A course of lectures on dramatic art and literature . minias, ?who bared in sightof the judges the wounds which he had received in the battleof Salamis. He perhaps believed that in the communicationof the poetic feeling was contained the initiation into themysteries, and that nothing was in this way revealed to anyone who was not worthy of it. In ^schylus the tragic style is as yet imperfect, and notunfrequently runs into either unmixed epic or I^^tIc. It isoften abrupt, irregular, and harsh. To compose more regularand skilful tragedies than those of ^schylus was by nomeans difficult; but in t
A course of lectures on dramatic art and literature . minias, ?who bared in sightof the judges the wounds which he had received in the battleof Salamis. He perhaps believed that in the communicationof the poetic feeling was contained the initiation into themysteries, and that nothing was in this way revealed to anyone who was not worthy of it. In ^schylus the tragic style is as yet imperfect, and notunfrequently runs into either unmixed epic or I^^tIc. It isoften abrupt, irregular, and harsh. To compose more regularand skilful tragedies than those of ^schylus was by nomeans difficult; but in the more than mortal grandeur whichhe displayed, it was impossible that he should ever be sur-passed ; and even Sophocles, his younger and more fortunaterival, did not in this respect equal him. The latter, in speak-ing of vEschylus, gave a proof that he was himself a thought-ful artist: ^schylus does what is right without knowingit. These few simple words exhaust the whole of what weunderstand by the phrase, powerful genius working 96 SOPHOCLES : his birth—YOUTH. LECTURE VII. Life and Political Character of Sophocles—Character of his differentTragedies. The birth of Sopliocles was nearly at an equal distancebetween that of his predecessor and that of Euripides, so thathe was about half a life-time from each : but on this point allthe authorities do not coincide. He was, however, during thegreatest part of his life the contemporary of both. Hefrequently contended for the ivy-wreath of tragedy with^schylus, and he outlived Euripides, who, however, alsoattained to a good old age. To speak in the spirit of theancient religion, it seems that a beneficent Providence wishedin this individual to evince to the human race the dignityand blessedness of its lot, by endowing him with everydivine gift, with all that can adorn and elevate the mind andthe heart, and crowning him with every imaginable blessingof this life. Descended from rich and honourable parents,and born
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Keywords: ., bookauthorschl, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectdrama
