The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope |
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Page 7
It therefore seems necessary to give some account of this kind of poem, and it is
my design to comprise in this short paper the substance of those numerous
dissertations that critics have made on the subject, without omitting any of their
rule; ...
It therefore seems necessary to give some account of this kind of poem, and it is
my design to comprise in this short paper the substance of those numerous
dissertations that critics have made on the subject, without omitting any of their
rule; ...
Page 9
As for the numbers themselves, though they are properly of the heroic measure,
they should be the smoothest, the most easy and flowing imaginable. - It is by
rules like these that we ought to judge of pastoral. And since the instructions
given ...
As for the numbers themselves, though they are properly of the heroic measure,
they should be the smoothest, the most easy and flowing imaginable. - It is by
rules like these that we ought to judge of pastoral. And since the instructions
given ...
Page 41
... See arts her savage sons control, And Athens rising near the pole ! Till some
new tyrant lifts his purple hand, And civil madness tears them from the land. *
ANTISTROPHE II. Ye gods! what justice rules the ball? Freedom and arts
together fall ...
... See arts her savage sons control, And Athens rising near the pole ! Till some
new tyrant lifts his purple hand, And civil madness tears them from the land. *
ANTISTROPHE II. Ye gods! what justice rules the ball? Freedom and arts
together fall ...
Page 47
Those RULES of old discover'd, not devised, Are nature still, but nature
methodized; Nature, like liberty, is but restrain'd By the same laws which first
herself ordain'd. Hear how learn'd Greece her useful rules indites, When to
repress, and ...
Those RULES of old discover'd, not devised, Are nature still, but nature
methodized; Nature, like liberty, is but restrain'd By the same laws which first
herself ordain'd. Hear how learn'd Greece her useful rules indites, When to
repress, and ...
Page 48
Convinced, amazed, he checks the bold design: And rules as strict his labour'd
work confine, As if the Stagirite o'erlook'd each line. Learn hence for ancient rules
a just esteem ; To copy nature is to copy them. Some beauties yet no precepts ...
Convinced, amazed, he checks the bold design: And rules as strict his labour'd
work confine, As if the Stagirite o'erlook'd each line. Learn hence for ancient rules
a just esteem ; To copy nature is to copy them. Some beauties yet no precepts ...
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Popular passages
Page 53 - Tis not enough no harshness gives offence. The sound must seem an echo to the sense : Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows, And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows ; But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar : When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, The line too labours, and the words move slow ; Not so, when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the main.
Page 224 - That, changed through all, and yet in all the same, Great in the earth as in the ethereal frame, Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees, Lives...
Page 26 - Rise, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rise! Exalt thy towery head, and lift thy eyes! See a long race thy spacious courts adorn; See future sons and daughters yet unborn, In crowding ranks, on every side arise Demanding life, impatient for the skies!
Page 464 - Night primeval, and of Chaos old ! Before her, Fancy's gilded clouds decay, And all its varying rainbows die away. Wit shoots in vain its momentary fires, The meteor drops, and in a flash expires. As one by one, at dread Medea's strain, The sickening stars fade off the ethereal plain ; As Argus
Page 46 - First follow nature and your judgment frame By her just standard, which is still the same : Unerring Nature, still divinely bright, One clear, unchanged, and universal light, Life, force, and beauty, must to all impart, At once the source, and end, and test of art. Art from that fund each just supply provides, Works without show, and without pomp presides; In some fair body thus th...
Page 50 - Fired at first sight with what the muse imparts, In fearless youth we tempt the heights of arts, While from the bounded level of our mind Short views we take, nor see the lengths behind; But more advanced, behold with strange surprise New distant scenes of endless science rise!
Page 82 - And hence th' egregious wizard shall foredoom The fate of Louis, and the fall of Rome. Then cease, bright nymph ! to mourn thy ravished hair, Which adds new glory to the shining sphere! Not all the tresses that fair head can boast, Shall draw such envy as the Lock you lost. For after all the murders of your eye, When, after millions slain, yourself shall die; When those fair suns shall set, as set they must, And all those tresses shall be laid in dust, This lock the Muse shall consecrate to fame,...
Page 230 - Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, As, to be hated, needs but to be seen ; Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace.
Page 283 - His gardens next your admiration call, On every side you look, behold the wall! No pleasing intricacies intervene, No artful wildness to perplex the scene; Grove nods at grove, each alley has a brother, And half the platform just reflects the other.
Page 277 - Of mimic statesmen, and their merry king. No wit to flatter, left of all his store ! No fool to laugh at, which he valued more. There, victor of his health, of fortune, friends, And fame ; this lord of useless thousands ends.