Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets: With Critical Observations on Their Works, Volume 1 |
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Page vi
... number of his Lives . Of all works of eminence it is curious to trace the gradual growth , and the history of the Lives of the Poets ' from com- mencement to completion is not devoid of interest . Johnson's first object was to discover ...
... number of his Lives . Of all works of eminence it is curious to trace the gradual growth , and the history of the Lives of the Poets ' from com- mencement to completion is not devoid of interest . Johnson's first object was to discover ...
Page vii
... " I think with all my usual vigour . " Dryden was completed in August , 1778 , and Milton , begun in January , 1779 , was finished in six weeks . The other lives included in the first issue were sixteen in number , and , being very.
... " I think with all my usual vigour . " Dryden was completed in August , 1778 , and Milton , begun in January , 1779 , was finished in six weeks . The other lives included in the first issue were sixteen in number , and , being very.
Page viii
With Critical Observations on Their Works Samuel Johnson Peter Cunningham. issue were sixteen in number , and , being very short , were soon written . In March , 1779 , the first part , containing twenty - two Lives , appeared ...
With Critical Observations on Their Works Samuel Johnson Peter Cunningham. issue were sixteen in number , and , being very short , were soon written . In March , 1779 , the first part , containing twenty - two Lives , appeared ...
Page 5
... numbers ; " and have given such early proofs , not only of powers of language , but of comprehension of things , as to more tardy minds seems scarcely credible . But of the learned puerilities of Cowley there is no doubt , since a ...
... numbers ; " and have given such early proofs , not only of powers of language , but of comprehension of things , as to more tardy minds seems scarcely credible . But of the learned puerilities of Cowley there is no doubt , since a ...
Page 12
... numbers . At the same time were produced , from the same university , two great poets , Cowley and Milton , of dissimilar genius , of opposite principles , but concurring in the cultivation of Latin poetry , in which the English , till ...
... numbers . At the same time were produced , from the same university , two great poets , Cowley and Milton , of dissimilar genius , of opposite principles , but concurring in the cultivation of Latin poetry , in which the English , till ...
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Common terms and phrases
Absalom and Achitophel admired Æneid afterwards Albion and Albanius appears blank verse Butler censure character Charles Church Court Cowley Cowley's criticism Cromwell daughter death Dedication delight Denham diction died Donne dramatic Dryden Duke Earl elegance English Essay excellence favour Fcap friends genius Georgics History honour Hudibras Jacob Tonson John John Dryden John Milton Johnson kind King King's known labour Lady language Latin learning letter lines Lives London Lord Lord Roscommon Milton mind nature never NIHIL numbers opinion Paradise Lost Parliament perhaps Pindar play poem poet poetical poetry Pope Portrait Post 8vo pounds praise Preface printed prose published reader reason rhyme satire says Second Edition seems sentiments sometimes Sprat supposed Third Edition thou thought tion told Tonson tragedy translation Tyrannick Love verses versification Virgil Vols Waller Westminster Westminster Abbey Woodcuts words write written wrote
Popular passages
Page 341 - All the images of nature were still present to him, and he drew them not laboriously, but luckily; when he describes anything, you more than see it, you feel it too. Those who accuse him to have wanted learning* give him the greater commendation: he was naturally learned; he needed not the spectacles of books to read nature; he looked inwards, and found her there.
Page 364 - From harmony, from heavenly harmony This universal frame began : From harmony to harmony Through all the compass of the notes it ran, The diapason closing full in Man.
Page 141 - Nothing can less display knowledge, or less exercise invention, than to tell how a shepherd has lost his companion, and must now feed his flocks alone, without any judge of his skill in piping ; and how one god asks another god what is become of Lycidas, and how neither god can tell. He who thus grieves will excite no sympathy ; he who thus praises will confer no honour.
Page 21 - To write on their plan it was, at least, necessary to read and think. No man could be born a metaphysical poet, nor assume the dignity of a writer, by descriptions copied from descriptions, by imitations borrowed from imitations, by traditional imagery, and hereditary similes, by readiness of rhyme, and volubility of syllables n.
Page 162 - How charming is divine Philosophy! Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, But musical as is Apollo's lute, And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets, Where no crude surfeit reigns.
Page 74 - O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream My great example, as it is my theme! Though deep, yet clear, though gentle, yet not dull, Strong without rage, without o'er-flowing full.
Page 380 - I am as free as Nature first made man, ^) Ere the base laws of servitude began, > When wild in woods the noble savage ran.
Page 364 - From harmony, from heavenly harmony, '• This universal frame began : ' When Nature underneath a heap of jarring atoms lay, And could not heave her head, ••;.-'• The timeful voice was heard from high. Arise ye more than dead.
Page 76 - 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 cloaths, did wear.
Page xiv - If a life be delayed till interest and envy are at an end, we may hope for impartiality, but must expect little intelligence; for the incidents which give excellence to biography are of a volatile and evanescent kind, such as soon escape the memory, and are rarely transmitted by tradition.