...qualities which Dryden and his generation believed they had conferred upon English poetry. 'There was before the time of Dryden no poetical diction, no...system of words at once refined from the grossness of domestic use, and free from the harshness of terms appropriated to particular arts. . . . Those happy...

...original rectitude was in the place of rules, this delicacy of selection was little known to our authors ; our speech lay before them in a heap of confusion,...system of words at once refined from the grossness of domestic use, and free from the harshness of terms appropriated to particular arts. Words too familiar,...

...original rectitude was in the place of rules, this delicacy of selection was little known to our authors ; our speech lay before them in a heap of confusion,...was therefore before the time of Dryden no poetical ia diction, no system of words at once refined from the grossness of domestic use, and free from the...

...inability to detect blemishes, and this is especially true of Johnson, who however staunch an advocate of a 'system of words at once refined from the grossness...harshness of terms appropriated to particular arts,' nevertheless could not tolerate some of the empty rotundities of Thomson's poetic language, and showed...

...poetry has had no tendency to relapse to its former savageness." "There was," Johnson remarked, ". . . before the time of Dryden no poetical diction, no...system of words at once refined from the grossness of domestic use, and free from the harshness of terms appropriated to particular arts." Language neither...

...the time of Dryden, 'there was ... no poetical diction', he goes on to gloss the expression: that is, 'no system of words at once refined from the grossness...familiar or too remote defeat the purpose of a poet.' The poet shuns language 'which we hear on small or on coarse occasions'.18 It is a technique of elevation...

...tongue." In Johnson's view Dryden was not only its master but its founder, before whom there was simply no poetical diction: no system of words at once refined...too familiar, or too remote, defeat the purpose of a poet.14 On the face of it, this key pronouncement made by the learned Johnson at the height of his...

...praises Dryden for having "refined the language" of English poetry are significant: "There was . . . before the time of Dryden no poetical diction, no...system of words at once refined from the grossness of domestic use, and free from the harshness of terms appropriated to particular arts. Words too familiar,...

...endeavoured at correctness." He elaborates on the culmination of the process in Dryden: There was . . . before the time of Dryden no poetical diction: no...harshness of terms appropriated to particular arts . . . Those happy combinations of words which distinguish poetry from prose had been rarely attempted;...

...original rectitude was in the place of rules, this delicacy of selection was little known to our authors ; our speech lay before them in a heap of confusion...Dryden, no poetical diction, no system of words, at once iffined from the gross ness of domestic use, and free from the harshness of terms appropriated to particular...