The Life of William Cowper, Volume 2Otis, 1843 |
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Page 10
... course of literature , like that of ecclesiastical history , is marked by a succession of heresies , which have prevailed for a time , and then passed away . When the far - fetched words of the monastic style were banished from our ...
... course of literature , like that of ecclesiastical history , is marked by a succession of heresies , which have prevailed for a time , and then passed away . When the far - fetched words of the monastic style were banished from our ...
Page 11
... course of half a century , than in any former or any subsequent age of English literature . It was not till toward the latter part of Elizabeth's reign that the noblest productions appeared , and poetry recovered that estimation which ...
... course of half a century , than in any former or any subsequent age of English literature . It was not till toward the latter part of Elizabeth's reign that the noblest productions appeared , and poetry recovered that estimation which ...
Page 13
... course it must happen that poets will often deceive themselves , and that the public will often be for a while deceived , and false reputations raised . Many pieces have obtained great applause , and some to this day retain it , which ...
... course it must happen that poets will often deceive themselves , and that the public will often be for a while deceived , and false reputations raised . Many pieces have obtained great applause , and some to this day retain it , which ...
Page 19
... course of reflection which , after he had written his defence of rhymed tragedies , led him in his latter years to acknowledge his er- ror , might have induced him to cast his English Virgil in a different mould , if facility and ...
... course of reflection which , after he had written his defence of rhymed tragedies , led him in his latter years to acknowledge his er- ror , might have induced him to cast his English Virgil in a different mould , if facility and ...
Page 22
... course , was felt immediately in this branch of litera- ture . It led , as it ever must lead , to a corruption of taste . Inflated tragedies ; comedies so grossly indecent that , if it were possible for them now to be brought upon the ...
... course , was felt immediately in this branch of litera- ture . It led , as it ever must lead , to a corruption of taste . Inflated tragedies ; comedies so grossly indecent that , if it were possible for them now to be brought upon the ...
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Common terms and phrases
acquainted admire affectionate ancholy appeared believe blank verse Bodham called cause Chaucer cheerful Churchill comfort cousin Cowper dear death delight distress Dryden Dunciad Eartham effect engaged English English poetry expect expressed favor feel felt friendship Gayhurst genius George Throckmorton give happy Hayley heart Homer honor hope Iliad JOHN NEWTON Johnson kind knew labor Lady Hesketh laudanum least less letter live Lord means melancholy metaphysical poet metre Milton mind nature never Newton night occasion Olney once opinion perhaps person pleasure poem poet poetical poetry poor Pope Pope's praise present reason received rendered rhyme Romney says seems sensible Socinian soon spirits style suppose taste Teedon tell thee thing thou thought tion translation truth Unwin walk Weston WILLIAM HAYLEY wish words write written wrote Zachary Grey
Popular passages
Page 160 - And that immortalizes whom it sings: — But thou hast little need. There is a Book By seraphs writ with beams of heavenly light, On which the eyes of God not rarely look, A chronicle of actions just and bright — There all thy deeds, my faithful Mary, shine ; And since thou own'st that praise, I spare thee mine.
Page 285 - Twas my distress that brought thee low, My Mary ! Thy needles, once a shining store, For my sake restless heretofore, Now rust disused, and shine no more; My Mary...
Page 338 - He loved them both, but both in vain, Nor him beheld, nor her again. Not long beneath the whelming brine, Expert to swim, he lay ; Nor soon he felt his strength decline, Or courage die away ; But waged with death a lasting strife, Supported by despair of life.
Page 102 - Goldsmith's Life of Parnell is poor; not that it is poorly written, but that he had poor materials ; for nobody can write the life of a man, but those who have eat and drunk and lived in social intercourse with him.
Page 338 - Nor, cruel as it seemed, could he Their haste himself condemn, Aware that flight, in such a sea, Alone could rescue them; Yet bitter felt it still to die Deserted, and his friends so nigh. He long survives, who lives an hour In ocean, self-upheld; And so long he, with unspent power, His destiny repelled; And ever, as the minutes flew, Entreated help, or cried 'Adieu!
Page 338 - Whate'er they gave, should visit more. Nor, cruel as it seemed, could he Their haste himself condemn, Aware that flight in such a sea Alone could rescue them ; Yet bitter felt it still to die Deserted, and his friends so nigh.
Page 20 - To write on their plan, it was at least necessary to read and think. No man could be born a metaphysical poet, nor assume the dignity of a writer by descriptions copied from descriptions, by imitations borrowed from imitations, by traditional imagery and hereditary similes, by readiness of rhyme and volubility of syllables.
Page 228 - I have ever seen ; but which, dissipated as my powers of thought are at present, I will not undertake to describe. It shall suffice me to say, that they occupy three sides of a hill, which in Buckinghamshire might well pass for a mountain, and from the summit of which is beheld a most magnificent landscape bounded by the sea, and in one part by the Isle of Wight, which may also be seen plainly from the window of the library in which I am writing.
Page 32 - I have lately finished eight volumes of Johnson's Prefaces, or Lives of the Poets. In all that number I observe but one man— a poet of no great fame— of whom I did not know that he existed till I found him there, whose mind seems to have had the slightest tincture of religion; and he was hardly in his senses. His name was Collins. He sunk into a state of melancholy, and died young. Not long before his death, he was found at his lodgings in Islington by his biographer, with the New Testament in...
Page 21 - The expressions of a poem designed purely for instruction ought to be plain and natural, and yet majestic: for here the poet is presumed to be a kind of lawgiver, and those three qualities which I have named are proper to the legislative style.