Date: 1715-1720
"'Tis however remarkable that his Fancy, which is every where vigorous, is not discover'd immediately at the beginning of his Poem in its fullest Splendor: It grows in the Progress both upon himself and others, and becomes on Fire like a Chariot-Wheel, by its own Rapidity."
preview | full record— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
Date: 1718
"For from most Bodies, Dick, You know,/ Some little Bits ask Leave to flow; / And, as thro' these Canals They roll, / Bring up a Sample of the Whole. / Like Footmen running before Coaches, / To tell the Inn, what Lord approaches."
preview | full record— Prior, Matthew (1664-1721)
Date: 1719
"It is as impossible as needless, to set down the innumerable Crowd of Thoughts that whirl'd through that great Thorowfair of the Brain, the Memory, in this Night's Time."
preview | full record— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Date: 1722
"Whither does my fancy carry me?"
preview | full record— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)
Date: February 22, 1723
"For 'tis th' infirmity of noblest minds, / When ruffled with an unexpected woe, / To speak what settled prudence wou'd conceal: / As the vex'd ocean working in a storm, / Oft brings to light the wrecks which long lay calm, / In the dark bosom of the secret deep."
preview | full record— Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)
Date: Monday, May 25, 1724
"The Mind of Will. Weathercock is like the Sail of a great Ship, that has Room, to contain much Wind; but, having none, of its own producing, is swell'd out, by Turns, from all the Quarters of the Compass."
preview | full record— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)
Date: 1725-6
"Thus anchor'd safe on reason's peaceful coast, / Tempests of wrath his soul no longer tost; / Restless his body rolls, to rage resign'd: / As one who long with pale-ey'd famine pin'd, / The sav'ry cates on glowing embers cast / Incessant turns, impatient for repast"
preview | full record— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744), Broome, W. and Fenton, E.
Date: 1725
A poet shouldn't unfurl his sails in a gale of ungovernable rage
preview | full record— Pitt, Christopher (1699-1748)
Date: 1727
"In this distracted Condition, Conscience, like a Storm at Sea, still breaks over him; first gathers about him in a thick black Cloud, threatning the Deaths that it comes loaded with; and after hovering about him for a-while, at last bursts with Lightnings and Thunder, and the poor shatter'd Vess...
preview | full record— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Date: 1727
"They imagin'd that the Soul was not only separated by Death from the Body, but that there was a Separation of the Understanding from its Case or Vehicle, as they call'd it; so that the Soul, which was but the Image and Form of the Body, might be in Hell; the Body it self burnt to Ashes remain'd ...
preview | full record— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)