Books and Reading: Or, What Books Shall I Read and how Shall I Read Them?C. Scribner & Company, 1871 - 378 pages |
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Page 57
... style of a writer should often determine whether we read or neglect him . But what is style and how shall we judge whether it is good or bad ? That depends upon our taste ; i . e . , whether it is healthy or vitiated , whether it is ...
... style of a writer should often determine whether we read or neglect him . But what is style and how shall we judge whether it is good or bad ? That depends upon our taste ; i . e . , whether it is healthy or vitiated , whether it is ...
Page 58
... style in the writers whom they delight to read- as strength without roughness , elegance without affectation , ease without weakness , copiousness without verbosity and courtesy without loss of dignity . We judge of style some- what as ...
... style in the writers whom they delight to read- as strength without roughness , elegance without affectation , ease without weakness , copiousness without verbosity and courtesy without loss of dignity . We judge of style some- what as ...
Page 59
... style may be allowed to color and warm in- tellectual clearness with the hues that express emotion , and to set off these hues by varying contrasts of beauty and shading ; but when style is characterized by mere pomp and glitter , by ...
... style may be allowed to color and warm in- tellectual clearness with the hues that express emotion , and to set off these hues by varying contrasts of beauty and shading ; but when style is characterized by mere pomp and glitter , by ...
Page 60
... style . Awkwardness may be ex- cused and even be accepted as an excellence when it be- tokens sincerity and directness of aim , but vulgarity , af- fectation , vituperation and bullyism , as well as great swelling words of vanity " and ...
... style . Awkwardness may be ex- cused and even be accepted as an excellence when it be- tokens sincerity and directness of aim , but vulgarity , af- fectation , vituperation and bullyism , as well as great swelling words of vanity " and ...
Page 65
... style , and there may be defects in his narrative ; but no man can deny the genius that could at- tempt so great a task , and could execute it so well ; and still less the value and splendor of the work which it has left as its memorial ...
... style , and there may be defects in his narrative ; but no man can deny the genius that could at- tempt so great a task , and could execute it so well ; and still less the value and splendor of the work which it has left as its memorial ...
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Common terms and phrases
admiration ancient attractive biography books and reading called character Christian Coleridge conscience criticism culture delight diction earnest elevated eloquence eminent emotions English language English literature Episcopal Baptist Essays ethical evil excited F. W. Newman facts faith favorite furnish genius George Eliot give Goethe habits History of Greece human illustrate imagery imagination individual influence inspiration instructive intellectual intelligent interest J. J. Thomas judge judgment language less litera literary lives Matthew Arnold ment Milton mind modern moral nature newspaper novels opinions passions person personages Philip Schaff Philosophy poem poet poetic poetry political principles reader reason refined respect Robert Southey rule scenes Scott sense sentiments Shakspeare soul spirit story style sympathy taste thought and feeling tion tory treatises true truth ture verse volumes W. G. T. SHEDD worth writer written
Popular passages
Page 84 - Ye have the account Of my performance; what remains, ye Gods, But up and enter now into full bliss ? " So having said, a while he stood, expecting Their universal shout and high applause To fill his ear; when, contrary, he hears, On all sides, from innumerable tongues A dismal universal hiss, the sound Of public scorn.
Page 82 - There is some soul of goodness in things evil, Would men observingly distil it out...
Page 86 - tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die, to sleep...
Page 120 - There lives more faith in honest doubt, Believe me, than in half the creeds.
Page 245 - He is the rock of defence for human nature; an upholder and preserver, carrying everywhere with him relationship and love. In spite of difference of soil and climate, of language and manners, of laws and customs: in spite of things silently gone out of mind, and things violently destroyed; the Poet binds together by passion and knowledge the vast empire of human society, as it is spread over the whole earth, and over all time.
Page 278 - Jonson, which two I behold like a Spanish great galleon, and an English man-of-war ; Master Jonson (like the former) was built far higher in learning ; solid, but slow in his performances.
Page 244 - Poetry is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge ; it is the impassioned expression which is in the countenance of all Science.
Page 378 - My thoughts are with the Dead ; with them I live in long-past years, Their virtues love, their faults condemn, Partake their hopes and fears, And from their lessons seek and find Instruction with an humble mind.
Page 247 - If the time should ever come when what is now called Science, thus familiarized to men, shall be ready to put on, as it were, a form of flesh and blood, the Poet .will lend his divine spirit to aid the transfiguration, and will welcome the Being thus produced, as a dear and genuine inmate of the household of man.
Page 52 - Uncertain and unsettled still remains, Deep versed in books, and shallow in himself, Crude or intoxicate, collecting toys And trifles for choice matters, worth a sponge ; As children gathering pebbles on the shore.