The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets;: With Critical Observations on Their Works, Volume 1C. 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, B. Law, C. Dilly, J. Dodsley, J. Wilkie, J. Robson, J. Johnson, T. Lowndes, G. Robinson, T. Cadell, J. Nichols, E. Newbery, T. Evans, P. Elmsly, R. Baldwin, G. Nicol, Leigh and Sotheby, J. Bew, N. Conant, W. Nicoll, J. Murray, S. Hayes, W. Fox, and J. Bowen., 1783 - English poetry |
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Page 26
... poets ; for they cannot be faid to have imitated any thing ; they neither copied nature nor life ; neither painted the forms of matter , nor re- prefented the operations of intellect , Thofe however who deny them to be poets , allow ...
... poets ; for they cannot be faid to have imitated any thing ; they neither copied nature nor life ; neither painted the forms of matter , nor re- prefented the operations of intellect , Thofe however who deny them to be poets , allow ...
Page 27
... poets have feldom rifen . Their thoughts are often new , but feldom natural ; they are not obvious , but neither are they juft ; and the reader , far from wondering that he miffed them , wonders more fre- quently by what pervefeness of ...
... poets have feldom rifen . Their thoughts are often new , but feldom natural ; they are not obvious , but neither are they juft ; and the reader , far from wondering that he miffed them , wonders more fre- quently by what pervefeness of ...
Page 32
... poets , for poets they were called by themselves and their admirers , was eminently diftinguished . As S the authors of this race were perhaps more defirous of being admired than understood , they fometimes drew their con- cits from ...
... poets , for poets they were called by themselves and their admirers , was eminently diftinguished . As S the authors of this race were perhaps more defirous of being admired than understood , they fometimes drew their con- cits from ...
Page 53
... poets , it is now proper to examine particularly the works of Cowley , who was almoft the last of that race , and undoubtedly the best . His Mifcellanies contain a collection of fhort compofitions , written fome as they were dictated by ...
... poets , it is now proper to examine particularly the works of Cowley , who was almoft the last of that race , and undoubtedly the best . His Mifcellanies contain a collection of fhort compofitions , written fome as they were dictated by ...
Page 55
... poems , he has forgotten or neglected to name his heroes . In his poem on the death of Hervey , there is much praise , but little paffion , a very just and ample delineation of fuch virtues as a ftu- E 4 dious dious privacy admits , and ...
... poems , he has forgotten or neglected to name his heroes . In his poem on the death of Hervey , there is much praise , but little paffion , a very just and ample delineation of fuch virtues as a ftu- E 4 dious dious privacy admits , and ...
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Common terms and phrases
againſt almoſt anſwer appears becauſe cauſe cenfured compofitions confidered Cowley daugh deferve defign defire diſcovered Dryden eafily Earl elegance Engliſh fafe faid fame fatire fays fecond feems fent fentiments fhall fhew fhould fince firft firſt fome fomething fometimes foon ftill ftudies ftyle fubject fuch fufficiently fupply fuppofed greateſt Hiftory higheſt himſelf houſe Hudibras images itſelf kindneſs King known laft laſt Latin learning leaſt lefs Lord Lord Conway maſter meaſure Milton mind moft moſt muft muſt nature neceffary never NIHIL numbers obferved occafion paffage paffed paffion Paradife Loft perfon perhaps Philips Pindar pleaſe pleaſure poem poet poetical poetry praiſe prefent profe publick publiſhed purpoſe raiſe reader reafon repreſented rhyme ſeems ſhe ſkill ſome ſtate ſtill ſtudy ſtyle ſuch ſuppoſed thefe themſelves theſe thing thofe thoſe thou thought thouſand tion tranflation underſtanding univerfally uſe verfe verfification verſes Waller whofe whoſe write
Popular passages
Page 109 - 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 52 - 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
Page 246 - Lost' has this inconvenience, that it comprises neither human actions nor human manners. The man and woman who act and suffer are in a state which no other man or woman can ever know. The reader finds no transaction in which he can be engaged ; beholds no condition in which he can by any effort of imagination place himself; he has, therefore, little natural curiosity or sympathy.
Page 29 - Their attempts were always analytick: they broke every image into fragments, and could no more represent by their slender conceits and laboured particularities the prospects of...
Page 251 - The confusion of spirit and matter, which pervades the whole narration of the war of Heaven, fills it with incongruity; and the book in which it is related is, I believe, the favourite of children, and gradually neglected as knowledge is increased.
Page 82 - Wash'd from the morning beauties' deepest red ; An harmless flatt'ring meteor shone for hair, And fell adown his shoulders with loose care ; He cuts out a silk mantle from the skies, Where the most sprightly azure...
Page 249 - 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 28 - Nor was the sublime more within their reach than the pathetic; for they never attempted that comprehension and expanse of thought which at once fills the whole mind, and of which the first effect is sudden astonishment, and the second rational admiration.
Page 28 - As they were wholly employed on something unexpected and surprising, they had no regard to that uniformity of sentiment which enables us to conceive and to excite the pains and the pleasure of other minds...
Page 256 - Regained has been too much depreciated, Samson Agonistes has in requital been too much admired. It could only be by long prejudice, and the bigotry of learning, that Milton could prefer the ancient tragedies, with their encumbrance of a chorus, to the exhibitions of the French and English stages...