Lives of the English Poets: Cowley-DrydenClarendon Press, 1905 - English poetry |
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Page xiv
... mind as I read their works . ' At last the minor poets overwhelmed him . Dejection took the place of amusement as he read . At his entreaty they were entrusted to a fresher hand . The time too came when the novelists ceased to amuse him ...
... mind as I read their works . ' At last the minor poets overwhelmed him . Dejection took the place of amusement as he read . At his entreaty they were entrusted to a fresher hand . The time too came when the novelists ceased to amuse him ...
Page xxvi
... mind , not very extensive ' or difficult . My purpose was only to have allotted to every Poet an Advertisement , like those which we find in the French Mis- cellanies , containing a few dates and a general character ; but I have been ...
... mind , not very extensive ' or difficult . My purpose was only to have allotted to every Poet an Advertisement , like those which we find in the French Mis- cellanies , containing a few dates and a general character ; but I have been ...
Page 2
... mind and propensity for some certain science or employment , which is commonly called Genius . The true Genius is a mind of large general powers , accidentally determined to some particular direction . Sir Joshua Reynolds , the great ...
... mind and propensity for some certain science or employment , which is commonly called Genius . The true Genius is a mind of large general powers , accidentally determined to some particular direction . Sir Joshua Reynolds , the great ...
Page 4
... mind of the greatest vigour and activity . done ! Kinder 9 Two years after his settlement at Cambridge he published Love's Riddle , with a poetical dedication to Sir Kenelm Digby 5 , of whose acquaintance all his contemporaries seem to ...
... mind of the greatest vigour and activity . done ! Kinder 9 Two years after his settlement at Cambridge he published Love's Riddle , with a poetical dedication to Sir Kenelm Digby 5 , of whose acquaintance all his contemporaries seem to ...
Page 7
... mind to an elaborate purgation of his character from crimes which he was never within the possibility of committing , differs only by the infrequency of his folly from him who praises beauty which he never saw , complains of jealousy ...
... mind to an elaborate purgation of his character from crimes which he was never within the possibility of committing , differs only by the infrequency of his folly from him who praises beauty which he never saw , complains of jealousy ...
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Common terms and phrases
Addison admired Aeneid afterwards Anec Ante appears Aubrey Aubrey's Brief Lives Biog blank verse Boswell's Johnson Brief Lives Butler Charles Clarendon Cowley's criticism Cromwell daughter death delight Denham describes Diary Donne Duke Earl edition elegance English Essay excellence father friends genius heroick Hist honour HORACE WALPOLE Hudibras Hurd's Cowley images imitation John John Milton King labour language Latin learned Letters lines Lord Lycidas Malone's Dryden Masson's Milton metaphysical poets Milton's Poems mind Misc nature never NIHIL numbers Otway Oxon Paradise Lost Paradise Regained parliament passage perhaps Phillips Pindar play poetical poetry POPE Pope's praise Preface publick published quoted reader rhyme Rochester says seems sentiments shew Southey's Cowper Spectator Sprat style thing thou thought tion translation verse viii Virgil Waller Warton words write written wrote
Popular passages
Page 163 - In this poem there is no nature, for there is no truth ; there is no art, for there is nothing new. Its form is that of a pastoral ; easy, vulgar, and therefore disgusting ; whatever images it can supply are long ago exhausted ; and its inherent improbability always forces dissatisfaction on the mind.
Page 276 - ... bowers to lay me down ; To husband out life's taper at the close. And keep the flame from wasting by repose. I still had hopes, for pride attends us still, Amidst the swains to show my...
Page 20 - If by a more noble and more adequate conception that be considered as wit which is at once natural and new, that which, though not obvious, is, upon its first production, acknowledged to be just...
Page 78 - 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 100 - Whether we provide for action or conversation, whether we wish to be useful or pleasing, the first requisite is the religious and moral knowledge of right and wrong ; the next is an acquaintance with the history of mankind, and with those examples which may be said to embody truth, and prove by events the reasonableness of opinions. Prudence and Justice are virtues and excellencies of all times and of all places; we are perpetually moralists, but we are geometricians only by chance.
Page 88 - This he steadily denies, and it was apparently not true ; but it seems plain, from his own verses to Diodati, that he had incurred
Page 292 - Of sentiments purely religious, it will be found that the most simple expression is the most sublime. Poetry loses its lustre and its power, because it is applied to the decoration of something more excellent than itself.
Page 136 - I have a particular reason," says he, " to remember ; for whereas I had the perusal of it " from the very beginning, for some years, as I " went from time to time to visit him, in parcels of " ten, twenty, or thirty verses at a time (which, " being written by whatever hand came next, might " possibly want correction as to the orthography
Page 440 - From harmony, from heavenly harmony, This universal frame began : When Nature underneath a heap Of jarring atoms lay, And could not heave her head, The tuneful voice was heard from high, Arise, ye more than dead.