(1707–54) | | | ║ | | | | | | | | ║ | | | | |║ ║ | | Johnson |........|....║========================================║..║ | | (1709–84) | | | | | | | | | | ║ | | | ║ | | ║ | | | Goldsmith | ║....|........|........|......║============║ | | | (1728–74) | | | | | | | | | | | ║ | | | | ║[167]| |║ ║ | Gibbon | | ║....|........|........|........|...║==============║..║ | (1737–94) | | | | | | | | | | ║| | | ║ | | | | ║ | Burke | ║|........|........|....║===================================║ | (1729–97) | | | | | | | | | THE TRANSITION IN POETRY The following table is meant to convey a rough idea of the drift of poetry toward Romanticism. In the table the lateral position of the title of a work gives an approximate estimate of its approach to the Romantic ideal. Such an estimate, especially in the case of the transitional poems, cannot be determined absolutely, and need not be taken as final. The table, nevertheless, reveals not only the steady drift, but also the manner in which the different stages of development overlap.