The following masterpieces of elegiac eloquence are unsurpassed in
the repertory of the English classics, for lofty and noble sentiment,
exquisite pathos, vivid imagery, tenderness of feeling, glowing power
of description, brilliant command of language, and that immortal and
seldom attained faculty of painting in the soul of the listener or
reader a realistic picture whose sublimity of conception impresses
the understanding with awe and admiration, and impels the mind to
rise involuntarily for the time to an elevation out of and above the
inconsequent contemplation of the common and sordid things of life.