The Lives of the Most Celebrated English Poets, with Criticisms. Extracted from D. JohnsonGalignani, 1805 - 312 pages |
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Page 5
... received from the patron of the school , he relinquished in a few months a situation which he ever afterwards recollected with horror . Being thus again without any fixed employment , and with very little money in his pocket , he ...
... received from the patron of the school , he relinquished in a few months a situation which he ever afterwards recollected with horror . Being thus again without any fixed employment , and with very little money in his pocket , he ...
Page 11
... received does not amount to five papers and that many of the most masterly of those unequalled essays were written on the spur of the occasion , and never seen entire by the author till they returned to him from the press . Soon after ...
... received does not amount to five papers and that many of the most masterly of those unequalled essays were written on the spur of the occasion , and never seen entire by the author till they returned to him from the press . Soon after ...
Page 14
... received for the copy 100l . and 251. more when it came to a second edition ; that he wrote it in the evenings of one week , sent it to the press in portions as it was written , and had never since read it over . Hitherto ...
... received for the copy 100l . and 251. more when it came to a second edition ; that he wrote it in the evenings of one week , sent it to the press in portions as it was written , and had never since read it over . Hitherto ...
Page 17
... received the same honour from the Uni- versity of Oxford ; an honour with which , though he did not boast of it , he was highly gratified . In 1777 he was induced , by a case of a very extraor- dinary nature , to exercise that humanity ...
... received the same honour from the Uni- versity of Oxford ; an honour with which , though he did not boast of it , he was highly gratified . In 1777 he was induced , by a case of a very extraor- dinary nature , to exercise that humanity ...
Page 25
... he brought it forward under the title of " the Cutter of Coleman street , " and it was badly received which ill success he did not bear , as Dryden says , + C ; " with so much firmness as might have been ex- COWLEY . 25.
... he brought it forward under the title of " the Cutter of Coleman street , " and it was badly received which ill success he did not bear , as Dryden says , + C ; " with so much firmness as might have been ex- COWLEY . 25.
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acquaintance Addison ¯neid afterwards appeared became Ben Jonson blank verse born called character church College comedy compositions court Cowley criticism daughter death delight diction died dramatic Dryden Dunciad Earl elegance eminent English English poetry Essay esteem excellence father favour friends friendship gave genius guineas honour Hudibras hundred pounds Iliad images Ireland JOHN MILTON Johnson kind King Kit-cat Club labour language Latin learning lived London Lord manner master Milton mind mother nature never numbers occasion Oxford Oxfordshire Paradise Lost performance perhaps pieces play poem poet poetical poetry Pope praise Prior produced published Queen received reputation retired returned rhyme satire Savage says seems sent sentiments Shakespeare shew sometimes soon Spenser stage supposed Swift thought tion told tragedy translated verse versification Waller Westminster Abbey Whigs William Davenant William Shakespeare Winchester College write written wrote
Popular passages
Page 291 - I loved the man, and do honour his memory, on this side idolatry, as much as any. He was (indeed) honest, and of an open and free nature; had an excellent phantasy, brave notions, and gentle expressions...
Page 114 - Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.
Page 63 - But of all the borrowers from Homer, Milton is perhaps the least indebted. He was naturally a thinker for himself, confident of his own abilities, and disdainful of help or hindrance : he did not refuse admission to the thoughts or images of his predecessors, but he did not seek them.
Page 252 - In the character of his Elegy I rejoice to concur with the common reader; for by the common sense of readers uncorrupted with literary prejudices, after all the refinements of subtilty and the dogmatism of learning, must be finally decided all claim to poetical honours.
Page 78 - Every thing is excused by the play of images and the spriteliness of expression. Though all is easy, nothing is feeble; though all seems careless, there is nothing harsh; and though since his earlier works more than a century has passed they have nothing yet uncouth or obsolete.
Page 309 - For whilst, to the shame of slow-endeavouring art, Thy easy numbers flow, and that each heart Hath, from the leaves of thy unvalued book, Those Delphic lines with deep impression took; Then thou, our fancy of itself bereaving, Dost make us marble, with too much conceiving; And, so sepulchred, in such pomp dost lie, That kings for such a tomb would wish to die.
Page 78 - They have not the formality of a settled style, in which the first half of the sentence betrays the other. The clauses are never balanced, nor the periods modelled; every word seems to drop by chance, though it falls into its proper place.
Page 79 - The power that predominated in his intellectual operations was rather strong reason than quick sensibility. Upon all occasions that were presented, he studied rather than felt, and produced sentiments not such as nature enforces, but meditation supplies.
Page 112 - Cato' it has been not unjustly determined, that it is rather a poem in dialogue than a drama, rather a succession of just sentiments in elegant language, than a representation of natural affections, or of any state probable or possible in human life. Nothing here " excites or assuages emotion :" here is " no magical power of raising fantastic terror or wild anxiety.
Page 132 - Looking tranquillity ! It strikes an awe And terror on my aching sight ; the tombs And monumental caves of death look cold, And shoot a chillness to my trembling heart. Give me thy hand, and let me hear thy voice; Nay, quickly speak to me, and let me hear Thy voice — my own affrights me with its echoes.