A \ B \ C \ D \ E \ F \ G \ H \ I \ J \ K \ L \ M \ N \ O \ P \ R \ S \ T \ U \ V \ W \Z

The Lives of the Most Famous English Poets (1687) by William Winstanley

W >> William Winstanley >> The Lives of the Most Famous English Poets (1687)




While _Dido_ in a Bed of Fire,
A new-found way to cool desire,
Lay wrapt in Smoke, half Cole, half _Dido_,
Too late repenting Crime _Libido_,
_Monsieur AEneas_ went his waies;
For which I con him little praise,
To leave a Lady, not i'th'Mire,
But which was worser, in the Fire.
He Neuter-like, had no great aim,
To kindle or put out the flame.
He had what he would have, the Wind;
More than ten _Dido's_ to his mind.
The merry gale was all in Poop,
Which made the _Trojans_ all cry Hoop!

He it was who wrote that Jovial Almanack of _Montelion_; besides
several other things in a serious Vein of Poetry. Nor must we forget
his Song made on the Tombs at _Westminster_; which for a witty drolling
Invention, I hold it to be past Compare, being Printed in a Book called
_The Miseries of Love and Eloquence_.

You may reckon among these his Elegy upon our late Soveraign, and his
Anniversary to His Majesty; Composed all by Dr. _Blow_.

* * * * *




Mr. _JOHN OLDHAM_.


Mr. _John Oldham_, the delight of the Muses, and glory of those last
Times; a Man utterly unknown to me but only by Works, which none can
read but with Wonder and Admiration; So Pithy his Strains, so
Sententious his Expressions, so Elegant his Oratory, so Swimming his
Language, so Smooth his Lines, in Translating out-doing the Original,
and in Invention matchless; whose praise my rude Pen is not able to
Comprehend: Take therefore a small Draught of his Perfections in a
Funeral Elegy, made by the Laureat of our Nation, Mr. _John Dryden_.

Farewel, too little and too lately known,
Whom I began to think and call my own;
For sure our Souls were near ally'd; and thine
Cast in the same Poetick Mould with mine.
One common note on either Lyre did strike,
And Knaves and Fools we both abhorr'd alike:
To the same Goal did both our Studies drive,
The last set out the soonest did arrive.
Thus _Nisus_ fell upon the Slippery place,
While his young Friend perform'd and won the race.
O early ripe! to thy abundant store,
What could advancing age have added more?
It might (what Nature never gives the young)
Have taught the numbers of thy Native Tongue.
But Satyr needs not those, and wit will shine
Through the harsh cadence of a rugged line,
A noble error, and but seldom made,
When Poets are by too much force betray'd.
Thy generous Fruits, though gather'd e're their Prime,
Still shew'd a quickness; and maturing time;
But Mellows what we write to the dull sweets of Rhime.
Once more, hail and farwel, farwel thou young,
But all too short _Marcellus_ of our Tongue;
Thy brows with Ivy, and with Lawrels bound;
But flat and gloomy Night encompass thee around.

This wittily learned Gentleman was of _Edmund-Hall_ in _Oxford_, and
dyed in the Earl of _Kingston's_ Family in the prime of his Years;
whose life had it been lengthened, might have produced as large a
Volume of learned Works, as any this latter Age have brought forth.

* * * * *




And thus have we given you an Account of all the most Eminent _English_
Poets that have come to our knowledge; although we question not but
many and those well deserving have slipped our Pen; which if these our
Labours shall come to a Second Impression, as we question nothing to
the contrary, we shall endeavour to do them right. In the mean time we
shall give you a short Account of some of the most eminent that are now
(or at least thought by us so to be) living at this time, and so
conclude, beginning first with




_Mr. JOHN DRIDEN._


Poet Laureat and Historiographer to his Royal Majesty; whose Poetry
hath passed the World with the greatest Approbation and acceptance that
may be, especially what he hath written of Dramatick, _viz._ _The
Maiden Queen_; _The Wild Gallant_; _The Mock Astrologer_; _Marriage
Ala-mode_; _The Amorous Old Woman_; and _The Assignation_, Comedies;
_Tyranick Love_; and _Amboyna_, Tragedies; and _The Indian Emperor_;
and two Parts of the Conquests of _Granada_; Historical Drama's.
Besides several other Pieces, which speak their own worth, more than
any Commendations my Pen can bestow upon them.

* * * * *




Mr. _ELKUNAH SETTLE_.


An Ingenious Person, who besides his other Works hath contributed to
the Stage two Tragedies, _viz._ _Cambises_, and _The Empress of
Morrocco_, which notwithstanding the severe censure of some, may
deservedly pass with good Approbation.

* * * * *




Sir _GEORGE ETHERIDGE_.


The Author of Two Comedies, _viz. Love in a Tub_; and _She Would if she
Could_; which for pleasant Wit, and no bad Oeconemy, are judged not
unworthy the applause they have met with.

* * * * *




Mr. _JOHN WILSON_.


The noted Author of that so Celebrated a Comedy entituled _The Cheats_;
which hath passed the Stage and Press with so general an applause, also
another Comedy called _The Projectors_ and the Tragedy of _Andronicus
Commenius_.

* * * * *




Mr. _THOMAS SHADWELL_.


One whose Pen hath deserved well of the Stage, not only for the number
of the Plays which he hath writ; but also for the sweet Language and
Contrivance of them. His Comedies are, _The Humorist_; _The Sullen
Lovers_; _Epsom Wells_, &c. Besides his _Royal Shepherdess_, a Pastoral
Tragi-Comedy; and his Tragedy of _Psyche_, or rather Tragical _Opera_,
as vying with the _Opera's_ of _Italy_, in the Pomp of Scenes,
Marchinry and Musical performance.

* * * * *




_THOMAS STANLEY_.


_Thomas Stanley_ Esquire, of _Cumberlo Green_ in _Hartfordshire_; a
general Scholar, one well known both in Philosophy, History, and
Poetry. Witness his learned Edition of _AEschylus_, and his lives of the
Philosophers; But for that which we take the most notice of him here,
his smooth Air and gentile Spirit in Poetry; which appears not only in
his own Genuine Poems, but also from what he hath so well Translated
out of Ancient Greek, and Modern Italian, Spanish, and French Poets; So
that we may well conclude him to be both the Glory and Admiration of
his time.

* * * * *




_EDWARD PHILLIPS_.


_Edward Phillips_ Brother to _John Phillips_ aforesaid, the Judicious
Continuator of Sir _Richard Bakers_ Chronicle; which will make his name
Famous to Posterity, no less than his Genuine Poems upon several
occasions, in which he comes not far short of his Spritely Brother.

* * * * *




Mr. _THOMAS SPRAT_.


Mr. _Thomas Sprat_, whose judicious History of the _Royal Society_, for
the Smoothness of the Stile, and exactness of the Method, deserveth
high Commendations; He hath also writ in Verse a very applauded, tho
little Poem, entitled _The Plague of_ Athens.

* * * * *




_WILLIAM SMITH_.


_William Smith_ the Author of a Tragedy entituled _Hieronymo_; as also
_The Hector of Germany_.

* * * * *




Mr. _JOHN LACEY_.


Mr. _John Lacy_, one of the noted'st Wits of these Times, who as
_William Shakespeare_ and _Christopher Marlow_ before him, rose from an
Actor to be an Author to the Stage, having written two ingenious
Comical Pieces, _viz._ _Monsieur Ragou_, and _the Dumb Lady_.

* * * * *




Mr. _WILLIAM WHICHERLY_.


Mr. _William Whicherly_, a Gentleman of the Inner _Temple_, who besides
his other learned Works, hath contributed largely to the Stage, in his
Comedies of _Love in a Wood_, _The Gentleman Dancing-Master_, _The
Country Wife_, &c.

* * * * *




Sir _ROGER L'ESTRANGE_.


And so we have reckoned up all the most Eminent Poets which have come
to our knowledge, craving pardon for those we have omitted. We shall
conclude all with Sir _Roger L'Strange_, one whose Pen was never idle
in asserting the Royal Cause, as well before the King's Restoration,
against his open Enemies, as since that time against his Feigned
Friends. Those who shall consider the Number and Greatness of his
Books, will admire he should ever write so many, and those who have
Read them, considering the Stile and Method they are writ in, will more
admire he should Write so well. And because some people may imagine his
Works not to be so many as he hath written, we will give you a
Catalogue of as many as we can remember of them.

_Collections In Defence of the King._
_Tolleration Discussed._
_Relapsed Apostate._
_Apology for Protestants._
Richard _against_ Baxter.
_Tyranny and Popery._
_Growth of Knavery._
_Reformed Catholique._
_Free-born Subjects._
_The Case Put_.
_Seasonable Memorials._
_Answer to the Appeal._
_No Papist._
_The Shammer Shamm'd._
_Account Cleared._
_Reformation Reformed._
_Dissenters Sayings in Two Parts._
_Notes on_ Colledge.
_Citizen and Bumkin in Two Parts._
_Further Discovery of the Plot._
_Discovery on Discovery._
_Narrative of the Plot._
Zekiel _and_ Ephraim.
_Appeal to the King and Parliament._
_Papist in Masquerade._
_Answer to the Second Character of a Popish Successor._

These Twenty Six, with divers others, he writ in Quarto; Besides which
he wrote divers others, _viz._

_The History of the Plot, in_ Folio.
Quevedo's _Visions Englished_, Octavo.
Erasmus's _Coloquies Eng._. Oct.
Seneca's _Morals_, Oct.
Cicero's _Offices in English_.
_The Guide to Eternity_, _in_ Twelves.
_Five Love Letters from a Nun to a Cave_, &c.
_The Holy Cheat._
_Caveat to the Cavaliers._
_Plea for the Caveat and the Author._

Besides his indefatigable pains taken in writing the _Observator_, a
Work, which for Vindicating the Royal Interest, and undeceiving the
People, considering the corruption of the Times, of as great use and
behoof as may be, mens minds having been before so poysoned by
Fanatical Principles, that it is almost an _Herculean_ Work to reduce
them again by Reason, or as we may more properly say, to Reason. Of
which useful Work he hath done already Two large Volumes, and a Third
almost compleated, his Pen being never weary in Service of his Country.

But should I go about to enumerate all the Works of this worthy
Gentleman, I should run my self into an irrecoverable Labyrinth. Nor is
he less happy in his Verse than Prose, which for Elegancy of Language,
and quickness of Invention, deservedly entitles him to the honour of a
Poet; and therefore I shall forbear to write more of him, since what I
can do upon that account, comes infinitely far short of his deservings.


_FINIS._

Copyright (c) 2007. bestextbooks.com. All rights reserved.

Various - "The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 42, August 26, 1897"

William Carleton - "The Black Baronet; or, The Chronicles Of Ballytrain"

Thomas Gray - "An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard (1751) and The Eton College Manuscript"

Sigmund Freud - "Dream Psychology"

Obituary: Donald Westlake
Articles published by guardian.co.uk Books

Theatre review: Three Women, Jermyn Street, London
Obituary: Prolific crime novelist, Oscar-nominated screenwriter and man of many pseudonyms

Obama to feature in Marvel comic

We do not know the women's names, but their voices are quite distinct. All are pregnant. But while the first woman awaits the birth of her baby with a moon-like serenity, the other two are not so lucky. One, whose previous pregnancies have failed to go to term, is experiencing a heartbreaking late miscarriage; the other is a young student whose accidental pregnancy will end in her child being put up for adoption.

Sylvia Plath's only play was never intended for the stage, being broadcast instead on BBC radio in August 1962. Less than six months later, Plath killed herself, but not before the burst of astonishing creative energy that produced her extraordinary, terrifying Ariel poems.

Anyone who knows Plath's poetry will see the connection between Three Women and Plath's subsequent poems, particularly in the way she talks about the agony of childbirth, the rush of love for this tiny alien being, and both the wonder and wounded rawness of motherhood. It is a beautiful piece, full of startling imagery that draws you in through the sheer intensity of its femaleness, and because it so precisely articulates the emotions that are often thought but seldom voiced by women - certainly not in the early 1960s - about men, motherhood and our relationship to our bodies.

It's been 20 years since there has been an attempt at a professional stage version and - in a theatre world that happily accepts the poetic offerings of Sarah Kane and Debbie Tucker Green, or the staged possibilities of The Waves, one of Plath's own inspirations for the piece, I see no reason why it shouldn't be brought to life. Sadly, it doesn't breathe here, in a production by Robert Shaw that is clearly a labour of love, but which never finds a way to give the internal a physical reality. Plath's poetry, like most babies, is more robust than it appears - and won't break if treated with a little less reverence and considerably more grit.

Instead, what we are offered is tinkling piano music, mournful mood lighting, an innocuous pale setting, as well as three perfectly good but indisputably ladylike performances that capture none of the wounded redness of Plath's poetry, and do her the disservice of making her sound bleached and somewhat prissy. It's a pity. What might have been a wonder ends up a mere curiosity.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds