Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham

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Denham
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Title: Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham
Author: Edmund Waller; John Denham
Release Date: May 10, 2004 [EBook #12322]
Language: English
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Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Carol David and PG Distributed ProofreadersPOETICAL WORKS
OF
EDMUND WALLER
AND
SIR JOHN DENHAM.
WITH MEMOIR AND DISSERTATION,
BY THE
REV. GEORGE GILFILLAN.
M.DCCC.LVII.THE
LIFE OF EDMUND WALLER.
It is too true, after all, that the lives of poets are not, in general, very interesting. Could we, indeed, trace the private
workings of their souls, and read the pages of their mental and moral development, no biographies could be richer in
instruction, and even entertainment, than those of our greater bards. The inner life of every true poet must be poetical. But
in proportion to the romance of their souls' story, is often the commonplace of their outward career. There have been
poets, however, whose lives are quite as readable and as instructive as their poetry, and have even shed a reflex and
powerful interest on their writings. The interest of such lives has, in general, ...