half-pretence

Updated: July 2, 2025

But, ah, your Iliad seems a half-pretence, Where Wits, not Heroes, prove their Skill in Fence, And great Achilles' Eloquence doth show As if no Centaur trained him, but Boileau! Again, your Verse is orderly, and more, 'The Waves behind impel the Waves before; Monotonously musical they glide, Till Couplet unto Couplet hath replied. But turn to Homer! How his Verses sweep!

Andrew Lang - Letters to Dead Authors