A history of English literature : $b A practical text-book

Name: A history of English literature : $b A practical text-book
Author: Albert, Edward

Albert, Edward

English literature -- History and criticism

is the whole truth on’t. It is only to disoblige and contradict
   me.” “What would my papa have me do?” cries Sophia. “What would
   I ha thee do?” says he, “why gi’ un thy hand this moment.”----
   “Well, sir,” says Sophia. “I will obey you.--There is my hand,
   Mr Jones.”
                                           FIELDING, _Tom Jones_


   (4) Thus kites and buzzards sail round in circles with wings
   expanded and motionless; and it is from their gliding manner
   that the former are still called in the north of England gleads,
   from the Saxon verb _glidan_ to glide. The kestrel,
   or windhover, has a peculiar mode of hanging in the air in
   one place, his wings all the while being briskly agitated.
   Hen-harriers fly low over heaths or fields of corn and beat the
   ground regularly like a pointer or setting-dog. Owls move in a
   buoyant manner, as if lighter than the air; they seem to want
   ballast. There is a peculiarity belonging to ravens that must
   draw the attention even of the most incurious--they spend all
   their leisure time in striking and cuffing each other on the
   wing in a kind of playful skirmish; and, when they move from
   one place to another, frequently turn on their backs with a
   loud croak and seem to be falling to the ground. When this odd
   gesture betides them, they are scratching themselves with one
   foot, and thus lose the centre of gravity. Rooks sometimes dive
   and tumble in a frolicsome manner; crows and daws swagger in
   their walk; wood-peckers fly _volatu undoso_, opening and
   closing their wings at every stroke, and so are always rising or
   falling in curves.
                              WHITE, _The Natural History of Selborne_


5. The following are three examples of the heroic couplet, arranged
in chronological order. Examine the meter, vocabulary, and subject of
each, and state if any development is noticeable.

    (1) Enlarge my life with multitude of days!
        In health, in sickness, thus the suppliant prays;
        Hides from himself his state, and shuns to know,
        That life protracted is protracted woe.
        Time hovers o’er, impatient to destroy,
        And shuts up all the passages of joy:
        In vain their gifts the bounteous seasons pour,
        The fruit autumnal and the vernal flow’r;
        With listless eyes the dotard views the store:
        He views, and wonders that they please no more.
        Now pall the tasteless meats and joyless wines,
        And Luxury with sighs her slave resigns.
                    JOHNSON, _The Vanity of Human Wishes_, 1749

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

A history of English literature : $b A practical text-bookAlbert, Edward

History

A history of English literature : $b A practical text-book

Albert, Edward

English literature -- History and criticism

is the whole truth on’t. It is only to disoblige and contradict
   me.” “What would my papa have me do?” cries Sophia. “What would
   I ha thee do?” says he, “why gi’ un thy hand this moment.”----
   “Well, sir,” says Sophia. “I will obey you.--There is my hand,
   Mr Jones.”
                                           FIELDING, _Tom Jones_


   (4) Thus kites and buzzards sail round in circles with wings
   expanded and motionless; and it is from their gliding manner
   that the former are still called in the north of England gleads,
   from the Saxon verb _glidan_ to glide. The kestrel,
   or windhover, has a peculiar mode of hanging in the air in
   one place, his wings all the while being briskly agitated.
   Hen-harriers fly low over heaths or fields of corn and beat the
   ground regularly like a pointer or setting-dog. Owls move in a
   buoyant manner, as if lighter than the air; they seem to want
   ballast. There is a peculiarity belonging to ravens that must
   draw the attention even of the most incurious--they spend all
   their leisure time in striking and cuffing each other on the
   wing in a kind of playful skirmish; and, when they move from
   one place to another, frequently turn on their backs with a
   loud croak and seem to be falling to the ground. When this odd
   gesture betides them, they are scratching themselves with one
   foot, and thus lose the centre of gravity. Rooks sometimes dive
   and tumble in a frolicsome manner; crows and daws swagger in
   their walk; wood-peckers fly _volatu undoso_, opening and
   closing their wings at every stroke, and so are always rising or
   falling in curves.
                              WHITE, _The Natural History of Selborne_


5. The following are three examples of the heroic couplet, arranged
in chronological order. Examine the meter, vocabulary, and subject of
each, and state if any development is noticeable.

    (1) Enlarge my life with multitude of days!
        In health, in sickness, thus the suppliant prays;
        Hides from himself his state, and shuns to know,
        That life protracted is protracted woe.
        Time hovers o’er, impatient to destroy,
        And shuts up all the passages of joy:
        In vain their gifts the bounteous seasons pour,
        The fruit autumnal and the vernal flow’r;
        With listless eyes the dotard views the store:
        He views, and wonders that they please no more.
        Now pall the tasteless meats and joyless wines,
        And Luxury with sighs her slave resigns.
                    JOHNSON, _The Vanity of Human Wishes_, 1749

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

A history of English literature : $b A practical text-book

A history of English literature : $b A practical text-book

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