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Quote by Cotton Mather

“You may ... make a little recreation of poetry, in the midst of your painful studies. Nevertheless, I cannot but advise you. Withhold thy throat from thirst. Be not so set upon poetry, as to be always poring on the passionate and measured pages. ... let not the Circean cup intoxicate you.”

Quote by Cotton Mather

Work

Dr. Cotton Mather's Student and Preacher, Intituled, Manuductio Ad Ministerium, Or, Directions for a Candidate of the Ministry: Wherein, I. a Right Foundation is Laid for His Future Improvement, II. Rules are Offered for Such a Management of His Academical and Preparatory Studies, And, Upon That, for Such, III. a Conduct After His Appearance in the World, as May Render Him a Skilful and Useful Minister of the Gospel

This book is a comprehensive guide for individuals aspiring to enter the ministry. It provides a structured approach to academic and preparatory studies, emphasizing the importance of a solid foundation for future improvement. Additionally, it offers advice on conduct and behavior post-graduation, aiming to equip candidates with the skills and knowledge necessary to become proficient and valuable ministers of the Gospel. more

Author

Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather

Cotton Mather was a prominent American author, physician, and theologian of the colonial period. Born on February 12, 1663, and passing away on February 13, 1728, Mather is renowned for his advocacy for colonial America and his contributions to theology. more

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“Most poetry is the utterance of a man in some state of passion, love, joy, grief, rage, etc., and no doubt this is as it should be. But no man is perpetually in a passion and those states in which he is amused and amusing, detached and irreverent, if less important, are no less amusing. If there were no poets who, like Byron, express these states, Poetry would lack something.”

“Be not so set upon poetry, as to be always poring on the passionate and measured pages. Let not what should be sauce, rather than food for you, engross all your application. Beware of a boundless and sickly appetite for the reading of poems which the nation now swarms withal; and let not the Circaen cup intoxicate you. But especially preserve the chastity of your soul from the dangers you may incur, by a conversation with muses no better than harlots.”

“What the world wants, what the world is waiting for, is not Modern Poetry or Classical Poetry or Neo-Classical Poetry - but Good Poetry. And the dreadful disreputable doubt, which stirs in my own skeptical mind, is doubt about whether it would really matter much what style a poet chose to write in, in any period, as long as he wrote Good poetry.”