Selected Poems of Alexander Pope |
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Page ix
... their opponents , yet kept about them some air of taste and art . The vile thing was done with a certain SCASE happy congruity , a certain dextrous and able grace ix INTRODUCTION THE ELEMENT OF ART IN EIGHTEENTH CEN- TURY POETRY.
... their opponents , yet kept about them some air of taste and art . The vile thing was done with a certain SCASE happy congruity , a certain dextrous and able grace ix INTRODUCTION THE ELEMENT OF ART IN EIGHTEENTH CEN- TURY POETRY.
Page x
... tastes , in literature as in life , are strongly Roman- tic . Only by study and readjustment can most of us come to understand what constitutes the enduring value of the English Classical Age . The purpose of this in- troduction is to ...
... tastes , in literature as in life , are strongly Roman- tic . Only by study and readjustment can most of us come to understand what constitutes the enduring value of the English Classical Age . The purpose of this in- troduction is to ...
Page xii
... taste in poetry . Let us begin with the individual line of verse . The word " numbers " is the most common synonym of the time for poetry . It falls with singular un- pleasantness upon the ear of the modern reader . It suggests to him ...
... taste in poetry . Let us begin with the individual line of verse . The word " numbers " is the most common synonym of the time for poetry . It falls with singular un- pleasantness upon the ear of the modern reader . It suggests to him ...
Page 2
... Taste as seldom is the Critic's share ; Both must alike from Heav'n derive their light , These born to judge , as well as those to write . Let such teach others who themselves excel , And censure freely who have written well . Authors ...
... Taste as seldom is the Critic's share ; Both must alike from Heav'n derive their light , These born to judge , as well as those to write . Let such teach others who themselves excel , And censure freely who have written well . Authors ...
Page 3
... taste , and learning go ; ( Launch not beyond your depth , but be discreet , And mark that point where sense and dullness meet . Nature to all things fix'd the limits fit , And wisely curb'd proud man's pretending wit . As on the land ...
... taste , and learning go ; ( Launch not beyond your depth , but be discreet , And mark that point where sense and dullness meet . Nature to all things fix'd the limits fit , And wisely curb'd proud man's pretending wit . As on the land ...
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Common terms and phrases
ALEXANDER POPE Balaam beauty blessing blest charms Colley Cibber Court Critics Dæmons divine Dryden Duke Dunciad e'er Earl of Burlington ease eighteenth century Epistle Essay on Criticism ev'n ev'ry eyes fair fame fate flow'rs Folly fool gen'ral gen'rous genius give glory Gnome grace happy heart Heav'n honour Horace King knave laws learn'd live Lord Lord Bolingbroke Lord Fanny Lord Hervey lov'd mankind mind Moral Essays Muse Nature ne'er never numbers nymph o'er once painted Passion pleas'd pleasure poem Poet poetry Pope Pope's pow'r praise pray'r pride proud Queen rage Reason rhyme rich rise rules Sappho Satire Scriblerus Club Self-love sense shine soul spirit Sylphs taste tears Thalestris thee things thou thought thro tremble Truth verse Vice Virtue Walpole Warburton Whig whole Wife wise write
Popular passages
Page 74 - Lives through all life, extends through all extent, Spreads undivided, operates unspent : Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part, As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart; As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns, As the rapt seraph that adores and burns : To him no high, no low, no great, no small ; He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all.
Page 13 - The sound must seem an echo to the sense : 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 labours, and the words move slow ; Not so, when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the main.
Page 35 - Who gave the ball or paid the visit last; One speaks the glory of the British Queen, And one describes a charming Indian screen; A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes: At every word a reputation dies.
Page 155 - Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer; Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike, Just hint a fault and hesitate dislike...
Page 66 - AWAKE, my St. John ! leave all meaner things To low ambition and -the pride of kings. Let us (since life can little more supply Than just to look about us and to die...
Page 30 - Favours to none, to all she smiles extends; Oft she rejects, but never once offends. Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers strike, And, like the sun, they shine on all alike. Yet graceful ease, and sweetness void of pride 15 Might hide her faults, if Belles had faults to hide: If to her share some female errors fall, Look on her face, and you'll forget 'em all.
Page 118 - I give and I devise" (old Euclio said, And sigh'd) "my lands and tenements to Ned." Your money, Sir? "My money, Sir! what, all? Why,— if I must— (then wept) I give it Paul.
Page 1 - Happy the man*, whose wish and care A few paternal acres bound, Content to breathe his native air In his own ground. Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread, Whose flocks supply him with attire, Whose trees in summer yield him shade, In winter, fire.
Page 43 - Ease, pleasure, virtue, all our sex resign. Methinks already I your tears survey, Already hear the horrid things they say, Already see you a degraded toast, And all your honour in a whisper lost ! no How shall I then your helpless fame defend? 'Twill then be infamy to seem your friend ! And shall this prize, th...
Page 116 - Wharton, the scorn and wonder of our days, Whose ruling Passion was the Lust of Praise; Born with whate'er could win it from the Wise, Women and Fools must like him or he dies; Tho' wond'ring Senates hung on all he spoke, The Club must hail him master of the joke.