The Pleasures of Memory, and Other Poems

by Samuel Rogers

This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

144 pages, Paperback

First published March 4, 2010

About the author

Samuel Rogers was an English poet, during his lifetime one of the most celebrated, although his fame has long since been eclipsed by his Romantic colleagues and friends Wordsworth, Coleridge and Byron. His recollections of these and other friends such as Charles James Fox are key sources for information about London artistic and literary life, with which he was intimate, and which he used his wealth to support. He made his money as a banker and was also a discriminating art collector.

Reviews

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read of a poet who was friends with Byron and Shelley and one of only three people to turn down the post of Poet Laureate of the UK. The main poem, "The Pleasures of Memory", was good. But for melancholic and nostalgic poetry, I prefer Thomas Gray's "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College" and Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Frost at Midnight". The other long poem in this volume, "An Epistle to a Friend", was nice, especially in the preface about the difference between true and false taste. Rogers says true taste is confined to "a few objects, and delights in producing great effects by small means" versus false taste which is "forever sighing after the new and the rare" (p. 87). Well said, even if I don't always follow that philosophy.

I really enjoyed the notes to this work, especially the items on Edward Gibbon (p. 75) and Lord Chesterfield (p. 109). The latter describes the quote from Horace's Satires (ii 6. 60-62) Chesterfield had inscribed in his library: "nunc veterum libris, nunc somno, &c.", which translates to "now the books of the ancients, now sleep, etc."