On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (3)
-
Untitled Article
-
REVIEW. tx Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame/'— Pope
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
( 360
Untitled Article
course of the mighty current of human improvement might suggest a mass of delightful imagery , in which to clad the great events whose too imperfect records have been left by time and memory—too imperfect , we say , for time and memory , which have consecrated all the crimes and the
follies of she great , have had no thoughts to spare and no words to spend upon the interests of the lowly . History , prostituted to the service of those alone who could purchase its servility , has
been but too often the blazoner and the burnisher of triumphant attrocity ; her pages have been lent to kings and courtiers , to conquerors and tyrants , while she has generally
crushshe has neglected to record , must we look for virtue . She is not to be trusted when she praises , and still less when she condemns . The peoplethe many—have as yet found no advocate in the chronicles of departed days . When shall some virtuous , some
generous philosopher arise , strong in eloquence and bold in patriotism , to rescue from the ruins of servile and despotic ages , the heroes and the martyrs of truth and freedom , buried till now amidst the darkness and the
desolation of tyranny ? O yes ! the friends of liberty have an ancestry of which they too may be proud—m every struggle , though unsuccess ful— - in every resistance , though untriuoiphing—in every word and deed oi selfsacrifice is the spirit of their forefathers .
But whither are we tending ? We meant only to say , that the events connected with religious changes are amongst the most interesting monuments of other times . The wild ,
awful , but all-poetic associations connected with Druidical rites ; the splendour of the Pantheon of Roman conquerors ; the Teirtonic ^ nythologp the strange introduction of ^ his Christianity , and its tortuous march , a »
ed with her anathema the uprising of heroic poverty against oppression , or passed over with silent scorn the great mass of suffering man . Not in what she has recorded , but in what
Review. Tx Still Pleased To Praise, Yet Not Afraid To Blame/'— Pope
REVIEW . tx Still pleased to praise , yet not afraid to blame /'— Pope
Untitled Article
Art . I . —Ecclesiastical Sketches . By William Wordsworth . Longman , pp . 123 . 1822 . Art . II . —Memorials of a Tour on the Continent , 1820 . By William Wordsworth . Longman , pp . 103 . 1822 .
OF all the poets of the present day Wordsworth is most attached to the composition of Sonnets , and though our admiration of his writings is of the warmest and most enthusiastic character , we think he has had little success in that particular form of poetry which he has so frequently chosen .
The Sonnet should be the development of a single thought—it may be adorned with other associations , but they should all bear upon the one emotion which it is designed to convey or to illustrate . That thought
should be conducted onwards gently and eloquently , till it bursts in all its splendour at the close . " The Sonnet /' says the Spanish proverb , " should be opened with a key of silver and be shut with a key of gold . "
Wordsworth—who , touched by an habitual sense of beauty and melody , seldom fails to communicate their influence to the expression of his thoughts and feelings—too eager and enthusiastic to follow the gradual workings of the mind , usually breaks forth in the strength and impetuosity of his genius , and becomes exhausted in the
first fervour of his song-. The character of Wordsworth ' s genius is such as to give a charm to whatever he touches ; to " the vast and the minute "— " the meanest flower that Jives , " as well as the mightiest orb that rolls . He is the true
alchemist , the discoverer of that genuine stone of philosophy which turns all things into gold—extracts good out of evil—wisdom out of ignorance—. strength out of weakness . Every soil becomes fertile under his husbandry . His spirit can wake the rose in the
wilderness , and call forth the fresh waters from the barren rock . To a mind less poetic than Wordsworth's , the contemplation of the
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1822, page 360, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2513/page/40/
-