Ariosto built a small house for himself. Being asked by his friend, how he, who described fine palaces in his Orlando, could content himself with so small an edifice; replied, "Words are cheaper than stones."
8 de dezembro de 2010
Castles in the air
Ariosto built a small house for himself. Being asked by his friend, how he, who described fine palaces in his Orlando, could content himself with so small an edifice; replied, "Words are cheaper than stones."
PREFACE. [pp. iv-v, op. cit.]
According to Mr. Locke, "wit lies in the assemblage of ideas, and putting those together with quickness and variety wherein can be found any resemblance or congruity whereby to make up pleasant pictures and agreeable visions to the fancy".
Mr. Addison, however, deemed this definition too ample and comprehensive, and thereupon observes, that "the assemblage of ideas productive merely of pleasure does not constitute wit, but of those only which to delight add surprise."
Mr. Pope defined wit to consist in, "a quick conception of thoughts, and an easy delivery."
[the poet's definition of wit seems rather an attempt to be witty than logical, as it would make every lively and eloquent man witty, and constitutes quickness of thought and happiness of diction alone as the ground-work of wit.]
Mr. Addison, however, deemed this definition too ample and comprehensive, and thereupon observes, that "the assemblage of ideas productive merely of pleasure does not constitute wit, but of those only which to delight add surprise."
Mr. Pope defined wit to consist in, "a quick conception of thoughts, and an easy delivery."
[the poet's definition of wit seems rather an attempt to be witty than logical, as it would make every lively and eloquent man witty, and constitutes quickness of thought and happiness of diction alone as the ground-work of wit.]
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