 If by a more noble and more adequate conception that be considered as wit which is at once natural and new, that which, though not obvious, is, upon its first production, acknowledged to be just: if it be that which he that never found it wonders how...  Studies in Philology - Page 971925Full view - About this book
 | 1906 - 466 pages
...what oft was thought," for the shock they give proves that they are not mere platitudes, but " that which though not obvious is upon its first production acknowledged to be just." In style La Eochefoucauld's ideal is that of Balzac and the Pr&ieuses. He cultivated the art of writing... | |
 | Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh, Walter Raleigh - 1910 - 210 pages
...descriptions not descending to minuteness. If that be considered as Wit which is at once natural and new, that which though not obvious is, upon its first production,...this kind the metaphysical poets have seldom risen. If their conceits were far-fetched, they were often worth the carriage. To write on their plan it was... | |
 | Richard Pape Cowl - English poetry - 1914 - 346 pages
...adequate conception, that wit defined. [may] be considered as wit which is at once natural and new, that which, though not obvious, is, upon its first production, acknowledged to be just . . . that which he that never found it, wonders how he missed. . . . a kind of discordia concors;... | |
 | Hans Meier - 1916 - 124 pages
...XII. 138) M. II, 6. 139) Ra. 150, 103. l*0) BJ I, 454. 1«) Ra. 154. 142) L. I, 213. 143) L. I, 36. though not obvious is, upon its first production, acknowledged to be just. Streng genommen ist Wit, abstracted from its effects upon the hearer, — a kind of discordiaconco... | |
 | William Tenney Brewster - English literature - 1907 - 424 pages
...noble and more adequate conception that be considered as wit which is at once natural and new, that which, though not obvious, is, upon its first production,...wit of this kind the metaphysical poets have seldom j risen. Their thoughts are often new, but seldom natural ; they I are not obvious, but neither are... | |
 | United States - 1922 - 616 pages
...still helpful. The true matter of poetry, he says, is that "which is at once natural and new, that which, though not obvious, is, upon its first production, acknowledged to be just." It is here that the poet always exercises one of the greatest functions of his genius, in preserving... | |
 | D. H. Rawlinson - Literary Criticism - 1968 - 254 pages
...difficulty. They are, to adapt a phrase of Johnson's, that which ' is at once natural and new, that which, though not obvious, is, upon its first production, acknowledged to be just'. But Hardy's poetry contains eccentricities of language of a sort we are not always ready to accept... | |
 | Meyer Howard Abrams - Literary Criticism - 1971 - 420 pages
...definition' expressed as a union of extremes. Wit, he says, is that 'which is at once natural and new,' and 'though not obvious, is, upon its first production, acknowledged to be just. . .'" (Johnson's doctrine might be paraphrased in this way: the best thoughts in poetry are so proportionable... | |
 | David Daiches - 1979 - 336 pages
...noble and more adequate conception that be considered as wit which is at once natural and new, that which, though not obvious, is, upon its first production,...this kind the metaphysical poets have seldom risen." Here his definition is used as a means of criticizing adversely the metaphysical poets, but it is none... | |
 | Roger Fowler - Literary Criticism - 1987 - 276 pages
...of the seventcenth century, he gave two of the most widelv quoted critical defiintions of wit: 'that which though not obvious, is, upon its first production, acknowledged to be just; a kind of discordia concors . . .'. 1t is perhaps more important, however, to sec the prizing of wit... | |
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