The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Volume 2 - With Life, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by John Dryden
page 73 of 458 (15%)
page 73 of 458 (15%)
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But glaring on remoter objects play'd;
Not languish'd, and insensibly decay'd. Rome raised not art, but barely kept alive, And with old Greece unequally did strive: Till Goths, and Vandals, a rude northern race, Did all the matchless monuments deface. Then all the Muses in one ruin be, And rhyme began to enervate poetry. 50 Thus, in a stupid military state, The pen and pencil find an equal fate. Flat faces, such as would disgrace a screen, Such as in Bantam's embassy were seen, Unraised, unrounded, were the rude delight Of brutal nations only born to fight. Long time, the sister arts, in iron sleep, A heavy sabbath did supinely keep: At length, in Raphael's age, at once they rise, Stretch all their limbs, and open all their eyes. 60 Thence rose the Roman, and the Lombard line: One colour'd best, and one did best design. Raphael's, like Homer's, was the nobler part, But Titian's painting look'd like Virgil's art. Thy genius gives thee both; where true design, Postures unforced, and lively colours join. Likeness is ever there; but still the best, Like proper thoughts in lofty language dress'd: |
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