Biographia Literaria: Or, Biographical Sketches of My Literary Life and Opinions, Volumes 1-2 |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 99
Page 13
... whole number abreast on his desk , he would ask the writer , why this or that sentence might not have found as appropriate a place under this or that thesis : and if no satisfying answer could be returned , and two faults of the same ...
... whole number abreast on his desk , he would ask the writer , why this or that sentence might not have found as appropriate a place under this or that thesis : and if no satisfying answer could be returned , and two faults of the same ...
Page 14
... me by a school- fellow , who had quitted us for the university , and who , during the whole time that he was in our first form , ( or , in our school language , a GRECIAN , ) had been my patron and protector 14 BIOGRAPHIA LITERARIA .
... me by a school- fellow , who had quitted us for the university , and who , during the whole time that he was in our first form , ( or , in our school language , a GRECIAN , ) had been my patron and protector 14 BIOGRAPHIA LITERARIA .
Page 17
... whole was as it were a sorites , or , if I may exchange a logical for a grammatical metaphor , a conjunc- tion disjunctive of epigrams . Meantime the matter and diction seemed to me characterised not so much by poetic thoughts , as by ...
... whole was as it were a sorites , or , if I may exchange a logical for a grammatical metaphor , a conjunc- tion disjunctive of epigrams . Meantime the matter and diction seemed to me characterised not so much by poetic thoughts , as by ...
Page 33
... whole truth arises , as a tertiam aliquid different from either . Thus in Dryden's famous line , " Great wit " ( which here means genius ) " to mad- ness sure is near allied . " Now , as far as the profound sensibility , which is doubt ...
... whole truth arises , as a tertiam aliquid different from either . Thus in Dryden's famous line , " Great wit " ( which here means genius ) " to mad- ness sure is near allied . " Now , as far as the profound sensibility , which is doubt ...
Page 34
... whole being to an object which , by the admission of all civilized nations in all ages , is honorable as a pursuit , and glorious as an attainment ; what , of all that relates to himself and his family , if only we except his moral ...
... whole being to an object which , by the admission of all civilized nations in all ages , is honorable as a pursuit , and glorious as an attainment ; what , of all that relates to himself and his family , if only we except his moral ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
admiration appear Aristotle beauty blank verse cause character common compositions criticism DANE deemed defects diction distinct effect Elbe English equally excellence excitement existence express faculty fancy feelings former French genius German German language Greek ground Hamburg heart honour human idea images imagination imitation instance intellectual intelligible interest jacobinism judgment Klopstock knowledge language latter least less lines literary Lyrical Ballads mallem meaning metaphysics metre Milton mind mode moral natural philosophy nature never notions object once opinions original passage passion perhaps person philosophical Plato pleasure Plotinus poem poet poetic poetry possible present principles prose Ratzeburg reader reason rhyme scarcely sensation sense Shakspeare sonnet sophism soul Spinoza spirit stanzas style supposed Synesius taste thing thou thought tion true truth Venus and Adonis verse whole words Wordsworth writer
Popular passages
Page 254 - While he was talking thus, the lonely place, The old Man's shape, and speech, all troubled me: In my mind's eye I seemed to see him pace About the weary moors continually, Wandering about alone and silently. While I these thoughts within myself pursued, He, having made a pause, the same discourse renewed.
Page 274 - Ah ! then if mine had been the painter's hand, To express what then I saw ; and add the gleam, The light that never was, on sea or land, The consecration, and the poet's dream...
Page 206 - At her feet he bowed he fell, he lay down at her feet he bowed, he fell where he bowed, there he fell down dead...
Page 276 - Not for these I raise The song of thanks and praise : But for those obstinate questionings Of sense and outward things, Fallings from us, vanishings ; Blank misgivings of a creature Moving about in worlds not realized ; High instincts before which our mortal nature Did tremble like a guilty thing surprised...
Page 132 - Keen Pangs of Love, awakening as a babe Turbulent, with an outcry in the heart ; And Fears self-willed, that shunned the eye of Hope; And Hope that scarce would know itself from Fear ; Sense of past Youth, and Manhood come in vain, And Genius given, and Knowledge won in vain...
Page 274 - By sheddings from the pinal umbrage tinged Perennially — beneath whose sable roof Of boughs, as if for festal purpose decked With unrejoicing berries, ghostly shapes May meet at noontide — FEAR and trembling HOPE, SILENCE and FORESIGHT— DEATH, the skeleton, And TIME, the shadow — there to celebrate, As in a natural temple scattered o'er With altars undisturbed of mossy stone, United worship; or in mute repose To lie, and listen to the mountain flood Murmuring from Glaramara's inmost caves.
Page 212 - Yet nature is made better by no mean But nature makes that mean : so, over that art Which you say adds to nature, is an art That nature makes.
Page 246 - Ocean and earth, the solid frame of earth And ocean's liquid mass, beneath him lay . In gladness and deep joy. The clouds were touched, And in their silent faces could he read Unutterable love. Sound needed none, Nor any voice of joy ; his spirit drank The spectacle : sensation, soul, and form All melted into him ; they swallowed up His animal being ; in them did he live, And by them did he live ; they were his life.
Page 184 - Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul Of the wide world dreaming on things to come, Can yet the lease of my true love control, Supposed as forfeit to a confined doom.
Page 239 - Of mountain torrents ; or the visible scene Would enter unawares into his mind With all its solemn imagery, its rocks, Its woods, and that uncertain heaven, received Into the bosom of the steady lake.