John Donne was born in London, in 1573. His father was an eminent14 ironmonger, of a Catholic family; his mother's kin3, the Heywoods, had suffered much from Protestant persecution15. One of them was the writer of Interludes which amused the melancholy17 of Mary Tudor. John entered Hart Hall, Oxford18, later Magdalen Hall, in 1584, he also studied at Cambridge, and entered Lincoln's Inn in 1592. A portrait of him in 1591 shows a young man holding the hilt of a very large rapier, and wearing a large earring19 shaped as a cross. He has a look of audacity21, perhaps of sensuality, with a tinge22 of melancholy. He seems at this time to have studied the controversy23 between Catholics and Protestants, and in his "Epistle" (rhymed heroic couplets) we perceive that he was of no fervent24 piety25, but rather a doubter. His satires27 appear to have been written about 1593. They are obscure, and the versification is bad, apparently28 of set purpose. Often the reader is puzzled to guess how a line is meant to be scanned, the natural rules of accent are set at defiance29, as Ben Jonson remarked. Probably Donne aimed at imitating Persius, the obscure young Roman satirist30. The satires can scarcely be read except by curious students tracing the evolution of Donne's thought and style.
In 1596 he sailed with Essex to the victory over Spain at Cadiz. Before starting he wrote one of his poetical31 "Elegies33" to a lady with whom he had an intrigue34. In 1597 he went on "the Islands Voyage" with Essex, to capture plate ships. He experienced a tempest, was driven back to Falmouth, wrote "The Storm," and later, in the Tropics "The Calm". The men are roasted by the sun and bathe, then
from the sea into the ship we turn,
Like parboiled wretches35, on the coals to burn.
The poems are rude in versification and exaggeration, but most vivid are their pictures of Nature and the sea. Returning in the autumn of 1597, Donne is supposed to have travelled in Italy and Spain, if it be not more probable that he visited these countries in[Pg 285] 1592-1596. If Ben Jonson rightly said that Donne wrote "all his best pieces of verse" before he was 25, they must have been finished by 1598. They were not printed till 1633, but circulated in manuscript.
Probably most of the pieces in his "Elegies" and "Songs and Sonnets37" were composed in his tempestuous39 youth. The amorous40 conceits in "The Flea41" are equally rich in ingenious fancies and in bad taste. "Woman's Constancy" and many other poems have the same moral burden as
'T was last night I swore to thee
That fond impossibility,—
to be constant. The sun is chidden for too early rising—
Go tell Court-huntsmen that the King will ride,—
but leave lovers undisturbed. In "The Indifferent" he brags42 that he can love all sorts and conditions of women, like Lord Byron and other amorists. He finds in himself "something like a heart," but rather rumpled43. Of a later period, when he met his future wife, may be a charming song,
Just such disparity
As is 'twixt air and angel's purity'
'Twixt women's love and men's will ever be.
But the Elegies address ladies of whose nature purity is no part, and it may be admitted that the confessions44 do not win admiration45 for Donne's taste and temper, not to mention his morals, when he wrote them. "The Curse" on a woman, or a man who loves his mistress, far outdoes the Epodes of Horace in cold ferocity. "The Bait" contains remarks on the cruelty of angling which must have vexed46 Izaak Walton to the heart. "Love's Deity," opening with the charmed lines
I long to talk with some old lover's ghost,
Who died before the God of Love was born,
thence descends47 into crabbed48 and difficult conceits. Two songs, "The Funeral" and "The Relic," are on a bracelet49 of his mistress's hair: whoever exhumes50 the poet's body will find
A bracelet of bright hair about the bone.
[Pg 286]
These verses of Donne's disturbed and adventurous51 youth, poems ingenious, conceited52, passionate53, mystical, or cynical54, have not the music as of birds' songs which rings in the lyrists of that age: nor have the Epithalamia the charm of Spenser's. Donne in youth was not at ease with himself: he speculates too curiously55. He may try to play the sensualist, but there is a dark backward in his genius; there are chords not in tune56 with mirth and pleasure. He is as unique as Browning, as little like other poets. If his Elegies contain, as has been supposed, the story of a love affair, it was of a nature to make him uneasy.
In 1597 Donne became secretary of the Lord Keeper, Sir Thomas Egerton, and met his niece, Anne More, daughter of Sir George More, Lieutenant57 of the Tower. He married her secretly at the end of 1601, and therefore was imprisoned58 in the Fleet jail, in February, 1602, thanks to the lady's angry father, who soon after forgave the young lovers.
By 1601 he had begun "The Progress of the Soul," or "Metempsychosis," the adventures of a soul "placed in most shapes,"[1] for example, in that fabulous59 and mortuary weed, a mandrake, in the roe60 of a fish, in a sparrow, and so forth61, all to little purpose. He was unemployed62, eager for employment, given to writing long letters, and laments63 for deaths in verse, and he assisted in a controversy with the Catholics.
Now come such more or less theological works as "Pseudo-Martyr," "Ignatius His Conclave," and "Biathanatos": the first (1610) is addressed to the King, who finally induced Donne to take holy orders. "Divine" poems he also wrote, but he was not anxious to be a professional divine. Donne's conceits were daring to the border of profanity. A visit to Paris with his patron, Sir Robert Drury, while Mrs. Donne was about to become a mother, was marked by a telepathic experience—Donne saw his wife, then in England, with a dead baby in her arms. Walton says that the day of the vision was that of the child's birth and death, but the dates do not bear out the statement. Walton's remark that Drury sent an express messenger to England, to inquire about Mrs. Donne, is certainly untrue.
[Pg 287]
In honour of a daughter of Drury who died young, Donne had written two extraordinary poems: "The First Anniversary" of the decease was published in 1611, "The Second Anniversary" was written in 1612. There seemed reason to fear that Donne would celebrate Miss Drury, whom he had never seen, once a year, while his life endured. The poem as a whole is "An Anatomy64, of the World, wherein, by occasion of the death of Mistress Elizabeth Drury, the frailty65 and decay of this whole world is represented". Donne indulges in an exaggeration of hyperbole equalled only by the ancient Irish bards66 who sang the feats67 of Cuchulainn. For example, when Elizabeth joined the Saints
This world in that great earthquake languished68,
For in a common bath of tears it bled,
an allusion69 to Seneca bleeding to death in a bath full of hot water. This manner of hyperbole flourished after Donne's time, infecting Crashaw and others,
For there's a kind of world remaining still,
as Donne admits. Poetry on the deplorable brevity of life and the instability of things may be excellent, and that instability is the theme of Donne, but Mistress Drury is harped70 upon too much, and Donne was taking this paragon71 on trust:—
she whose rich eyes and breast
Gilt72 the West Indies and perfumed the East.
It is impossible to understand how a poet, now of the mature age of thirty-nine, could write in this fashion if he had any humour.
"The Second Anniversary" dwelt on the incommodities of the soul in this life, and her exaltation in the next. Donne says that the world still has a semblance73 of life, as when the eyes and tongue of a decapitated man twinkle and roll, while
He grasps his hands and he pulls up his feet.
So struggles this dead world,
without Elizabeth, whom Donne never saw! There are good lines such as
Her pure and eloquent74 blood
Spoke75 in her cheeks,
[Pg 288]
and the satiric76 remarks on
A spongy slack divine,
who
Drinks and sucks in th' instructions of great men.
In return for these poems Drury housed and took care of Donne and his large family. The poet now became the adviser77 of the Earl of Somerset in the hideous78 suit of nullity, and, when things went against Somerset, who had done nothing for him, Donne proposed to publish his poems in "a few copies". "I apprehend79 some incongruities80 in the resolution," and indeed, as Donne at this moment intended to take holy orders, which he did in January, 1615, he was wise in breaking his resolution. He now obtained some clerical appointments, but in August, 1617, lost his wife. There is little doubt that his grief changed him from a worldly man into a man of heartfelt piety, the man whom Izaak Walton knew and adored.
His "Holy Sonnets," written at this time, have some noble almost Miltonic passages, mingled81 with lines that cannot be made to scan, and with hyperbolical conceits. Thus, though
Thou my thirst hast fed,
A holy thirsty dropsy melts me yet.
He requests the American explorers to lend him "new seas," so that he may drown his world in tears of penitence82. He makes "yet" rhyme to "spirit.". The excuse made for such things is that Donne thought Elizabethan poetry too dulcet83.
He is a poet by flashes, which are very brilliant with strange coloured fires. He is not really so obscure as he is reckoned: he can be understood, though Ben Jonson, who "esteemed84 him the first poet in the world in some things," added that "Donne from not being understood would perish".
Donne died on March 31, 1631. His poetry, styled by Dr. Johnson "metaphysical," exercised an influence not wholly favourable85 on his successors; happily it did not affect Lovelace and Herrick.
[Pg 289]
Minor86 Lyrists.
In the Elizabethan age it might almost be said that every man was his own poet. The name of poet became a term of contempt, as we learn from Ben Jonson and other sources. Of the best lyrists we have spoken in treating of the dramatists, of Sidney, Raleigh, and the chief sonneteers. Another sonneteer is Thomas Watson, an Oxford man, and allied87 to Spenser's circle (15571592). His "Hecatompathia" (1582) and "Tears of Fancy" (posthumously published) are sonnets, either informal or formal in structure; the "Hecatompathia" mainly consists of translations from modern languages. Watson had learning and some skill, but not much natural music in his soul.
Henry Constable88, a Yorkshire man and a Catholic, may have been born about 1562 or earlier, judging by his degree taken at Cambridge in 1580. He passed much of his life abroad, and, on his return, part of it an the Tower, in the last years of Elizabeth. His sonnets ("Diana," 1592-1594) are pleasing, more tunable89 than many sonnets of his own and the succeeding age. Others have been exhumed90 from manuscript; some are devotional.
Willoughby's "Avisa" (the sonnet38 sequences usually bore girls' names) would be forgotten but for the magic initials "W. S." and allusions91 to W.'s love affairs. He may have been William Shakespeare; or he may have been Walter Smith, or William Smith, author of another such book as "Avisa," "Chloris" (1596). With him may pair off Lynch, with "Diella," and Griffin with "Fidessa," love-sonneteers.
Richard Barnfield (1574-1627), an Oxford man, was fertile in 1594-1598, publishing "The Affectionate Shepherd" (1594), "Cynthia" (1595), "The Encomion of Lady Pecunia" (1598). The Shepherd is much too affectionate for Christian92 and Northern tastes, in the style of Virgil's second Eclogue,
that horrid93 one
Beginning with formosum pastor94 Corydon,
as Byron describes it. In "Cynthia" he enthusiastically admires Spenser. If he wrote the sonnet "If Music and sweet Poetry agree," which appears in poems published with "Lady Pecunia,"[Pg 290] and the charming "As it fell upon a day" (often ascribed to Shakespeare), in the miscellany "England's Helicon," Barnfield was among the true lyrists of his time. "Lady Pecunia" is a satire26 on what wealth can do, and "The Complaint of Poetry for the death of Liberality," a satire on what it does not usually care to do. He made experiments in English hexameters: after the age of 24 he ceased to write or ceased to publish.
Thomas Campion (died in 1620) was, fortunately, a more persevering95 poet. Though his name was hardly known to modern readers till of recent years, because his lyrics96 were mainly published with music of his own composition, he was one of the most exquisite97 and delightful98 singers in the whole of English literature. Born in London, he went in 1581 to Peterhouse, Cambridge, left in 1585, and entered Gray's Inn in 1586. Five of his poems appear in a Miscellany of 1591: his Latin poems are of 1595. In 1601 appeared his first "Booke of Ayres," the music by himself and his friend Philip Rosseter. In 1602 he put forth "Observations on the Art of English Poesie," written, strange as it appears, in favour of verses in quantitative99 metres, without rhyme. He had taken the degree of Doctor of Medicine: he also wrote (1613) three Masques, one was for the wedding of the Princess Elizabeth, "the Queen of Hearts," another was for the shameful100 nuptials101 of the Earl of Somerset and Frances Howard, stained as they were with vice102, vulgarity, and murder. Campion's later "Bookes of Ayres" are of 1612 and 1617. He died in March, 1619-1620.
Some of Campion's lyrics may have been suggested by and adapted to his own music, in other cases he composed the music for his own words. He employs a great number of metres, all tunable: with him music and sweet poesy agree. To think of these songs, as Thackeray said of some of Scott's novels, is to wish to run to the bookshelves, take them down and read them. Nothing can be more charming than the verses on "The Fairy Queen, Proserpina," and "Give Beauty all her right,"
Silly boy,'tis full moon yet,
Thy night as day shines clearly,
Now let her change I and spare not!
[Pg 291]Since she proves strange, I care not!
Kind are her answers,
But her performance keeps no day,
Breaks time, as dancers
From their own music when they stray.
Drayton.
Michael Drayton (born at Hartshill in Warwickshire, 1563, died 1631) is a poet of nearly the same character and calibre as Daniel (of whom later), with the same beginnings as a sonneteer, the same prolixity in versifying history, and the same steady laborious103 cast of mind. From the age of 10, as he tells us, he was bent104 on being a Poet, and like greater poets, Burns, for example, he was usually inspired by some model, which, unlike Burns, he did not transfigure and excel. His earliest work, "The Harmony of the Church" (1591), contains rhymed paraphrases105 of Biblical songs and prayers. Drayton, like Milton, addresses the Heavenly Muse16, singing "not of toys on Mount Ida, but of triumphs on Mount Sion". Thus from Exodus106 XV., the triumph over Egypt,
The Lord Jehovah is a Man of War,
Pharaoh, his chariots, and his mighty107 host,
Were by his hand in the wild waters lost,
His captains drownèd in Red Sea so far.
In 1593 appears his "Shepherd's Garland". Spenser had made shepherds fashionable; and eclogues were the mode. In one, "Beta," Queen Elizabeth was praised; in another, Sir Philip Sidney was lamented108. The work, with improvements, was republished in 1606. The ballad109 of Dowsabel was a pleasant and fortunate addition. Anne Goodere, later Lady Rainsford, a daughter of Drayton's patron, Sir Henry Goodere, is the person named Idea, in the sonnets collected under that title. If the one famous and immortal110 sonnet,
Since there's no help, come, let us kiss and part,
be really by Drayton, he here showed mastery; and the addresses to Idea may not be mainly fanciful. Another sonnet on rivers, Drayton's favourite theme in the "Polyolbion," identifies Idea's[Pg 292] home—so far she was certainly a real person. But there are critics who deny to him,
Since there's no help, come, let us kiss and part.
It has even been attributed to Shakespeare, because of its excellence111.
Following Daniel's "Complaint of Rosamond," Drayton versified the stories of Piers112 Gaveston, Matilda, daughter of Lord Robert Fitzwater, Robert Duke of Normandy, and "The Great Cromwell" (Thomas). Like Daniel, he gave little sack to a monstrous113 deal of bread, in a close following of prose chronicles. "Mortimeriados" (1596) is another legend, in rhyme royal, of the wars of the barons114 against the second and third Edwards, later recast as "The Barons' Wars," in an eight-lined stanza115. "The English Heroical Epistles" were a following of the Letters of Ovid's heroines; there are twelve lovers and ladies, each writes a letter and receives a reply. Rosamond, Jane Shore, and Geraldine are, naturally, among the ladies. Drayton employs the rhymed decasyllabic couplet, and adds learned notes, comparing, for example, the Maze116 of Rosamond to the Cnossian Labyrinth117 of the Minotaur in Crete. The verses are curiously modern in some places.
The poet now did work for Henslowe and the stage. Like Daniel he wrote a panegyric118 of the new King, James VI and I, in 1603: it brought him no advancement119, and in the next year he made "The Owle" the mouthpiece of a satire, opening with the outworn dream-formula which had so long haunted verse.
In 1606 he attempted odes: the best known is on "The Virginian Voyage": Virginia is a paradise, doubtless the laurel is indigenous120, and Drayton foresees a Virginian poet (possibly Edgar Poe, in a way a Virginian). By the famous patriotic121 "Ballad of Agincourt," Drayton holds his most secure title to popularity.
He had long been working at his "Polyolbion," in which the rivers of England, and the great events which occurred in their valleys, are celebrated122. The first thirteen books were published in 1612-1613. Drayton's best Muse is the patriotic. He was[Pg 293] not encouraged by the reception of the book (reprinted with twelve new songs in 1622), and unhappily he stopped at the Cumberland Eden, and did not, like Richard Franck in prose, celebrate the Scottish rivers from the Debatable Land to the Naver. Drayton's ambling123 Alexandrine couplets are, at least, interesting to the angler, for he has a minute knowledge of even such burns as the "roaring Yarty" (mark the Yar, as in Cretan and Greek Jardanus, Yarrow, and the Australian Yarra-Yarra) and the troutful Mimram, which he calls the Mimer124. Had Drayton spoken more particularly of the streams, and been less copious125 in endeavours "the battle in to bring," battles Celtic, or of the many civil wars, his poem would have more attractions. History, copious and minute, is a stumbling-block to poetry in Drayton, and as to history, the public, he says, "take a great pride to be ignorant thereof": "the idle humorous world must hear of nothing that savours of antiquity127".
Perhaps the idle world was more kind to the playful poem "Nimphidia" (1627) where Titania, to the wrath128 of Oberon, wooes a new Bottom, Pigwiggen. The tripping measure is that of Chaucer's "Sir Thopas": the Fairy Queen's equipage is thus described,
Her chariot of a snail's fine shell,
Which for the colours did excell,
The fair Queen Mab becoming well,
So lively was the limning129:
The seat the soft wool of the bee,
The cover, gallantly130 to see,
The wing of a py'd butterflee,
I trow, was ample trimming.
The venerable and undefeated singer returned to pastoral, "The Quest of Cynthia," and (1630) gave "The Muses131' Elizium," full of pretty innocent ditties, while "Noah's Flood" is naturally in a more solemn strain, as are "Moses, His Birth and Miracles," and "David and Goliath". These prolix6 paraphrases do not greatly improve on the heroic prose of Genesis and Samuel.
Drayton died in 1631, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, but not in the Poets' Corner.
[Pg 294]
Daniel.
Samuel Daniel is one more of the poets whose names linger on in histories of literature because they were contemporaries of Shakespeare and Spenser and may more or less have "taken Eliza and our James". A privately132 printed edition of 150 copies of Daniel's works (edited by Dr. Grosart) keeps his laurels133 green in such abundance as his intrinsic literary merits deserve. He seems to have been born near Taunton about 1562-63: his father is described as a music-master; he was at Oxford for three years or thereabouts. He published a translation of a tract126 by Paulus Jovius, "of rare inventions both military and amorous called Imprese," in 1585. He was patronized by "Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother," and resided at Wilton, where she received much literary society and he may have enjoyed excellent trout-fishing in the Nadder and the Wily. In 1591 he "commenced poet" with twenty-seven of the stereotyped134 love sonnets (not in the regular Petrarchian form) which appeared unsigned in Nashe's edition of "Astrophel". In 1592-1594, three editions, emended, were published; the collection is entitled "Delia".
So sounds my Muse according as she strikes
On my heart-strings attuned135 unto her fame.
Probably Delia did not strike her Samuel's heart-strings with much skill and vigour136.
What though my Muse no honour got thereby137,
Each bird sings to herself, and so will I.
With "Delia" appeared a long and very tedious "Complaint of Rosamond" (who sleeps in Godstow near Oxford). The piece is in stanzas138 of seven lines, and is as woeful as "The Mirror for Magistrates139". The abbey built by "the credulous140 devout141 and apt-believing ignorant" was already ruined by the Great Pillage142, and the melancholy place by the grey waters is Rosamond's only monument. Her ghost left Daniel "to prosecute143 the tenor144 of my woes": there is abundance of moral but very little of music in Rosamond's "Complaint".
[Pg 295]
Daniel visited Italy about 1592, and in 1594 published "Cleopatra," a tragedy in imitation of Seneca, with a chorus.
The chorus commences thus
Now every mouth can tell
What close was muttered:
How that she did not well,
To take the course she did!
The prologue145 and the chorus are the first act. Naturally in Senecan drama Cleopatra does not commit suicide on the stage. A messenger narrates146 the moving incident in two hundred and fifty rhyming verses.
In 1595 appeared the first four books of Daniel's "Civil Wars"; a fifth book came out in 1599. In 1600 the poet became tutor to Lady Ann Clifford, but he longed to return to his Muse, and did so in 1602. His "Civil Wars" were now a Seven Years' War, and he achieved Book VI. In 1603 he addressed a panegyric to James VI and I, the new King: he obtained a Court post in connexion with the Queen's Masques, and held his place and salary till 1618; wrote a History of England, and died at Beckington, Somerset, in 1619. He had written Masques, and a "Defence of Rhyme" against the friends of unrhymed verse in classical metres. His "Civil Wars" are a chronicle in rhyme—he spares neither himself nor the infrequent reader. Daniel opens by stating that had England devoted147 herself solely148 to fighting abroad, she might have annexed149 Europe to the Alps, the Rhine, and the Pyrenees. But this is an error: in 1429 the tide of English conquest recoiled150 from the standard of the Maid, and even before the civil wars at home England had failed to hold the Loire.
The poem traces civil war from Richard II onwards to Edward IV, and, as Aristotle rightly said, an Epic151 poem cannot be written in that way. Daniel was an excellent man; a most industrious author, and we may say of him in the words of his own Epistle to Lord Henry Howard,
Vertue, though luckless, yet shall 'scape contempt,
And though it hath not hap20, it shall have fame.
[Pg 296]
Daniel had little of the exuberant152 fantasy of his time; he is "well-languaged Daniel," and easily intelligible153. But even his most frequently quoted sonnet,
Care-charmer Sleep, son of the sable154 Night,
is far from being one of the best of poetic32 Hymns155 to Sleep, and his best gnomic poem,
He that of such a height hath built his mind,
is far too long.
Davies.
Sir John Davies, of Tisbury in Wilts156, was born about 1569, we may suppose, if he went to Queen's, Oxford, in 1585. As a young Templar he is said to have been a brawler157, and to have been expelled from the society for his vivacities in 1598. In 1599 Davies published his "Nosce Teipsum" ("Know Thyself"), on the nature and properties of the Soul and on its Immortality158. The psychology159 may be old fashioned, but the versification is not. Only the best poets of the age could write the four-lined decasyllabic verses, with alternate rhymes, with the fluency160 and harmony of Davies. He has an answer to all objections,
But still this crew with questions me pursues,
"If souls deceased," say they, "still living be,
Why do they not return, to bring us news
Of that strange world where they such wonders see?"
"Why do not the Esquimaux visit us and tell us about the North Pole?" Davies replies, not quite convincingly. Henry More or Glanvill would have answered that souls do return, and made the question one of evidence.
Davies's "The Orchestra," on dancing, is extremely graceful161, melodious162 and ingenious; the stanzas describing Queen Elizabeth dancing "high and disposedly" are unfortunately lost. Even his acrostics on "Elizabetha Regina" are charming, and wonderfully varied163 in ornament164 and compliment—as vers de société none of that age are more admirable.
Davies returned to the Temple, rose in his profession, sat in[Pg 297] the House of Commons, was admired by James VI for his poetry, was knighted, and in 1606 became Attorney-General in Ireland. In 1612 he published a valuable book on the Irish Question, which should be read with that of Spenser.
He died after his return to England, Parliament, and the defence of the cause of an Irish Parliament for Ireland, in 1626.
Giles and Phineas Fletcher.
Drayton and Daniel were not influenced by their great forerunner165 Spenser, as were the two clerical brothers and poets, Phineas (born 1582?) and Giles Fletcher (born 1588). They were the sons of Giles Fletcher, author of "Lida," one of the many collections of sonnets published in 1593. He was a scholar, a man of business, and a diplomatist. "Christ's Victory and Triumph" (1610), the chief poem of the younger Giles is in stanzas one line shorter than the Spenserian; it begins by observing that
the Infinite far greater grew
By growing less,
so that "'twere greatest were it none at all," as in the case of the other poet whose wound was "so great because it was so small".
Thus does an unhappy point of wit, a "conceit," disturb the reader at the opening of a poem on the same solemn theme as Milton's "Paradise Regained166". The poet admits us to the Councils of Eternity167, and thus sets forth the topic of his sacred song; the stanza is a fair example of his manner:—
Ye sacred writings, in whose antique leaves
The memories of Heav'n entreasur'd lie,
Say what might be the cause that Mercy heaves
The dust of Sin above th' industrious sky,
And lets it not to dust and ashes fly?
Could Justice be of sin so overwooed,
Or so great ill be cause of so great good,
That, bloody168 man to save, man's Saviour169 shed his blood
The phrase
that Mercy heaves
The dust of Sin above th' industrious sky,
[Pg 298]
is typical of late Elizabethan mannerism170. "Heaves" is used to rhyme to "leaves"; "the dust of sin" is apparently the redeemed171 soul, why the sky is "industrious," except as a kind of pun on the preceding "dust," is not apparent; we are to wonder why the dust of sin is not allowed "to fly to dust and ashes,"—in short a solemn and sacred poem can hardly be written in a style more unhappily out of keeping. When the fate of fallen man is trembling in the balance, Mercy "smooths the wrinkles of the Fathers brow," and Justice, observing this with displeasure (it is like a Homeric quarrel of Athene and Aphrodite!), throws herself between Mercy and the Father, like "a vapour from a moory172 slough," and begins a virulent173 invective174 against
That wretch36, beast, caitiff, Monster-Man,
who, in Egypt, is disgracing himself by animal worship, while in Greece,
Neptune175 spews out the lady Aphrodite.
Your songs exceed your matter—
says Giles to other poets,—
this of mine
The matter which it sings, shall make divine.
Alas176! the poem, though it has fine occasional passages, some music, and much energy, is written in a style of conceits, and of ingenious antitheses177, which are wholly out of accord with "the matter". We cannot but see that the poet, in regard to taste, is wholly lost, is too much a child of his time, so rich in everything but perception of form and limit, so fantastically over-adorned in verse as in vesture.
Giles wrote of Phineas as
the Kentish lad, that lately taught
His oaten reed the trumpet's silver sound.
Phineas did this in his vast allegorical poem, "The Purple Island" (1633) (the human body). His stanzas are of seven lines, the first four rhyming alternately, the last three have all the same rhyme. Both poets imitate Spenser with a difference in stanza, and a notable difference in genius; both have musical passages,[Pg 299] and both anticipate Milton in their choice of sacred subjects. Quarles saluted178 Phineas as "The Spenser of this age". Phineas is the more musical, but also by far the more lengthy179 of these Kentish swains. His "Piscatory Eclogues" follow Spenser's pastorals. They are of a moral tendency and would not have interested Izaak Walton. The fisher (in salt water there are no anglers), is born "To sweat, to freeze, to watch, to fast, to toil180". Phineas attacks the indolent clergy181, as Milton did.
They are
a crew of idle grooms182,
Idle and bold that never saw the seas.
It is probable that Milton, as a Cambridge man, and a man with views like those of Phineas, was well acquainted with the poems of both the Fletchers, which are in fact the sunken stepping-stone from Spenser to Milton.
The puritanism of Phineas's long poem, "The Locusts183 or Apollyonists" (1627) preludes184 to the civil war. The poet will tell
Of priests, O no! Mass-priests, priests cannibal,
and
Thou purple whore, mounted on scarlet185 beast,
namely the Church of Rome. Satan says,
Meantime I burn, I broil186, I burst with spite,
as the puritans in fact, between fear of popery and hatred187 of Laud188 and his measures, were actually broiling189 and bursting. Satan, however, is vexed by the triumphs of Protestantism in England. His fiends form Jesuits out of matter, "foul190 hearts, sear'd consciences, feet swift to blood,"—and all this when Jesuit missionaries191 were dying under unspeakable tortures at the hands of the Iroquois. While Catholics were being hanged in England, and dreaded192 a massacre193 in Scotland, Phineas ends loyally,
Thrice happy who that Whore shall doubly pay,
This, royal Charles, this be thy happy meed,—
unhappy Charles who found in the Catholics his most loyal subjects! It is easy but erroneous to confuse the "Piscatory Dialogues" of Phineas with his drama, "Sicelides, a Piscatory," acted at King's College, Cambridge (published, 1631). The[Pg 300] dialogue is partly in rhymed heroic couplets of much fluency and partly in prose; the play is of a happier date (1614) than "The Apollyonists," and is written "in a merry pin". Phineas wrote many other things, including a pretty bashful Epithalamium.
Corbet.
Richard Corbet (1582-1635) born at Ewell in Surrey, and educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford, was a merry clergyman, who laughed at but did not abuse Puritans; was liked at Court, and successively held the Sees of Oxford and Norwich. In Aubrey's gossip there are well-known tales about the Bishop's gaieties, and his rhymes on a tour to Paris and on another in the North were reckoned choicely facetious194. His best poem has lost nothing in the course of time,
Farewell rewards and Fairies,
Good house-wives now may say,
For now foul sluts in dairies
Do fare as well as they.
There is also a pretty piece to his son Vincent, on attaining195 his third birthday. Corbet's humorous pieces have much more vigour than refinement196: his verses were not intended for publication, and did not appear till ten years after his death.
Sir John Beaumont.
Sir John Beaumont was the elder brother of Francis Beaumont, the celebrated partner of Fletcher in the drama. He was born (1582) at Grace Dieu in Leicestershire, was of Broadgates Hall (now Pembroke College) in Oxford (1596), lived chiefly at his country place, was created a baronet in 1626, and died in 1628. A sacred poem of his, "The Crown of Thorns," in eight books, is lost: his "Bosworth Field" with other pieces was brought out by his eldest197 son, in 1629, and dedicated198 to Charles I. Ben Jonson, in prefatory verses, wrote
This book will live, it hath a genius
Above his reader,
Few readers are below the level of the poem, which Ben calls
The bound and frontier of our poesy.
[Pg 301]
"Bosworth Field" is written in rhyming decasyllabic couplets, which come near to the measure as later used for heroic and satiric poetry, though the lines sometimes carry on the sense in the style disused by Pope. The story of the death of Richard III, disdaining199 to fly, is spirited, though it cannot rival the old ballad on the same subject. In translations from the "Satires of Horace," Beaumont comes nearer to the model of Dryden and Pope. "An Ode of the Blessed Trinity" is perhaps the most pleasing of the sacred poems. Beaumont could have taught much to the Royal Prentice in verse, James I, whom he salutes200 as his master,
Your judicious201 rules have been my guide.
He translated the "Tenth Satire of Juvenal," and wrote many verses to friends, and elegies.
William Browne, born about 1590-91, of a Devonshire family, went to Exeter College, Oxford, and to the Inns of Court. In 1613 he published the first part of his "Britannia's Pastorals," with commendatory verses, including some, more cautious than usual, by Ben Jonson. The pastorals have the usual defects of the obsolete202 kind of composition and of Browne's own age of conceits. They are extremely prolix, very artificial, rich in classical allusions, and occasionally in puns. The rhymed decasyllabic couplets carry on the sense, as was usual before Waller and Pope.
"The Shepherd's Pipe" is a collection of eclogues and dialogues between long-winded shepherds, in a variety of metres. The popular tale of the father's bequests203, the ring, cloth, and brooch of magical qualities, is told in stanzas of seven lines. The swains occasionally conduct themselves very like "our liberal shepherds"; at other times their songs of nature and the birds are pretty and pleasing. A pastoral elegy204 for Mr. Thomas Elwood is an elegy and pastoral, in these respects alone it resembles "Lycidas". In "The Inner Temple Masque," taken from the Odyssey205 about Ulysses and Circe, the Sirens' song and Circe's charm are pretty, but not on the highest level of the contemporary lyrics.
About 1624 Browne is said to have been the tutor at Oxford[Pg 302] of the Hon. Robert Dormer, afterwards Earl of Caernarvon, who fell, on the Royalist side, at Newbury in 1643: the date of Browne's own death is unknown.
His poems seem never to have been popular. In the vast realm of Spenser can be found all the merits of Browne on a far higher level; and Browne's defects, for he even drops into the allegoric style which dominated the latter Middle Ages and seemed immortal, are exceedingly abundant in all the pastoral verse between Spenser and Milton.
George Wither206 (1588-1667) was one of the poets who "wrote too much and lived too long". Only his song, "Shall I wasting in despair," can be said to live, despite his pleasant fluency and love of country contentments in "Philarete" (1622), "Fidelia," and "The Shepherd's Hunting" (1615). He was among the favourites of Charles Lamb, who discovered the neglected poet, the laughing-stock of the wits of the Restoration. He is also highly praised by Swinburne in a most interesting essay, "Charles Lamb and George Wither". Wither is sometimes good, always copious.
[1] Was Donne copying a poem by Empedocles?
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
lucidity
|
|
| n.明朗，清晰，透明 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
condensation
|
|
| n.压缩，浓缩；凝结的水珠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
kin
|
|
| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
tempted
|
|
| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
prolixity
|
|
| n.冗长，罗嗦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
prolix
|
|
| adj.罗嗦的；冗长的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
conceit
|
|
| n.自负，自高自大 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
conceits
|
|
| 高傲( conceit的名词复数 )； 自以为； 巧妙的词语； 别出心裁的比喻 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
wilful
|
|
| adj.任性的，故意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
abruptness
|
|
| n. 突然，唐突 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
industrious
|
|
| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
pervading
|
|
| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
throng
|
|
| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
eminent
|
|
| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
persecution
|
|
| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
muse
|
|
| n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
melancholy
|
|
| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
Oxford
|
|
| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
earring
|
|
| n.耳环，耳饰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
hap
|
|
| n.运气；v.偶然发生 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
audacity
|
|
| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
tinge
|
|
| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
controversy
|
|
| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
fervent
|
|
| adj.热的，热烈的，热情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
piety
|
|
| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
satire
|
|
| n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
satires
|
|
| 讽刺，讥讽( satire的名词复数 )； 讽刺作品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
defiance
|
|
| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
satirist
|
|
| n.讽刺诗作者，讽刺家，爱挖苦别人的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
poetical
|
|
| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
poetic
|
|
| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
elegies
|
|
| n.哀歌，挽歌( elegy的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
34
intrigue
|
|
| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
wretches
|
|
| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
wretch
|
|
| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
sonnets
|
|
| n.十四行诗( sonnet的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
sonnet
|
|
| n.十四行诗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
tempestuous
|
|
| adj.狂暴的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
amorous
|
|
| adj.多情的；有关爱情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
flea
|
|
| n.跳蚤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
brags
|
|
| v.自夸，吹嘘( brag的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
rumpled
|
|
| v.弄皱，使凌乱( rumple的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
confessions
|
|
| n.承认( confession的名词复数 )；自首；声明；（向神父的）忏悔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
vexed
|
|
| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
descends
|
|
| v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
crabbed
|
|
| adj.脾气坏的；易怒的；（指字迹）难辨认的；（字迹等）难辨认的v.捕蟹( crab的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
bracelet
|
|
| n.手镯，臂镯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
exhumes
|
|
| v.挖出，发掘出( exhume的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
51
adventurous
|
|
| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
conceited
|
|
| adj.自负的，骄傲自满的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
passionate
|
|
| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
cynical
|
|
| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
tune
|
|
| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
lieutenant
|
|
| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
imprisoned
|
|
| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
fabulous
|
|
| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
roe
|
|
| n.鱼卵；獐鹿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
unemployed
|
|
| adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
laments
|
|
| n.悲恸，哀歌，挽歌( lament的名词复数 )v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
anatomy
|
|
| n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
frailty
|
|
| n.脆弱；意志薄弱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
bards
|
|
| n.诗人( bard的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
feats
|
|
| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
languished
|
|
| 长期受苦( languish的过去式和过去分词 )； 受折磨； 变得（越来越）衰弱； 因渴望而变得憔悴或闷闷不乐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
allusion
|
|
| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
harped
|
|
| vi.弹竖琴（harp的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
paragon
|
|
| n.模范，典型 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
gilt
|
|
| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
semblance
|
|
| n.外貌，外表 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
eloquent
|
|
| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
satiric
|
|
| adj.讽刺的，挖苦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
adviser
|
|
| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
hideous
|
|
| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
apprehend
|
|
| vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
incongruities
|
|
| n.不协调( incongruity的名词复数 )；不一致；不适合；不协调的东西 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
mingled
|
|
| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
penitence
|
|
| n.忏悔，赎罪；悔过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
dulcet
|
|
| adj.悦耳的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
esteemed
|
|
| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
favourable
|
|
| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
minor
|
|
| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
allied
|
|
| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
constable
|
|
| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
tunable
|
|
| adj.可调的；可调谐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
exhumed
|
|
| v.挖出，发掘出( exhume的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
allusions
|
|
| 暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
Christian
|
|
| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
horrid
|
|
| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
pastor
|
|
| n.牧师，牧人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
persevering
|
|
| a.坚忍不拔的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
lyrics
|
|
| n.歌词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
exquisite
|
|
| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
delightful
|
|
| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
quantitative
|
|
| adj.数量的，定量的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
shameful
|
|
| adj.可耻的，不道德的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
nuptials
|
|
| n.婚礼；婚礼( nuptial的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
vice
|
|
| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
laborious
|
|
| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
paraphrases
|
|
| n.释义，意译( paraphrase的名词复数 )v.释义，意译( paraphrase的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
106
exodus
|
|
| v.大批离去，成群外出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
lamented
|
|
| adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
ballad
|
|
| n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
immortal
|
|
| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
excellence
|
|
| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
piers
|
|
| n.水上平台( pier的名词复数 )；（常设有娱乐场所的）突堤；柱子；墙墩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
monstrous
|
|
| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
barons
|
|
| 男爵( baron的名词复数 )； 巨头； 大王； 大亨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
stanza
|
|
| n.（诗）节，段 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
maze
|
|
| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
labyrinth
|
|
| n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
panegyric
|
|
| n.颂词，颂扬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
advancement
|
|
| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
indigenous
|
|
| adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
patriotic
|
|
| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
celebrated
|
|
| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
ambling
|
|
| v.（马）缓行( amble的现在分词 )；从容地走，漫步 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
mimer
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
125
copious
|
|
| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
tract
|
|
| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
antiquity
|
|
| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
wrath
|
|
| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
limning
|
|
| v.画( limn的现在分词 )；勾画；描写；描述 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
gallantly
|
|
| adv. 漂亮地，勇敢地，献殷勤地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
muses
|
|
| v.沉思，冥想( muse的第三人称单数 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
privately
|
|
| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
laurels
|
|
| n.桂冠，荣誉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
stereotyped
|
|
| adj.(指形象、思想、人物等)模式化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
attuned
|
|
| v.使协调( attune的过去式和过去分词 )；调音 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
vigour
|
|
| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
thereby
|
|
| adv.因此，从而 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
stanzas
|
|
| 节，段( stanza的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
magistrates
|
|
| 地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
credulous
|
|
| adj.轻信的，易信的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
devout
|
|
| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
pillage
|
|
| v.抢劫；掠夺；n.抢劫，掠夺；掠夺物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
prosecute
|
|
| vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
tenor
|
|
| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
prologue
|
|
| n.开场白，序言；开端，序幕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
narrates
|
|
| v.故事( narrate的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
devoted
|
|
| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
solely
|
|
| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
annexed
|
|
| [法] 附加的，附属的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
recoiled
|
|
| v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
epic
|
|
| n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
exuberant
|
|
| adj.充满活力的；（植物）繁茂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
153
intelligible
|
|
| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
154
sable
|
|
| n.黑貂；adj.黑色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
155
hymns
|
|
| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
156
wilts
|
|
| （使）凋谢，枯萎( wilt的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
157
brawler
|
|
| 争吵者，打架者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
158
immortality
|
|
| n.不死，不朽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
159
psychology
|
|
| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
160
fluency
|
|
| n.流畅，雄辩，善辩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
161
graceful
|
|
| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
162
melodious
|
|
| adj.旋律美妙的，调子优美的，音乐性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
163
varied
|
|
| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
164
ornament
|
|
| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
165
forerunner
|
|
| n.前身，先驱（者），预兆，祖先 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
166
regained
|
|
| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
167
eternity
|
|
| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
168
bloody
|
|
| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
169
saviour
|
|
| n.拯救者，救星 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
170
mannerism
|
|
| n.特殊习惯，怪癖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
171
redeemed
|
|
| adj. 可赎回的，可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
172
moory
|
|
| adj.摩尔人的，（建筑、家具等）摩尔人式的，摩尔人风格的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
173
virulent
|
|
| adj.有毒的，有恶意的，充满敌意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
174
invective
|
|
| n.痛骂，恶意抨击 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
175
Neptune
|
|
| n.海王星 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
176
alas
|
|
| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
177
antitheses
|
|
| n.对照，对立的，对比法；对立( antithesis的名词复数 )；对立面；对照；对偶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
178
saluted
|
|
| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
179
lengthy
|
|
| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
180
toil
|
|
| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
181
clergy
|
|
| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
182
grooms
|
|
| n.新郎( groom的名词复数 )；马夫v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的第三人称单数 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
183
locusts
|
|
| n.蝗虫( locust的名词复数 )；贪吃的人；破坏者；槐树 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
184
preludes
|
|
| n.开端( prelude的名词复数 )；序幕；序曲；短篇作品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
185
scarlet
|
|
| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
186
broil
|
|
| v.烤，烧，争吵，怒骂；n.烤，烧，争吵，怒骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
187
hatred
|
|
| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
188
laud
|
|
| n.颂歌；v.赞美 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
189
broiling
|
|
| adj.酷热的，炽热的，似烧的v.（用火）烤（焙、炙等）( broil的现在分词 )；使卷入争吵；使混乱；被烤（或炙） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
190
foul
|
|
| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
191
missionaries
|
|
| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
192
dreaded
|
|
| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
193
massacre
|
|
| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
194
facetious
|
|
| adj.轻浮的，好开玩笑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
195
attaining
|
|
| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的现在分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
196
refinement
|
|
| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
197
eldest
|
|
| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
198
dedicated
|
|
| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
199
disdaining
|
|
| 鄙视( disdain的现在分词 )； 不屑于做，不愿意做 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
200
salutes
|
|
| n.致敬，欢迎，敬礼( salute的名词复数 )v.欢迎，致敬( salute的第三人称单数 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
201
judicious
|
|
| adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
202
obsolete
|
|
| adj.已废弃的，过时的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
203
bequests
|
|
| n.遗赠( bequest的名词复数 )；遗产，遗赠物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
204
elegy
|
|
| n.哀歌，挽歌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
205
odyssey
|
|
| n.长途冒险旅行；一连串的冒险 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
206
wither
|
|
| vt.使凋谢，使衰退，(用眼神气势等)使畏缩；vi.枯萎，衰退，消亡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |