Heroes of literature English poets Author:John Dennis Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE ELIZABETHAN POETS (Continued). Sir Philip Sidney—Samuel Daniel—Michael Dray- Ton—christopher Marlowe—George Chapman. There are sev... more »eral poets of this period who, although never likely to be much read, will always keep an honoured place in the history of English verse. Prominent among the number stand the names of Sir Philip Sidney, Samuel Daniel, Michael Drayton, Christopher Marlowe, and George Chapman ; and I will try to tell the young reader as much about these poets as it is perhaps necessary that he should know. The name of Sir Philip Sidney stands preeminent in the Elizabethan age, not so . r i f 7- Sir Philip much for his poetry as for his many Sidney, . ' ... j 1554-1586. virtues as a gentleman, a soldier, and a scholar. A recent editor of Sidney's works has40 .'HEROES OF LITERATURE. advised students to give days and nights to the study of his poetry. Such advice addressed to a youthful and enthusiastic reader can only breed vexation and disappointment. Sidney's verse, although not without distinct poetical worth, has many crudities and conceits. There is little in it comparatively of high value, and assuredly nothing that calls for a large sacrifice of time and labour. In his fine treatise, the "Apologia for Poetrie," Sidney objects to far-fetched words and impertinent conceits. In his day, as in our own, verse-makers were apt to mistake extravagant allusions and a fantastic use of words for the inspiration of the poet. Sidney himself was not free from the fault he had the critical sagacity to discover. He often plays upon words; his imagery is sometimes strained and affected, his fancy " high fantastical;" and as conceits in poetry retain no life beyond the age that produced them, there is much in his verse that is witho...« less