The Maid of Orleans, and Other Poems

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John Owen, 1843 - 229 sivua

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Sivu 216 - Where throngs of knights and barons bold, In weeds of peace high triumphs hold, With store of ladies, whose bright eyes Rain influence, and judge the prize Of wit or arms, while both contend To win her grace whom all commend.
Sivu 225 - Lui folgorante in solio vide il mio genio e tacque; quando, con vece assidua cadde, risorse e giacque, di mille voci al sonito mista la sua non ha: vergin di servo encomio e di codardo oltraggio, sorge or commosso al subito sparir di tanto raggio; e scioglie all'urna un cantico che forse non morrà.
Sivu 216 - ... knights ; and the third, for the old warriors. The lady of the castle, surrounded by youthful beauties, distributed crowns to those who were declared, by the judges of the combat, to be the conquerors. She then, in her turn, opened her court, constituted in imitation of the seignorial tribunals, and as her baron collected his peers around him, when he dispensed justice, so did she form her Court of Love, consisting of young, beautiful, and lively women. A new career was opened to those who dared...
Sivu 214 - ON THE most solemn occasions, in the disputes for glory, in the games called Tensons, when the Troubadours combated in verse before illustrious princes, or before the Courts of Love, they were called upon to discuss questions of the most scrupulous delicacy and the most disinterested gallantry. We find them inquiring, successively, by what qualities a lover may render himself most worthy of his mistress; how a knight may excel all his rivals; and whether it be a greater grief to lose a lover by death...
Sivu 217 - Love were able to reply to the verses which they inspired. A few of their compositions only remain, but they have always the advantage over those of the Troubadours. Poetry, at that time, aspired neither to creative energy nor to sublimity of thought, nor to variety. Those powerful conceptions of genius which, at a later period, have given birth to the drama and the epic, were yet unknown ; and, in the expression of sentiment, a tenderer and more delicate inspiration naturally endowed the productions...
Sivu 215 - Not unfrequently, — as must be the case with those who aim at constructing a system of morals by the aid of talent alone, and who do not found it on experience, — the most pernicious sentiments, and principles entirely incompatible with the good order of society and the observation of other duties, were ranked amongst the laws of gallantry. It is, however, very creditable to the Provencal poetry, that it displays a veneration for the beauties of chivalry; and that it has preserved, amidst all...
Sivu 226 - I saw, nor woke the strain ; \Vhen, by vicissitude of fate, He fell, rose, sank again, Though thousand voices rang around, Mine joined not in the empty sound : .No dastard outrage on these lips, No breath of servile praise ; Now, in that mighty Sun's eclipse, My virgin voice I raise, And twine around his distant tomb A wreath, which yet perchance may bloom. From Alp to Pyramid, from far Manzanar to the Rhine, We heard the thunder-crash of War, We saw his lightnings shine ! On, on they burst, from...
Sivu 225 - Earth, awestruck at the tale, is still; Mute musing o'er the last sad hour Of the portentous man, Nor knows when mind of equal power Shall flame in glory's van, When mortal step, so vast,, so dread, Shall thunder o'er her blood-stained bed. Him, high enthroned in sovereign state, I saw, nor woke the strain; When, by vicissitude of fate, Though thousand voices rang around, Mine joined not in the empty sound.
Sivu 216 - ... hand. Courts of love were first established in Provence during the brightest times of the Troubadours. Sismondi has described these courts. Tensons, or jeux partis, were sung : they were a kind of dialogue between singers, in which each interlocutor recited successively a stanza with the same rhymes. The lady of the castle, surrounded by youthful beauties, distributed crowns to those who had distinguished themselves in arms. Then she formed her Court of Love, consisting of young and beautiful...
Sivu 215 - ... whether it be a greater grief to lose a lover by death or by infidelity. It is in these Tensons that bravery becomes disinterested, and that love is exhibited pure, delicate, and tender; that homage to woman becomes a species of worship, and that a respect for truth is an article in the creed of honor. These elevated maxims and these delicate sentiments were mingled, it is true, with a great spirit of refining. If an example was wanted, the most extravagant comparisons were employed. Antitheses,...

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