John Dryden
John Dryden
John Drydenwas an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made England's first Poet Laureate in 1668...
blood distant dull flesh joy joys present prospect
For present joys are more to flesh and blood than a dull prospect of a distant good.
base free laws nature noble savage servitude wild woods
I am as free as nature first made man, / Ere the base laws of servitude began, / When wild in woods the noble savage ran.
free nature
I am as free as nature first made man.
pious polygamy sin
In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin, before polygamy was made a sin
excites loud
The trumpet's loud clangour / Excites us to arms.
fate humane subject
All humane things are subject to decay, And, when fate summons, Monarchs must obey.
boils mob nation rises utmost
A mob is the scum that rises utmost when the nation boils
boils mob nation rises
A mob is the scum that rises up most when the nation boils
toil
And all to leave, what with this toil he won, / To that unfeathered, two-legged thing, a son.
eastern lovely sat
The lovely Thais by his side, / Sat like a blooming Eastern bride.
woe pity my-own
I learn to pity woes so like my own.
arms trumpets loud
The trumpet's loud clangor Excites us to arms.
excellence safe creeps
And he, who servilely creeps after sense, Is safe, but ne'er will reach an excellence.
fall thinking make-you-think
Virgil is so exact in every word, that none can be changed but for a worse; nor any one removed from its place, but the harmony will be altered. He pretends sometimes to trip; but it is only to make you think him in danger of a fall, when he is most secure.