This study of the poetry of the eighteenth century is written with appropriate clarity, grace, and wit. It does not profess to offer a new estimate, although it does dispel the notions still found at times about the poetic diction of Pope and the distinction between classical and romantic in the poetry of the period. Pope, Dryden, Samuel Johnson, Thomson, and Burns are dealth with perceptively in the three lectures.

More than two decades have passed since Professor Nichol Smith delivered these lectures, and the book remains in constant demand. This new edition includes minor amendments.