Essays of John Dryden: Dedication of Examen poeticum. A discourse concerning the original and progress of satire. A parallel of poetry and painting. Dedication of the Æneis. Translation of Virgil : postscript. Preface to the Fables. Notes. Appendix A (A short history of criticism, by the translation of St. Evremond) Appenidx B (Authorities, critical and historical) IndexClarendon Press, 1900 - Criticism |
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Page 3
... Ancients ; what their reputation was then , we know ; and their successors in this age deserve no better . Are our auxiliary forces turned our enemies ? are they , 15 who at best are but wits of the second order , and whose only credit ...
... Ancients ; what their reputation was then , we know ; and their successors in this age deserve no better . Are our auxiliary forces turned our enemies ? are they , 15 who at best are but wits of the second order , and whose only credit ...
Page 6
... ancient Greeks ; who , beginning from a Chorus , could never totally exclude it , as we have done ; who find it an un- profitable encumbrance , without any necessity of enter- 30 taining it amongst us , and without the possibility of ...
... ancient Greeks ; who , beginning from a Chorus , could never totally exclude it , as we have done ; who find it an un- profitable encumbrance , without any necessity of enter- 30 taining it amongst us , and without the possibility of ...
Page 7
... ancients too servilely in the 15 mechanic rules , and we assume too much licence to ourselves , in keeping them only in view at too great a distance . But if our audience had their tastes , our poets could more easily comply with them ...
... ancients too servilely in the 15 mechanic rules , and we assume too much licence to ourselves , in keeping them only in view at too great a distance . But if our audience had their tastes , our poets could more easily comply with them ...
Page 17
... Ancients , and the rules of the French stage amongst the Moderns , which are extremely different from ours , by reason of their opposite taste ; yet even then , I had the presump- tion to dedicate to your Lordship : a very unfinished 15 ...
... Ancients , and the rules of the French stage amongst the Moderns , which are extremely different from ours , by reason of their opposite taste ; yet even then , I had the presump- tion to dedicate to your Lordship : a very unfinished 15 ...
Page 19
... Ancients ; but you have been sparing of the gall , by which means you have pleased all readers , and offended none . Donne alone , of all our countrymen , had your talent ; 10 but was not happy enough to arrive at your versifica- tion ...
... Ancients ; but you have been sparing of the gall , by which means you have pleased all readers , and offended none . Donne alone , of all our countrymen , had your talent ; 10 but was not happy enough to arrive at your versifica- tion ...
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Dedication of Examen poeticum. A discourse concerning the original and ... John Dryden No preview available - 1961 |
Essays of John Dryden: Dedication of Examen poeticum. A discourse concerning ... John Dryden No preview available - 1900 |
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action admirable Æneas Æneid Æneis amongst ancient Andronicus Aristotle Augustus Augustus Cæsar beauty better betwixt Boccace Book Cæsar called Casaubon character Chaucer colouring commendation compass confess critics Crown 8vo Dacier Dido discourse Dryden Edition endeavoured Eneis English Ennius epic poem epic poetry Essay example excellent father fault French genius Georgic give given Grecian Greek hero heroic poem Holyday Homer honour Horace Iliads imitated invention Italian judge judgment Julius Cæsar Jupiter Juvenal kind language Latin least Livius Andronicus Lord Lordship Lucilius manner master Menippus modern moral nature never noble numbers observed opinion Ovid Pacuvius painter painting passions perfect Persius persons pleased pleasure poet poetry Preface prince Quintilian reader reason Roman satire Satyrs Scaliger Segrais sense sort Spenser Tasso things thought tion Tis true tragedy translation Turnus verse Virgil virtue Walter Moyle wholly words write written
Popular passages
Page 272 - I shall say the less of Mr Collier, because in many things he has taxed me justly; and I have pleaded guilty to all thoughts and expressions of mine which can be truly argued of obscenity, profaneness, or immorality, and retract them. If he be my enemy, let him triumph ; if he be my friend, as I have given him no personal occasion to be otherwise, he will be glad of my repentance.
Page 258 - In the first place, as he is the father of English poetry, so I hold him in the same degree of veneration as the Grecians held Homer, or the Romans Virgil: he is a perpetual fountain of good sense; learned in all sciences; and therefore speaks properly on all subjects; as he knew what to say, so he knows also when to leave off, a continence which is practised by few writers, and scarcely by any of the ancients, excepting Virgil and Horace.
Page 258 - They who lived with him, and some time after him, thought it musical; and it continues so even in our judgment, if compared with the numbers of Lidgate and Gower, his contemporaries: there is the rude sweetness of a Scotch tune in it, which is natural and pleasing, though not perfect.
Page 247 - Milton was the poetical son of Spenser, and Mr Waller of Fairfax ; for we have our lineal descents and clans as well as other families. Spenser more than once insinuates that the soul of Chaucer was transfused into his body, and that he was begotten by him two hundred years after his decease.
Page 259 - ... in Chaucer's age. It were an easy matter to produce some thousands of his verses which are lame for want of half a foot and sometimes a whole one, and which no pronunciation can make otherwise.
Page 258 - For this reason, though he must always be thought a great poet, he is no longer esteemed a good writer; and for ten impressions, which his works have had in so many successive years, yet at present a hundred books are scarcely purchased once a twelvemonth; for, as my last Lord Rochester said, though somewhat profanely, Not being of God, he could not stand.
Page 272 - ... of which they were not guilty; besides, that he is too much given to horse-play in his raillery, and comes to battle like a dictator from the plough. I will not say, " the zeal of God's house has eaten him up;" but I am sure it has devoured some part of his good manners and civility.
Page 258 - Chaucer followed Nature everywhere, but was never so bold to go beyond her; and there is a great difference of being poeta and nimis poeta, if we may believe Catullus, as much as betwixt a modest behaviour and affectation. The verse of Chaucer, I confess, is not harmonious to us; but...
Page 296 - I have followed all the antique poets historicall: first Homere, who in the persons of Agamemnon and Ulysses hath ensampled a good governour and a vertuous man...
Page 262 - He must have been a man of a most wonderful comprehensive nature, because, as it has been truly observed of him, he has taken into the compass Of his Canterbury Tales the various manners and humours (as we now call them) of the whole English nation, in his age.