Critical and Miscellaneous Essays, Volume 1Weeks, Jordan & Company, 1840 - English essays |
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Page 37
... produce no illusion , when it is employed to represent that which is at once perceived to be incongruous and absurd . Milton wrote in an age of philosophers and theologians . It was necessary therefore for him to abstain from giving ...
... produce no illusion , when it is employed to represent that which is at once perceived to be incongruous and absurd . Milton wrote in an age of philosophers and theologians . It was necessary therefore for him to abstain from giving ...
Page 38
... produced by the pencil or the chisel . But it is picturesque to the exclusion of all mystery . This is a fault , indeed , on the right side , a fault inseparable from the plan of his poem , which , as we have already observed , rendered ...
... produced by the pencil or the chisel . But it is picturesque to the exclusion of all mystery . This is a fault , indeed , on the right side , a fault inseparable from the plan of his poem , which , as we have already observed , rendered ...
Page 41
... produced by pride struggling with misery . There is perhaps no work in the world so deeply and uniformly sorrowful . The melancholy of Dante was no fantastic ca- price . It was not , as far as at this distance of time can be judged ...
... produced by pride struggling with misery . There is perhaps no work in the world so deeply and uniformly sorrowful . The melancholy of Dante was no fantastic ca- price . It was not , as far as at this distance of time can be judged ...
Page 47
... produced . Talk to them of Naples , of Spain , or of South America ! They stand forth , zealots for the doc- trine of Divine Right , which has now come back to us , like a thief from transportation , under the alias of Legitimacy . But ...
... produced . Talk to them of Naples , of Spain , or of South America ! They stand forth , zealots for the doc- trine of Divine Right , which has now come back to us , like a thief from transportation , under the alias of Legitimacy . But ...
Page 53
... produced by the civil war . They were the price of our liberty . Has the acquisition been worth the sacrifice ? It ... produces no pernicious effects on the intellectual and moral character of a people . We deplore the outrages which ...
... produced by the civil war . They were the price of our liberty . Has the acquisition been worth the sacrifice ? It ... produces no pernicious effects on the intellectual and moral character of a people . We deplore the outrages which ...
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Common terms and phrases
absurd admiration appear army beauty Bunyan Catholic century character Charles Church civil conceive considered constitution critics Cromwell Dante Divine Comedy doctrines doubt Dryden Edinburgh Review effect eminent enemies England English evil excited executive government favor feelings genius Greeks Hallam Herodotus historians honor House human imagination imitation interest Italy King language less liberty literary literature lived Livy Long Parliament Lord Byron Machiavelli manner means ment merit Milton mind moral nature never noble opinion Othello Paradise Lost Parliament party passions peculiar persecution person Pilgrim's Progress poems poet poetry political Pope Prince principles produced Puritans reason reign religion rendered resembled respect Revolution Roundheads royal prerogative scarcely seems Shakspeare society sophisms Southey Southey's spirit statesmen Strafford strong style Tacitus talents taste thought Thucydides tion truth tyrant virtues wealth Whigs whole writers
Popular passages
Page 56 - Many politicians of our time are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition, that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom.
Page 137 - Partridge, with a contemptuous sneer; "why, I could act as well as he myself. I am sure if I had seen a ghost I should have looked in the very same manner, and done just as he did.
Page 73 - It is, to borrow his own majestic language, " a sevenfold chorus of hallelujahs and harping symphonies.
Page 31 - But now my task is smoothly done: I can fly, or I can run Quickly to the green earth's end, Where the bowed welkin slow doth bend, And from thence can soar as soon To the corners of the moon. Mortals, that would follow me, Love Virtue; she alone is free. She can teach...
Page 227 - The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Page 21 - ... human actions, it is by no means certain that it would have been a good one. It is extremely improbable that it would have contained half so much able reasoning on the subject as is to be found in the Fable of the Bees.
Page 21 - fine frenzy " which he ascribes to the poet, — a fine frenzy doubtless, but still a frenzy. Truth, indeed, is essential to poetry ; but it is the truth of madness. The reasonings are just; but the premises are false. After the first suppositions have been made...
Page 255 - In favour and pre-eminence, yet fraught With envy against the Son of God, that day...
Page 23 - And, as the magic lantern acts best in a dark room, poetry effects its purpose most completely in a dark age. As the light of knowledge breaks in upon its exhibitions, as the outlines of certainty become more and more definite, and the shades of probability...
Page 26 - Milton cannot be comprehended or enjoyed unless the mind of the reader co-operate with that of the writer. He does not paint a finished picture or play for a mere passive listener. He sketches, and leaves others to fill up the outline. He strikes the key-note, and expects his hearer to make out the melody.