Ford, John - James Russell Lowell (essay date 1845)

James Russell Lowell (essay date 1845)

SOURCE: Lowell, James Russell. “Fourth Conversation.” In Conversations on Some of the Old Poets, pp. 112-242. Philadelphia: David McKay, 1893.

[In the following essay, originally published in 1845 and written as a fictional dialogue between the characters of Philip and John, Lowell acknowledges Ford as a talented playwright but not one of the first rank of English dramatists.]

PHILIP.

Ford's dramatic abilities have, I think, been rated too highly. He has a great deal of tragic excitability and enthusiasm, and a good knowledge of stage-effect; but these are the predominant qualities of his nature. In the strong mind they are always subservient. Ford can see the proprieties and beauties of a fine situation; but he has not that dignity in him which can create them out of its own substance. His poetic faculty leans upon the tragic element in his stories for support, instead of...

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