preface biograpical and critical, to the works of the english poets1779 |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 8
Page 31
... use of words ; and though they had been more frequent , they could only have leffened the grace , not the ftrength , of his compofition . He is one of the writers that improved our taste , and ad- vanced our language , and whom we ought ...
... use of words ; and though they had been more frequent , they could only have leffened the grace , not the ftrength , of his compofition . He is one of the writers that improved our taste , and ad- vanced our language , and whom we ought ...
Page 12
... use a rien faire , or a ne rien faire ; and the firft was preferred , because it gave rien a fenfe in fome fort pofitive . Nothing can be a fubject only in its positive sense , and fuch a fenfe is given it in the first . line : Nothing ...
... use a rien faire , or a ne rien faire ; and the firft was preferred , because it gave rien a fenfe in fome fort pofitive . Nothing can be a fubject only in its positive sense , and fuch a fenfe is given it in the first . line : Nothing ...
Page 3
... use of the fame faculty ; that the actor must have a pliancy of mien , a flexibility of coun- tenance , and a variety of tones , which the poet may be eafily fuppofed to want ; or that the attention of the poet and the player have been ...
... use of the fame faculty ; that the actor must have a pliancy of mien , a flexibility of coun- tenance , and a variety of tones , which the poet may be eafily fuppofed to want ; or that the attention of the poet and the player have been ...
Page 34
... use of the other ? " Poets have nothing but ། their wits and their writings ; and if they are plundered of the latter , I don't fee what good the former can do them . To pirate , and publickly own it , to prefix their names to the works ...
... use of the other ? " Poets have nothing but ། their wits and their writings ; and if they are plundered of the latter , I don't fee what good the former can do them . To pirate , and publickly own it , to prefix their names to the works ...
Page 38
... use very hard labour , for di verfion , which , if they had been tied to , they would have thought themselves very unhappy . But to return to Blenheim , that work fo much admired by fome , and cenfured by others . I have often wifhed he ...
... use very hard labour , for di verfion , which , if they had been tied to , they would have thought themselves very unhappy . But to return to Blenheim , that work fo much admired by fome , and cenfured by others . I have often wifhed he ...
Other editions - View all
Preface Biograpical and Critical, to the Works of the English Poets Samuel Johnson No preview available - 2016 |
Common terms and phrases
Addifon admire afterwards againſt becauſe Caen College commiffion compofition Cowley critick Daniel Burgess death deferved defign defired Dryden duke eafily earl Effay elegance expreffed faid fame fatire favour fays feems fenfe fent fentence fentiment feven feveral fhall fhew fhould fince finiſhed firft firſt fome fometimes foon friends friendſhip ftill ftudies fubject fuch fufficient fuppofed fure genius greateſt Hiftory himſelf honour houfe houſe imitation intereft judgement king Lady Jane Grey laft leaft leaſt lefs lord mafter moft moſt muſt neceffary NIHIL eft numbers obferved occafion Otway paffages paffed perfon Philips pleafed pleaſe pleaſure poem poet poetry Pope praife praiſe prefent preferved profe publick publiſhed purpoſe queen Anne racter raiſed reaſonable Rofcommon ſcholar ſchool ſeems Smith Splendid Shilling Stepney ſtudy thefe themſelves theſe thofe thoſe thought tion tranflated underſtanding univerfity uſe verfe verfion verſes Virgil Wadham College whofe whoſe writings wrote Yalden
Popular passages
Page 14 - Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer; Willing to wound and yet afraid to strike, Just hint a fault and hesitate dislike; Alike...
Page 52 - James, whose skill in physic will be long remembered, and with David Garrick, whom I hoped to have gratified with this character of our common friend ; but what are the hopes of man ! I am...
Page 24 - Blank verse, left merely to its numbers, has little operation either on the ear or mind ; it can hardly support itself without bold figures and striking images.
Page 52 - His studies had been so various, that I am not able to name a man of equal knowledge. His acquaintance with books was great; and what he did not immediately know, he could at least tell where to find.
Page 18 - The lines are in themselves not perfect, for most of the words thus artfully opposed are to be understood simply on one side of the comparison, and metaphorically on the other ; and if there be any language which does not express intellectual operations by material images, into that language they cannot be translated.
Page 5 - I never heard of the man in my life, yet I find your name as a subscriber. He is too grave a poet for me; and I think among the Mediocrists, in prose as well as verse.
Page 24 - Horace's wit and Virgil's state He did not steal, but emulate, And when he would like them appear, Their garb, but not their clothes, did wear...
Page 11 - Having been compelled by his necessities to contract debts, and hunted, as is supposed, by the terriers of the law, he retired to a publick house on Tower-hill, where he is said to have died of want ; or, as it is related by one of his biographers, by swallowing, after a long fast, a piece of bread which charity had supplied. He went out, as is reported, almost naked, in the rage of hunger, and, finding a gentleman in a neighbouring coffeehouse, asked him for a shilling.
Page 14 - That fervile path thou nobly doft decline, "• Of tracing word by word, and line by line. " Thofe are the labour'd births of...