Dryden, John, 1631-1700 / 2008-06-22 00:00:00

EBOOK POETICAL WORKS OF DRYDEN VOL II ***


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POETICAL WORKS
OF
JOHN DRYDEN.


With Life, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes,
BY THE
REV. GEORGE GILFILLAN.

VOL. II.


M. DCCC. LV.

CRITICAL ESTIMATE
OF THE
GENIUS AND POETICAL WORKS OF JOHN DRYDEN.

In our Life of Dryden we promised to say something about the question,
how far is a poet, particularly in the moral tendency and taste of his
writings, to be tried--and either condemned or justified--by the
character and spirit of his age? To a rapid consideration of this
question we now proceed, before examining the constituent elements or
the varied fruits of the poet's genius.
And here, unquestionably, there are extremes, which every critic should
avoid. Some imagine that a writer of a former century should be tried,
either by the standard which prevails in the cultured and civilised
nineteenth, or by the exposition of moral principles and practice which
is to be found in the Scriptures.
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