Alexander Hamilton Thompson

Name: The Works of Sir John Suckling in prose and verse — Introduction
Author: Alexander Hamilton Thompson

The Works of Sir John Suckling in prose and verse… (1910)

Summary

“The Works of Sir John Suckling in prose and verse — Introduction”, published in 1910, is a work by Alexander Hamilton Thompson. It explores elements such as Suckling, Donne and Aglaura.

Quotes from The Works of Sir John Suckling in prose and verse… (Alexander Hamilton Thompson)

Alexander Hamilton Thompson, The Works of Sir John Suckling in prose and verse… (1910)

“ The ballad itself finds Suckling in a thoroughly congenial mood. He has no longer to forage for similes 'far-fetched and dear-bought,' but speaks as a plain person dealing directly with facts. Putting himself in the position of a countryman come up to town, free to adopt the simple imagery of a country life which he evidently loved, his imagination comes into play unforced, and his task of simple description is at once enlivened by the exquisite pictures which imagination in these happy circumstances suggests. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Alexander Hamilton Thompson, The Works of Sir John Suckling in prose and verse… (1910)

“ Suckling is clear and easy with no apparent effort. There is no depth of feeling in his poetry; he evidently prided himself on its absence. The deep emotions of the poet were no part of the equipment of a gentleman. In depth of abstract thought, too, he is deficient. Donne's least graceful verses usually have the merit that their thought, while not always profound, is at least novel. Suckling's thought was commonplace, and had little fertility. Again and again, in his plays and letters, we find old ideas re-used from his poems without more alteration than a careless memory admits. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Alexander Hamilton Thompson, The Works of Sir John Suckling in prose and verse… (1910)

“ Suckling's failures are more conspicuous, in that he is always pointing us to his models. The influence of the character of Hamlet is perceptible in the discontent of Brennoralt. Hamlet, probably seen through the medium of Vendice in Tourneur's Revenger's Tragedy, is again responsible for the hero of The Sad One. Aglaura, the most ambitious and complicated of the tragedies, is reminiscent of Beaumont and Fletcher's Maid's Tragedy, not merely in the hero's reverence for royalty, but in the position of the heroine with regard to her lover and the King. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Alexander Hamilton Thompson, The Works of Sir John Suckling in prose and verse… (1910)

“ At the same time it is impossible to doubt that beneath a gay and careless exterior he possessed sound practical sense, and that his ambition to excel as an amateur wit only too often concealed a high, if somewhat fragile, poetic gift, which on happy occasions rose superior to an atmosphere not a little hostile to its full development. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Alexander Hamilton Thompson, The Works of Sir John Suckling in prose and verse… (1910)

“ Suckling, in his 'metaphysical' excursions, stands outside the group which indulged in poetical distortions of wit, pious or profane. He may be dull, he is frequently barren, but he is never involved. His idea is clear to himself, and if he elaborates it, he does so without raising a cloud of words and confused images round it for his readers. ''Tis now since I sat down' may recall Donne's favourite figures of thought ”

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Source: Wikisource

Alexander Hamilton Thompson, The Works of Sir John Suckling in prose and verse… (1910)

“ The plays, one and all, display Suckling's debt to Shakespeare, and the lighter passages are marked by free satirical allusions to the affectations and politics of the day, which give these dramas a definite historical interest. The comedy of The Goblins, too, has a very effective centre in the company of outlaws, in whose disguise the secret of the plot is contained. No individual character, however, can lay any real claim to life. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Alexander Hamilton Thompson, The Works of Sir John Suckling in prose and verse… (1910)

“ In Suckling's alternative last act of Aglaura, written at an earlier date, with a similar purpose, the change leaves every reader tranquil, unless here and there one may be found who delights in mechanical carnage on the stage. It is impossible to feel much lively interest in the conduct of a plot whose characters go through their evolutions so tamely. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Alexander Hamilton Thompson, The Works of Sir John Suckling in prose and verse… (1910)

“ It follows that, where Suckling excels as a poet, we find him dealing with concrete subjects, or using imagery with which he is practically familiar. This is the merit of a lyric like ''Tis now since I sat down,' in which the details of the simile are so perfectly adjusted to the subject of the poem. Suckling's obvious cynicism where affairs of the heart were concerned expresses itself at once in verse. 'Why so pale and wan, fond lover?' is a happy impromptu in which the natural Suckling declares himself without reserve. When he turns to hymn constant love in 'O! ”

Alexander Hamilton Thompson

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Quotes from The Works of Sir John Suckling in prose and verse… (Alexander Hamilton Thompson)

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