- Abercrombie, Lascelles, 197 n., 201 n.
- Addison, Joseph, 21
- “Ælla” (T. Chatterton’s), 163
- Akenside, Mark, 16, 27, 69-70, 138-9, 189, 195
- Dr. Johnson’s criticism, 16
- “Epistle to Curio,” 195
- Latinism, 69-70
- Personification, 138-9
- “Pleasures of the Imagination,” 69
- “Alma” (M. Prior’s), 75
- “Amyntor and Theodora,” 142
- “Anti-Jacobin, The,” 173 n.
- “Approach of Summer, The,” 179
- “Archaism,” 17-21, 80-101
- Aristotle, 10-12, 185
- Armstrong, John, 69-70, 110
- Arnold, Matthew, 2, 41, 181, 198, 201
- “Art of Preserving Health,” 69, 110
- Babbitt, I., 13 n., 203 n.
- Bailey, J. C., 169 n.
- Ballads, 95-7, 196
- Barfield, Owen, 202 n.
- “Bastard, The,” 111
- Beattie, James, 19, 93 n., 125
- Beers, H. A., 97 n.
- “Beowulf, The,” 104 n.
- Binyon, Laurence, 13 n.
- “Biographia Literaria,” 13 n., 24 n., 48 n., 51 n., 127 n., 156 n., 173 n., 185 n.
- “Birth of Flattery, The” (G. Crabbe’s), 168
- Blair, Robert, 110, 176 n.
- Blake, William, 28, 46-7, 77, 99, 124, 129, 136-59, 163-7, 179-80, 181, 187 n., 198, 202
- Allegory and Vision, remarks on, 165
- Artist, as, 136, 159 n.
- Compounds, 124, 129
- Felicity of diction, 46-7, 202
- “Imitation of Spenser,” 47, 165
- “Letters,” 47 n., 164 n., 187 n.
- “Muses, To the,” 47
- Mysticism, 164
- Personifications, 163-7, 179-80
- “Piper, The,” 202
- “Songs of Experience,” 46, 165 n., 166
- “Songs of Innocence,” 46, 165
- Stock diction, 46-7
- Blount, T., 93
- Boswell’s “Life of Johnson,” 16 n.
- “Botanic Garden” (E. Darwin’s), 12, 51-2, 126, 173-5
- Bowles, William Lisle, 48
- Boyce, S., 162
- Bruce, Michael, 122
- Burns, Robert, 28, 100, 198
- Bysshe, Edward, 30
- “By-ways Round Helicon”, 195 n.
- Campbell, Dykes, 128 n.
- Canning, George, 139, 173 n.
- Capell, Edward, 95-6
- “Castaway, The,” 49, 170
- “Castle of Indolence,” 90-2, 161
- Chapman, George, 105
- “Charge to the Poets” (W. Whitehead’s), 20 n.
- “Chase, The” (W. Somerville’s), 68, 110, 142
- Chatterton, Thomas, 19, 42-3, 97-8, 123-4, 162-3
- Compounds, 123-4
- Personifications, 162-3
- “Rowley Poems,” 97-8
- Stock diction, 42-3
- Chaucer, Geoffrey, 26, 84-6, 133
- Chaucerian imitations, 84-6
- Chesterfield, Lord, 20
- “Child of Quality, Lines to” (M. Prior’s), 195
- “Choice, The” (J. Pomfret’s), 195
- Churchill, John, 139-40, 169-70
- Classical literature (connexion with romantic), 181-2
- Coleridge, H. N., 156 n.
- Coleridge, S. T., 1, 13, 24, 31, 32, 51, 100, 127-8, 156, 173, 182, 193, 204
- Archaisms, 100
- Compounds, 127-8
- Darwin, E., remarks, on, 13, 173
- Gray’s personifications, on, 156
- Imagination, on, 13
- “Letters,” 173 n.
- Pope’s style, on, 24, 32, 193
- Collins, William, 16, 40-1, 71, 98, 116-7, 129, 149, 150-5, 166, 167, 191, 196
- Archaisms, 98
- Compounds, 116-7, 129
- Dr. Johnson’s criticisms of, 16, 40, 151
- “Odes,” 149 n., 150-5
- Personifications, 150-5, 166, 167, 178, 179, 191
- Romantic forerunner, a, 196
- Stock diction, 40-1
- Compound epithets, 4, 102-31, 204
- “Convention and Revolt in Poetry,” 200 n.
- Courthope, W. J., 9 n., 17 n., 45 n., 50 n., 57 n., 133 n., 149 n., 194 n.
- Coventry, F., 147
- Cowper, William, 20, 24, 31, 48-50, 73-4, 76, 126, 168-73
- Archaism, on, 20
- Compounds, 126
- Familiar style, on the, 24
- “Homer” translation, 48, 74, 126
- Latinism, 73-5
- “Letters,” 20 n., 48 n., 74 n.
- “Olney Hymns,” 49, 169
- Personifications, 169-73, 179
- Stock diction, 48-9
- “Table Talk,” 49
- “Task, The,” 49, 73-4, 170-1
- Crabbe, George, 50-1, 124-5, 167-8, 179, 195, 204
- Compounds, 124-5
- Dryden’s style, on, 204
- Personifications, 167-8, 179
- Stock diction, 50-1
- Croxall, Samuel, 93 n.
- Cunningham, John, 27, 189
- Darwin, Erasmus, 12, 37, 51-2, 53, 120, 173-5
- Davenant, Sir William, 21
- Denham, Sir John, 15
- Dennis, John, 11 n.
- De Quincey, Thomas, 52
- “Descriptive Sketches,” 52, 175, 176 n.
- “Deserted Village, The,” 45-6, 111-2, 195
- Diderot, Denis, 203
- Dodsley, Robert, 147, 195
- Doughty, Oswald, 98 n., 195 n.
- Drayton, Michael, 107
- Drinkwater, John, 9 n.
- Dryden, John, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, 18, 21, 22, 26-7, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 36, 58-9, 81-2, 83, 105-6, 109, 134, 181, 194, 204
- “Annus Mirabilis,” 8
- Archaisms, 18, 81-2
- Chaucer “translations,” 26-7
- Compounds, 105-6
- “Essays” and “Prefaces,” 7-11
- “Hind and Panther,” 195
- Language of poetry, on, 8-9
- Latinism, 58-9
- Periphrasis, use of, 28, 33
- Personifications, 134
- “Religio Laici,” 194
- Royal Society, 7
- Satire, 106, 140
- Technical terms, on, 21
- “Duellist, The” (Charles Churchill’s), 140 n.
- Dyer, John, 39, 70, 109, 142, 188-9
- Earle, J., 35 n.
- “Economy of Vegetation,” 12, 126, 173-4
- Edmonds, C., 173 n.
- “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” 42, 72, 157, 159, 195, 198
- “Eloisa to Abelard,” 134
- Elton, Oliver, 10 n., 135 n., 182 n., 186 n., 197 n.
- Emerson, O., 104 n.
- “English Lyric in the Age of Reason,” 195
- “Enthusiast, The,” 71, 121, 149
- “Epistle to Curio” (M. Akenside’s), 195 n.
- Epithalamium (W. Thompson’s), 160
- “Essay on Criticism,” 9-10, 29 n., 195
- “Eton College, Ode on a Distant View of,” 156
- Evelyn, John, 7
- “Evening, Ode to,” 41, 116, 155
- “Evening Walk, The,” 52, 127, 175-6
- “Excursion, The” (David Mallet’s), 142
- “Faerie Queene,” 87, 94, 99, 133, 159-60, 192
- Falconer, William, 22, 43-4
- “Fleece, The,” (J. Dyer’s), 39, 70
- Fletcher, Giles, 57
- Fletcher, Phineas, 57
- “Fugitive Poets” (Bell’s), 122, 147 n., 195
- Furetière, Antoine, 5
- Gay, John, 33, 109
- Gibbon, Edward, 198
- Glanvill, Joseph, 7
- Goldsmith, Oliver, 14-15, 20, 44-6, 72, 111-2, 140-1, 195
- Archaism, on, 20
- Compounds, in, 117-8
- Diction of poetry, on, 15
- Latinism, 72-3
- Personifications, 141-2, 179
- Stock diction, 44-6
- Graeme, James, 122
- Grainger, James, 70, 110, 142
- “Grave,” the (Robert Blair’s), 110
- Gray, Thomas, 8, 16-17, 18-19, 21-2, 31, 41-2, 67, 71-2, 93 n., 98-9, 117-20, 146, 155-9, 177, 196
- Archaisms, on, 18-19, 98-9
- Coinages, on, 21
- Compounds, 117-20
- Diction of poetry, on, 8, 16-17
- “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” 42, 72, 157, 159, 195, 198
- Latinism, 71-2
- Letters, 8 n., 16 n.
- Personifications, 155-9, 177, 191
- Plain colloquial style, 17, 195
- Romantic forerunner, A, 150, 196
- Stock diction, 41-2
- Technical terms, on, 22
- Grierson, H. J. C., 159 n.
- “Grongar Hill,” 39, 109, 184, 188, 190
- Hamilton, William (of Bangor), 146
- Hill, G. B., 8 n., 15 n., 16 n., 23 n., 112 n., 151 n.
- “Hind and Panther, The,” 195
- “Horror, Ode to,” 148
- Hughes, John, 83
- Hume, David, 198
- Hutchinson, T., 52 n., 68 n., 97 n., 132 n., 176 n.
- “Hymn to May” (W. Thompson’s), 160
- “Il Bellicoso,” 147
- “Il Pacifico,” 147
- “Il Penseroso,” 71, 176
- “Inebriety,” 167
- Jago, R., 122
- Johnson, Dr., 15-16, 17, 19-20, 23, 31, 40-2, 44, 72-3, 111, 119, 140-1, 151, 159, 177, 179
- Archaism, 19-20
- Collins, on, 150, 151
- Compounds, 111, 119-20
- Diction, on, 15-16
- “Dictionary,” 140 n.
- Dryden, on, 8
- Gray’s personifications, on, 156 n.
- Latinism, 73
- Personifications, 140-1, 177, 179
- Pope’s style, on, 23, 31, 193
- Satire, 139
- Stock diction, 45
- Jonson, Ben, 17-18
- Keats, John, 126, 128, 129, 144, 187, 188, 192, 196, 203, 204
- Ker, W. P., 7 n., 8 n., 9 n., 11 n., 18 n., 21 n.
- Kersey, John, 97
- “L’Allegro,” 162, 176
- Langhorne, J., 122
- Langland, William, 133
- Latinism, 56-79, 191-2
- Lee, Vernon, 197 n.
- “Legacy of Greece, The,” 199
- Legouis, E., 53 n., 127 n., 175 n.
- Lessing’s “Laokoon,” 12 n.
- Lloyd, Robert, 88 n.
- “London” (Dr. Johnson’s), 111, 140-1
- “Loves of the Plants” (E. Darwin’s), 12, 173
- “Loves of the Triangles” (G. Canning’s), 173 n.
- Lowes, Professor J. L., 200
- “Lyrical Ballads,” 1, 2, 175
- Lyttleton, G., 119
- Maeterlinck, M., 200
- Mallet, D., 110, 144 n., 142
- Marlowe, Christopher, 105 n.
- Marriott, Dr., 147
- Mason, William, 86, 146-7
- Masson, David, 58 n.
- Mendez, Moses, 88, 122
- Mickle, William, 93, 125, 162 n., 171 n.
- Milton, John, 8, 33-6, 41, 57-8, 60, 61, 62, 66, 70, 71, 72, 76, 77, 81, 94, 107, 133, 136, 142, 146-7, 148, 149, 150, 176-7, 191-2
- Archaism, 81, 94
- Compound epithets, 105
- Diction, 34-6, 57-8
- Imitated in eighteenth century, 60-70, 76-7, 146-50, 191-2
- Latinism, 57-8, 177
- Personification, 133, 137, 142, 146-7, 176-7
- “Monody written near Stratford-on-Avon,” 149 n.
- Morel, Leon, 39 n., 63 n., 78 n., 91 n., 114 n., 145 n.
- Murray, Gilbert, 199
- Nashe, Thomas, 105 n.
- Neo-classicism, 9-13, 53-4
- “Night Thoughts” (E. Young’s), 28, 68-9, 136-8
- “Nocturnal Reverie” (Countess of Winchilsea’s), 187
- Old English Compounds, 104
- “Ossian” poems, 19, 166
- “Paradise Lost,” 34-6, 57-8, 76, 133, 136, 184
- Parnell, Thomas, 135-6
- “Passions, Ode to the,” 153
- “Penshurst” (F. Coventry’s), 147
- Percy, Bishop, 96-7
- Personification and abstraction, 133-80, 190-1
- Phelps, W. L., 142 n.
- Philips, John, 37, 60-1, 86, 109, 142
- “Pity, Ode to” (W. Collins’), 153
- “Pleasures of the Imagination” (M. Akenside’s), 69, 138-9, 189
- “Pleasures of Melancholy, The” (T. Warton’s), 71, 121
- “Poetical Character, Ode on the” (W. Collins’s), 152
- “Poetical Sketches” (W. Blake’s), 99, 167, 181
- Pomfret, John, 195
- Pope, Alexander, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21-2, 23-4, 25, 29, 31-4, 36-7, 40, 42, 45, 46, 48, 50, 54, 59-60, 67, 73, 81, 82-3, 85, 106-9, 111, 115, 130, 134, 135, 136, 139, 140, 183, 184, 185, 189, 193-4, 204
- Archaism, 18, 82-3
- Compounds, 21, 106-9
- Diction, 33, 36-7
- “Dunciad,” 18, 134
- “Essay on Criticism,” 14, 29 n., 195
- Heroic couplet, 29-30, 31-2
- “Homer,” 2, 14, 17, 31-2, 40, 48, 184
- Language of poetry, 9-10
- Latinism, 59-60
- Personifications, 134
- Satire, 139, 140
- Potter, R., 122
- Prior, Matthew, 75, 87, 95, 195
- “Progress of Error” (W. Cowper’s), 170
- “Progress of Poetry” (Thomas Gray’s), 72
- “Prolusions” (E. Capell’s), 95-6
- Raleigh, Sir Walter, 35 n., 58 n., 66 n.
- “Rape of the Lock,” 134
- “Religio Laici,” 194
- “Reliques of Ancient English Poetry,” 19, 96-7
- Reynolds, Myra, 28 n., 61 n., 75 n.
- Ritson, Joseph, 96 n.
- Robertson, J. L., 6 n., 62
- Rogers, Samuel, 125-6
- Romanticism, connexion with classicism, 181-2
- Rowley poems, 42-4, 97-8, 162-3
- “Ruins of Rome” (J. Dyer’s), 109, 142
- Ruskin, John, 180
- Russell, A. J. B., 164 n.
- Saintsbury, George, 29-30, 76 n., 106, 130, 131, 194 n.
- Sampson, John, 47 n., 99 n., 165 n.
- Savage, Richard, 75, 111, 136
- Schmidt’s “Shakespeare Lexicon,” 35
- “Schoolmistress, The,” 88-9, 161
- Scott, John, 123
- Scott, Sir Walter, 100, 192
- “Seasons, The” (J. Thomson’s), 37-9, 62-8, 112-6, 142-6, 190, 196, 198
- Selincourt, B. de, 35 n., 128 n.
- Shakespeare, William, 35, 105 n., 129
- Shawcross, T. (see “Biographia Literaria”).
- Shelley, P. B., 126, 178, 203, 204
- Shenstone, W., 26, 29, 75, 88-9, 118 n., 161
- “Shorter Poems of the Eighteenth Century,” 195 n.
- Sidney, Sir Philip, 105 n.
- Skeat, W. W., 43 n., 97, 98 n., 102 n.
- Smart, Christopher, 169 n.
- Smith, Gregory, 14 n., 18 n., 56 n.
- Somerville, William, 110, 142
- “Song to David,” 169 n.
- Spence, Joseph, 12
- Spenser, Edmund, 80-1, 105 n., 133, 159-60, 191, 192
- Spenserian imitations, 18, 84, 86-94, 160-2, 178, 191, 192
- Spingarn, J. E., 5 n., 6 n., 7 n.
- Sprat, Thomas, 6, 7
- Stock diction, The, 25-55, 183-7
- “Stones of Venice, The” (J. Ruskin’s), 180 n.
- “Storie of William Canynge,” 163
- “Sugar Cane, The,” 70, 110, 142
- Sweet, Henry, 102 n., 103 n.
- Swift, Jonathan, 139
- Symbolism, 13, 164, 179, 180
- Symons, Arthur, 47 n.
- “Syr Martin,” 93, 125, 162 n.
- “Table Talk” (S. T. Coleridge’s), 156 n.
- “Table Talk” (W. Cowper’s), 49, 170
- Taine, H., 183
- “Task, The” (W. Cowper’s), 49, 73-4, 170-1
- Theory of diction, 5-24
- Thomson, James, 37-9, 62-8, 76, 77, 78, 90-2, 94, 112-6, 131, 142-6, 161, 167, 179, 186, 188
- “Castle of Indolence,” 90-2, 161
- Compounds, 112-6, 131
- Diction generally, 37, 67
- Latinism, 62-8, 78, 192
- Miltonic borrowings, 37, 66
- Nature poet, a, 37, 78, 186
- Personifications, 142-6, 161, 166, 178-9
- Romantic forerunner, a, 196
- “Seasons, The,” 37-9, 62-8, 112-6, 142-6, 190, 195, 196, 198
- Stock diction, 37-8
- Thompson, W., 61-2, 85, 89-90, 118 n.
- “Tintern Abbey, Lines written above,” 131
- “Traveller, The” (O. Goldsmith’s), 45, 72, 112, 141
- Trenery, Grace R., 95 n.
- “Triumph of Isis,” 149 n.
- Tyrwhitt, Thomas, 86, 98 n.
- Upton, John, 93 n.
- “Vacation, The,” 147
- “Vale Abbey, Lines written at” (T. Warton’s), 149
- “Valetudinarian, The,” 147
- “Vanity of Human Wishes,” 73, 111, 140-1, 195
- “Village, The” (G. Crabbe’s), 167, 168, 195
- “Vision of Patience” (S. Boyce’s), 162
- “Vision of Solomon” (W. Whitehead’s), 162
- Wakefield, Benjamin, 95 n.
- Waller, Edmund, 15
- Walpole, Horace, 119, 156 n.
- “Wanderer, The” (R. Savage’s), 111, 136
- Ward, A. W., 204 n.
- Warton, Joseph, 21, 70-1, 121, 134, 148-9
- Warton, Thomas, 71, 83, 84, 85, 86, 120-1, 149
- Watson, George, 100 n.
- Watts, Isaac, 49
- Welsted, Leonard, 59 n.
- Wesley, John, 49, 50, 198
- Wesley, Charles, 49
- West, Gilbert, 118 n.
- White, Gilbert (of Selborne), 28
- White, H. O., 148 n.
- Whitehead, W., 20 n., 122, 162
- Williams, I. O., 195 n.
- Wilson, Sir James, 100 n.
- Winchilsea, Anne, Countess of, 61, 109, 187-8
- “Windsor Forest,” 134
- Wordsworth, William, 1, 3, 13, 15, 24, 25, 27 n., 28, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 48, 51-3, 67, 68, 77, 79, 97, 115, 132, 175, 182, 185, 187, 189, 192, 193, 197, 201, 204
- Archaism, 100
- Compounds, 127
- Darwin’s (Erasmus) influence, 52-4, 175
- Latinism, 79, 192
- Percy’s “Reliques,” on, 97
- Personifications, 133, 175-6, 178, 180
- Pope’s style, on, 24
- “Prefaces,” 1, 53, 132, 182, 197, 204
- “Prelude, The,” 184-5
- Wyche, Sir Peter, 7
- “Yardley Oak” (W. Cowper’s), 131, 172
- Yeats, W. B., 164 n.
- Young, Edward, 9 n., 28, 68-9, 136-8, 151
About This Book
The study examines eighteenth‑century poetic language, challenging reductive labels applied by later critics and tracing debates about a proper poetic diction. It analyzes theoretical arguments about purity and simplicity, surveys common stylistic features—stock diction, Latinisms, archaisms, compound epithets, personification and abstraction—and considers how poets balanced inherited tradition with contemporary tastes. Combining literary history with close linguistic analysis, it assesses where the period’s diction succeeds or fails and how those linguistic choices shaped continuities and reactions leading into the Romantic era.