John Dryden
John Dryden
John Drydenwas an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made England's first Poet Laureate in 1668...
age begin time tis
Tis well an old age is out, And time to begin a new.
age beast begin brought chase lovers piece thy time wars
All, all of a piece throughout; / Thy chase had a beast in view; / Thy wars brought nothing about; / Thy lovers were all untrue. / 'Tis well an old age is out, / And time to begin a new.
beginnings mighty small viewing
By viewing Nature, Nature's handmaid, art, makes mighty things from small beginnings grow.
power grows small-beginnings
Mighty things from small beginnings grow.
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.
action genius pains taught
Time, place, and action may with pains be wrought, But Genius must be born; and never can be taught
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.