John MiltonHarper & Bros., 1877 - 104 pages |
From inside the book
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Page 9
... Perhaps no person can be a poet , or can even enjoy poetry , without a certain un- soundness of mind , if anything which gives so much pleasure ought to be called un- soundness . By poetry we mean not all writing in verse , nor even all ...
... Perhaps no person can be a poet , or can even enjoy poetry , without a certain un- soundness of mind , if anything which gives so much pleasure ought to be called un- soundness . By poetry we mean not all writing in verse , nor even all ...
Page 13
... perhaps constituted hitherto his chief title to superiority . His very talents will be a hin- drance to him . His difficulties will be pro- portioned to his proficiency in the pursuits . which are fashionable among his contempo- raries ...
... perhaps constituted hitherto his chief title to superiority . His very talents will be a hin- drance to him . His difficulties will be pro- portioned to his proficiency in the pursuits . which are fashionable among his contempo- raries ...
Page 14
... perhaps the only great poet of later times who has been distinguished by the excel- lence of his Latin verse . The genius of Pe- trarch was scarcely of the first order ; and his poems in the ancient language , though much praised by ...
... perhaps the only great poet of later times who has been distinguished by the excel- lence of his Latin verse . The genius of Pe- trarch was scarcely of the first order ; and his poems in the ancient language , though much praised by ...
Page 20
... perhaps no two kinds of composi- tion so essentially dissimilar as the drama and the ode . The business of the dramatist is to keep himself out of sight , and to let nothing appear but his characters . As soon as he attracts notice to ...
... perhaps no two kinds of composi- tion so essentially dissimilar as the drama and the ode . The business of the dramatist is to keep himself out of sight , and to let nothing appear but his characters . As soon as he attracts notice to ...
Page 23
... perhaps beyond any powers . Instead of cor- recting what was bad , he destroyed what was excellent . He substituted crutches for stilts , bad sermons for good odes . Milton , it is well known , admired Eurip- ides highly , much more ...
... perhaps beyond any powers . Instead of cor- recting what was bad , he destroyed what was excellent . He substituted crutches for stilts , bad sermons for good odes . Milton , it is well known , admired Eurip- ides highly , much more ...
Other editions - View all
John Milton, an Essay Thomas Babington MacAulay Macaulay, Baron,Thomas Babington Macaulay No preview available - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
admire ALFRED TENNYSON army ascribed battle beautiful cause celestial character of Milton Charles charm civil compared Comus conduct Cromwell dæmons Dante dark degradation despotic diction disgrace Divine Comedy effect elegant eloquence enemies exquisite Faithful Shepherdess Farinata favor FAVORITE POEMS FAVORITE feelings freedom genius glory hatred human images imagination imitation James JOHN MILTON King language liberty literature Long Parliament look lyric manner means ment mind nature never noble Oliver Cromwell opinion oppression OSGOOD ourselves Paradise Lost Paradise Regained Parliament party passages peculiar perhaps person Petition of Right philosopher POEMS FAVORITE POEMS poems of Milton poet poetry of Milton political praise prejudices principles produce an illusion Puritans R. W. EMERSON reader remark resemblance Revolution Samson Samson Agonistes scarcely sight spirit spite struggle style superiority T. B. ALDRICH talents thought tion truth tyrant veneration VEST-POCKET SERIES W. D. HOWELLS words writers
Popular passages
Page 27 - But now my task is smoothly done, I can fly, or I can run Quickly to the green earth's end, Where the bow'd 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 70 - ... accompanied their steps, granted all their wishes, filled their houses with wealth, made them happy in love and victorious in war. Such a spirit is Liberty. At times she takes the form of a hateful reptile. She grovels, she hisses, she stings. But woe to those who in disgust shall venture 'to crush her ! And happy are those who, having dared to receive her in her degraded and frightful shape, shall at length be rewarded by her in the time of her beauty and her glory ! There is only one cure for...
Page 104 - They are powerful, not only to delight, but to elevate and purify. Nor do we envy the man who can study either the life or the writings of the great poet and patriot, without aspiring to emulate, not indeed the sublime works with which his genius has enriched our literature, but the zeal with which he laboured...
Page 80 - Then came those days, never to be recalled without a blush, the days of servitude without loyalty, and sensuality without love; of dwarfish talents and gigantic vices; the paradise of cold hearts and narrow minds; the golden age of the coward, the bigot, and the slave.
Page 63 - We charge him with having broken his coronation oath ; and we are told that he kept his marriage vow! We accuse him of having given up his people to the merciless inflictions of the most hot-headed and hard-hearted of prelates ; and the defense is that he took his little son on his knee, and kissed him!
Page 103 - But there are a few characters which have stood the closest scrutiny and the severest tests, which have been tried in the furnace and have proved pure, which have been weighed in the balance and have not been found wanting, which have been declared sterling by the general consent of mankind, and which are visibly stamped with the image and superscription of the Most High. These great men we trust that we know how to prize ; and of these was Milton.
Page 47 - ... disappointments, nor abuse, nor proscription, nor neglect, had power to disturb his sedate and majestic patience. His spirits do not seem to have been high, but they were singularly equable. His temper was serious,, perhaps stern; but it was a temper which no sufferings could render sullen or fretful. Such as it was when, on the eve of great events, he returned from his travels, in the prime of health and manly beauty, loaded with literary distinctions, and glowing with patriotic hopes; such...
Page 94 - In his character the noblest qualities of every party were combined in harmonious union. From the. Parliament and from the Court, from the conventicle and from the Gothic cloister, from the gloomy and sepulchral circles of the Roundheads, and from the Christmas revel of the hospitable Cavalier, his nature selected and drew to itself whatever was great and good, while it rejected all the base and pernicious ingredients by which those finer elements were denied.
Page 51 - Then were first proclaimed those mighty principles which have since worked their way into the depths of the American forests, which have roused Greece from the slavery and degradation of two thousand years, and which, from one end of Europe to the other, have kindled an unquenchable fire in the hearts of the oppressed, and loosed the knees of the oppressors with an unwonted fear.