A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century by Henry A. Beers
page 81 of 468 (17%)
page 81 of 468 (17%)
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allegorical way (next to 'The Fairy Queen') in the English language."
William Wilkie, a Scotch minister and professor, of eccentric habits and untidy appearance, published, in 1759, "A Dream: in the Manner of Spenser," which may be mentioned here not for its own sake, but for the evidence that it affords of a growing impatience of classical restraints. The piece was a pendant to Wilkie's epic, the "Epigoniad." Walking by the Tweed, the poet falls asleep and has a vision of Homer, who reproaches him with the bareness of style in his "Epigoniad." The dreamer puts the blame upon the critics, "Who tie the muses to such rigid laws That all their songs are frivolous and poor." Shakspere, indeed, "Broke all the cobweb limits fixed by fools"; but the only reward of his boldness "Is that our dull, degenerate age of lead Says that he wrote by chance, and that he scare could read." One of the earlier Spenserians was Gilbert West, the translator of Pindar, who published, in 1739, "On the Abuse of Travelling: A Canto in Imitation of Spenser."[27] Another imitation, "Education," appeared in 1751. West was a very tame poet, and the only quality of Spenser's which he succeeded in catching was his prolixity. He used the allegorical machinery of the "Faƫrie Queene" for moral and mildly satirical ends. Thus, in "The Abuse of Traveling," the Red Cross Knight is induced by |
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