"To begin then with Shakespeare; he was the man who of all Modern, and perhaps Ancient Poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul. All the Images of Nature were still present to him, and he drew them not laboriously, but luckily: when he describes any thing, you more than see it, you feel it too. Those who accuse him to have wanted learning, give him the greater commendation: he was naturally learn'd; he needed not the spectacles of Books to read Nature; he look'd inwards, and found her there. I cannot say he is every where alike; were he so, I should do him injury to compare him with the greatest of Mankind. He is many times flat, insipid; his Comick wit degenerating into clenches; his serious swelling into Bombast. But he is alwayes great, when some great occasion is presented to him: no man can say he ever had a fit subject for his wit, and did not then raise himself as high above the rest of the Poets,"
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
p. 47
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Dryden
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
John Dryden
playwright, translator, poet
1631 – 1700 · Kingdom of England
John Dryden (19 August O.S. 9 August] 1631 – 12 May [O.S. 1 May] 1700) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate.
439 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by John Dryden →
Related Quotes
"Our sailing ships like common-sewers we use, And through our distant colonies diffuse The draught of dungeons, and th…"
"In thriving arts long time had Holland grown, Crouching at home and cruel when abroad: Scarce leaving us the means to…"
"In thriving arts long time had Holland grown, Crouching at home and cruel when abroad: Scarce leaving us the means to…"
"The bristled Baptist Boar, impure as he, But whiten'd with the foam of sanctity, With fat pollutions fill'd the sacre…"
"Beasts are the subjects of tyrannic sway, Where still the stronger on the weaker prey; Man only of a softer mold is m…"
"Όφις ην μη φάγη όφιν, δράκων ου γενήσεται."
"Begin when the slow waggoner descends, Nor cease your sowing till midwinter ends."
"But when the western winds with vital pow’r Call forth the tender grass and budding flow’r, Men, at the last, produce…"
"For sundry foes the rural realm surround; The field-mouse builds her garner under ground: For gather’d grain the blin…"
"When continued rain The lab’ring husband in his house restrain, Let him forecast his work with timely care, Which els…"