The works of the English poets. With prefaces, biographical and critical, by S. Johnson, Volume 201790 |
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Page 4
... fince you have been graciously pleased , by your permiffion of this addrefs , to accept the tender of my duty , it is not yet too late to lay these volumes at your feet . The world is fenfible that you worthily fucceed , not only to the ...
... fince you have been graciously pleased , by your permiffion of this addrefs , to accept the tender of my duty , it is not yet too late to lay these volumes at your feet . The world is fenfible that you worthily fucceed , not only to the ...
Page 6
... fuffer the mis- fortunes of another , without redrefs ; left they fhould . bring a kind of contagion along with them , and pollute the happiness which he enjoys . Yet Yet fince the perverfe tempers of mankind , fince op- DEDICATION .
... fuffer the mis- fortunes of another , without redrefs ; left they fhould . bring a kind of contagion along with them , and pollute the happiness which he enjoys . Yet Yet fince the perverfe tempers of mankind , fince op- DEDICATION .
Page 7
English poets. Yet fince the perverfe tempers of mankind , fince op- preffion on one fide , and ambition on the other , are fometimes the unavoidable occafions of war ; that cou- rage , that magnanimity , and refolution , which is born ...
English poets. Yet fince the perverfe tempers of mankind , fince op- preffion on one fide , and ambition on the other , are fometimes the unavoidable occafions of war ; that cou- rage , that magnanimity , and refolution , which is born ...
Page 15
... eight lines , which ever fince has been maintained by the prac- tice of all Italian writers , who are , or at least affume the title of Heroic Poets : he and Chaucer , among other other things , had this in common , that they PREFACE . 15.
... eight lines , which ever fince has been maintained by the prac- tice of all Italian writers , who are , or at least affume the title of Heroic Poets : he and Chaucer , among other other things , had this in common , that they PREFACE . 15.
Page 23
... fince Chaucer had fomething of his own , as The Wife of Bath's Tale , The Cock and the Fox , which I have tranflated , and fome others , I may juftly give our countryman the precedence in that part ; fince I can remember nothing of Ovid ...
... fince Chaucer had fomething of his own , as The Wife of Bath's Tale , The Cock and the Fox , which I have tranflated , and fome others , I may juftly give our countryman the precedence in that part ; fince I can remember nothing of Ovid ...
Common terms and phrases
againſt Arcite arms becauſe befides behold beſt betwixt blood breaſt caft Canterbury tales cauſe Chanticleer Chaucer cloſe Cymon dame death deferve defign'd defire earth eaſe Emily Engliſh Ev'n eyes fafe faid fair fame fate fear feas fecret feem'd fenfe fent fhall fide fight fince fing fire firft firſt flain fome foon forc'd forrow foul fovereign freſh ftill ftood fuch fuffer fure fword Goddeſs grace heart heaven himſelf honour iffuing king knight laft laſt leaſt lefs liv'd loft lord lov'd maid mind moft moſt muft muſt myſelf numbers o'er Ovid Palamon Pirithous plac'd pleas'd pleaſe pleaſure poet prefent prepar'd purſue reaſon refolv'd reft reſt ſaid ſay ſeen ſhall ſhe ſhould ſky ſpace ſpeak ſpoke ſtate ſtill ſtood Synalepha Thebes thee Thefeus themſelves theſe thofe thoſe thou thought tranflated turn'd uſe Virgil whofe whoſe wife Wife of Bath
Popular passages
Page 13 - ... he first intended. He alters his mind as the work proceeds, and will have this or that convenience more, of which he had not thought when he began. So has it happened to me ; I have built a house where I intended but a lodge; yet with better success than a certain nobleman, who, beginning with a dog-kennel, never lived to finish the palace he had contrived.
Page 19 - In the works of the two authors we may read their manners and natural inclinations, which are wholly different. Virgil was of a quiet, sedate temper ; Homer was violent, impetuous, and full of fire. The chief talent of Virgil was propriety of thoughts, and ornament of words : Homer was rapid in his thoughts, and took all the liberties both of numbers and of expressions, which his language and the age in which he lived allowed him.
Page 31 - Tales the various manners and humours (as we now call them) of the whole English nation, in his age. Not a single character has escaped him. All his pilgrims are severally distinguished from each other; and not only in their inclinations, but in their very physiognomies and persons.
Page 31 - The matter and manner of their tales, and of their telling, are so suited to their different educations, humours, and callings that each of them would be improper in any other mouth.
Page 32 - ... their several sorts of gravity: their discourses are such as belong to their age, their calling, and their breeding; such as are becoming of them, and of them only.
Page 42 - He has taken some pains with my poetry ; but nobody will be persuaded to take the same with his. If I had taken to the church (as he affirms, but which was never in my thoughts), I should have had more...
Page 19 - Homer was rapid in his thoughts, and took all the liberties, both of numbers and of expressions, which his language, and the age in which he lived, allowed him. Homer's invention was more copious, Virgil's more confined; so that if Homer had not led the way, it was not in Virgil to have begun heroic poetry; for nothing can be more evident, than that the Roman poem is but the second part of the Ilias; a continuation of the same story, and the persons already formed.
Page 121 - Bade cease the war ; pronouncing from on high, Arcite of Thebes had won the beauteous Emily. The sound of trumpets to the voice replied, And round the royal lists the heralds cried, Arcite of Thebes has won the beauteous bride.
Page 248 - As on this very spot of earth I fell, As Friday saw me die, so she my prey Becomes ev'n here, on this revolving day.
Page 298 - Had form'd the whole, and made the parts agree, That no unequal portions might be found, He moulded earth into a spacious round: Then with a breath, he gave the winds to blow; And bade the congregated waters flow.