An Essay on the Lyric Poetry of the Ancients

John Ogilvie examines the imaginative force of ancient lyric verse through a series of critical letters. His discussion connects poetry with the workings of the mind, distinguishing the pleasures of pastoral writing from the admiration stirred by the ode. Horace, Pindar and other classical writers supply examples for an argument about emotion, judgment and the poet's choice of language.

The close comparisons give the essay its practical interest. Ogilvie considers how Callimachus, Pindar and Homer approach divine subjects, arguing that striking details help a description inspire wonder. Greek passages appear alongside English verse translations, while an introduction by Wallace Jackson places the argument within eighteenth-century literary criticism. For readers interested in how earlier critics understood imagination and poetic rules, these letters offer a sustained account of the relationship between a grand subject and the skill required to give it life.