The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets: With Critical Observations on Their Works, Volume 3C. Buzby and B. Warner, 1819 |
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Page 8
... given reason for com- plaint , is said to have made him deputy master of the rolls in Ireland ; which , according to his kinsman's account , was an office which he knew him not able to discharge . Swift therefore resolved to enter into ...
... given reason for com- plaint , is said to have made him deputy master of the rolls in Ireland ; which , according to his kinsman's account , was an office which he knew him not able to discharge . Swift therefore resolved to enter into ...
Page 18
... given to one affords all the rest reason for complaint . " When I give away a place , " said Lew- is XIV . " I make a hundred discontented , and one un- grateful . Much has been said of the equality and independance which he preserved ...
... given to one affords all the rest reason for complaint . " When I give away a place , " said Lew- is XIV . " I make a hundred discontented , and one un- grateful . Much has been said of the equality and independance which he preserved ...
Page 19
... given away ; and the friends of power may , if there be no inherent diqualification , reasonably expect them . Swift accept- ed ( 1713 ) the deanery of St. Patrick , the best prefer . ment that his friends could venture * to give him ...
... given away ; and the friends of power may , if there be no inherent diqualification , reasonably expect them . Swift accept- ed ( 1713 ) the deanery of St. Patrick , the best prefer . ment that his friends could venture * to give him ...
Page 22
... given by lord Orrery and Dr. Delany , are so different , that the credit of the writers , both undoubtedly veracious , can- not be saved , but by supposing , what I think is true , that they speak of different times . When Delany says ...
... given by lord Orrery and Dr. Delany , are so different , that the credit of the writers , both undoubtedly veracious , can- not be saved , but by supposing , what I think is true , that they speak of different times . When Delany says ...
Page 27
... any man has ever enjoyed without greater wealth or higher station . * An account somewhat different from this is given by Mr. Sheridan in his Life of Swift , p . 211. R .. He was from this important year the oracle of the SWIFT . 27.
... any man has ever enjoyed without greater wealth or higher station . * An account somewhat different from this is given by Mr. Sheridan in his Life of Swift , p . 211. R .. He was from this important year the oracle of the SWIFT . 27.
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Common terms and phrases
Aaron Hill Addison afterwards appears blank verse Bolingbroke called censure character copy criticism Curll death dedication delight diction diligence discovered Dorset downs Dryden Dunciad edition Edward Young elegance endeavoured English English poetry epistle epitaph Essay excellence fame father faults favour friendship genius Grongar Hill Homer honour hundred Iliad Ireland kind king known labour lady learning letters lines lived lord lord Bolingbroke lord Halifax Lyttelton Mallet mind nature never Night Thoughts numbers once original Orrery Oxford perhaps Philips Pindar pleased pleasure poem poet poetical poetry Pope Pope's pounds praise printed produced prose published reader reason received reputation rhyme ridiculous satire says seems shew shewn solicited sometimes soon stanza supposed Swift Tatler tell thing Thomson tion told tragedy translation truth virtue Warburton whigs write written wrote Young
Popular passages
Page 85 - O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed, And tip with silver every mountain's head ; Then shine the vales, the rocks in prospect rise, A flood of glory bursts from all the skies : The conscious swains, rejoicing in the sight, Eye the blue vault, and bless the useful light.
Page 216 - wonders that he never saw before what Thomson shews him, and that he never yet has felt what Thomson impresses.
Page 195 - A poet, blest beyond the poet's fate, Whom Heaven kept sacred from the Proud and Great : Foe to loud praise, and friend to learned ease, Content with science in the vale of peace. Calmly he look'd on either life ; and here Saw nothing to regret, or there to fear ; From Nature's temperate feast rose satisfied, Thank'd Heaven that he had liv'd, and that he died.
Page 164 - Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows, And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows ; But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar. When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, The line too labors, and the words move slow. Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main. Hear how Timotheus...
Page 216 - As a writer he is entitled to one praise of the highest kind : his mode of thinking-, and of expressing his thoughts, is original. His blank verse is no more the blank verse of Milton, or of any other poet, than the rhymes of Prior are the rhymes of Cowley. His numbers, his pauses, his diction, are of his own growth, without transcription, without imitation.
Page 94 - Pope's excavation was requisite as an entrance to his garden, and, as some men try to be proud of their defects, he extracted an ornament from an inconvenience, and vanity produced a grotto where necessity enforced a passage.
Page 155 - Dryden knew more of man in his general nature, and Pope in his local manners. The notions of Dryden were formed by comprehensive speculation, and those of Pope by minute attention. There is more dignity in the knowledge of Dryden, and more certainty in that of Pope.
Page 342 - 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 164 - Waller was smooth; but Dryden taught to join The varying verse, the full resounding line, The long majestic march, and energy divine.
Page 85 - ... rejoicing in the sight, Eye the blue vault, and bless the useful light. So many flames before proud Ilion blaze, And lighten glimmering Xanthus with their rays ; The long reflections of the distant fires Gleam on the walls, and tremble on the spires. A thousand piles the dusky horrors gild, And shoot a shady lustre o'er the field. Full fifty guards each flaming pile attend, Whose umber'd arms by fits thick flashes send ; Loud neigh the coursers o'er their heaps of corn, And ardent warriors wait...