Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets: With Critical Observations on Their Works, Volume 2J. B. Lippincott & Company, 1866 - English poetry |
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Page 18
... died , soon after , Congreve testified his gratitude by a despicable effusion of elegiac pastoral ; a composition in which all is unnatural , and yet nothing is new . In another year ( 1695 ) his prolific pen produced ' Love for Love ...
... died , soon after , Congreve testified his gratitude by a despicable effusion of elegiac pastoral ; a composition in which all is unnatural , and yet nothing is new . In another year ( 1695 ) his prolific pen produced ' Love for Love ...
Page 46
... died on the 8th of October 1729. " Blackmore , by the unremitted enmity of the wits , " whom he pro- voked more by his virtue than his dulness , has been exposed to worse treatment than he deserved ; his name was so long used to point ...
... died on the 8th of October 1729. " Blackmore , by the unremitted enmity of the wits , " whom he pro- voked more by his virtue than his dulness , has been exposed to worse treatment than he deserved ; his name was so long used to point ...
Page 53
... died in 1694 ; and his grave in the churchyard of Stoke - upon - Trent , bears a Latin inscription from the pen of his son . Old Shelton Hall , in which Fenton was born , was destroyed by fire 22nd May , 1853 . " He was entered of Jesus ...
... died in 1694 ; and his grave in the churchyard of Stoke - upon - Trent , bears a Latin inscription from the pen of his son . Old Shelton Hall , in which Fenton was born , was destroyed by fire 22nd May , 1853 . " He was entered of Jesus ...
Page 54
... Died 1781. His edition of the ' Epistles of Phalaris , ' published 1695 , led to the famous controversy in which Bentley was so greatly distinguished . The wife of the great Earl of Cork , and the mother of the race of Boyles , was a ...
... Died 1781. His edition of the ' Epistles of Phalaris , ' published 1695 , led to the famous controversy in which Bentley was so greatly distinguished . The wife of the great Earl of Cork , and the mother of the race of Boyles , was a ...
Page 57
... died in 1730 , " at Easthampstead , in Berkshire , the seat of Lady Trumbull ; and Pope , who had been always his friend , honoured him with an epitaph , of which he borrowed the two first lines from Crashaw . Fenton was tall and bulky ...
... died in 1730 , " at Easthampstead , in Berkshire , the seat of Lady Trumbull ; and Pope , who had been always his friend , honoured him with an epitaph , of which he borrowed the two first lines from Crashaw . Fenton was tall and bulky ...
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Common terms and phrases
acted Addison afterwards allowed appeared beauty believe born called character common considered continued conversation copy Court criticism death desire died Dryden Earl edition effect Essay excellence expected expression father favour gave give given hand honour hope imagination Johnson kind King known Lady learning least less letter lines lived London Lord manner March mean mentioned mind mother nature never night observed occasion once opinion original particular passed performance perhaps person play pleased pleasure poem poet poetry Pope Pope's pounds praise present printed published Queen reader reason received remarks Richard Blackmore Savage says seems sent sometimes soon success supposed Swift tell thought tion told translation verses virtue volume whole wish write written wrote Young
Popular passages
Page 322 - 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 322 - 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. Dryden's page is a natural field, rising into inequalities, and diversified by the varied exuberance of abundant vegetation ; Pope's is a velvet lawn, shaven by the scythe, and levelled by the roller. Of genius, that power which constitutes...
Page 329 - 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 250 - As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night, O'er Heaven's clear azure spreads her sacred light, When not a breath disturbs the deep serene, And not a cloud o'ercasts the solemn scene ; Around her throne the vivid planets roll, And stars unnumber'd gild the glowing pole, O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed, And tip with silver every mountain's head...
Page 614 - Church-yard' abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind, and with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo.
Page 342 - After all this it is surely superfluous to answer the question that has once been asked, whether Pope was a poet? otherwise than by asking in return, if Pope be not a poet, where is poetry to be found?
Page 329 - Waller was smooth; but Dryden taught to join The varying verse, the full resounding line, The long majestic march, and energy divine.
Page 440 - The great defect of The Seasons is want of method ; but for this I know not that there was any remedy. Of many appearances subsisting all at once, no rule can be given why one should be mentioned before another; yet the memory wants the help of order, and the curiosity is not excited by suspense or expectation. His diction is in the highest degree florid and luxuriant, such as may be said to be to his images and thoughts 'both their lustre and their shade'; such as invests them with splendour, through...
Page 487 - I have formerly said of his writings may be added, that his diction was often harsh, unskilfully laboured, and injudiciously selected. He affected the obsolete when it was not worthy of revival ; and he puts his words out of the common order, seeming to think, with some later candidates for fame, that not to write prose is certainly to write poetry.
Page 351 - ... this as the most valuable of all Pope's epitaphs : the subject of it is a character not discriminated by any shining or eminent peculiarities; yet that which really makes, though not the splendour, the felicity of life, and that which every wise man will choose for his final and lasting companion in the languor of age, in the quiet of privacy, when he departs weary and disgusted from the ostentatious, the volatile, and the vain. Of such a character, which the dull overlook, and the gay despise,...