The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., Volume 2Alexander V. Blake, 1840 |
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Page 7
... poets : of whom , in a criticism on the works of Cowley , it is not im- proper to give some account . The metaphysical poets were men of learning , and to show their learning was their whole en- deavour : but , unluckily resolving to ...
... poets : of whom , in a criticism on the works of Cowley , it is not im- proper to give some account . The metaphysical poets were men of learning , and to show their learning was their whole en- deavour : but , unluckily resolving to ...
Page 19
... poet that mingled Alexandrines at pleasure with the com- mon heroic of ten syllables ; and from him Dry- den borrowed the practice , whether ornamental or licentious . He considered the verse of twelve syllables as elevated and majestic ...
... poet that mingled Alexandrines at pleasure with the com- mon heroic of ten syllables ; and from him Dry- den borrowed the practice , whether ornamental or licentious . He considered the verse of twelve syllables as elevated and majestic ...
Page 22
... poet , and from whom is derived the only authentic account of his domestic man- ners . John , the poet , was born in his father's house , JOHN MILTON was by birth a gentleman , de- at the Spread Eagle , in Bread - street , Dec. 9 ...
... poet , and from whom is derived the only authentic account of his domestic man- ners . John , the poet , was born in his father's house , JOHN MILTON was by birth a gentleman , de- at the Spread Eagle , in Bread - street , Dec. 9 ...
Page 41
... poet till he has attained the whole extension of his language , distin- guished all the delicacies of phrase , and all the colours of words , and learned to adjust their different sounds to all the varieties of metrical modulation ...
... poet till he has attained the whole extension of his language , distin- guished all the delicacies of phrase , and all the colours of words , and learned to adjust their different sounds to all the varieties of metrical modulation ...
Page 43
... poet has been very sparing of moral in- struction . In Milton every line breathes sanctity of thought and purity of manners , except when the train of the narration requires the introduction of the rebellious spirits ; and even they are ...
... poet has been very sparing of moral in- struction . In Milton every line breathes sanctity of thought and purity of manners , except when the train of the narration requires the introduction of the rebellious spirits ; and even they are ...
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Common terms and phrases
Addison afterwards appears blank verse censure character considered court Cowley criticism death declared delight desire diligence discovered Drake Dryden Duke Dunciad Earl easily elegance endeavoured enemies English excellence father favour fortune French friends genius honour hope Hudibras Iliad imagination kind King King of Prussia known labour Lady language Latin learning lence letter lines lived Lord ment Milton mind nation nature never Night Thoughts nihil Nombre de Dios numbers observed opinion Paradise Lost perhaps Pindar pinnaces pleasure poem poet poetical poetry Pope Port Egmont pounds praise Prince published Queen racter reader reason received remarks reputation rhyme Savage says seems sent ship sion sometimes soon supposed Swift Syphax Tatler thing thought tion told tragedy translation verses Virgil virtue Waller whigs write written wrote Young
Popular passages
Page 275 - He had employed his mind chiefly upon works of fiction, and subjects of fancy ; and by indulging some peculiar habits of thought, was eminently delighted with those flights of imagination which pass the bounds of nature, and to which the mind is reconciled only by a passive acquiescence in popular traditions. He loved fairies, genii, giants, and monsters ; he delighted to rove through the meanders of enchantment, to gaze on the magnificence of golden palaces, to repose by the water-falls of Elysian...
Page 279 - I have found out a gift for my fair; I have found where the wood-pigeons breed; But let me that plunder forbear, She will say 'twas a barbarous deed...
Page 96 - To judge rightly of an author, we must transport ourselves to his time, and examine what were the wants of his contemporaries, and what were his means of supplying them.
Page 148 - His prose is the model of the middle style; on grave subjects not formal, on light occasions not grovelling; pure without scrupulosity, and exact without apparent elaboration; always equable, and always easy, without glowing words or pointed sentences. Addison never deviates from his track to snatch a grace; he seeks no ambitious ornaments, and tries no hazardous innovations. His page is always luminous, but never blazes in unexpected splendour.
Page 8 - ... what, on any occasion, they should have said or done; but wrote rather as beholders than partakers of human nature; as Beings looking upon good and evil, impassive and at leisure; as Epicurean deities making remarks on the actions of men and the vicissitudes of life without interest and without emotion. Their courtship was void of fondness, and their lamentation of sorrow. Their wish was only to say what they hoped had never been said before.
Page 21 - Cooper's Hill is the work that confers upon him the rank and dignity of an original author. He seems to have been, at least among us, the author of a species of composition that may be denominated local poetry, of which the fundamental subject is some particular landscape, to be poetically described with the addition of such embellishments as may be supplied by historical retrospection, or incidental meditation.
Page 46 - He was naturally a thinker for himself, confident of his own abilities, and disdainful of help or hinderance : he did not refuse admission to the thoughts or images of his predecessors, but he did not seek them. From his contemporaries he neither courted nor received support; there is in his writings nothing by which the pride of other authors might be gratified, or favour gained ; no exchange of praise, nor solicitation of support.
Page 211 - ... nothing will supply the want of prudence; and that negligence and irregularity, long continued, will make knowledge useless, wit ridiculous, and genius contemptible.
Page 252 - What his mind could supply at call, or gather in one excursion, was all that he sought, and all that he gave. The dilatory caution of Pope enabled him to condense his sentiments, to multiply his images, and to accumulate all that study might produce, or chance might supply. If the flights of Dryden therefore are higher, Pope continues longer on the wing. If of Dryden's fire the blaze is brighter, of Pope's the heat is more regular and constant. Dryden often surpasses expectation, and Pope never falls...
Page 111 - Tis not enough that Aristotle has said so, for Aristotle drew his models of tragedy from Sophocles and Euripides ; and, if he had seen ours, might have changed his mind.