far-sought

Fine sentiments, which never existed, false and unnatural thoughts, obscure and far-sought expressions, not only unintelligible, but which it is even impossible to decipher, or to guess at, are all the consequences of this error; and two-thirds of the new French books which now appear are made up of those ingredients.

Letters to his son on The Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman 2005

The aim of the Court poets was not the narrative or the dramatic presentation of the greater heroic legends; it was the elaborate decoration of commonplace themes, such as the praise of a king, by every possible artifice of rhyme and alliteration, of hard and exact construction of verse, and, above all, of far-sought metaphorical allusions.

Epic and Romance Essays on Medieval Literature W. P. Ker

Some examples of these finer rhythms, in addition to the particular forms already given -- rhythms not altogether 'learned,' but occasionally far-sought and peculiarly delicate -- may be profitably examined.

The Principles of English Versification Paull Franklin Baum

His material was never far-sought; (it is still disputed whether the fullest head of which we have record were cultivated beyond the range of grammar-school precedent!) but he used it with a poetic instinct which we cannot parallel, identified himself with it, yet remained always its born and question-less master.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 16, February, 1859 Various

Thus I dandled the child of my brain for a long while, and arrayed it in beautiful and curious garments, adorning each beloved notion with far-sought words that had a taste in the mouth, and would one day lend an aroma to the printed page; and I rejoiced shamelessly in that which

The Cords of Vanity A Comedy of Shirking James Branch Cabell 1918

He shows the same vehemence of fancy in the presence of the divine and infernal universe -- a vehemence that prevents even his most far-sought extravagances from disgusting us as do the lukewarm follies of the

The Art of Letters Robert Lynd 1914

Osborne Gordon had recommended him to read Hooker, and he caught the tone and style of the “Ecclesiastical Polity” only too readily, so that much of his work of that winter, the more philosophical part of vol. ii., was damaged by inversions, and Elizabethan quaintness as of ruff and train, long epexegetical sentences, and far-sought pomposity of diction.

The Life of John Ruskin Collingwood, W G 1911

Its colors and designs are rare and far-sought and most heedfully contrived; its eloquence is never unrestrained; and this hatred of the obvious is as plainly sincere as it is passionate and uncompromising; it is not the fastidiousness of a _précieux_, but of an extravagantly scrupulous and austerely exacting artist.

Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande A Guide to the Opera with Musical Examples from the Score Lawrence Gilman 1908

The passion for intricate and far-sought metaphor which had possessed Donne was accompanied in his work and even more in that of his followers with a passion for what was elusive and recondite in thought and emotion and with an increasing habit of rudeness and wilful difficultness in language and versification.

English Literature: Modern Home University Library of Modern Knowledge G. H. Mair 1906

In the hands of Cowley the use of far-sought and intricate imagery became a trick, and the fantastic school, the soul of sincerity gone out of it, died when he died.

English Literature: Modern Home University Library of Modern Knowledge G. H. Mair 1906