Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SONNET: 67. ON DR. JOHNSON'S UNJUST CRITICISM IN 'LIVES OF THE POETS', by ANNA SEWARD


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SONNET: 67. ON DR. JOHNSON'S UNJUST CRITICISM IN 'LIVES OF THE POETS', by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Could aweful johnson want poetic ear
Last Line: That lift the mean, and lay the mighty low.
Alternate Author Name(s): Seward, Nancy
Subject(s): Garrick, David (1717-1779); Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)


Could aweful JOHNSON want poetic ear,
Fancy, or judgment?—no! his splendid strain,
In prose, or rhyme, confutes that plea.—The pain
Which writh'd o'er GARRICK'S fortunes, shows us clear
Whence all his spleen to Genius.—Ill to bear
A Friend's renown, that to his own must reign,
Compar'd, a Meteor's evanescent train,
To Jupiter's fix'd orb, proves that each sneer,
Subtle and fatal to poetic Sense,
Did from insidious Envy meanly flow,
Illumed with dazzling hues of eloquence,
And Sophist-Wit, that labour to o'er-throw
Th' awards of Ages, and new laws dispense
That lift the mean, and lay the Mighty low.





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