The first epics were intended for recitation; the literary epic is meant to be read.
More Quotes from Lascelles Abercrombie:
But, lying on thy breast one notable day,Sudden exceeding agony of love
Made my mind a trance of infinite knowledge.
Lascelles Abercrombie
An epic is not made by piecing together a set of heroic lays, adjusting their discrepancies and making them into a continuous narrative.
Lascelles Abercrombie
It is more difficult to keep the attention of hearers than of readers.
Lascelles Abercrombie
Traditional matter must be glorified, since it would be easier to listen to the re-creation of familiar stories than to quite new and unexpected things; the listeners, we must remember, needed poetry chiefly as the re-creation of tired hours.
Lascelles Abercrombie
It seems difficult, sometimes, to believe that there was a time when sentiments now become habitual, sentiments that imply not only the original imperative of conduct, but the original metaphysic of living, were by no means altogether habitual.
Lascelles Abercrombie
Yea, made of chance and all a labouring strife,
We go charged with a strong flame;
For as a language Love hath seized on life
His burning heart to story.
Lascelles Abercrombie
Readers Who Like This Quotation Also Like:
Based on Keywords: epics, recitationGain may be temporary and uncertain; but ever while you live, expense is constant and certain: and it is easier to build two chimneys than to keep one in fuel.
Benjamin Franklin
We cannot always control our thoughts, but we can control our words, and repetition impresses the subconscious, and we are then master of the situation.
Jane Fonda
If we can't begin to agree on fundamentals, such as the elimination of the most abusive forms of child labor, then we really are not ready to march forward into the future.
Alexis Herman