Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets: With Critical Observations on Their Works, Volume 1 |
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Page v
... write what he describes in a letter to Boswell as " little Lives and little Prefaces to a little edition of the English Poets . " The Edinburgh collection thus dreaded by the London trade was the first attempt to form a complete body of ...
... write what he describes in a letter to Boswell as " little Lives and little Prefaces to a little edition of the English Poets . " The Edinburgh collection thus dreaded by the London trade was the first attempt to form a complete body of ...
Page viii
... writes printed , put neatly together , to Mrs. Thrale , " not yet quite and sent them to the King . What he says of them I know not . If the King is a Whig , he will not like them ; but is any king a Whig ? " Other and ampler notices of ...
... writes printed , put neatly together , to Mrs. Thrale , " not yet quite and sent them to the King . What he says of them I know not . If the King is a Whig , he will not like them ; but is any king a Whig ? " Other and ampler notices of ...
Page ix
... writes to Boswell , August 21 , 1780 , " thinking to write the ' Lives , ' and a great part of the time only think- ing . Several of them , however , are done , and I still think to do the rest . " This still thinking and not performing ...
... writes to Boswell , August 21 , 1780 , " thinking to write the ' Lives , ' and a great part of the time only think- ing . Several of them , however , are done , and I still think to do the rest . " This still thinking and not performing ...
Page x
... writing that which is most eagerly read , and most easily applied to the purposes of life . " This was said long ... write the ' Lives of the Poets , ' he was in his seventieth year , and in the full vigour of his faculties , yet he ...
... writing that which is most eagerly read , and most easily applied to the purposes of life . " This was said long ... write the ' Lives of the Poets , ' he was in his seventieth year , and in the full vigour of his faculties , yet he ...
Page xi
... writes the life of another is either his friend or his enemy , and wishes either to exalt his praise or aggravate ... writing a life a man's pecu- liarities should be mentioned , because they mark his character , Johnson observed in ...
... writes the life of another is either his friend or his enemy , and wishes either to exalt his praise or aggravate ... writing a life a man's pecu- liarities should be mentioned , because they mark his character , Johnson observed in ...
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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.