E'en Copious Dryden Wanted Or Forgot The Last And Greatest Art,--the Art To Blot.

Home › Fortune Cookies › Miscellaneous Collections

E'en copious Dryden wanted or forgot
The last and greatest art,--the art to blot.
-- Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
-- Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace, Epistle i, Book ii, Line 280

Waller was smooth; but Dryden taught to join The varying verse, the full resounding line, The long majestic march, and energy divine.
The mob of gentlemen who wrote with ease.
Above all Greek, above all Roman fame.
Authors, like coins, grow dear as they grow old.
Praise undeserv'd is scandal in disguise.
Who says in verse what others say in prose.
The vulgar boil, the learned roast, an egg.
Words that wise Bacon or brave Raleigh spoke.
Years following years steal something every day; At last they steal us from ourselves away.

E'en Copious Dryden Wanted Or Forgot The Last And Greatest Art,--the Art To Blot.

Related: