The Poetical Works of John Dryden |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Absalom and Achitophel Achitophel ALBION AND ALBANIUS AMYNTAS Arcite arms beauty behold betwixt blood bold bore breast call'd Chanticleer Church coursers court crime crowd crown crown'd Cymon dame dare death design'd divine Dryden Duke of York durst e'en eyes fair faith fame fate father fear fight fire flames foes fool force fortune grace hand happy hast heart Heaven honour hope Jebusites JOHN DRYDEN kind king KING ARTHUR knew knight land laws live look'd lord mighty mind monarch muse ne'er never noble numbers o'er once Ovid pain Palamon Panther pass'd peace Pirithous plain play poem poet praise prey pride prince queen race reign rest Reynard rhyme royal sacred satire seem'd Shadwell sight soul stood sweet Thebes thee Theseus thou thought throne true turn'd Twas verse virtue Whig wind wise youth
Popular passages
Page 80 - He laughed himself from court; then sought relief By forming parties, but could ne'er be chief; For, spite of him, the weight of business fell On Absalom, and wise Achitophel ; Thus, wicked but in will, of means bereft, He left not faction, but of that was left.
Page 485 - At last divine Cecilia came, Inventress of the vocal frame ; The sweet enthusiast, from her sacred store, Enlarged the former narrow bounds, And added length to solemn sounds, With nature's mother- wit, and arts unknown before.
Page 485 - The many rend the skies with loud applause ; So Love was crown'd, but Music won the cause. The prince, unable to conceal his pain, Gazed on the fair Who caused his care, And sigh'd and look'd, sigh'd and look'd, Sigh'd and look'd, and sigh'd again : At length, with love and wine at once oppress'd, The vanquish'd victor sunk upon her breast.
Page 266 - FAREWELL, too little and too lately known, Whom I began to think and call my own: For sure our souls were near allied, and thine Cast in the same poetic mould with mine. One common note on either lyre did strike, And knaves and fools we both abhorred alike.
Page 482 - In flower of youth and beauty's pride : — Happy, happy, happy pair ! None but the brave None but the brave None but the brave deserves the fair...
Page 151 - Then thus,' continued he, 'my son, advance Still in new impudence, new ignorance. Success let others teach, learn thou from me Pangs without birth and fruitless industry. Let Virtuoso's in five years be writ; Yet not one thought accuse thy toil of wit.
Page 36 - By the rich scent we found our perfum'd prey, Which, flank'd with rocks, did close in covert lie : And round about their murdering cannon lay, At once to threaten and invite the eye. Fiercer than cannon, and than rocks more hard, The English undertake th' unequal war : Seven ships alone, by which the port is barr'd, Besiege the Indies, and all Denmark dare.
Page 137 - DIM as the borrow'd beams of moon and stars To lonely, weary, wandering travellers, Is reason to the soul : and as on high Those rolling fires discover but the sky, Not light us here ; so Reason's glimmering ray Was lent, not to assure our doubtful way, But guide us upward to a better day. And as those nightly tapers disappear When day's bright lord ascends our hemisphere ; So pale grows Reason at Religion's sight ; So dies, and so dissolves in supernatural light.
Page 72 - Oh, had he been content to serve the crown, With virtues only proper to the gown; Or had the rankness of the soil been freed From cockle, that oppressed the noble seed; David for him his tuneful harp had strung, And Heaven had wanted one immortal song. But wild Ambition loves to slide, not stand, And Fortune's ice prefers to Virtue's land.
Page 478 - Tis not the Poet, but the Age is prais'd. Wit's now arriv'd to a more high degree; Our native Language more refin'd and free. Our Ladies and our men now speak more wit In conversation, than those Poets writ.