1758 in poetry

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Oliver Goldsmith's "poetical scale"

In the January 1758 edition of the Literary Magazine, an anonymous writer widely believed to be English poet and author Oliver Goldsmith presented a table comparing 29 English poets, rating them on a scale in each of four aspects of literary greatness. [5] A score of 20 was literary perfection. [6] Some of his estimations: [5]

GeniusJudgementLearningVersification
Geoffrey Chaucer 16121014
Edmund Spenser 18121418
William Shakespeare 19141419
Ben Jonson 1618178
Abraham Cowley 17171517
Edmund Waller 12121016
John Milton 18161718
John Dryden 18161718
Joseph Addison 16181717
Matthew Prior 16161517
Alexander Pope 18181519

Some other poets Goldsmith placed on the scale: Michael Drayton, Lee, Aaron Hill, Nicholas Rowe, Garth, Southern and Hughes. John Donne was not listed, because, wrote Goldsmith, "Dr Donne was a man of wit, but he seems to have been at pains not to pass for a poet." [7] (See also Mark Akenside's "Balance of Poets" of 1746.)

Births

Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

Deaths

Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Cox, Michael, editor, The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature, Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN   0-19-860634-6
  2. Ludwig, Richard M., and Clifford A. Nault, Jr., Annals of American Literature: 16021983, 1986, New York: Oxford University Press
  3. Davis, Cynthia J., and Kathryn West, Women Writers in the United States: A Timeline of Literary, Cultural, and Social History, Oxford University Press US, 1996 ISBN   978-0-19-509053-6, retrieved via Google Books on February 7, 2009
  4. Wakil Ahmed (2012). "Heyat Mamud". In Sirajul Islam; Miah, Sajahan; Khanam, Mahfuza; Ahmed, Sabbir (eds.). Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Online ed.). Dhaka, Bangladesh: Banglapedia Trust, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. ISBN   984-32-0576-6. OCLC   52727562. OL   30677644M . Retrieved 23 May 2025.
  5. 1 2 Mark Van Doren, John Dryden: A Study of His Poetry, pp 249-250, Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, second edition, 1946 ("First Midland Book edition 1960")
  6. Prior, James, The Life of Oliver Goldsmith, M. B.: from a variety of original sources p 231, London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1837, retrieved via Google Books on February 11, 2010
  7. John Donne: The Critical Heritage, Volume 1, p 236, Routledge, 1996, ISBN   978-0-415-13412-5, retrieved via Google Books on February 11, 2010