The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets;: Cowley. Denham. Milton. Butler. Rochester. Roscommon. Otway. Waller. Pomfret. Dorset. Stepney. Philips. WalshC. Bathurst, J. Buckland, W. Strahan, J. Rivington and Sons, T. Davies, T. Payne, L. Davis, W. Owen, B. White, S. Crowder, T. Caslon, T. Longman, ... [and 24 others], 1781 - English poetry - 503 pages |
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Page 10
To love excellence , is natural ; it is natural likewise for the lover to folicit
reciprocal regard by an elaborate display of his own qualifications . The desire of
pleasing has in different men produced actions of heroism , and effusions of wit ;
but it ...
To love excellence , is natural ; it is natural likewise for the lover to folicit
reciprocal regard by an elaborate display of his own qualifications . The desire of
pleasing has in different men produced actions of heroism , and effusions of wit ;
but it ...
Page 23
66 So differently are things seen , and so differently are they shown ; but actions
are visible , though motives are secret . Çowley certainly retired ; first to Barn -
elms , and afterwards to Chertsey , in Surrey . He seems , however , to have lost ...
66 So differently are things seen , and so differently are they shown ; but actions
are visible , though motives are secret . Çowley certainly retired ; first to Barn -
elms , and afterwards to Chertsey , in Surrey . He seems , however , to have lost ...
Page 30
... as beholders than partakers of human nature ; as Beings looking upon good
and evil , impassive and at leisure ; as Epicurean deities making remarks on the
actions of men , and the vicissitudes of life , without interest and without emotion .
... as beholders than partakers of human nature ; as Beings looking upon good
and evil , impassive and at leisure ; as Epicurean deities making remarks on the
actions of men , and the vicissitudes of life , without interest and without emotion .
Page 58
dious privacy admits , and such intellectual excellence as a mind not yet called
forth to action can display . He knew how to distinguish , and how to commend
the qualities of his companion ; but when he wishes to make us weep , he forgets
to ...
dious privacy admits , and such intellectual excellence as a mind not yet called
forth to action can display . He knew how to distinguish , and how to commend
the qualities of his companion ; but when he wishes to make us weep , he forgets
to ...
Page 80
It is not only when the events are confessedly miraculous , that fancy and fiction
lose their effect : the whole system of life , while the Theocracy was yet visible ,
has an appearance so different from all other scenes of human action , that the ...
It is not only when the events are confessedly miraculous , that fancy and fiction
lose their effect : the whole system of life , while the Theocracy was yet visible ,
has an appearance so different from all other scenes of human action , that the ...
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Common terms and phrases
action admired afterwards againſt appears beauties becauſe better called character common conſidered continued Cowley danger daughter death delight deſign deſire Earl eaſily elegance equal excellence expected firſt formed friends give given himſelf hope houſe images imagination Italy kind King knowledge known Lady language laſt Latin learning leaſt leſs lines lived Lord loſt mean mention Milton mind moſt muſt nature never nihil numbers obſervation once opinion Paradiſe performance perhaps Philips pleaſe pleaſure poem poet poetical poetry praiſe preſent probably produced publick publiſhed reader reaſon relates remarks rhyme ſaid ſame ſays ſeems ſent ſentiments ſhall ſhould ſome ſomething ſometimes ſtate ſtill ſtudy ſubject ſuch ſupplied ſuppoſed tell theſe thing thoſe thou thought tion told true truth uſe verſe Waller whole whoſe write written
Popular passages
Page 255 - Paradise Lost is one of the books which the reader admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again. None ever wished it longer than it is. Its perusal is a duty rather than a pleasure.
Page 32 - Yet great 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 worth the carriage. To write on their plan it was at least necessary to read and think.
Page 215 - To be of no Church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by Faith and Hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind, unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.
Page 27 - Wit, like all other things subject by their nature to the choice of man, has its changes and fashions, and at different times takes different forms. About the beginning of the seventeenth century appeared a race of writers that may be termed the metaphysical poets; of whom, in a criticism on the works of Cowley, it is not improper to give some account.
Page 246 - Milton's delight was to sport in the wide regions of possibility; reality was a scene too narrow for his mind. He sent his faculties out upon discovery into worlds where only imagination can travel, and delighted to form new modes of existence and furnish sentiment and action to superior beings, to trace the counsels of hell or accompany the choirs of heaven.
Page 224 - 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 40 - On a round ball A workman, that hath copies by, can lay An Europe, Afric, and an Asia, And quickly make that, which was nothing, all. So doth each tear, Which thee doth wear, A globe, yea world, by that impression grow, Till thy tears mixt with mine do overflow This world, by waters sent from thee my heaven dissolved so.
Page 31 - Those writers who lay on the watch for novelty could have little hope of greatness; for great things cannot have escaped former observation.
Page 40 - Though God be our true glass, through which we see All, since the being of all things is He, Yet are the trunks, which do to us derive Things, in proportion fit, by perspective Deeds of good men ; for by their living here, Virtues, indeed remote, seem to be near.
Page 266 - ... and preserved by the artifice of rhyme. The variety of pauses, so much boasted by the lovers of blank verse, changes the measures of an English poet to the periods of a declaimer ; and there are only a few skilful and happy readers of Milton, who enable their audience to perceive where the lines end or begin. Blank verse, said an ingenious critic, seems to be verse only to the eye.
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets;: Cowley. Denham. Milton. Butler. Rochester. Roscommon. Otway. Waller. Pomfret. Dorset. Stepney. Philips. Walsh Volume 1 of The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets;: With Critical Observations on Their Works, Samuel Johnson |
| Author | Samuel Johnson |
| Publisher | C. Bathurst, J. Buckland, W. Strahan, J. Rivington and Sons, T. Davies, T. Payne, L. Davis, W. Owen, B. White, S. Crowder, T. Caslon, T. Longman, ... [and 24 others], 1781 |
| Original from | Oxford University |
| Digitized | 11 Jul 2007 |
| Length | 503 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |