The Art of English Poetry (1708) - LightNovelsOnl.com
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Moon! that now meet'st the Orient Sun, now fly'st With the fix'd Stars, fix'd in their Orb that flies, And ye five other wandring Fires! that move In Mystick Dance, not without Song, resound_ _His Praise, who out of Darkness call'd up Light.
Air! and ye Elements! the eldest Birth Of Nature's Womb, that in Quaternion run Perpetual Circle multiform, and mix And nourish all things; let your ceaseless Change Vary to our great Maker still new Praise.
To Mists and Exhalations! that now rise From Hill or steaming Lake, dusky or grey, Till the sun paint your fleecy Skirts with Gold, In Honour to the World's great Author rise; Whether to deck with Clouds th' uncolour'd Sky, Or wet the thirsty Earth with falling Showr's, Rising or falling, still advance his Praise.
His Praise, ye Winds! that from four Quarters blow, Breathe soft or loud; and wave your Tops, ye Pines!
With ev'ry Plant, in sign of Wors.h.i.+p, wave.
Fountains! and ye that warble as you flow Melodious Murmurs, warbling tune his Praise.
Join Voices all ye living Souls, ye Birds!
That singing, up to Heav'n's high Gate ascend, Bear on your Wings, and in your Notes his Praise.
Ye that in Waters glide! and ye that walk The Earth! and stately tread, or lowly creep; Witness if I be silent, Ev'n or Morn, To Hill or Valley, Fountain or fresh Shade, Made vocal by my Song, and taught his Praise._
Thus I have given a short Account of all the sorts of Poems, that are most us'd in our Language. The Acrosticks, Anagrams, _&c._ deserve not to be mention'd, and we may say of them what an Ancient Poet said long ago.
_Stultum est difficiles habere Nugas, Et stultus Labor est ineptiarum._
_FINIS._
PUBLICATIONS OF THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY
First Year (1946-47)
Numbers 1-6 out of print.
Second Year (1947-1948)
7. John Gay's _The Present State of Wit_ (1711); and a section on Wit from _The English Theophrastus_ (1702).
8. Rapin's _De Carmine Pastorali_, translated by Creech (1684).
9. T. Hanmer's (?) _Some Remarks on the Tragedy of Hamlet_ (1736).
10. Corbyn Morris' _Essay towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, etc._ (1744).
11. Thomas Purney's _Discourse on the Pastoral_ (1717).
12. Essays on the Stage, selected, with an Introduction by Joseph Wood Krutch.
Third Year (1948-1949)
13. Sir John Falstaff (pseud.), _The Theatre_ (1720).
14. Edward Moore's _The Gamester_ (1753).
15. John Oldmixon's _Reflections on Dr. Swift's Letter to Harley_ (1712); and Arthur Mainwaring's _The British Academy_ (1712).
16. Nevil Payne's _Fatal Jealousy_ (1673).
17. Nicholas Rowe's _Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespeare_ (1709).
18. "Of Genius," in _The Occasional Paper_, Vol. III, No. 10 (1719); and Aaron Hill's Preface to _The Creation_ (1720).
Fourth Year (1949-1950)
19. Susanna Centlivre's _The Busie Body_ (1709).
20. Lewis Theobold's _Preface to The Works of Shakespeare_ (1734).
21. _Critical Remarks on Sir Charles Grandison, Clarissa, and Pamela_ (1754).
22. Samuel Johnson's _The Vanity of Human Wishes_ (1749) and Two _Rambler_ papers (1750).
23. John Dryden's _His Majesties Declaration Defended_ (1681).
24. Pierre Nicole's _An Essay on True and Apparent Beauty in Which from Settled Principles is Rendered the Grounds for Choosing and Rejecting Epigrams_, translated by J. V. Cunningham.
Fifth Year (1950-51)
25. Thomas Baker's _The Fine Lady's Airs_ (1709).
26. Charles Macklin's _The Man of the World_ (1792).
27. Frances Reynolds' _An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Taste, and of the Origin of Our Ideas of Beauty, etc._ (1785).
28. John Evelyn's _An Apologie for the Royal Party_ (1659); and _A Panegyric to Charles the Second_ (1661).
29. Daniel Defoe's _A Vindication of the Press_ (1718).
30. Essays on Taste from John Gilbert Cooper's _Letters Concerning Taste_, 3rd edition (1757), & John Armstrong's _Miscellanies_ (1770).
Sixth Year (1951-1952)
31. Thomas Gray's _An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard_ (1751); and _The Eton College Ma.n.u.script_.
32. Prefaces to Fiction; Georges de Scudery's Preface to _Ibrahim_ (1674), etc.
