...thoroughly arranged and well digested there, it will flow forth easily at last. True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance. Essag on Criticism, 1. 362-3. ' " with great distinctness, truth, and humour ; " * listening 1771....

...each foreign tongue ; Prune the luxuriant, the uncouth refine, But show no mercy to an empty line : Then polish all, with so much life and ease, You think...and pains to write by rule, 180 Better (say I) be pleased, and play the fool ; Call, if you will, bad rhyming a disease, It gives men happiness, or leaves...

...of each foreign tongue Prune the luxuriant, the uncouth refine, But show no mercy to an empty line ; Then polish all, with so much life and ease, You think 'tis nature, and a knack to please : But ease in writ ug Hows from a/t, not chance; As those move eas st-w •= have learn' d to dance. There lived...

...vigour of a line, seo Where Denham's strength, and Waller's sweetness join. True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance. 'Tis not enough no harshness gives offence, The sound must seem an echo to the sense ; Soft is the...

...each foreign tongue ; Prune the luxuriant, the uncouth refine, But show no mercy to an empty line ; Then polish all with so much life and ease, You think...dance.' * If such the plague and pains to write by rule, Better (say I) be pleas'd, and play the fool ; Call, if you will, bad rhyming a disease, It gives men...

...each foreign tongue ; Prune the luxuriant, the uncouth refine, But show no merey to an empty line : used her discontent, She sigh'd not that they stay'd,...plain-work, and to purling brooks, Old-fashion'd halls, Better (say I) be pleased, and play the fool ; Call, if you will, bad rhyming a disease, It gives men...

...vigour of a line Where Denham's strength and Waller's sweetness join. • True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance. 'Tis not enough no harshness gives offence ; The sound must seem an echo to the sense. Soft is the...

...perceived that in this respect he approached the position of Pope, who held that True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance. This emphasis on skill is characteristic of the earlier eighteenthcentury poets, and persisted even...

...a Writer may sometimes do 1 Cf. Pope, Essay on Criticism (1711), 362-3: 'True Ease in Writing comes from Art, not Chance,/ As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance.' 2 William Pitt (1708-78), later first Earl of Chatham, was an eloquent speaker in the House of Commons...

...verse, the more convincing sense of polite sprezzatura and freedom in wit: True Ease in Writing comes from Art, not Chance, As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance.14 An Essay on Criticism, from which these lines linking literary and social "ease" come, itself...