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 2
... labour . Among the English poets , Cowley , Milton , and Pope , might be said " to lisp in numbers ; " and have given such early proofs , not only of powers of language , but of comprehension of things , as to more tardy minds seem ...
... labour . Among the English poets , Cowley , Milton , and Pope , might be said " to lisp in numbers ; " and have given such early proofs , not only of powers of language , but of comprehension of things , as to more tardy minds seem ...
Page 13
... labour , directed by great abilities , is never wholly lost : if they frequently threw away their wit upon false conceits , they likewise sometimes struck out unexpected truth : if their conceits were far - fetched , they were often ...
... labour , directed by great abilities , is never wholly lost : if they frequently threw away their wit upon false conceits , they likewise sometimes struck out unexpected truth : if their conceits were far - fetched , they were often ...
Page 22
... labour should co - operate , are thus taught by Donne : In none but us are such mix'd engines found , As hands of double office ; for the ground We till with them ; and them to Heaven we raise ; Who prayerless labours , or , without ...
... labour should co - operate , are thus taught by Donne : In none but us are such mix'd engines found , As hands of double office ; for the ground We till with them ; and them to Heaven we raise ; Who prayerless labours , or , without ...
Page 41
... labour pay With good unsought experiments by the way . Some that have deeper digg'd Love's mine than I , Say , where his centric happiness doth lie : I have lov'd , and got , and told ; But should I love , get , tell , till I were old ...
... labour pay With good unsought experiments by the way . Some that have deeper digg'd Love's mine than I , Say , where his centric happiness doth lie : I have lov'd , and got , and told ; But should I love , get , tell , till I were old ...
Page 47
... labours a mind replete with learning , and that his pages are embellished with all the ornaments which books could supply ; that he was the first who imparted to English numbers the enthusiasm of the greater ode , and the gaiety of the ...
... labours a mind replete with learning , and that his pages are embellished with all the ornaments which books could supply ; that he was the first who imparted to English numbers the enthusiasm of the greater ode , and the gaiety of the ...
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.