Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Lectures on Poetry: Read in the Schools of Natural Philosophy at Oxford
    Lectures on Poetry: Read in the Schools of Natural Philosophy at Oxford
    Lectures on Poetry: Read in the Schools of Natural Philosophy at Oxford
    Ebook465 pages6 hours

    Lectures on Poetry: Read in the Schools of Natural Philosophy at Oxford

    By Joseph Trapp

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    "Lectures on Poetry" by Joseph Trapp. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGood Press
    Release dateDec 6, 2019
    ISBN4064066234577
    Lectures on Poetry: Read in the Schools of Natural Philosophy at Oxford

    Read more from Joseph Trapp

    Related to Lectures on Poetry

    Related ebooks

    Poetry For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Clued Up

      Mar 4, 2021

      To mark the centenary of Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which was published in America in 1920, Writing Magazine poets took up the challenge to write about her life and works, and what her books have meant to the reading and viewi

      4 min read

    • Article

      How The Sonnet Turns

      May 1, 2020

      This essay is adapted from a lecture delivered at the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, on January 10, 2010, at the winter residency. My thanks to The American Poetry Review for their graceful and gracious assistance in the adaptation

      30 min read

    • Article

      Writing The Art

      Mar 2, 2023

      Writing The Art
      4 min read

    • Article

      Brave New Worlds

      Jan 7, 2021

      Brave New Worlds
      4 min read

    • Article

      Glimpses of Wonderland

      Jul 6, 2023

      Glimpses of Wonderland
      4 min read

    • Article

      Wonderful Things

      Sep 7, 2023

      SHORTLISTED IN WM’S TUTANKHAMUN POETRY COMPETITION WERE: Guy Carter, Petersfield, Hampshire; Christine Griffin, Hucclecote, Gloucester; Sarah Das Gupta, Mamuden, Essex; Tracey Kitchen, Daventry, Northamptonshire; Lesley Mason, Norwich, Norfolk; Julie

      5 min read

    • Article

      Back Draft: Emily Wilson

      Feb 24, 2020

      Back Draft: Emily Wilson
      6 min read

    • Article

      Wheels Turn

      Nov 4, 2021

      Wheels Turn
      4 min read

    • Article

      Stars Come Out

      Nov 3, 2022

      Stars Come Out
      5 min read

    • Article

      A Poet’s Craft

      Jan 1, 2020

      To begin with a definition: A poem is a text structurally constrained by the repetition of any language element(s). The continuum of poetic constraint is extensive, stretching from operations that a reader will find completely imperceptible to overwh

      9 min read

    • Article

      Best Of The Bunch

      May 6, 2021

      Best Of The Bunch
      5 min read

    • Article

      FLICKERS APR Books

      Sep 1, 2019

      FLICKERS APR Books
      16 min read

    • Article

      Wide Open Wordsmiths

      May 5, 2022

      Wide Open Wordsmiths
      5 min read

    • Article

      Where Is Poetry Now?

      Aug 15, 2018

      Where Is Poetry Now?
      6 min read

    • Article

      What Makes a Poet Difficult?

      May 28, 2019

      What Makes a Poet Difficult?
      6 min read

    • Article

      Power To The Poem

      Jul 6, 2023

      Power To The Poem
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Writing Wisdom of Derek Walcott

      Mar 20, 2017

      “The future happens,” says the philosopher in Derek Walcott’s stage retelling of Homer’s Odyssey, “No matter how much we scream.” Walcott died on Friday at the age of 87—and instead of screaming, I’m feeling grateful towards this great poet, playwrig

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Language the Poet Knows

      Dec 11, 2018

      The Language the Poet Knows
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Siren’s Call

      Dec 3, 2020

      The Siren’s Call
      4 min read

    • Article

      Chinese Rhymes

      Mar 28, 2018

      Everybody who cares anything for old poetry in English knows how it feels—knows how awful it feels—when a poem is rhyming away and then suddenly the rhyme goes off the rails for a second because English pronunciation has changed since the time the po

      6 min read

    • Article

      Fertile Furrows

      Nov 2, 2023

      Fertile Furrows
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Poetry Of Perseverance

      Aug 15, 2018

      The Poetry Of Perseverance
      11 min read

    • Article

      Septet as Memoir

      Apr 8, 2024

      Septet as Memoir
      6 min read

    • Article

      What's The Story?

      Jan 20, 2023

      MAKING MARKS, moments and memories as cultural touchstones and pieces of history; art and literature have many similarities, not least because they both create – if not new worlds – then certainly new ways of seeing. Art and literature also have a si

      4 min read

    • Article

      What's The Story?

      Jan 20, 2023

      MAKING MARKS, moments and memories as cultural touchstones and pieces of history; art and literature have many similarities, not least because they both create – if not new worlds – then certainly new ways of seeing. Art and literature also have a si

      4 min read

    • Article

      Wide Open Brief

      May 4, 2023

      Wide Open Brief
      5 min read

    • Article

      Glaring Omissions Of A Whistle-stop Tour

      Nov 25, 2021

      WHILE THE REPUTATION OF some critics is held aloft by their own wind, John Carey’s rests on sterner stuff. As a reviewer for the Sunday Times and the author of books about Dickens, Donne, and others, Carey is one of the cleverest and most entertainin

      4 min read

    • Article

      Joys Forever

      Jul 1, 2021

      Joys Forever
      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Lectures on Poetry

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Lectures on Poetry - Joseph Trapp

      Joseph Trapp

      Lectures on Poetry

      Read in the Schools of Natural Philosophy at Oxford

      Published by Good Press, 2022

      goodpress@okpublishing.info

      EAN 4064066234577

      Table of Contents

      ERRATA.

      LECTURE I.

      LECTURE II, and III. Of the Nature and Origin of Poetry in general.

      LECTURE IV, V, VI, VII. Of the Style of Poetry.

      LECTURE VIII, IX, X, XI. Of the Beauty of Thought in Poetry; or of Elegance and Sublimity.

      LECTURE XII. Of Epigram, and other lighter Species of Poetry.

      LECTURE XIII. Of Elegy.

      LECTURE XIV. Of Pastorals.

      LECTURE XV. Of Didactic or Preceptive Poetry .

      LECTURE XVI. Of Lyric Poetry .

      LECTURE XVII, XVIII. Of Satire .

      LECTURE XIX, &c. Of the Drama in general .

      LECTURE XXIII, &c. Of Comedy .

      LECTURE XXVI, &c. Of Tragedy .

      LECTURE XXIX, &c. Of Epic , or Heroic Poetry .

      CONCLUSION.

      N. B. The several Passages cited from Virgil are printed in English from Dr. Trapp's Version. The other Poetical Translations without a Name, the Editor is to be accountable for, tho' he wishes he had as good a Title to the Excellence of two or three of them as he has to the Imperfections of the rest.

      The Notes added to this English Edition are distinguish'd thus * or thus †; whereas those that were before in the Latin are referr'd to by Letters a, b, c, etc.

      ERRATA.

      Table of Contents

      LECTURES ON

      POETRY, &c.

      The ORATION upon entering into the

      Professorship

      , or First

      Lecture

      .

      LECTURE I.

      Table of Contents

      Altho', Gentlemen, I am sensible of the Obligation you have laid upon me, by making Choice of me to fill this Office, esteeming it an Honour to receive Commands, much more Favours from so venerable a Body; yet I must own myself under some Concern, when I consider that I enter into a Province unattempted by others, and wherein I have no Footsteps to guide me. For so it has happen'd, that tho' all other Sciences the World can boast of, have had their Instructors and Professors in this most flourishing University;

      Poetry

      alone, neglected, as it were, and overlook'd, has hitherto wanted Schools for her Reception. 'Twas much, indeed, that in the very Seat of the Muses that Art shou'd have found none, which the Muses esteem above all others, and claim as their peculiar Property: With You it has always been its Choice to live, and with You it always has liv'd; but has wanted, however, a fix'd Habitation, and (if I may speak more poetically) has wander'd here among other Sciences, as Delos, Apollo's native Place, did among the Ægean Islands, till that excellent Gentleman, whose Munificence I now commemorate, like another Apollo, fix'd its Situation, and honour'd it with an Establishment.

      But to omit these imaginary Flights, and to represent Things without any Colouring, What Thanks are due to him, who has render'd himself a perpetual Mæcenas, not only to Poets, but to Poetry itself; who has bestow'd Honours upon that Art, which adds the greatest to whatever is meritorious; who has prescribed it Laws, and secured to it a Patrimony? But still without a Patrimony it had almost been, if the reverend and worthy Trustees[1] of the Muses Legacy had not to the Patron's Benevolence contributed no small Assistance of their own, and deserved little less Praise by receding from their Due, than the other, by his original Settlement. One of them[2], especially, who, as he is himself no small Part of our University, and of that venerable Assembly, and has an Intercourse with both, makes use of it to promote Good-will and Friendship mutually between them. How near had the Poetical Revenues been lost, if they had not been in the Hands of Men therefore the most zealous for Learning and the University, because they were adorned with the Insignia of each? If these good Men reject our Praises, at least let them permit us to return our Thanks. To the Living, then, we gratefully pay the Tribute of Gratitude; to the Deceased, whose Gift they augmented, that of Glory.

      He well knew that Poetry did not boast so much of her learned Poverty (noted even to a Proverb) as utterly to reject all Acquisitions. He knew, moreover, that it was no less capable of Rules than other Arts, and no less deserving of them; that it proceeded upon certain Principles, which were founded upon Truth and right Reason; that our Master Aristotle, who has accurately treated of the other Sciences, and whose Authority we follow in them all, had bestowed likewise some of his Pains on this, and has left upon no Subject greater Monuments, either of Extent of Genius, or of Care and Application.

      They therefore lie under a great Mistake, that think Poetry suited only to the Theatre, and would have it banished from the Schools, as of too unbounded a Nature to submit to the Regulation of Precept. Rage, indeed, is its Property; but a Rage altogether divine; not deviating from Reason, but rendering it more ornamental and sublime. It may be said, likewise, to be a Fire; not like our consuming ones, but like those of the celestial Orbs above, that have not only the Qualities of Heat and Brightness, but maintaining one uniform Course, are carried round their Orbits at once with equal Swiftness and Regularity.

      We see, then, it is no Absurdity to have Rules prescribed to this Art. And what could have been thought of, of so delicate and refined a Nature, as the Office of prescribing them? What more worthy of an University to accept, or a Courtier to appoint? A Courtier, I say, for in the City he was an Ornament to the Court; as in the University he was to that House, which has always had the Credit of abounding, and we still have the Comfort of seeing it abound with Gentlemen of the most distinguish'd Wit, Birth, and good Manners. I am sure no Gift could have been more becoming a Friend of the Muses to bestow, and he was not only an Admirer, but an Intimate of them; not only a Lover of their Art, but a skilful Practitioner in it; nor could any one so properly make Poetry his Heir, as a Poet.

      He knew, by Experience, that no Pleasure was equal to the reading ancient Poets, except that of imitating them. Happy they, that can partake of both; but the former ought to be the Employment of all, that desire to have any Taste for Letters, or Politeness. Some there are, however, to whom these Studies are disagreeable, and who endeavour to make them so to others: This is not owing to any Fault in Poetry, but in themselves. Formed as they are of coarse Materials, they have naturally a Disposition either slow and frozen, callous and unpolite, or harsh and morose; so, forsooth, whilst they would appear grave, as they are, they maliciously hate, or superciliously contemn these Exercises, as the great Disturbers of their Peace. They condemn what they know nothing of; and despise the Pleasure they want a Capacity to enjoy.

      But if at least they pay any Deference to Antiquity (and with these Men nothing uses to be more sacred, looking upon every Thing with the greater Veneration, the more antient it is) they ought on this Account to allow the Art we are speaking of its due Honours. For not to urge that Poetry is coeval with the World itself, and that the Creator may be said in working up and finishing his beautiful Poem of the Universe, to have performed the Part of a Poet, no less than of a Geometrician[3]; it is well known, that those Books have had the greatest Sanction from Time, that have been dictated by God, or writ by Poets. Those, as it is fit, have the Precedence: But these follow at no very great Distance.

      Nay, why should we make this Difference between the sacred Writers and Poets, since the sacred Writers were most of them Poets; on both Accounts deservedly called Vates (a Word

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1