An Introduction to English Literature

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H. Holt, 1894 - 473 pages
 

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Page 191 - 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 113 - 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. 'But not the praise,' Phcebus replied, and touched my trembling
Page 180 - upon the simple happiness of the peasant, and in such lines as these we hear the voice of the new democracy : " 111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay ; Princes and lords may flourish or may
Page 124 - 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 honor and reverence him for
Page 208 - Tintern Abbey" : '' For I have learned To look on Nature not as in the hour Of thoughtless youth ; but hearing oftentimes The still, sad music of humanity, Nor harsh, nor grating, though of ample power To chasten and subdue.
Page 217 - His descriptions of nature are often condensed and vivid, like those of Dante, showing the power to enter into the spirit of a scene and reproduce it with a few quick strokes : " The sun's rim dips ; the stars rush out ; At one stride comes the dark."* In
Page 74 - able to bombast out a blanke-verse as the best of you ; and being an absolute Johannes factotum, is, in his own conceyt, the only 'Shake-scene' in a countrey."* But, greater than all these in the tragic intensity of his genius and the swelling majesty of his
Page 74 - upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his tiger's heart wrapped in a player's hyde, supposes he is as able to bombast out a blanke-verse as the best of you ; and being an absolute Johannes factotum, is, in his own conceyt, the only 'Shake-scene' in a countrey."* But, greater than all these in
Page 117 - Mortals, that would follow me, Love Virtue ; she alone is free. She can teach ye how to climb Higher than the sphery chime ; Or if Virtue feeble were, Heaven itself would stoop to her." * In his next poem, the pastoral elegy of
Page 214 - Life's a warning That only serves to make us grieve, When we are old ; That only serves to make us grieve With oft and tedious taking-leave, Like some poor nigh-related guest, That may not rudely be dismist. Yet hath outstayed his welcome while, And tells the jest without the smile.

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