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Biographical and Critical History of the British Literature of the Last Fifty Years
Biographical and Critical History of the British Literature of the Last Fifty Years Author:Allan Cunningham General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1834 Original Publisher: Baudry Subjects: English literature Literary Criticism / General Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing... more » text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: GRAHAME. The poem of' The Sabbath' will long endear the name of James Grahame to all who love the due observance of Sunday, and are acquainted with the devout thoughts and poetic feeling which it inspires. Nor will he be remembered for this alone; his 'British Georgics' and his ' Birds of Scotland,' rank with those productions whose images and sentiments take silent possession of the mind, and abide there when more startling and obtrusive things are forgotten. There is a quiet natural ease about all his descriptions; a light and shade both of landscape and character in all his pictures, and a truth and beauty which prove that he copied from his own emotions, and painted with the aid of his own eyes, without looking, as Dryden said, through the spectacles of books. To his fervent piety as well as poetic spirit the public has borne testimony, by purchasing many copies of his works. ' The Birds of Scotland' is a fine series of pictures, giving the form, the plumage, the haunts, and habits of each individual bird, with a graphic fidelity rivalling the labours ofWilson. His drama of 'Mary Stuart' wants that passionate and happy vigour which the stage requires; some of his songs are natural and elegant; his ' Sabbath Walks,' ' Biblical Pictures,' and ' Rural Calendar,' are all alike remarkable for accuracy of description and an original turn of thought. He was born at Glasgow, 22nd April, 1765; his father, who was a writer, educated him for the bar, but he sh...« less