From Chaucer to Tennyson: With Twenty-nine Portraits and Selections from Thirty AuthorsFlood and Vincent, 1894 - 313 pages |
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Page 3
... written in a language nearly as hard for a modern Englishman to read as German is , or Dutch . Cædmon and Cynewulf are no more a part of English literature than Vergil and Horace are of Italian . I have also left out the vernac- ular ...
... written in a language nearly as hard for a modern Englishman to read as German is , or Dutch . Cædmon and Cynewulf are no more a part of English literature than Vergil and Horace are of Italian . I have also left out the vernac- ular ...
Page 8
... written at Alfred's capital , Winches- When the French had displaced this as the language of culture , there was no longer a " king's English " or any literary standard . The sources of modern standard English are to be found in the ...
... written at Alfred's capital , Winches- When the French had displaced this as the language of culture , there was no longer a " king's English " or any literary standard . The sources of modern standard English are to be found in the ...
Page 9
... written language , but the extant remains of the period from 1066 to 1200 are few and , with one exception , unimportant . After 1200 English came more and more into written use , but mainly in translations , paraphrases , and ...
... written language , but the extant remains of the period from 1066 to 1200 are few and , with one exception , unimportant . After 1200 English came more and more into written use , but mainly in translations , paraphrases , and ...
Page 11
... written with great vividness , notably the sketch of William the Conquerer put down in the year of his death ( 1086 ) by one who had " looked upon him and at another time dwelt in his court . " " He who was before a rich king , and lord ...
... written with great vividness , notably the sketch of William the Conquerer put down in the year of his death ( 1086 ) by one who had " looked upon him and at another time dwelt in his court . " " He who was before a rich king , and lord ...
Page 12
... written in prose in 1463-1464 , hardly any thing of it is left . In history as in literature the English had forgotten their past , and had turned to foreign sources . It is noteworthy that Shakspere , who borrowed his subjects and his ...
... written in prose in 1463-1464 , hardly any thing of it is left . In history as in literature the English had forgotten their past , and had turned to foreign sources . It is noteworthy that Shakspere , who borrowed his subjects and his ...
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Popular passages
Page 282 - Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro. And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress. And cheeks all pale, which but an hour ago Blushed at the praise of their own loveliness: And there were sudden partings, such as press The life from out young hearts; and choking sighs, Which ne'er might be repeated...
Page 282 - And there was mounting in hot haste: the steed, The mustering squadron, and the clattering car, Went pouring forward with impetuous speed, And swiftly forming in the ranks of war...
Page 295 - Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice Rise like a fountain for me night and day. For what are men better than sheep or goats That nourish a blind life within the brain, If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer Both for themselves and those who call them friend? For so the whole round earth is every way Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.
Page 259 - At church, with meek and unaffected grace, His looks adorned the venerable place; Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, And fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray.
Page 244 - Gently o'er the accustom'd oak. Sweet bird, that shunn'st the noise of folly, Most musical, most melancholy! Thee, chauntress, oft, the woods among, ' I woo, to hear thy even-song; And, missing thee, I walk unseen On the dry smooth-shaven green, To behold the wandering moon Riding near her highest noon, Like one that had been led astray Through the heaven's wide pathless way, And oft, as if her head she bow'd, Stooping through a fleecy cloud.
Page 247 - Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful bird Sings darkling, and in shadiest covert hid Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year Seasons return, but not to me returns Day, or the sweet approach of ev'n or morn, Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose, Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine...
Page 260 - It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then the dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she just began to move in, glittering like the morning star, full of life, and splendour, and joy.
Page 238 - To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humour of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them...
Page 302 - OH, TO BE in England Now that April's there, And whoever wakes in England Sees, some morning, unaware, That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf, While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough In England - now...
Page 283 - THOU still unravish'd bride of quietness, Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time, Sylvan historian, who canst thus express A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape Of deities or mortals, or of both, In Tempe or the dales of Arcady ? What men or gods are these?