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 28
... learning ; with diction vehement and pointed , though often vulgar and incorrect ; with unconquerable pertinacity ; with wit in the highest degree keen and sarcastic ; and with all those powers exalted and invigorated by just con ...
... learning ; with diction vehement and pointed , though often vulgar and incorrect ; with unconquerable pertinacity ; with wit in the highest degree keen and sarcastic ; and with all those powers exalted and invigorated by just con ...
Page 46
... learning , though they knew I declared that I greatly honoured and esteemed all men of superior literature and erudition ; and that I only undervalued false or superficial learning , that signifies nothing for the service of mankind ...
... learning , though they knew I declared that I greatly honoured and esteemed all men of superior literature and erudition ; and that I only undervalued false or superficial learning , that signifies nothing for the service of mankind ...
Page 71
... learning . He seems to have had no am- bition above the imitation of Waller , of whom he has co- pied the faults , and very little more . He is for ever amus- ing himself with puerilities of mythology ; his King is Ju- piter , who , if ...
... learning . He seems to have had no am- bition above the imitation of Waller , of whom he has co- pied the faults , and very little more . He is for ever amus- ing himself with puerilities of mythology ; his King is Ju- piter , who , if ...
Page 85
... learning , and whose misfor- tunes claim a degree of compassion not always due to the unhappy , as they were often the consequences of the crimes of others , rather than his own . In the year 1697 , Anne Countess of Macclesfield ...
... learning , and whose misfor- tunes claim a degree of compassion not always due to the unhappy , as they were often the consequences of the crimes of others , rather than his own . In the year 1697 , Anne Countess of Macclesfield ...
Page 165
... learning scarcely to be found in any other performances , but which perhaps as often obscures as embellishes them . His judgment was eminently exact both with regard to writings and to men . The knowledge of life was indeed his chief ...
... learning scarcely to be found in any other performances , but which perhaps as often obscures as embellishes them . His judgment was eminently exact both with regard to writings and to men . The knowledge of life was indeed his chief ...
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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.