The works of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland. With prefaces, biographical and critical, by S. Johnson, Volume 11804 |
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Page 108
... Swift in the ministry of Oxford ; but it has never since been publickly mentioned , though at that time great expectations were formed by some , of its establishment and its effects . Such a society might , perhaps , without much ...
... Swift in the ministry of Oxford ; but it has never since been publickly mentioned , though at that time great expectations were formed by some , of its establishment and its effects . Such a society might , perhaps , without much ...
Page 141
... swift as winde , Nor euer staid , nor euer lookt behinde . 3 Through thicke and thinne , all night , all day , she driued , Withouten comfort , companie , or guide , Her plaints and teares with euery thought reuiued , She heard and saw ...
... swift as winde , Nor euer staid , nor euer lookt behinde . 3 Through thicke and thinne , all night , all day , she driued , Withouten comfort , companie , or guide , Her plaints and teares with euery thought reuiued , She heard and saw ...
Page 176
... Swift Jordan started , and strait backward fled , Hiding among thick reeds his aged head . " And when the Spaniards their assault begin , " At once beat those without and those within . " This Almanzor speaks of himself ; and sure for ...
... Swift Jordan started , and strait backward fled , Hiding among thick reeds his aged head . " And when the Spaniards their assault begin , " At once beat those without and those within . " This Almanzor speaks of himself ; and sure for ...
Page 180
... Swift , who conversed with Dryden , relates that he regretted the success of his own instruc- tions , and found his readers made suddenly too skilful to be easily satisfied . His prologues had such reputation , that for some time a play ...
... Swift , who conversed with Dryden , relates that he regretted the success of his own instruc- tions , and found his readers made suddenly too skilful to be easily satisfied . His prologues had such reputation , that for some time a play ...
Page 219
... swift procession hurry'd on , That all , though not distinctly , might be shown ; So in the straiten'd bounds of life confin'd , She gave but glimpses of her glorious mind ; And multitudes of virtues pass'd along ; Each pressing ...
... swift procession hurry'd on , That all , though not distinctly , might be shown ; So in the straiten'd bounds of life confin'd , She gave but glimpses of her glorious mind ; And multitudes of virtues pass'd along ; Each pressing ...
Other editions - View all
The Works of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland. with Prefaces ... Great Britain No preview available - 2016 |
The Works of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland. with Prefaces ... Great Britain,Samuel Johnson No preview available - 2015 |
The Works of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland. with Prefaces ... Great Britain No preview available - 2015 |
Common terms and phrases
acquaintance Addison afterwards appears beauties blank verse called censure character Charles Dryden composition considered Cowley criticism death delight diction Dryden duke Dunciad Earl elegance endeavoured English English poetry excellence faults favour friends genius honour Hudibras Iliad images imagination imitation John Dryden kind King known labour Lady language Latin learning letter lines lived Lord lord Halifax mentioned Milton mind nature never night Night Thoughts NIHIL numbers observed occasion once opinion Paradise Lost passion performance perhaps Pindar play pleased pleasure poem poet poetical poetry Pope Pope's pounds praise present produced published Queen racter reader reason received remarks reputation rhyme satire Savage says seems sentiments shew shewn sometimes soon supposed Swift Syphax Tatler thing thought tion told tragedy translation Tyrannick Love verses Virgil virtue Waller Whigs write written wrote Young
Popular passages
Page 562 - The sound must seem an echo to the sense : Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows, And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows ; But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar : When Ajax strives some rock's vast- weight to throw, The line too labours, and the words move slow ; Not so, when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the main.
Page 44 - O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream My great example, as it is my theme! Though deep, yet clear, though gentle, yet not dull, Strong without rage, without o'er-flowing full.
Page 55 - Memory and her siren daughters, but by devout prayer to that eternal Spirit, who can enrich with all utterance and knowledge, and sends out his seraphim, with the hallowed fire of his altar, to touch and purify the lips of whom he pleases.
Page 673 - I rejoice to concur with the common reader ; for by the common sense of readers, uncorrupted with literary prejudices, after all the refinements of subtility and the dogmatism of learning, must be finally decided all claim to poetical honours. The Churchyard abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind, and with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo. The four stanzas beginning, "Yet even these bones...
Page 204 - They have not the formality of a settled style, in which the first half of the sentence betrays the other. The clauses are never balanced, nor the periods modelled : every word seems to drop by chance, though it falls into its proper place. Nothing is cold or languid : the whole is airy, animated, and vigorous; what is little, is gay ; what is great, is splendid.
Page 12 - Yet great labour, directed by great abilities, is never wholly lost: if they frequently threw away their wit upon false conceits, they likewise sometimes struck out unexpected truth; if their conceits were far-fetched, they were often worth the carriage. To write on their plan, it was at least necessary to read and think.
Page 557 - His declaration that his care for his works ceased at their publication, was not strictly true. His parental attention never abandoned them ; what he found amiss in the first edition, he silently corrected in those that followed. He appears to have revised the 'Iliad...
Page 5 - Let him for succour sue from place to place, Torn from his subjects, and his son's embrace. First let him see his friends in battle slain, And their untimely fate lament in vain: And when at length the cruel war shall cease, On hard conditions may he buy his peace: Nor let him then enjoy supreme command ; But fall, untimely, by some hostile hand, And lie unburied on the barren sand!
Page 636 - Insatiate Archer! could not one suffice? Thy shaft flew thrice ; and thrice my peace was slain ; And thrice, ere thrice yon moon had fill'd her horn.
Page 522 - A grotto is not often the wish or pleasure of an Englishman, who has more frequent need to solicit than exclude the sun; but Pope's excavation was requisite as an entrance to his garden, and, as some men try to be proud of their defects, he extracted an ornament from an inconvenience, and vanity produced a grotto where necessity enforced a passage.