Items related to Chambers's Repository of Instructive and Amusing...
Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1854. Excerpt: ... SPIRIT OF THE JERUSALEM DELIVERED.-OLTAIRE, in his essay on Epic Poetry, says: 'There is no monument of antiquity in Italy that more deserves the attention of the traveller than the Jerusalem of Tasso. Time, which subverts the reputation of common performances, has rendered that of the Jerusalem more stable and permanent: this poem is now sung in many parts of Italy, as the Iliad was in Greece; and Tasso, notwithstanding his defects, is placed without 'scrapie by the side of Homer and Virgil.' That which constitutes the distinguishing character of the work now before us, is the blending of the romantic school of poetry with the classic. Each of the two great eras of European civilisation was preceded by a heroic age, which formed the ideal of succeedmg times; the achievements of Hercules and his compeers were the themes of the ancient Greek and Roman No. 56. l poets; the chivalry of the middle ages supplied those of Western Europe after, the revival of letters. The poems of the former which have been handed down to us as classic epics, are characterised by unity of design,, all the parts of the narrative contributing to bring about one great event. But in the chivalrous Actions of the latter, this was not dreamed of. Strength of colouring in the portraits of the heroes, fertility in the invention of adventures to be ascribed to them, vivacity of narration, and truthfulness of detail as to the manners of the times referred to--these were the only requisites. A construction including necessary beginning, a decided progress, and an end which might be termed a satisfactory winding-up of the story, was never attempted. In the age of Tasso, Italy was inundated with these wild and incoherent productions; scarcely a single paladin of Charlemagne, or knight of Kin...
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