The Spectator, 4. köideTonson, 1738 |
From inside the book
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Page 15
... Homer's Odyffey , which none of the Criticks have taken notice of . It is where Sisyphus is reprefented lifting his Stone up the Hill , which is no fooner carried to the Top of it , but it immediately tumbles to the Bottom . This double ...
... Homer's Odyffey , which none of the Criticks have taken notice of . It is where Sisyphus is reprefented lifting his Stone up the Hill , which is no fooner carried to the Top of it , but it immediately tumbles to the Bottom . This double ...
Page 66
... Homer to preferve the Uni- ty of his Action haftens into the Midft of Things , as Ho- race has obferved : Had he gone up to Leda's Egg , or be- gun much later , even at the Rape of Helen , or the inveft- ing of Troy , it is manifeft ...
... Homer to preferve the Uni- ty of his Action haftens into the Midft of Things , as Ho- race has obferved : Had he gone up to Leda's Egg , or be- gun much later , even at the Rape of Helen , or the inveft- ing of Troy , it is manifeft ...
Page 67
... Homer has nothing to boaft of as to the Unity of his Fable , tho ' at the fame Time that great Critick and Philofopher endeavours to pal- liate this Imperfection in the Greek Poet , by imputing it in fome Measure to the very Nature of ...
... Homer has nothing to boaft of as to the Unity of his Fable , tho ' at the fame Time that great Critick and Philofopher endeavours to pal- liate this Imperfection in the Greek Poet , by imputing it in fome Measure to the very Nature of ...
Page 69
... Homer and Virgil have fhewn their principal Art in this Particular ; the Action of the Iliad , and that of the Eneid , were in themfelves exceeding fhort , but are fo beautifully extended and diverfified by the Invention of Epifodes ...
... Homer and Virgil have fhewn their principal Art in this Particular ; the Action of the Iliad , and that of the Eneid , were in themfelves exceeding fhort , but are fo beautifully extended and diverfified by the Invention of Epifodes ...
Page 87
... HOMER has excelled all the Heroick Poets that ever wrote in the Multitude and Variety of his Characters . Every God that is admitted into his Poem , acts a Part which would have been fuitable to no other Deity . His Princes are as much ...
... HOMER has excelled all the Heroick Poets that ever wrote in the Multitude and Variety of his Characters . Every God that is admitted into his Poem , acts a Part which would have been fuitable to no other Deity . His Princes are as much ...
Common terms and phrases
Action admired ¯neid againſt agreeable alfo Anſwer Beauty becauſe befides Behaviour Cafe Character Circumftances confider Confideration Converfation Criticks defcribed Defcription Defign Defire Difcourfe difcovered Drefs Enville Fable faid fame feems feen felf felves feveral fhall fhew fhort fhould fince firft firſt fome fomething fometimes foon Fortune fpeak Friend ftill fuch fufficient give greateſt Happineſs himſelf Homer Honour Houfe Houſe humble Servant ibid Iliad juft kind Lady laft laſt lefs likewife Loft look Love Mafter Mankind manner Marriage Meaſure Milton Mind Miſtreſs moft moſt muft muſt Nature neceffary Number obferved Occafion Paffage paffed Paffion Paradife particular Perfon Place pleafing pleaſe Pleaſure Poem Poet poffible prefent publick racter raiſe Reader Reaſon Reflexion reprefented ſelf Senfe ſeveral ſhall ſhe ſpeak SPECTATOR thefe themſelves theſe thing thofe thoſe Thoughts tion underſtand uſe Virgil Virtue whofe Woman World young
Popular passages
Page 67 - Roman empire, has described the birth of its great rival, the Carthaginian commonwealth : Milton, with the like art in his poem on the fall of man, has related the fall of those angels who are his professed enemies.
Page 70 - Besides, it was easier for Homer and Virgil to dash the truth with fiction, as they were in no danger of offending the religion of their country by it. But as for Milton, he had not only a very few circumstances upon which to raise his poem, but was also obliged to proceed with the greatest caution in every thing that he added out of his own invention.
Page 134 - The great masters in composition know very well that many an elegant phrase becomes improper for a poet or an orator, when it has been debased by common use. For this reason the works of ancient authors, which are written in dead languages, have a great advantage over those which are written in languages that are now spoken. Were there any mean phrases or idioms in Virgil...
Page 205 - Being, he frequently confesses his omnipotence, that being the perfection he was forced to allow him, and the only consideration which could support his pride under the shame of his defeat. Nor...
Page 110 - ... other particulars as may not properly fall under any of them. This I thought fit to...
Page 235 - Death produces those monsters and hell-hounds which from time to time enter into their mother, and tear the bowels of her who gave them birth. These are the terrors of an evil conscience, and the proper fruits of Sin, which naturally rise from the apprehensions of Death.
Page 137 - Y, when it precedes a vowel. This, and some other innovations in the measure of his verse, has varied his numbers in such a manner, as makes them incapable of satiating the ear, and cloying the reader, which the same uniform measure would certainly have done, and which the perpetual returns of rhyme never fail to do in long narrative poems.
Page 88 - There is in these several characters of Homer, a certain dignity as well as novelty, which adapts them in a more peculiar manner to the nature of an heroic poem. Though at the same time, to give them the greater variety, he has described a Vulcan, that is a buffoon among his gods, and a Thersites among his mortals.
Page 112 - I shall show more at large in another paper ; though considering how all the poets of the age in which he writ were infected with this wrong way of thinking, he is rather to be admired that he did not give more into it, than that he did sometimes comply with the vicious taste which still prevails so much among modern writers.
Page 151 - A battle or a triumph are conjunctures in which not one man in a million is likely to be engaged; but when we see a person at the point of death, we cannot forbear being attentive to every thing he...