopped.
Page 280 - was like a star, and dwelt apart: Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free. So didst thou travel on life's common way In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart The lowliest duties on herself did lay.
Page 449 - A king can make a belted knight, A marquis, duke, and a' that; But an honest man's aboon his might, Guid faith he maunna fa' that, For a' that, and a' that, Their dignities and a" that, The pith o' sense and pride o' worth Are higher ranks than a' that,
Page 353 - He has restored virtue to its dignity, and taught innocence not to be ashamed. This is an elevation of literary character, above all Greek, above all Roman fame. . . . Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.
Page 198 - There let Hymen oft appear In saffron robe, with taper clear, And pomp, and feast, and revelry, With mask and antique pageantry, Such sights as youthful poets dream On summer eves by haunted stream." * But the Elizabethan passion for dress and ornament is but a surface indication of the immense delight in life
Page 289 - our minds revert to Portia's inspired plea for mercy,* or to Isabella's searching question : "How would you be, If He, which is the top of judgment, should But judge you as you are? " ' However we may appreciate these differences in the spirit of two great poets, we do Milton wrong if we fail to
Page 377 - From what you tell me of your country," says the gigantic King of Brobdingnag to Gulliver, " I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin, that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth."
Page 448 - with the poet's soul quivering at the throb of pain. "Still them art blest, compared wi' me, The present only toucheth thee; But och! I backward cast my e'e On prospects drear! An' forward, tho' I canna see, I guess and fear." Here in the midst of the lingering affectations of the time vibrates the anguish of
Page 200 - This England never did, nor never shall, Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror, But when it first did help to wound itself. Now these her princes are come home again, Come the three corners of the world in arms, And we shall shock them. Nought shall make us rue, If England to itself do rest but true. And the
Page 307 - France, but felt our captive's charms; Her arts victorious triumphed o'er our arms; Britain, to soft refinements less a foe, Wit grew polite, and numbers learn'd to flow. Waller was smooth; but Dryden taught to join The varying verse, the full-resounding line, The long majestic march, and energy divine." — POPE. THE Restoration of the Monarchy