The Lives of the English Poets, Volume 2J.F. Dove, and sold by all the booksellers in England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1826 - English poetry - 420 pages |
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Page 9
Samuel Johnson. He published soon afterward a volume of poems , with the encomiastic character of his deceased patron , the Duke of Dorset ; it began with the College Exercise , and ended with the Nut - brown Maid . " The battle of ...
Samuel Johnson. He published soon afterward a volume of poems , with the encomiastic character of his deceased patron , the Duke of Dorset ; it began with the College Exercise , and ended with the Nut - brown Maid . " The battle of ...
Page 10
... character . By some mistake of the Queen's orders , the court of France had been disgusted ; and Bolingbroke says in his letter , ' Dear Mat , hide the nakedness of thy country , and give the best turn thy fertile brain will furnish ...
... character . By some mistake of the Queen's orders , the court of France had been disgusted ; and Bolingbroke says in his letter , ' Dear Mat , hide the nakedness of thy country , and give the best turn thy fertile brain will furnish ...
Page 15
... character and familiar practices . He lived at a time when the rage of party detected all which it was any man's interest to hide ; and , as little ill is heard of Prior , it is certain that not much was known . He was not afraid of ...
... character and familiar practices . He lived at a time when the rage of party detected all which it was any man's interest to hide ; and , as little ill is heard of Prior , it is certain that not much was known . He was not afraid of ...
Page 22
... character suffers an abatement , it must be from the disproportion of his rhymes , which have not always suf- ficient consonance , and from the admission of broken lines into his ' Solomon ; ' but perhaps he thought , like Cowley , that ...
... character suffers an abatement , it must be from the disproportion of his rhymes , which have not always suf- ficient consonance , and from the admission of broken lines into his ' Solomon ; ' but perhaps he thought , like Cowley , that ...
Page 26
... characters , and exac observation of the passing world ; the difficulty therefore is , to conceive how this knowledge can be obtained by a boy . But if ' The Old Bachelor ' be more nearly examined , it will be found to be one of those ...
... characters , and exac observation of the passing world ; the difficulty therefore is , to conceive how this knowledge can be obtained by a boy . But if ' The Old Bachelor ' be more nearly examined , it will be found to be one of those ...
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Common terms and phrases
Aaron Hill acquaintance Addison afterward appeared blank verse Bolingbroke censure character Cibber contempt criticism death delight diction diligence discovered Dryden Duke Dunciad Earl edition Edward Young elegance endeavoured epitaph Essay excellence faults favour Fenton fortune friends friendship genius happy honour Iliad imagination kind King known labour Lady learning letter lines lived Lord Lord Bolingbroke Lord Halifax Lyttelton mentioned mind nature never Night Thoughts numbers observed occasion once Orrery panegyric passion performance perhaps Pindar pleased pleasure poem poet poetical poetry Pope Pope's pounds praise present printed published Queen racter reader reason received reputation rhyme satire Savage says seems sent shew shewn Sir Robert Walpole solicited sometimes soon stanza sufficient supposed Swift Tatler thing Thomson Tickell tion told tragedy translation Tyrconnel verses virtue whigs write written wrote Young
Popular passages
Page 274 - The style of Dryden is capricious and varied; that of Pope is cautious and uniform. Dryden obeys the motions of his own mind; Pope constrains his mind to his own rules of composition. Dryden is sometimes vehement and rapid; Pope is always smooth, uniform, and gentle.
Page 274 - In acquired knowledge, the superiority must be allowed to Dryden, whose education was more scholastic, and who before he became an author had been allowed more time for study, with better means of information. His mind has a larger range, and he collects his images and illustrations from a more extensive circumference of science. Dryden knew more of man in his general nature, and Pope in his local manners.
Page 404 - Church-yard' abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind, and with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo.
Page 275 - Pope had only a little, because Dryden had more; for every other writer since Milton must give place to Pope ; and even of Dryden it must be said, that if he has brighter paragraphs, he has not better poems.
Page 275 - If the flights of Dryden therefore are higher, Pope continues longer on the wing. If of Dryden's fire the blaze is brighter, of Pope's the heat is more regular and constant. Dryden often surpasses expectation, and Pope never falls below it. Dryden is read with frequent astonishment, and Pope with perpetual delight.
Page 404 - In the character of his Elegy I rejoice to concur with the common reader; for by the common sense of readers uncorrupted with literary prejudices, after all the refinements of subtilty and the dogmatism of learning, must be finally decided all claim to poetical honours.
Page 289 - Pope had, in proportions very nicely adjusted to each other, all the qualities that constitute genius. He had Invention, by which new trains of events are formed, and new scenes of imagery displayed, as in the Rape of the Lock; and by which extrinsick and adventitious embellishments and illustrations are connected with a known subject, as in the Essay on Criticism...
Page 216 - Iliad. It is certainly the noblest version of poetry which the world has ever seen ; and its publication must therefore be considered as one of the great events in the annals of Learning.
Page 166 - And to urge another argument of a parallel nature: if Christianity were once abolished, how could the free-thinkers, the strong reasoners, and the men of profound learning, be able to find another subject so calculated in all points whereon to display their abilities? What wonderful productions of wit should we be deprived of, from those whose genius by continual practice hath been wholly turned upon raillery and invectives against religion, and would therefore never be able to shine or distinguish...
Page 409 - you shall be my confessor ; when I first set out in the world, I had friends who endeavoured to shake my belief in the Christian religion. I saw difficulties which staggered me ; but I kept my mind open to conviction. The evidences and doctrines of Christianity, studied with attention, made me a most firm and persuaded believer of the Christian religion. I have made it the rule of my life, and it is the ground of my future hopes.