Characteristics of Literature: Illustrated by the Genius of Distinguished Writers |
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Page 16
... less truth , events and manners , in hues not so emphatic as the drama , but with greater detail and more elaborate exactitude . There are few more interesting literary processes than the composition of a novel , artistically wrought ...
... less truth , events and manners , in hues not so emphatic as the drama , but with greater detail and more elaborate exactitude . There are few more interesting literary processes than the composition of a novel , artistically wrought ...
Page 17
... less mechani- cal , or at least originate in the active intelligence of the writer ; but this last and crowning principle emanates from the individual soul : it is that which makes the statue appear to breathe , and the picture to be a ...
... less mechani- cal , or at least originate in the active intelligence of the writer ; but this last and crowning principle emanates from the individual soul : it is that which makes the statue appear to breathe , and the picture to be a ...
Page 29
... less faithful are the incidental glimpses afforded of the laws , customs , and social economy of the period . We seem , as we read , to breathe the atmosphere of that epoch when the feudal spirit yet lingered in Italy , although its ...
... less faithful are the incidental glimpses afforded of the laws , customs , and social economy of the period . We seem , as we read , to breathe the atmosphere of that epoch when the feudal spirit yet lingered in Italy , although its ...
Page 30
... less remarkable than the facility with which it is suggested . The more elaborate pictures thus vividly reproduced from the dusty archives of municipal history , will bear a very thoughtful perusal . The description of the bread riots ...
... less remarkable than the facility with which it is suggested . The more elaborate pictures thus vividly reproduced from the dusty archives of municipal history , will bear a very thoughtful perusal . The description of the bread riots ...
Page 45
... less frank and brotherly . His generous impulses prevented cynicism ; his spontaneous feeling warmed the actual reprover into the apparent friend ; and even his convivial habits , injurious as they were to his own interests , kept the ...
... less frank and brotherly . His generous impulses prevented cynicism ; his spontaneous feeling warmed the actual reprover into the apparent friend ; and even his convivial habits , injurious as they were to his own interests , kept the ...
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Common terms and phrases
afforded American appear appreciation artistic beauty become called cause character characteristic charm combination common criticism drama earnest effect elements eloquence English equally essential evidence excite existence experience expression fact familiar feeling genius genuine gifted give grace heart Hence human idea illustrate imagination impressive individual influence inspired intellectual intelligent interest Italy kind knowledge language less letters light literary literature living looked manners material means mental MICHIGAN mind moral nature noble object observation once opinion oratory original passion perhaps philosophical philosophy play poet political popular practical present principles qualities rare realize reason recognise refined reform regard relation remarkable render says scenes seems sense sentiment social society soul spirit style success suggested sympathy taste things thought tion tone true truth universal volume writing
Popular passages
Page 190 - Vext the dim sea : I am become a name ; For always roaming with a hungry heart Much have I seen and known ; cities of men And manners, climates, councils, governments...
Page 190 - I am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethro' Gleams that untravell'd world, whose margin fades For ever and for ever when I move. How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use ! As tho
Page 190 - Much have I seen and known ; cities of men And manners, climates, councils, governments, Myself not least, but honour'd of them all ; And drunk delight of battle with my peers, Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy. I am a part of all that I have met ; Yet all experience is an arch wherethro' Gleams that untravell'd world, whose margin fades For ever and for ever when I move.
Page 174 - Tis a little thing To give a cup of water ; yet its draught Of cool refreshment, drain'd by fever'd lips, May give a shock of pleasure to the frame More exquisite than when nectarean juice Renews the life of joy in happiest hours.
Page 150 - tis but a sound; a name of air; A minute's storm, or not so much : to tumble From bed to bed, be massacred alive By some physicians, for a month or two, In hope of freedom from a fever's torments Might stagger manhood ; here the pain is past, Ere sensibly 'tis felt.
Page 276 - The time is out of joint : — 0 cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right!
Page 150 - What danger's half so great as thy revolt? Thou art a faithless sister, else thou know'st Malice, or any treachery beside, Would stoop to my bent brows: why, I hold fate Clasped in my fist, and could command the course Of time's eternal motion, hadst thou been One thought more steady than an ebbing sea.
Page 238 - I have often thought, that a comment upon the capacities of the players would very much improve the delight that way, and impart it to those who otherwise have no sense of it.
Page 149 - Tis true, you guess aright ; sit up and listen, With shame and passion now I must confess, Since first mine eyes beheld you, in my heart You have been only king. If there can be A violence in love, then I have felt That tyranny : be record to my soul The justice which I for this folly fear.
Page 72 - Tis in the advance of individual minds That the slow crowd should ground their expectation Eventually to follow ; as the sea Waits ages in its bed till some one wave Out of the multitudinous mass, extends The empire of the whole, some feet perhaps, Over the strip of sand which could confine Its fellows so long time : thenceforth the rest, Even to the meanest, hurry in at once...