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60 NOTICES OF BOOKS.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Ska Clarke 7cespeare . Smith Characters ...
of honouring the great poet is to bring his writings more intimately home to the public mind . Setting aside the question
stage of dramatic can ill supp representation ly the intellectual , for the and spectacle individual of im the personation modern
with of a Kemble Shakespeare or a . Siddons It is easy , we to yet admire want a and better to quote acquaintance
Shakespeare , to descant on the beauty of his diction and the wonderful fertility of his imagination , but comparatively few realize the
dwelling whole scop on e of the his princi genius pal . personages Few take , his descend dramas to , the and , minor after charactersand from first to last trace in all a pervading
harmony , , consistent with themselves as individualsand consistent with the motive and construction of the lot . , Whether
this marvellous harmony of design came spontaneousl p y , or was But the it consequence is for us to of stud laborious the , effect intention produced , is not thoug for us h to we know .
p not lished be . able _^ Nothing to discover would y the tend method more to b elevate y which , our it thoug was hts accom may and
to fill us with a world-wide charity , than such an honest study of Shakespeareand we must be thankful for all helwhich
may assist us in , the task . ps Now to criticise criticisms upon Shakespeare is to plunge
has had into . a a ri hopeless His ght to works pray maz have to e of be conflicting delivered been made from op the inions his vantage friends ; for , if Shakespeare ever author d for
opposing literary factions . Commentatorswith pet groun theories of their own , have taken him for a centre round , which they may
rally and display their forces . The transcendentalists have so woven their mystic toils about his characters , that they either
idealisms fade into . evanescent Others again shadows prove , or the become weapons mere they unsubstanti intend using al against each other upon his heroes . But such is not the case
mind The with honour reference andfilled of to the the with poet volume reverence is ever of thoug and uppermost htful lovehe criticism in wishes this before essay others ist us to ' s .
partake , in , his enjoyment . Mr . Oowden , Clarke makes no led attempt gedand at clever their writing inions ; are the contrasted labour of other and critics compared is acknow . The
characters , are made op to speak for themselves , and the subordinate personages , which were wont to come and go and then drop
in into their obscurity degree , now as perfect answer and to comp their lete names in , their and individuali are found to ty be as their more exalted companions .
Naturally , Cowden Clarke comes before the public with authority . He has been long favourablknown as a lecturerand
a debfc of gratitude is owing to his wife y for her " Concordance ,
to Shakespeare _; " while her " Girlhood of Shakespeare ' s
60 Notices Of Books.
60 NOTICES OF BOOKS .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1863, page 60, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091863/page/60/
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