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 15
... least , the residence of his ancestors ; and , I believe , more places than one are still shown , in groves and gardens , where he is related to have written his ' Old Bachelor . ' Neither the time nor place of his birth are certainly ...
... least , the residence of his ancestors ; and , I believe , more places than one are still shown , in groves and gardens , where he is related to have written his ' Old Bachelor . ' Neither the time nor place of his birth are certainly ...
Page 17
... least equally pleasing with his writings . Such a comedy , written at such an age , requires some considera- tion . As the lighter species of dramatic poetry professes the imita- tion of common life , of real manners , and daily ...
... least equally pleasing with his writings . Such a comedy , written at such an age , requires some considera- tion . As the lighter species of dramatic poetry professes the imita- tion of common life , of real manners , and daily ...
Page 22
... least four sinecure appointments , so that the censure of Halifax by Swift ( see vol . i . p . 498 ) is sadly overcharged . 14 There are two fragments of Homer translated in this Miscellany - one by Mr. Congreve ( whom I cannot mention ...
... least four sinecure appointments , so that the censure of Halifax by Swift ( see vol . i . p . 498 ) is sadly overcharged . 14 There are two fragments of Homer translated in this Miscellany - one by Mr. Congreve ( whom I cannot mention ...
Page 33
... least court to the committee that sits in Covent - Garden [ Will's Coffee- house ] ; mine is , therefore , not so much as a permission - poem , but a pure , downright interloper . Those gentlemen who carry on their poetical trade in a ...
... least court to the committee that sits in Covent - Garden [ Will's Coffee- house ] ; mine is , therefore , not so much as a permission - poem , but a pure , downright interloper . Those gentlemen who carry on their poetical trade in a ...
Page 35
... least approved it , and adhered invariably to his principles and party through his whole life . His ardour of poetry still continued ; and not long after ( 1700 ) he published a ' Paraphrase on the Book of Job , ' and other parts of the ...
... least approved it , and adhered invariably to his principles and party through his whole life . His ardour of poetry still continued ; and not long after ( 1700 ) he published a ' Paraphrase on the Book of Job , ' and other parts of the ...
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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,...