John Dryden
John Dryden
John Drydenwas an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made England's first Poet Laureate in 1668...
soul desire rage
Could swell the soul to rage, or kindle soft desire.
book men soul
He was the man who of all modern, and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul. . . . He was naturally learn'd; he needed not the spectacles of books to read Nature; he looked inwards, and found her there. . . . He is many times flat, insipid; his comic wit degenerating in to clenches, his serious swelling into bombast. But he is always great, when some occasion is presented to him.
love ambition ice
But wild Ambition loves to slide, not stand, And Fortune's ice prefers to Virtue's land.
life native-language trade
I trade both with the living and the dead, for the enrichment of our native language.
life fate autumn
Of no distemper, of no blast he died, But fell like autumn fruit that mellow'd long,- Even wonder'd at, because he dropp'd no sooner. Fate seem'd to wind him up for fourscore years, Yet freshly ran he on ten winters more; Till like a clock worn out with eating time, The wheels of weary life at last stood still.
life running lying
When I consider life, 't is all a cheat. Yet fool'd with hope, men favour the deceit; Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay. To-morrow 's falser than the former day; Lies worse, and while it says we shall be blest With some new joys, cuts off what we possest. Strange cozenage! none would live past years again, Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain; And from the dregs of life think to receive What the first sprightly running could not give.
two faces admiration
He is the very Janus of poets; he wears almost everywhere two faces; and you have scarce begun to admire the one, ere you despise the other.
knaves fool busy
None are so busy as the fool and the knave.
science thinking numbers
Who thinks all Science, as all Virtue, vain; Who counts Geometry and numbers Toys...
sublime age noble
One of the greatest, most noble, and most sublime poems which either this age or nation has produced.
flow domes fit
Him of the western dome, whose weighty sense Flows in fit words and heavenly eloquence.
people conscience
The conscience of a people is their power.
nature two age
Three poets, in three distant ages born, Greece, Italy, and England did adorn. The first in loftiness of thought surpass'd; The next, in majesty; in both the last. The force of Nature could no further go; To make a third, she join'd the former two.
fountain perpetual good-sense
He is a perpetual fountain of good sense.