Johnson's Lives of the the English Poets: Abridged: with Notes and Illustrations |
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Page vi
... poem will leave it a queftion for pofterity , whether his or mine be the original . " The particular courfe of his reading while in college , and during the vacation which he paffed at home , cannot be traced . That at this period he ...
... poem will leave it a queftion for pofterity , whether his or mine be the original . " The particular courfe of his reading while in college , and during the vacation which he paffed at home , cannot be traced . That at this period he ...
Page ix
... poems ; and that he was occafionally employed in correcting the papers written by other correfpondents . When the ... Poem in imitation of Juvenal's third Satire ; " " Marmor Nor- folcienfe , or an Effay on an ancient prophetical In ...
... poems ; and that he was occafionally employed in correcting the papers written by other correfpondents . When the ... Poem in imitation of Juvenal's third Satire ; " " Marmor Nor- folcienfe , or an Effay on an ancient prophetical In ...
Page x
... poem , which was published 1738 by Dodfley , is univerfally known and admired as the moft fpirited inftance in the English language of an- cient fentiments adapted to modern topics . Pope , who then filled the poetical throne without a ...
... poem , which was published 1738 by Dodfley , is univerfally known and admired as the moft fpirited inftance in the English language of an- cient fentiments adapted to modern topics . Pope , who then filled the poetical throne without a ...
Page xvii
... poems attributed to Offian . For the degree of offence that was taken , the book can hardly be thought to contain a fufficient reason : if the antiquity of these poems be yet doubted , it is owing more to the con- duct of their editor ...
... poems attributed to Offian . For the degree of offence that was taken , the book can hardly be thought to contain a fufficient reason : if the antiquity of these poems be yet doubted , it is owing more to the con- duct of their editor ...
Page 5
... poets were " Spenfer , Shakespeare and Cowley . " His manner he had in common with others , but his fentiments were ... poem of the " Miftrefs " is borrowed from Donne . He then proceeds thus : " It is related by Clarendon , that Cowley ...
... poets were " Spenfer , Shakespeare and Cowley . " His manner he had in common with others , but his fentiments were ... poem of the " Miftrefs " is borrowed from Donne . He then proceeds thus : " It is related by Clarendon , that Cowley ...
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Common terms and phrases
Addifon Æneid affiftance afterwards againſt anfwer appeared becauſe beſt cenfure comedy compofition confiderable confidered converfation Cowley death defign defired delight diction died Dryden Duke Dunciad eafily Earl Effay elegant Engliſh faid fame father fatire fays fchool fecond feems feldom fent fentiments feven feveral fhew fhort fhould firft firſt fome fometimes foon friends ftill ftudy fubject fuccefs fuch fuffered fufficient fupplied fuppofed fupport greateſt higheſt himſelf honour houfe houſe Hudibras Iliad Johnſon kindneſs King laft laſt leaſt lefs loft Lord mafter mind moft moſt muſt never numbers obferved occafion paffages paffed paffion Paradife perfon pleaſed pleaſure poem poet poetical poetry Pope pounds praife praiſe prefent produced profe publick publiſhed purpoſe Queen raiſed reafon refolved rhyme Savage ſeems Sir Robert Walpole ſtage ſtudy Swift Tatler thefe theſe thofe thoſe thought tion tragedy tranflated underſtanding univerfal uſed verfe verfification verſes vifit Waller Weſtminſter Whigs whofe write written wrote
Popular passages
Page 146 - His legs were so slender, that he enlarged their bulk with three pair of stockings, which were drawn on and off by the maid; for he was not able to dress or undress himself, and neither went to bed nor rose without help.
Page 49 - Criticism, either didactic or defensive, occupies almost all his prose, except those pages which he has devoted to his patrons; but none of his prefaces were ever thought tedious.
Page 31 - He seems to have been well acquainted with his own genius, and to know what it was that nature had bestowed upon him more bountifully than upon others; the power of displaying the vast, illuminating the splendid, enforcing the awful, darkening the gloomy, and aggravating the dreadful...
Page 239 - 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 151 - To circumscribe poetry by a definition will only shew the narrowness of the definer, though a definition which shall exclude Pope will not easily be made. Let us look round upon the present time, and back upon the past; let us...
Page 49 - 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 33 - The plan of Paradise Lost has this inconvenience, that it comprises neither human actions nor human manners. The man and woman who act and suffer are in a state which no other man or woman can ever know. The reader finds no transaction in which he can be engaged, beholds no condition in which he can by any effort of imagination place himself; he has, therefore, little natural curiosity or sympathy.
Page 238 - The mind of the writer seems to work with unnatural violence. Double, double, toil and trouble. He has a kind of strutting dignity, and is tall by walking on tiptoe. His art and his struggle are too visible, and there is too little appearance of ease and nature.
Page 148 - Thirty-eight; of which Dodsley told me, that they were brought to him by the author, that they might be fairly copied. "Almost every line...
Page xii - Dictionary was written with little assistance of the learned and without any patronage of the great; not in the soft obscurities of retirement or under the shelter of academic bowers, but amidst inconvenience and distraction, in sickness and in sorrow.