1758 in poetry

List of years in poetry (table)
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Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).

Events

• Christopher Smart writes "Jubilate Agno" (about 1758-63), only published in 1939

Works published

United Kingdom

• Mark Akenside, An Ode to the Country Gentlemen of England^[1]
• John Gilbert Cooper, The Call of Aristippus^[1]
• Robert Dodsley:
  • Cleone: A tragedy, verse drama performed in December; the work also contains the author's poem "Melpomene", on the sublime^[1]
  • Collection of Poems, volumes five and six
• James Macpherson, The Highlander^[1]
• Thomas Parnell, Posthumous Works^[1]

English, Colonial America

• Thomas Prince, The Psalms, Hymns, & spiritual Songs of the Old and new Testaments, English, Colonial America^[2]
• Annis Boudinot Stockton, "To the Honorable Colonel Peter Schuyler" published in New-York Mercury and New American Magazine; her first published poem; Colonial America^[3]

Other

• Anica Bošković, Dijalog Serbian published in Venice
• Solomon Gessner, Der Tod Abels, Switzerland, German-language work akin to an idyllic pastoral

Oliver Goldsmith's "poetical scale"

In the January 1758 edition of the Literary Magazine, an anonymous writer widely believed to be English poet and author Oliver Goldsmith presented a table comparing 29 English poets, rating them on a scale in each of four aspects of literary greatness.^[4] A score of 20 was literary perfection.^[5] Some of his estimations:^[4]

	Genius	Judgement	Learning	Versification
Geoffrey Chaucer	16	12	10	14
Edmund Spenser	18	12	14	18
William Shakespeare	19	14	14	19
Ben Jonson	16	18	17	8
Abraham Cowley	17	17	15	17
Edmund Waller	12	12	10	16
John Milton	18	16	17	18
John Dryden	18	16	17	18
Joseph Addison	16	18	17	17
Matthew Prior	16	16	15	17
Alexander Pope	18	18	15	19

Some other poets Goldsmith placed on the scale: Michael Drayton, Lee, Aaron Hill, Nicholas Rowe, Garth, Southern and Hughes. John Donne was not listed, because, wrote Goldsmith, "Dr Donne was a man of wit, but he seems to have been at pains not to pass for a poet."^[6] (See also Mark Akenside's "Balance of Poets" of 1746.)

Births

Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

• February 3 – Vasily Kapnist (died 1823), Ukrainian poet and playwright
• March 15 – Magdalene Sophie Buchholm (died 1825), Norwegian poet
• April 6 – Sir George Dallas, 1st Baronet (died 1833), English politician and poet
• April 30 – Jane West, born Iliffe, publishing under the pen names "Prudentia Homespun" and "Mrs. West" (died 1852), English novelist, poet, playwright and writer of conduct literature and educational tracts
• Also:
  • Ryōkan 良寛, born Eizō Yamamoto (died 1831), Japanese waka poet, calligrapher, Buddhist monk and often a hermit
  • year uncertain – Joseph Fawcett (died 1804), English Presbyterian minister and poet

Deaths

Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

• January 1 – Johann Friedrich von Cronegk (born 1731), German dramatist, poet and essayist
• January 7 – Allan Ramsay (born 1686), Scottish poet
• July 15 – Ambrosius Stub (born 1705), Danish poet

See also

• Poetry
• List of years in poetry

Notes

1. Cox, Michael, editor, The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature, Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-19-860634-6
2. Ludwig, Richard M., and Clifford A. Nault, Jr., Annals of American Literature: 1602–1983, 1986, New York: Oxford University Press
3. Davis, Cynthia J., and Kathryn West, Women Writers in the United States: A Timeline of Literary, Cultural, and Social History, Oxford University Press US, 1996 ISBN 978-0-19-509053-6, retrieved via Google Books on February 7, 2009
4. Mark Van Doren, John Dryden: A Study of His Poetry, pp 249-250, Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, second edition, 1946 ("First Midland Book edition 1960")
5. Prior, James, The Life of Oliver Goldsmith, M. B.: from a variety of original sources p 231, London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1837, retrieved via Google Books on February 11, 2010
6. John Donne: The Critical Heritage, Volume 1, p 236, Routledge, 1996, ISBN 978-0-415-13412-5, retrieved via Google Books on February 11, 2010