...textual work. Not the least of its values lies in the learning and wit of its principal practitioners. 'To write on their plan, it was at least necessary to read and think.' Sce also D1SCOURSE, PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOANALYS1S. For a concise account sce DC Wood, 'An 1ntroduction...

...wit upon false conceits, they likewise sometimes struck out unexpected truth: if their conceits were far-fetched, they were often worth the carriage. To...plan it was at least necessary to read and think." The ingenuity which might distract from an affecting poetical experience could nevertheless provide...

...wit upon false conceits, they likewise sometimes struck out unexpected truth: if their conceits were far-fetched, they were often worth the carriage. To...at least necessary to read and think. No man could he horn a metaphysical poet, nor assume the dignity of a writer, hy descriptions copied from descriptions,...

...great abilities, its capacity to stimulate the reader to "recollection or inquiry," and its originality ("to write on their plan it was at least necessary to read and to think. No man could be born a metaphysical poet" [I, 11). That is, Johnson identifies Donne as having...

...And though Johnson's admiration for the metaphysicals is severely qualified, he does conclude that "to write on their plan, it was at least necessary to read and think."'2 When John Donne compares two lovers to "stiff twin compasses"— to cite the standard example—...

...Dr Johnson, 'was their whole endeavour.' He was not entirely hostile to these 'metaphysical' poets: 'to write on their plan it was at least necessary to read and think'. But his verdict was that they 'fail to give delight by their desire of exciting admiration'. He complained...

...his capacity to stimulate the reader to "recollection or inquiry" (para. 61), and his originality for "to write on their plan it was at least necessary...a writer by descriptions copied from descriptions" (para. 6o). Indeed, Donne is felt as having risen above the mediocre and merely traditional qualities...

...argument without having them explained. Even Dr. Johnson, who disliked the Metaphysicals, had admitted, "To write on their plan, it was at least necessary to read and think." Eliot rephrased that in twentieth-century terms: "A thought to Donne was an experience; it modified...

...textual work. Not the least of its values lies in the learning and wit of its principal practitioners. 'To write on their plan, it was at least necessary to read and think.' See also DISCOURSE, POSTSTRUCTURALISM, DIFFERENCE, PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOANALYSIS. For overviews see...