Vulgar words in From Chaucer to Tennyson (Page 1)
This book at a glance
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~ ~ ~ Sentence 441 ~ ~ ~
Skelton was a rude railing rhymer, a singular mixture of a true and original poet with a buffoon; coarse as Rabelais, whimsical, obscure, but always vivacious.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 3,347 ~ ~ ~
O this would make a learned and liberal soul To rive his stainéd quill up to the back, And damn his long-watched labours to the fire-- Things that were born when none, but the still night And his dumb candle, saw his pinching throes; Were not his own free merit a more crown, Unto his travails than their reeling claps.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 3,353 ~ ~ ~
There's something come into my thought That must and shall be sung high and aloof, Safe from the wolf's black jaw and the dull ass's hoof.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 3,476 ~ ~ ~
In the first rank of these did Zimri stand, A man so various that he seemed to be Not one, but all mankind's epitome: Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong, Was every thing by turns, and nothing long; But in the course of one revolving moon Was chymist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon; Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking, Besides ten thousand freaks that died in thinking, Blest madman, who could every hour employ With something new to wish or to enjoy!
~ ~ ~ Sentence 3,526 ~ ~ ~
but were there one whose fires True genius kindles and fair fame inspires; Blest with each talent and each art to please, And born to write, converse, and live with ease: Should such a man, too fond to rule alone, Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne; View him with scornful, yet with jealous eyes, And hate, for arts that caused himself to rise; Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, And, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer; Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike, Just hint a fault and hesitate dislike; Alike reserved to blame or to commend, A timorous foe and a suspicious friend; Dreading even fools, by flatterers besieged; And so obliging that he ne'er obliged; Like _Cato_,[142] give his little Senate laws, And sit attentive to his own applause; While wits and templars[143] every sentence raise, And wonder with a foolish face of praise-- Who but must laugh if such a man there be?