Letters on Literature, Taste, and Composition, Addressed to His SonBradford and Inskeep, 1809 - 363 pages |
Contents
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Common terms and phrases
admired Æneid afford ancient appears Aristotle beautiful Blair called character charming Cicero circumstances comedy composition critics DEAR JOHN Demosthenes didactic discourse drama elegant eloquence English epic poem epic poetry epigram excellent expression extant fancy figure French genius Greek harmony Herodotus historian Homer Horace Hudibras human humour ideas Iliad imagination imitation instance interesting introduced Johnson kind language less letter Livy Lord Lucan lyric lyric poetry manner metaphors metonymy Milton mind modern moral narrative nature never observed orator oratory original ornament Othello particularly passions pathetic perhaps periphrasis person Pindar pleasure plot poet poetical poetry Pope prose racters reader remark respect ridiculous rules Sallust satire scarcely scene sentence sentiment sermons Shakspeare song speak specimens style sublime syllables Tacitus taste Theocritus thing thou thought tion tragedy truth verse Virgil whole words writer Xenophon
Popular passages
Page 76 - In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease, because they are few, and those that look out of the windows, be darkened ; And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low...
Page 15 - I ran it through, even from my boyish days, To the very moment that he bade me tell it : Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances, Of moving accidents, by flood, and field ; Of hair-breadth scapes i...
Page 23 - As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night, O'er Heaven's clear azure spreads her sacred light, When not a breath disturbs the deep serene, And not a cloud o'ercasts the solemn scene ; Around her throne the vivid planets roll, And stars unnumber'd gild the glowing pole, O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed, And tip with silver every mountain's head...
Page 298 - Tis fill'd wherever thou dost tread, Nature's self's thy Ganymede. Thou dost drink, and dance, and sing, Happier than the happiest king ! All the fields which thou dost see, All the plants belong to thee, All that summer hours produce. Fertile made with early juice : Man for thee does sow and plough ; Farmer he and landlord thou ! Thou dost innocently joy, Nor does thy luxury destroy.
Page 69 - Are they Hebrews ? so am I. Are they Israelites ? so am I ; Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they the ministers of Christ ? (I speak as a fool,) I am more ; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft...
Page 78 - Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way, With blossom'd furze unprofitably gay — There, in his noisy mansion, skill'd to rule, The village master taught his little school. A man severe he was, and stern to view ; I knew him well, and every truant knew: Well had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace The day's disasters in his morning face; Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee At all his jokes, for many a joke had he...
Page 273 - Honour and shame from no Condition rise ; Act well your part, there all the honour lies.
Page 122 - Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more ; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep...
Page 206 - Of Gilbert Walmsley, thus presented to my mind, let me indulge myself in the remembrance. I knew him very early ; he was one of the first friends that literature procured me, and I hope that at least my gratitude made me worthy of his notice. He was of an advanced age, and I was only not a boy; yet he never received my notions with contempt. He was a Whig, with all the virulence and malevolence of his party; yet difference of opinion did not keep us apart. I honoured him, and he endured me.
Page 74 - Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon's mouth.