Landmarks in French Literature |
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Page 19
... Voltaire . Jean de Meung was not a great artist ; he wrote without distinction , and without sense of form ; it is his bold and voluminous thought that gives him a high place in French litera- ture . In virtue alike of his ...
... Voltaire . Jean de Meung was not a great artist ; he wrote without distinction , and without sense of form ; it is his bold and voluminous thought that gives him a high place in French litera- ture . In virtue alike of his ...
Page 48
... Voltaire not to talk of literature , but to regard him merely as an English gentle- man , the French writer , who , in all his multi- farious activities , never forgot for a moment that he was first and foremost a follower of the ...
... Voltaire not to talk of literature , but to regard him merely as an English gentle- man , the French writer , who , in all his multi- farious activities , never forgot for a moment that he was first and foremost a follower of the ...
Page 140
... VOLTAIRE . Curiously enough , however , the work upon which Voltaire's reputation was originally built up has now sunk into almost complete oblivion . It was as a poet , and particularly as a tragic poet , that he won his fame ; and it ...
... VOLTAIRE . Curiously enough , however , the work upon which Voltaire's reputation was originally built up has now sunk into almost complete oblivion . It was as a poet , and particularly as a tragic poet , that he won his fame ; and it ...
Page 141
... Voltaire's paste- board imitations of humanity should ever have held a place side by side with the pro- found presentments of Racine ; yet so it was , and Voltaire was acclaimed as the equal- or possibly the triumphant rival of his ...
... Voltaire's paste- board imitations of humanity should ever have held a place side by side with the pro- found presentments of Racine ; yet so it was , and Voltaire was acclaimed as the equal- or possibly the triumphant rival of his ...
Page 142
... Voltaire possessed a real grasp of the principles of historical method - principles which he put to a better use a few years later in his brilliant narrative , based on original research , of the life of Charles XII . During this ...
... Voltaire possessed a real grasp of the principles of historical method - principles which he put to a better use a few years later in his brilliant narrative , based on original research , of the life of Charles XII . During this ...
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Common terms and phrases
age of Louis artistic Balzac beauty Bossuet brilliant Bruyère Chansons Chansons de Geste character characteristic charm CHRÉTIEN DE TROYES civilisation classical complete Corneille critical detail Diderot dominating doubt drama eighteenth century elaborate English exquisite extraordinary fact feeling Flaubert Fontaine French literature genius human ideals imagination immense important infinitely influence intensity Jean de Meung language Les Misérables letters Lettres Provinciales literary literature of France Louis XIV master medieval melancholy ment Middle Ages mind modern Molière Molière's Montaigne Montesquieu movement nature ness never noble Paris Parnassiens Pascal passion perfect Philosophes play poems poet poetical poetry political precisely produced Professor profound prose qualities Rabelais Racine Racine's reader realise Renaissance rhetoric Romantic Rousseau Saint-Simon seems sense sentences Shakespeare soul spirit splendid splendour strange style subtle things thought tion tradition tragedy triumph true truth University verse Victor Hugo vision Voltaire Voltaire's whole words writers
Popular passages
Page 126 - Dieu et la nature sont en tout cela ce qu'il n'admire point; il ne va pas plus loin que l'oignon de sa tulipe, qu'il ne livrerait pas pour mille écus, et qu'il donnera pour rien quand les tulipes seront négligées et que les œillets auront prévalu. Cet homme raisonnable, qui a une âme, qui a un culte et une religion, revient chez soi fatigué, affamé, mais fort content de sa journée : il a vu des tulipes.
Page 60 - Quelle chimère est-ce donc que l'homme ? Quelle nouveauté, quel monstre, quel chaos, quel sujet de contradiction, quel prodige ! Juge de toutes choses, imbécile ver de terre; dépositaire du vrai, cloaque d'incertitude et d'erreur ; gloire et rebut de l'univers.
Page 118 - Jupin pour chaque état mit deux tables au monde : L'adroit, le vigilant, et le fort, sont assis A la première ; et les petits Mangent leur reste à la seconde.