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Tag Archives: Chaucer
“It is a pity that the poet should be compelled to impart interest and force to his subject, instead of receiving them from it.” — poet and critic Matthew Arnold
“My poems represent, on the whole, the main movement of mind of the last quarter of a century, and thus they will probably have their day as people become conscious to themselves of what that movement of mind is, and … Continue reading
“Look in thy heart and write.” — Sir Philip Sidney
“[The poet] doth grow in effect another nature, as the Heroes, Demigods, Cyclopes, Chimeras, Furies, and such like: so as he goeth hand in hand with nature, not enclosed within the narrow warrant of her gifts, but freely, ranging only … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Chaucer, Edmund Spenser, England, Harold Bloom, John Aubrey, Michael Schmidt, poetry, Shakespeare
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The Books: Six Centuries of Great Poetry: A Stunning Collection of Classic British Poems from Chaucer to Yeats: Geoffrey Chaucer
Daily Book Excerpt: Poetry Six Centuries of Great Poetry: A Stunning Collection of Classic British Poems from Chaucer to Yeats, edited by Robert Penn Warren and Albert Erskine Unlike the Norton Anthology collections, which feature extensive “liner notes” and footnotes, … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Chaucer, Michael Schmidt, poetry, Six Centuries of Great Poetry
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National Poetry Month: Geoffrey Chaucer
Merciless Beauté I. CAPTIVITY Your yën two wol slee me sodenly. I may the beauté of hem not sustene, So woundeth hit through-out my herte kene. And but your word wol helen hastily Mt hertes wounde, whyl that hit is … Continue reading
“a perpetual fountain of good sense”
“He is a perpetual fountain of good sense; learned in all sciences; and therefore speaks properly on all subjects. As he knew what to say, so he knows when to leave off; a continence which is practiced by few writers.” … Continue reading
Posted in writers
Tagged Chaucer, John Dryden, poetry
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Chaucer
“No word he wrote in vain.” — John Skelton on Chaucer
It’s All Downhill From 1066
This is a long excerpt from a wonderful book Lives of the Poets by Michael Schmidt. It’s an excerpt having to do with the birth of the English language (as a legitimate way to express oneself in writing, as opposed … Continue reading