You can copy this item for personal use, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It cannot be used commercially without permission. Please ensure the following credit accompanies it:
Life of Johnson
http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/dbworkshop/index.php/Detail/objects/79214
Accessed on 2021/04/23 20:27:24
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE TEI PUBLIC "customisation-tei/tei_readingExp.dtd" "">
<TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
<teiHeader>
<fileDesc>
<titleStmt>
<author>
<persName>
<forename>William</forename>
<surname>Hamilton</surname>
</persName>
</author>
<title>[poem on Winter]</title>
</titleStmt>
<sourceDesc>
<biblStruct>
<monogr>
<author>
<persName>
<forename>James</forename>
<surname>Boswell</surname>
</persName>
</author>
<title>Life of Johnson</title>
<imprint>
<publisher>R.W. Chapman</publisher>
<pubPlace>Oxford</pubPlace>
<date>1980</date>
</imprint>
<availability/>
<biblScope/>
</monogr>
</biblStruct>
</sourceDesc>
<notesStmt>
<note>xml/ukred-21706.xml</note>
</notesStmt>
</fileDesc>
<profileDesc>
<correspDesc>
<correspAction type="sending">
<persName>
<forename/>
<surname/>
</persName>
</correspAction>
<correspAction type="receiving">
<persName>
<forename/>
<surname/>
</persName>
</correspAction>
</correspDesc>
<langUsage/>
</profileDesc>
<experienceDesc>
<experience ref="ukred-21706">
<respStmt resp="submitter">
<resp>submitted by</resp>
<persName>
<forename>Sarah</forename>
<surname>Johnson</surname>
</persName>
<address>
<address_line/>
</address>
<email>saj28@cam.ac.uk</email>
</respStmt>
<respStmt resp="editor"/>
<date when="1777-09-16" cert="unknown">Sep. 16 1777</date>
<time/>
<reader>
<persName>
<forename>Samuel</forename>
<surname>Johnson</surname>
</persName>
<sex>M</sex>
<age>Adult (18-100+)</age>
<education scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/education"/>
<birth>1709-09-18</birth>
<faith scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/faith" ref="FAI241">Anglicans</faith>
<country>England</country>
<readerStatus scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/reader_status"/>
</reader>
<listener>
<note>Boswell</note>
</listener>
<place>
<location>
<country>England</country>
<county>Derbyshire</county>
<settlement type="city">Ashbourne</settlement>
<district/>
</location>
</place>
<textRead>
<author>
<persName>
<forename>William</forename>
<surname>Hamilton</surname>
</persName>
</author>
<title>[poem on Winter]</title>
<genre scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/genre" ref="GEN2">Poetry</genre>
<textProvenance ref="TPR210 Read in" scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/text_provenance">situ</textProvenance>
<textStatus ref="TST4" scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/text_status">Unknown</textStatus>
<textForm scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/text_form" ref="TFO02">Book</textForm>
<origLanguage>
<language/>
</origLanguage>
<textStatus scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/text_status"/>
</textRead>
<readingExp>
<experienceType scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/experience_type" ref="EXT13">Unknown</experienceType>
<posture scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/posture"/>
<lighting scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/lighting"/>
<environment scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/environment"/>
<intensity scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/intensity"/>
<emotion scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/emotion"/>
<testimony scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/testimony"/>
<sourceReliability scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/source_reliability"/>
<expFrequency scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/experience_frequency" ref="EXF3">Unknown</expFrequency>
<note>Originally published 1791. Title of poem uncertain.</note>
</readingExp>
</experience>
</experienceDesc>
</teiHeader>
<text>
<body>
<p>
<ptr target="ukred-21706">"In the afternoon I tried to get Dr. Johnson to like the Poems of Mr. Hamilton of Bangour, which I had brought with me: I had been much pleased with them at a very early age; the impression still remained on my mind; it was confirmed by the opinion of my friend the Honourable Andrew Erskine, himself both a good poet and a good critick, who thought Hamilton as true a poet as ever wrote, and that his not having fame was unaccountable. Johnson, upon repeated occasions, while I was at Ashbourne, talked slightingly of Hamilton. He said there was no power of thinking in his verses, nothing that strikes one, nothing better than what you generally find in magazines; and that the highest praise they deserved was, that they were very well for a gentleman to hand about among his friends. He said the imitation of ""Ne sit ancillae tibi amor"", &c. was too solemn; he read part of it at the beginning. He read the beautiful pathetick song, "Ah the poor shepherd"s mournful fate", and did not seem to give attention to what I had been used to think tender elegant strains, but laughed at the rhyme, in Scotch pronunciation, [italics] wishes [end italics] and [italics] blushes [end italics], reading [italics] wushes [end italics]--and there he stopped. He owned that the epitaph on Lord Newhall was pretty well done. He read the "Inscription in a Summer-house", and a little of the imitations of Horace"s "Epistles"; but said he found nothing to make him desire to read on. When I urged that there were some good poetical passages in the book. ""Where (said he,) will you find so large a collection without some?"" I thought the description of Winter might obtain his approbation:
"See Winter, from the frozen north
Drives his iron chariot forth!
His grisly hand in icy chains
Fair Tweeda"s silver flood constrains," &c.
He asked why an "iron chariot"? and said "icy chains" was an old image. I was struck with the uncertainty of taste, and somewhat sorry that a poet whom I had long read with fondness, was not approved by Dr. Johnson. I comforted myself with thinking that the beauties were too delicate for his robust perceptions".
</ptr>
</p>
</body>
</text>
</TEI>
You can copy this item for personal use, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It cannot be used commercially without permission. Please ensure the following credit accompanies it:
Life of Johnson
http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/dbworkshop/index.php/Detail/objects/79214
Accessed on 2021/04/23 20:27:24
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE TEI PUBLIC "customisation-tei/tei_readingExp.dtd" "">
<TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
<teiHeader>
<fileDesc>
<titleStmt>
<author>
<persName>
<forename>William</forename>
<surname>Hamilton</surname>
</persName>
</author>
<title>[poem on Winter]</title>
</titleStmt>
<sourceDesc>
<biblStruct>
<monogr>
<author>
<persName>
<forename>James</forename>
<surname>Boswell</surname>
</persName>
</author>
<title>Life of Johnson</title>
<imprint>
<publisher>R.W. Chapman</publisher>
<pubPlace>Oxford</pubPlace>
<date>1980</date>
</imprint>
<availability/>
<biblScope/>
</monogr>
</biblStruct>
</sourceDesc>
<notesStmt>
<note>xml/ukred-21706.xml</note>
</notesStmt>
</fileDesc>
<profileDesc>
<correspDesc>
<correspAction type="sending">
<persName>
<forename/>
<surname/>
</persName>
</correspAction>
<correspAction type="receiving">
<persName>
<forename/>
<surname/>
</persName>
</correspAction>
</correspDesc>
<langUsage/>
</profileDesc>
<experienceDesc>
<experience ref="ukred-21706">
<respStmt resp="submitter">
<resp>submitted by</resp>
<persName>
<forename>Sarah</forename>
<surname>Johnson</surname>
</persName>
<address>
<address_line/>
</address>
<email>saj28@cam.ac.uk</email>
</respStmt>
<respStmt resp="editor"/>
<date when="1777-09-16" cert="unknown">Sep. 16 1777</date>
<time/>
<reader>
<persName>
<forename>Samuel</forename>
<surname>Johnson</surname>
</persName>
<sex>M</sex>
<age>Adult (18-100+)</age>
<education scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/education"/>
<birth>1709-09-18</birth>
<faith scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/faith" ref="FAI241">Anglicans</faith>
<country>England</country>
<readerStatus scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/reader_status"/>
</reader>
<listener>
<note>Boswell</note>
</listener>
<place>
<location>
<country>England</country>
<county>Derbyshire</county>
<settlement type="city">Ashbourne</settlement>
<district/>
</location>
</place>
<textRead>
<author>
<persName>
<forename>William</forename>
<surname>Hamilton</surname>
</persName>
</author>
<title>[poem on Winter]</title>
<genre scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/genre" ref="GEN2">Poetry</genre>
<textProvenance ref="TPR210 Read in" scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/text_provenance">situ</textProvenance>
<textStatus ref="TST4" scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/text_status">Unknown</textStatus>
<textForm scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/text_form" ref="TFO02">Book</textForm>
<origLanguage>
<language/>
</origLanguage>
<textStatus scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/text_status"/>
</textRead>
<readingExp>
<experienceType scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/experience_type" ref="EXT13">Unknown</experienceType>
<posture scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/posture"/>
<lighting scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/lighting"/>
<environment scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/environment"/>
<intensity scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/intensity"/>
<emotion scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/emotion"/>
<testimony scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/testimony"/>
<sourceReliability scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/source_reliability"/>
<expFrequency scheme="http://eured.univ-lemans.fr/thesaurus/experience_frequency" ref="EXF3">Unknown</expFrequency>
<note>Originally published 1791. Title of poem uncertain.</note>
</readingExp>
</experience>
</experienceDesc>
</teiHeader>
<text>
<body>
<p>
<ptr target="ukred-21706">"In the afternoon I tried to get Dr. Johnson to like the Poems of Mr. Hamilton of Bangour, which I had brought with me: I had been much pleased with them at a very early age; the impression still remained on my mind; it was confirmed by the opinion of my friend the Honourable Andrew Erskine, himself both a good poet and a good critick, who thought Hamilton as true a poet as ever wrote, and that his not having fame was unaccountable. Johnson, upon repeated occasions, while I was at Ashbourne, talked slightingly of Hamilton. He said there was no power of thinking in his verses, nothing that strikes one, nothing better than what you generally find in magazines; and that the highest praise they deserved was, that they were very well for a gentleman to hand about among his friends. He said the imitation of ""Ne sit ancillae tibi amor"", &c. was too solemn; he read part of it at the beginning. He read the beautiful pathetick song, "Ah the poor shepherd"s mournful fate", and did not seem to give attention to what I had been used to think tender elegant strains, but laughed at the rhyme, in Scotch pronunciation, [italics] wishes [end italics] and [italics] blushes [end italics], reading [italics] wushes [end italics]--and there he stopped. He owned that the epitaph on Lord Newhall was pretty well done. He read the "Inscription in a Summer-house", and a little of the imitations of Horace"s "Epistles"; but said he found nothing to make him desire to read on. When I urged that there were some good poetical passages in the book. ""Where (said he,) will you find so large a collection without some?"" I thought the description of Winter might obtain his approbation:
"See Winter, from the frozen north
Drives his iron chariot forth!
His grisly hand in icy chains
Fair Tweeda"s silver flood constrains," &c.
He asked why an "iron chariot"? and said "icy chains" was an old image. I was struck with the uncertainty of taste, and somewhat sorry that a poet whom I had long read with fondness, was not approved by Dr. Johnson. I comforted myself with thinking that the beauties were too delicate for his robust perceptions".
</ptr>
</p>
</body>
</text>
</TEI>