The Lives of the English Poets: cowley. Denham. Milton. Butler. Rochester. Roscommon. Otway. Waller. Pomfret. Dorset. Stepney. J. Philips. Walsh. Dryden. Smith. Duke. King. Sprat. Halifax. Parnell. Garth. Rowe. Addison. Hughes. SheffieldB. Tauchnitz, 1858 - English poetry |
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Page 8
... expected from so great a man . ' 19 What firmness they expected , or what weakness Cowley discovered , cannot be known . He that misses his end will never be as much pleased as he that attains it , even when he can impute no part of his ...
... expected from so great a man . ' 19 What firmness they expected , or what weakness Cowley discovered , cannot be known . He that misses his end will never be as much pleased as he that attains it , even when he can impute no part of his ...
Page 9
... expected , while others for their money carried away most places , he retired discontented into Surry . " He was now , " says the courtly Sprat , " weary of the vexations and formalities of an active condition . He had been perplexed ...
... expected , while others for their money carried away most places , he retired discontented into Surry . " He was now , " says the courtly Sprat , " weary of the vexations and formalities of an active condition . He had been perplexed ...
Page 62
... expected ; yet to him Milton owed his introduction to Manso , Marquis of Villa , who had been before the patron of Tasso . Manso was enough delighted with his accomplishments to honour him with a sorry distich , in which he commends him ...
... expected ; yet to him Milton owed his introduction to Manso , Marquis of Villa , who had been before the patron of Tasso . Manso was enough delighted with his accomplishments to honour him with a sorry distich , in which he commends him ...
Page 66
... expected the " Paradise Lost . " He published the same year two more pamphlets , upon the same question . To one of his antagonists , who affirms that he was " vomited out of the University , " he answers in general terms . " The ...
... expected the " Paradise Lost . " He published the same year two more pamphlets , upon the same question . To one of his antagonists , who affirms that he was " vomited out of the University , " he answers in general terms . " The ...
Page 67
... expected all the advantages of a conjugal life . The lady , however , seems not much to have delighted in the pleasures of spare diet and hard study : for , as Philips relates , " having for a month led a philosophic life , after having ...
... expected all the advantages of a conjugal life . The lady , however , seems not much to have delighted in the pleasures of spare diet and hard study : for , as Philips relates , " having for a month led a philosophic life , after having ...
Common terms and phrases
Absalom and Achitophel Addison admiration afterwards Almanzor ancients appears beauties better blank verse censure character Charles Dryden compositions considered Cowley criticism death delight diction diligence dramatic Dryden Duke Earl elegance English English poetry Euripides excellence fancy faults favour friends genius Georgics heroic honour Hudibras images imagination imitation Jacob Tonson John Dryden Johnson's Lives Juvenal kind King knew known labour Lady language Latin learning lines Lord Lord Conway Milton mind nature never NIHIL numbers opinion Paradise Lost parliament passions perhaps Philips Pindar play pleasing pleasure poem poet poetical poetry Pope pounds praise produced published reader reason relates remarks reputation rhyme satire says seems sentiments shew shewn sometimes Sprat supposed Syphax thee thing thou thought tion told tragedy translation truth verses versification Virgil virtue Waller Westminster Abbey words write written wrote
Popular passages
Page 64 - Memory and her siren daughters, but by devout prayer to that Eternal Spirit who can enrich with all utterance and knowledge, and sends out his Seraphim with the hallowed fire of his altar, to touch and purify the lips of whom he pleases.
Page 98 - In this poem there is no nature, for there is no truth; there / is no art, for there is nothing new. Its form is that of a pastoral; easy, vulgar, and therefore disgusting, whatever images it can supply are long ago exhausted; and its inherent improbability always forces dissatisfaction on the mind.
Page 49 - 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 25 - To move, but doth, if th' other do. And though it in the centre sit, Yet, when the other far doth roam, It leans, and hearkens after it, And grows erect, as that comes home. Such wilt thou be to me, who must, Like th' other foot, obliquely run; Thy firmness makes my circle just, And makes me end where I begun.
Page 61 - Let not our veneration for Milton forbid us to look with some degree of merriment on great promises and small performance, on the man who hastens home, because his countrymen are contending for their liberty, and, when he reaches the scene of action, vapours away his patriotism in a private boarding-school.
Page 387 - Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.
Page 252 - ... vigorous; what is little is gay, what is great is splendid. He may be thought to mention himself too frequently; but while he forces himself upon our esteem, we cannot refuse him to stand high in his own.
Page 268 - Grand Chorus As from the power of sacred lays The spheres began to move, And sung the great Creator's praise To all the blest above; So when the last and dreadful hour This crumbling pageant shall devour, The trumpet shall be heard on high, The dead shall live, the living die, And Music shall untune the sky.
Page 80 - Lost, could descend from his elevation to rescue children from the perplexity of grammatical confusion, and the trouble of lessons unnecessarily repeated. About this time Elwood the quaker, being recommended to him as one who would read Latin to him, for the advantage of his conversation; attended him every afternoon, except on Sundays. Milton, who, in his letter to Hartlib, had declared, that to read Latin with an English mouth is as ill a hearing as Law French...
Page 50 - 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.