Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets: With Critical Observations on Their Works, Volume 1 |
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Page 4
... mind , and propensity for some certain science or employment , which is commonly called genius . The true genius is a mind of large general powers , accidentally de- termined to some particular direction . Sir Joshua Reynolds , the ...
... mind , and propensity for some certain science or employment , which is commonly called genius . The true genius is a mind of large general powers , accidentally de- termined to some particular direction . Sir Joshua Reynolds , the ...
Page 6
... mind of the greatest vigour and activity . " Two years after his settlement at Cambridge he published ' Love's Riddle , ' with a poetical dedication to Sir Kenelm Digby , of whose acquaintance all his contemporaries seem to have been ...
... mind of the greatest vigour and activity . " Two years after his settlement at Cambridge he published ' Love's Riddle , ' with a poetical dedication to Sir Kenelm Digby , of whose acquaintance all his contemporaries seem to have been ...
Page 8
... mind to an elaborate purgation of his character from crimes which he was never within the possibility of committing ... minds are more on things than words , con- tribute no otherwise to his reputation than as they show him to have been ...
... mind to an elaborate purgation of his character from crimes which he was never within the possibility of committing ... minds are more on things than words , con- tribute no otherwise to his reputation than as they show him to have been ...
Page 11
... mind ( whereby he gained the ill - will of some of his friends ) , he went into France again , having made a copy of verses on Oliver's death . " This is no favourable representation , yet even in this not much wrong can be discovered ...
... mind ( whereby he gained the ill - will of some of his friends ) , he went into France again , having made a copy of verses on Oliver's death . " This is no favourable representation , yet even in this not much wrong can be discovered ...
Page 12
... mind of Cowley turned into poetry . He composed in Latin several books on plants , of which the first and second display the qua- lities of herbs , in elegiac verse ; the third and fourth , the beauties of flowers , in various measures ...
... mind of Cowley turned into poetry . He composed in Latin several books on plants , of which the first and second display the qua- lities of herbs , in elegiac verse ; the third and fourth , the beauties of flowers , in various measures ...
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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.