The Lives of the Most Celebrated English Poets, with Criticisms. Extracted from D. JohnsonGalignani, 1805 - 312 pages |
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Page 7
... seems to have been his principal resource for employment and support . His connection with Cave the proprietor of it became very close ; he wrote prefaces , essays , reviews of books and poems ; and he was occa- sionally employed in ...
... seems to have been his principal resource for employment and support . His connection with Cave the proprietor of it became very close ; he wrote prefaces , essays , reviews of books and poems ; and he was occa- sionally employed in ...
Page 9
... the Earl of Chesterfield . From that nobleman Johnson was certainly led to expect patronage and encouragement ; and it seems to be equally certain " that his lordship expected , when the book should OF DR . JOHNSON . 9.
... the Earl of Chesterfield . From that nobleman Johnson was certainly led to expect patronage and encouragement ; and it seems to be equally certain " that his lordship expected , when the book should OF DR . JOHNSON . 9.
Page 11
... which he sold sermons to such clergymen as either would not or could not compose their own discourses ; and of sermon - writing he seems to have made a kind of trade . Though he had exhausted , during the time that he OF DR . JOHNSON . II.
... which he sold sermons to such clergymen as either would not or could not compose their own discourses ; and of sermon - writing he seems to have made a kind of trade . Though he had exhausted , during the time that he OF DR . JOHNSON . II.
Page 28
... seems not to have known , or not to have considered , that words being arbitrary must owe their power to association , and have the in- fluence , and that only , which custom has given them . Language is the dress of thought ; and as ...
... seems not to have known , or not to have considered , that words being arbitrary must owe their power to association , and have the in- fluence , and that only , which custom has given them . Language is the dress of thought ; and as ...
Page 29
... seems to have had very little of his care ; and , if what he thinks be true , that his numbers are unmusical only when they are ill read , the art of reading them is , at present , lost ; for they are commonly harsh to modern ears . He ...
... seems to have had very little of his care ; and , if what he thinks be true , that his numbers are unmusical only when they are ill read , the art of reading them is , at present , lost ; for they are commonly harsh to modern ears . He ...
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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.