John Dryden
John Dryden
John Drydenwas an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made England's first Poet Laureate in 1668...
action genius pains taught
Time, place, and action may with pains be wrought, But Genius must be born; and never can be taught
action common graceful interest seldom
Youth, beauty, graceful action, seldom fail:/ But common interest always will prevail.
people action common
Youth, beauty, graceful action seldom fail: But common interest always will prevail; And pity never ceases to be shown To him who makes the people's wrongs his own.
character farce action
A farce is that in poetry which grotesque (caricature) is in painting. The persons and actions of a farce are all unnatural, and the manners false, that is, inconsistent with the characters of mankind; and grotesque painting is the just resemblance of this.
close eyes far meet sit souls touch
Our souls sit close and silently within, And their own webs from their own entrails spin; And when eyes meet far off, our sense is such, That, spider-like, we feel the tenderest touch
mercy reason rule
Reason to rule but mercy to forgive: the first is law; the last, prerogative.
false whipped
Who, for false quantities, was whipped at school.
candidate heaven
While yet a young probationer, / And candidate of heaven.
heaps
To see and to be seen, in heaps they run; / Some to undo, and some to be undone.
bones corners four rattling together
When rattling bones together fly, / From the four corners of the sky.
earth kindly welcome
Welcome as kindly showers to the long parched earth.
few inhabited knowing
Look around the inhabited world; how few know their own good, or knowing it, pursue.
condensed deeper english-poet words
If you be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams - the more they are condensed the deeper they burn.
bound
To live at ease, and not be bound to think.