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 22
... diligence and his judgment . His diligence has justly placed him amongst the most correct of the English poets ; and he was one of He the first that resolutely endeavoured at correctness . never sacrifices accuracy to haste , nor ...
... diligence and his judgment . His diligence has justly placed him amongst the most correct of the English poets ; and he was one of He the first that resolutely endeavoured at correctness . never sacrifices accuracy to haste , nor ...
Page 23
... numbers are such as mere diligence may attain ; they seldom offend the ear , and seldom soothe it ; they commonly want airiness , lightness , and facility : what is smooth is not soft . His verses always roll , PRIOR . 23.
... numbers are such as mere diligence may attain ; they seldom offend the ear , and seldom soothe it ; they commonly want airiness , lightness , and facility : what is smooth is not soft . His verses always roll , PRIOR . 23.
Page 28
... diligence and inquiry . Among all the efforts of early genius which literary history records , I doubt whether any one can be produced that more surpasses the common limits of nature than the plays of Congreve : About this time began ...
... diligence and inquiry . Among all the efforts of early genius which literary history records , I doubt whether any one can be produced that more surpasses the common limits of nature than the plays of Congreve : About this time began ...
Page 46
... diligence will prove a more able and useful practiser than a heavy no- tional scholar , encumbered with a heap of confused ideas . ' He was not only a poet and a physician , but produced likewise a work of a different kind , ' A true ...
... diligence will prove a more able and useful practiser than a heavy no- tional scholar , encumbered with a heap of confused ideas . ' He was not only a poet and a physician , but produced likewise a work of a different kind , ' A true ...
Page 47
... diligent in perusing books . His literature was , I think , but small . What he knew of antiquity , I suspect him to have gathered from modern compilers ; but , though he could not boast of much critical knowledge , his mind was stored ...
... diligent in perusing books . His literature was , I think , but small . What he knew of antiquity , I suspect him to have gathered from modern compilers ; but , though he could not boast of much critical knowledge , his mind was stored ...
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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.