Waller, Edmund - Jack G. Gilbert (essay date 1979)

Jack G. Gilbert (essay date 1979)

SOURCE: Gilbert, Jack G. “Waller's View of Art and His Place in English Literature.” In Edmund Waller, pp. 109-40, Boston: Twayne, 1979.

[In the following essay, Gilbert discusses the influence of the myth of Orpheus on Waller's aesthetic and analyzes the reception of his work by his contemporaries and by present-day commentators.]

I WALLER'S VIEW OF ART

A. THE ORPHIC FORCES

Little attention need to be paid to the commendatory verses which good nature prompted him [Waller] to address to such of his friends as were authors,” wrote G. Thorn-Drury in his brief commentary on the poetry.1 For several reasons I believe the judgment to be wrong. Waller wrote a number of poems to and about artists: “To Mr. Henry Lawes,” “To Mr. George Sandys,” “To Vandyck,” “Upon Ben Jonson,” “To Sir William Davenant,” “To His Worthy Friend, Master Evelyn,” “Upon the...

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