Poetry
‹ 9 · Outline · 11 ›
10.Romance, fiction and the criticism of books
10a.Romances of chivalry and their power to derange
See also: Chivalry 7d · Truth 9e · Diversion 10a · Madness 6a
William Caxton, Prefaces and EpiloguesVol. 39
- p. 22Table of contents of the Arthurian romance, its adventures, love, courtesy and chivalry across twenty-one books.read · scan
Michel de Montaigne, Of the Institution and Education of ChildrenVol. 32
- p. 64His first delight in books was Ovid's Metamorphoses, preferred to idle romances of chivalry.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 9Book aims to overthrow chivalric romances by imitation, in plain, clear, cheerful words, without borrowed authorities.read · scan
- p. 9–10Project is to overthrow the bulk of knightly books; the preface is framed from a friend's counsel and introduces Don Quixote and Sancho.read · scan
- p. 11–12Burlesque commendatory sonnets from fictional knights praise Quixote's valor and eternal fame, parodying chivalric verse.read · scan
- p. 12–13Burlesque sonnets and a horse dialogue mockingly praise Quixote, Dulcinea and Sancho, parodying commendatory verse.read · scan
- p. 18Gentleman is enraptured by chivalric romances, their ornate prose and challenge letters, and debates which fictional knight is best.read · scan
- p. 45Household blames books of knighthood for turning the knight's judgment and wish to burn them as heretical; imaginative literature's power to derange.read · scan
- p. 45–46Curate resolves to condemn knightly romances to fire as the cause of Quixote's delusion.read · scan
- p. 48The curate and household search the library of romances to judge which books deserve burning.read · scan
- p. 48Curate sorts chivalric romances, sparing Amadis of Gaul as the best of its kind and condemning its imitators.read · scan
- p. 49Curate criticizes romances for lying, arrogance and harsh style, and praises Ariosto and Palmerin, showing literary criticism.read · scan
- p. 49–51Curate judges romances by style, invention and decorum, saving Palmerin of England as excellently contrived.read · scan
- p. 51Curate praises Tirante the White's style yet condemns the author's follies; pastoral poetry judged less harmful; niece calls poetry an infectious disease.read · scan
- p. 55Chivalric books are burned; some deserved preservation for their worth, showing the fate of imaginative literature at the hands of ignorant searchers.read · scan
- p. 67–68Ironic reflection on chivalric romances and their authors, who recorded even knights' hidden thoughts; Quixote as literary hero.read · scan
- p. 149The history's author, the 'wise man', is said to choose the hero's appellative name, as chivalric romances do.read · scan
- p. 205–206Lucinda reads chivalric romances such as Amadis de Gaul; Don Quixote judges her wit by her taste for them.read · scan
- p. 269–270Dorothea knows the style of distressed damsels from reading books of knighthood, and will act the part.read · scan
- p. 287–288Dorothea imitated the phrase and conceits of books of knighthood to deceive him.read · scan
- p. 300–301Innkeeper, hostess and daughter delight in chivalric romances read aloud; they respond to fiction's power to inflame desire and move to pity.read · scan
- p. 301–302Judging and censoring romances of chivalry as full of follies and vanities.read · scan
- p. 303Innkeeper defends fantastic chivalric tales of giants, armies and fire-serpents, preferring them to true history.read · scan
- p. 304Such books are devices of idle wits for recreation, and should be well contrived, pleasant and profitable to readers.read · scan
- p. 473Criticizes books of chivalry as idle Milesian fables that delight without instructing, full of disproportionate untruths and lacking the unity of art.read · scan
- p. 473Fables should imitate truth and be well proportioned beginning, middle and end; chivalry books are monstrous, artless and deserve banishment.read · scan
- p. 475Canon finds one merit in chivalry books: they give a wit wide scope to describe shipwrecks, battles, and varied characters.read · scan
- p. 475Such freedom lets the author be epic, lyric, tragic and comic poet and orator, aiming to instruct and delight; epics may be prose.read · scan
- p. 486–487Critique of romances of chivalry as fiction, listing their absurd conventions of knights, giants, enchantments and love-letters.read · scan
- p. 487Canon condemns chivalric romances as false impostors and seducers of common sense, though delightful while taken as toys.read · scan
- p. 492Quixote defends chivalric romances as delightful, licensed and universally read, describing the marvellous lake adventure that pleases readers.read · scan
- p. 492–493Quixote continues his ornate description of a romance's enchanted castle and feast, showing the marvellous invention that delights readers.read · scan
- p. 493Quixote claims chivalric romances banish melancholy and rectify disposition, delighting readers.read · scan
- p. 511–512The found verses commemorate Quixote, and the author compares the credit owed his tale with that given to chivalric romances.read · scan
- p. 513–514Mock-heroic epitaphs by the Academics praise Quixote in exaggerated verse, parodying learned eulogy and chivalric romance.read · scan
- p. 515–516Comic epitaphs for Sancho, Quixote and Dulcinea, with a scholar left to decipher the rest and promise a third sally.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 447–448Belles lettres and Tasso's poems are quoted as texts on chivalry.read · scan
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1000–1002Verse celebrates the tournament with ringing lists and flowers falling from ladies' hands.read · scan
10b.Novels and tales
Buddhist WritingsVol. 45
- p. 689A comic narrative poem personifying Death as a messenger with an hour-glass.read · scan
- p. 689Humorous verse dialogue with the personified figure of Death.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 18–19Shahrazad's storytelling holds the King in suspense night by night, deferring her death.read · scan
Traditional BalladsVol. 40
- p. 127–129The ballad closes with the singer's conventional ending and a new ballad about Robin Hood opens.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 180–181Gines has written his own life, boasting it surpasses Lazarillo de Tormes in true and delightful accidents.read · scan
- p. 252The narrator praises the tales and digressions as pleasing, artful and true, no less than the main history.read · scan
- p. 355The curate criticises the novel as improbable: no husband would be so foolish, though the telling is faultless.read · scan
- p. 422Narrator apologizes for the length of his tale, leaving out delightful circumstances, and leaves the hearers to judge it.read · scan
- p. 424Don Fernando praises the captive's tale as matching the novelty of its events, which they would gladly hear again.read · scan
- p. 469The curate finds another tale among the papers and expects it to be good like the Curious-Impertinent.read · scan
Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1
- p. 22–23Bunyan mixed narration and dialogue, engaging readers; Defoe and Richardson imitated the method.read · scan
Henry Fielding, Preface to Joseph AndrewsVol. 39
- p. 176Fielding classifies epic and drama into tragedy and comedy, arguing prose fiction lacking only metre belongs to the epic species.read · scan
- p. 177Defines the comic romance as comic epic in prose, distinguished from serious romance and comedy by fable, action, characters, sentiments and diction.read · scan
- p. 178–179Distinguishes true comic writing from burlesque, which admits drollery only in diction, and defends mirth as purging spleen and ill affections.read · scan
- p. 180–181Fielding defends including black vices in his novel: they are accidental frailties, never made ridiculous, never principal, never producing intended evil.read · scan
Samuel Johnson, Life of Addison, 1672-1719Vol. 27
- p. 164–165Johnson analyzes Addison's fictional characters: Sir Roger de Coverley compared to Don Quixote, and how well the delineation was carried out.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 56–58Novels warned against as baited hooks that heat young fancies.read · scan
William Wordsworth, Prefaces to Various Volumes of PoemsVol. 39
- p. 273Poet's best service is countering degrading appetite for outrageous stimulation from frantic novels and stories, against neglect of Shakespeare and Milton.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 643The author's closing apology to the reader about the story's pleasure or tedium.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, Sir Walter ScottVol. 25
- p. 426Scott turned the metrical romance into prose with Waverley; narrating where Byron sang, he won unmatched reputation.read · scan
- p. 430–431Ballantyne reads aloud from the proofs of the new Waverley novel, the Jeanie Deans scene, to deep effect.read · scan
- p. 432–433Scott's endless anecdotes and readings are praised as a stream of poetry and song and story from his lips.read · scan
- p. 439Waverley Novels praised for free narrative flow, picturesque painting of scenery and figures, and healthy sympathy with man, though written fast for pay.read · scan
- p. 440Compares Scott's character drawing with Shakespeare's and Goethe's: Scott works skin inwards, producing painted automatons, not living men.read · scan
- p. 440–441Literature must do more than amuse; Waverley Novels lack deep interests, guidance or heroic awakening and rest on transient costume.read · scan
- p. 442Romances have sated readers with amusement and driven them to seek something better.read · scan
- p. 443Defends rapid ready-writing of novels as a valuable faculty for the author.read · scan
Thomas Babington Macaulay, MachiavelliVol. 27
- p. 377–378Uses Shakespeare's Othello and Iago as fiction illustrating how readers respond to characters.read · scan
Victor Hugo, Preface to CromwellVol. 39
- p. 350–351Ariosto, Cervantes and Rabelais are burlesque Homers at the threshold of modern poetry.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, HeroismVol. 5
- p. 127Romance and fine stories stir the reader's delight in the hero and domesticate heroic sentiment.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 263–264The seventh maiden's talent is telling fairy-tales, one for each finger, and she wins the old elf.read · scan
- p. 264–265The elf looks forward to stories and songs of mountain maidens to be told in winter.read · scan
- p. 345He must compose a story as his only marriage gift, one both edifying and merry to please the parents.read · scan
- p. 346–347The kitchen objects hold an evening entertainment of storytelling, singing and dancing, and crown the performers with wreaths.read · scan
- p. 347–348The Sultana is carried away by the story and approves the teller's suit.read · scan
William Makepeace Thackeray, Jonathan SwiftVol. 28
- p. 7The humorous writer's office: to awaken love, pity and scorn for pretension, commenting on life's passions as a week-day preacher; the writer's craft and life.read · scan
- p. 20Swift's satiric humour in Gulliver and the Modest Proposal is discussed as literary method.read · scan
- p. 21–22Praises the humour, images and satire of Gulliver; the figures arise naturally from the subject, with comic invention compared to Milton.read · scan
- p. 22Judges the humour and moral of the fable in Gulliver's Travels as literary work.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 160–161Starved for books, Dana devours a jest-book and Godwin's romance, finding imaginative literature a spring in a desert land.read · scan
- p. 177–179He praises the novel's brilliance, lively sketches and literary merit as unusual for a sailor.read · scan
- p. 255Dana reads Scott's Woodstock aloud to the crew, who are absorbed in its narrative, Puritans and sermons, surprising him by their grasp.read · scan
- p. 256–257Dana finishes reading the novel Woodstock to the crew, carrying them to its ending.read · scan
John Ruskin, Sesame and LiliesVol. 28
- p. 151Novels' dangers and uses: overwrought interest, false pictures, but studies of human nature that feed the reader's own disposition.read · scan
10c.Standards of taste and the classics
See also: Judgment 6b · Honor 11c
Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33
- p. 56–57Herodotus cites Iliad and Odyssey verses to show Homer knew of Alexander's Egypt wandering, and argues the Cyprian Epic is not Homer's.read · scan
Plato, PhaedoVol. 2
- p. 105–107Cites Homer's description of the deepest chasm beneath the earth.read · scan
- p. 107Poets like Homer call the chasm Tartarus.read · scan
- p. 108The poet names the river Cocytus.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, On Old AgeVol. 9
- p. 53–54Cato rebuts the poet Caecilius's lines that old age is misery and the young dislike the old.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9
- p. 107–110Lucretius' poems show flashes of genius yet are very technical; reading Empedoclea would be heroic.read · scan
Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of EpictetusVol. 2
- p. 134–135A poet is quoted on Hermes warning a man.read · scan
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 204–208Comic poets Eupolis and another quoted praising Pericles' persuasive eloquence.read · scan
- p. 236He wrote verses showing more industry than genius and revered Virgil's tomb as a temple.read · scan
- p. 283–284Passienus Paulus, descendant of Propertius, composes elegies and recites a poem.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 47–48A poet's verse opened at random fits the present business, illustrating chance.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, HellVol. 20
- p. 5Argument frames the poet's journey under Virgil as guide, the Roman poet.read · scan
- p. 6Dante greets Virgil as fountain of eloquence and glory of poets; Virgil recounts his Aeneid.read · scan
- p. 17Homer, Horace, Ovid and Lucan welcome Dante into their band as sixth; Homer is monarch of sublimest song.read · scan
- p. 42–43Guido Cavalcanti, more given to philosophy than poetry, perhaps held Virgil in little regard.read · scan
- p. 103–104Dante claims his transformations surpass Ovid's and Lucan's fictions, since both natures exchange substance.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20
- p. 170Sordello reveres Virgil as glory of the Latins, in whom the Latin tongue displayed its utmost power.read · scan
- p. 233Statius honors Virgil as the poet by whose guidance he sang of men and gods.read · scan
- p. 250Dante honors Guinicelli as father of the poets of love, whose sweet rhymes he loves as long as the language lasts.read · scan
- p. 250–254Guinicelli praises Arnault Daniel as unrivalled in love verse and prose tales, and criticizes those who prize Guittone or Giraud.read · scan
William Caxton, Prefaces and EpiloguesVol. 39
- p. 17–18Praises Chaucer as laureate poet who embellished English with eloquent, concise, crafty writing, and Caxton prints the Canterbury Tales.read · scan
- p. 22–24Reads and resolves to translate Virgil's Aeneid, admired for eloquence and history.read · scan
- p. 24–26Praises Skelton, laureate poet steeped in Virgil, Ovid and the Muses, to correct the translation.read · scan
Niccolò Machiavelli, The PrinceVol. 36
- p. 86Petrarch's verse is quoted to close the exhortation.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 204They possess Aristophanes, Homer, Euripides and Sophocles.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 39–40He compares the boy to the Greeks' stories of heavenly deities.read · scan
- p. 302Cellini claims to explain a line in Dante's Inferno that commentators misread.read · scan
Michel de Montaigne, Of BookesVol. 32
- p. 89He names authors he enjoys or finds tedious, Boccaccio, Rabelais, Ovid, Plato.read · scan
- p. 89–91Ranks Virgil, Lucretius, Catullus, Horace highest; praises Georgics and Terence's grace and portrayal of passions and manners.read · scan
- p. 91–93Opens by comparing poets' flights, one soaring, another fluttering, illustrated by a Virgil quotation on short excursions.read · scan
- p. 94Cicero's poor verses are a fault only because he failed to see they were unworthy.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 51Curate criticizes and praises poets, including Cervantes himself, and ranks Ercilla, Ruffo and Virnes among the best heroic verse of Castile.read · scan
- p. 191Quixote judges the sonnet's author a reasonable poet, and says knights-errant were versifiers and musicians whose verses were rich in conceits.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3
- p. 139–140Poets' fable of Fame described finely and gravely in a fragment.read · scan
- p. 141Poets' parables of Fame as a monster, born of the Earth in anger at the giants' destruction.read · scan
John Milton, Poems Written at Horton, 1632-1638Vol. 4
- p. 34Tragedy, epic and romance of Chaucer and other great bards, where more is meant than meets the ear.read · scan
Abraham Cowley, Of AgricultureVol. 27
- p. 67–68Homer and Virgil show respect for rustic life, Laertes gardening, Eumaeus the divine swineherd, Evander's humble court.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 17–18Taste in verse and prose is judged by natural standard.read · scan
- p. 18The ridiculousness of a false sonnet shown by comparing it with nature and the standard.read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 171Bunyan celebrates the welcome his Pilgrim's book has received across nations and among all sorts of readers.read · scan
John Dryden, Dedication of the AeneisVol. 13
- p. 59–60Contrasts Virgil's Aeneid with Marini's Adone; Dryden hopes for lasting reputation and writes in old age.read · scan
John Dryden, Preface to Fables, Ancient and ModernVol. 39
- p. 153Dryden compares the poet's work to building beyond plan, describing how his translations of Homer and Ovid grew into a volume.read · scan
- p. 153Dryden discusses Chaucer, Boccaccio, Dante and Ovid, their verse forms, and his own added original poems.read · scan
- p. 159Compares Ovid and Chaucer as poets, their sources, borrowed inventions and shared manners; Chaucer's own tales give him precedence.read · scan
- p. 163–164Chaucer's Canterbury pilgrims are individually distinguished, their tales suited to their education and calling.read · scan
- p. 164–165Chaucer's varied characters, ribald and grave, distinguished by age, calling and breeding; Dryden chooses only modest tales.read · scan
- p. 166–167Dryden gives examples of Chaucer's verse and declines to retell obscene tales.read · scan
- p. 167–168Chaucer a rough diamond needing polish; a writer should write only what he ought; Dryden's kinship of soul with him.read · scan
- p. 168–169Poetic beauty and sense of Chaucer preserved or lost in translation.read · scan
- p. 169Dryden's veneration for Chaucer, aiming to perpetuate his memory.read · scan
- p. 169–170Compares Chaucer and Boccaccio: same genius, Chaucer superior in serious poetry and refining borrowed stories.read · scan
Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34
- p. 100–101Bacon called an elegant writer and wit; moral essays aim to instruct rather than please.read · scan
- p. 109–110Descartes' imagination adorned his works with metaphors; nature almost made him a poet.read · scan
- p. 133Presents Dryden's verses and criticizes his exuberant genius lacking judgment and his aim to be universal.read · scan
- p. 140Introduces a nobleman's poetical description of Italy, with apology for the translation.read · scan
- p. 141–142Satirical verses by an English nobleman on Italy.read · scan
- p. 142–143Voltaire praises Rochester as a poet of genius and compares poets treating the same subject to improve taste.read · scan
- p. 143–144Verse satire in French and English versions.read · scan
- p. 144–145Voltaire evaluates Waller against Voiture and Boileau's judgments, praising English poets' genius while noting Waller's negligence and false thoughts.read · scan
- p. 148–149Praises Swift's humour and Pope as the most elegant, correct and harmonious English poet, whose general subjects translate easily.read · scan
- p. 149Extract from Pope's Rape of the Lock, personifying Spleen's cave with Ill-nature and Affectation, in Voltaire's French version.read · scan
- p. 150Pope's passage compared to Boileau's Lutrin.read · scan
- p. 151Assesses English tragedy, comedy and poems against French.read · scan
- p. 156Lists English literary figures (Pope, Congreve, Dryden, Addison) as ornaments of the proposed academy, compared to French counterparts.read · scan
Samuel Johnson, Life of Addison, 1672-1719Vol. 27
- p. 180–181Johnson assesses Addison's poetry as correct but faint, thinking justly without ardour, splendour or vigour of diction.read · scan
Samuel Johnson, Preface to the English DictionaryVol. 39
- p. 195–196Johnson originally extracted beautiful descriptions from poets, but lost them in reducing quotations to clusters of words.read · scan
Samuel Johnson, Preface to ShakespeareVol. 39
- p. 208Johnson argues the merit of literary works is proved only by long duration and comparison, as with Homer.read · scan
David Hume, Of the Standard of TasteVol. 27
- p. 204Homer and Fenelon inculcate same precepts but differ in depicting manners, Ulysses's cunning against Telemachus's scrupulous truthfulness.read · scan
- p. 207–208Homer's lasting glory contrasted with the temporary vogue of bad poets and orators.read · scan
- p. 216Just expression of passion and nature in Terence and Virgil wins lasting applause, unlike shifting philosophical systems.read · scan
- p. 217Civilized nations rarely err long in affection for a favourite epic or tragic author.read · scan
- p. 218Ovid, Horace, Tacitus favored at different ages; comedy, tragedy, satire, odes each have partisans.read · scan
- p. 218–219Judging ancient poets like Homer and the tragedians: their coarse manners may be excused, but morally blameable characters diminish the merit of the work.read · scan
- p. 220Critics must overlook pagan theology to judge ancient poetry justly.read · scan
- p. 221Hume criticizes Polieucte, Athalia, Petrarch and Boccaccio, where religious bigotry and superstition spoil polite composition.read · scan
Edmund Burke, On Taste: Introductory DiscourseVol. 24
- p. 18–20Readers of Don Bellianis and Virgil differ little in taste; both works offer action, passion and changes of fortune.read · scan
- p. 24–25Poetry and music affect rude hearers in their crude state; criticism advances as the arts approach perfection.read · scan
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24
- p. 214Horace's precept that poems must be sweet as well as beautiful is applied to states.read · scan
- p. 245–246Their exclusive spirit harmed literature and taste by confining literary reputation to their followers.read · scan
- p. 252Burke quotes Denham's Cooper's Hill as a political poet.read · scan
- p. 302–304Rousseau held that writers must now produce the marvellous in life and manners, as mythology and romance are exhausted.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 409–411Hails Poesie, ranks Milton, Shakespeare, Pope, Theocritus, and praises Allan Ramsay for painting Nature and rural love trulyread · scan
William Wordsworth, Prefaces to Various Volumes of PoemsVol. 39
- p. 268–269Accurate taste in poetry is acquired by thought and study of best models; Wordsworth describes poems as experiments using the real language of men.read · scan
- p. 289Readers should judge poems by their own feelings, and taste in poetry is an acquired talent from thought and long acquaintance with the best models.read · scan
William Wordsworth, Essay Supplementary to PrefaceVol. 39
- p. 311Wordsworth classes readers of poetry by age and station; poetry treats things as they appear to senses and passions, not as they are, breeding delusion in youth.read · scan
- p. 311–313Able men who neglect poetry in later life are dazzled by faulty new verse, and lack taste for pure, simple style.read · scan
- p. 316–317Great poetry is long neglected while trivial works blaze into popularity; Wordsworth surveys Du Bartas and Spenser's fluctuating fame.read · scan
- p. 320Wordsworth disputes Johnson's claim that Paradise Lost's sales prove readers were just to it; buyers were partisans or religious, not seeking poetic merit.read · scan
- p. 320–321Slow reception of Paradise Lost shows popular admiration fixed elsewhere; contemporaries preferred lesser poets, so taste is unreliable.read · scan
- p. 322Pope won fame by polish and melody but strayed from nature; Thomson's Seasons, drawn from himself and nature, were finally admired.read · scan
- p. 323Criticizes Dryden and Pope for descriptions of nature lacking observation; a poet must fix his eye on his object with genuine imagination.read · scan
- p. 324Examines Thomson's Seasons and Castle of Indolence, their faulty style, and why the public admired or neglected them.read · scan
- p. 325Traces fortunes of Collins, Percy's Reliques and the ballad revival; Percy's genuine simplicity versus vague fashionable diction.read · scan
- p. 326–327Mocks Macpherson's Ossian and Burger's ornamented ballad imitation, contrasting simple ballad pathos with inflated diction.read · scan
- p. 328Attacks Ossian as spurious poetry, its diction a patchwork borrowed from English poets and its imagery false.read · scan
- p. 328–329Ossian, unlike Percy's Reliques, had no influence on English literature; Percy's unassuming work redeemed English poetry.read · scan
- p. 331Every great original poet must create the taste by which he is enjoyed, like Hannibal crossing the Alps.read · scan
- p. 333Genius is doing well what was never done, widening human sensibility; original poets must call forth power in readers.read · scan
- p. 334Popularity is no test of poetic excellence; good poetry survives while vicious poetry perishes despite wider readership.read · scan
- p. 335Good poetry survives, individually and as a kind, through the People's intellect; Wordsworth hopes his work extends sensibility for human nature's benefit.read · scan
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient MarinerVol. 41
- p. 682–684Ballad narrative frame: the Mariner compels a wedding guest to hear his tale of a voyage.read · scan
William Hazlitt, Of Persons One Would Wish to Have SeenVol. 27
- p. 267Lamb prefers writers' works to their persons but cherishes Shakespeare's and Milton's poetry over their images.read · scan
- p. 267–269Lamb wishes to meet obscure, enigmatic writers Browne and Greville; Donne's conceited verses read.read · scan
- p. 271–272Spenser's poetry is ideal romance, essence of fancy; seeing the man would dissolve the charm.read · scan
- p. 273–274Lamb admires Pope's friendly epistles and compliments as immortal verse; quotes Pope on early poetic friends.read · scan
- p. 274–275Dryden, Pope, Richardson and Fielding assessed as authors; Pope's Homer translation welcomed.read · scan
- p. 278Poets like Gray, Gay, Swift, Burns, Chatterton and Thomson appear as shades with fitting characteristic gestures.read · scan
- p. 279–280French writers such as Moliere, Racine, La Fontaine and Rabelais are named among figures worth seeing; Moliere reads Tartuffe.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 359–360Questions why an author of such talent left no work considered excellent; literary reputation and its causes.read · scan
Percy Bysshe Shelley, A Defence of PoetryVol. 27
- p. 347–348Dante and Milton as great poets who idealized popular creeds; poets celebrated love and chivalry's worship shaped the age.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, Sir Walter ScottVol. 25
- p. 404–405Scott's poetic power external not internal; loved the picturesque like many minor poets; no quotable winged words.read · scan
- p. 422Carlyle judges Scott's metrical romances: genuine human force and painted pictures, superior to the Della-Cruscan verse they displaced.read · scan
- p. 423–424Scott's romances suited a languid age by offering vigorous vivid scenes requiring no effort from the reader.read · scan
- p. 424Goethe's Gotz and Werter deeply influenced European literature, spawning imitations and chivalry plays, and inspiring Scott's own work.read · scan
- p. 424Traces the literary tendencies Gotzism and Werterism, represented by Scott and Byron, across Europe.read · scan
- p. 425Byron's poems replaced Scott's metrical romances, giving an indignant statement of the age's misery; Scott saw the change coming.read · scan
- p. 447Literature is the Thought of thinking Souls and survives any flood of extempore book-publishing.read · scan
John Keats, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 895–897The poetry of earth never ceases; Chapman's Homer opens a new realm like a discovered planet.read · scan
Thomas Babington Macaulay, MachiavelliVol. 27
- p. 370–371Dante's Divine Comedy is the greatest imaginative work since Homer; Petrarch and Boccaccio revived Latin and Greek letters.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, The American ScholarVol. 5
- p. 10–11Chaucer, Marvell and Dryden give modern joy as they speak what lies close to our own soul.read · scan
- p. 21Goldsmith, Burns, Wordsworth, Goethe write warm, blood-like literature of the near and common, against cold Pope, Johnson, Gibbon.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, HeroismVol. 5
- p. 122Emerson laments that recent literature lacks heroic music, citing Wordsworth and Scott as exceptions.read · scan
- p. 123Surveys literature of heroism from Carlyle and Burns to Plutarch, its doctor and historian.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, CharacterVol. 5
- p. 183The opening verses praise a hero whose faith and deeds are silent like nature's unrepenting acts.read · scan
- p. 191–192Literary genius seems death-cold before living character; young readers devoted to Aeschylus, Dante, Shakspeare gain fresh thought.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 317–318Landor is a master of style whose elegant sentences, wisdom and wit scholars return to, though undervalued.read · scan
- p. 318–320Coleridge recites verses he made on his baptismal anniversary.read · scan
- p. 324Wordsworth prefers Lucretius to Virgil for power of illustration, composes verses in his walk, and recites his sonnets on Fingal's Cave.read · scan
- p. 419Classical training in Latin verse and the poets shapes English criticism and taste.read · scan
- p. 445Emerson assesses Tennyson: superb ear and command of language, but lacking a subject and vision; the best poets rarely strike the high chord.read · scan
- p. 462–464Wordsworth judges Tennyson a true poetic genius though affected, and remarks that matter always comes out of manner.read · scan
- p. 465Emerson assesses Wordsworth's poetic genius, his adherence to his creed, defects of his verse, and the Ode on Immortality as the intellect's high-water mark.read · scan
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, MontaigneVol. 32
- p. 117He concluded the chapter in his poetical way with 'a heap of foreign flowers' strung on his thread.read · scan
- p. 117–118Montaigne held a lofty idea of poetry; poetry transported him, and interpreting it is harder than writing it; his poetic, metaphorical style is praised.read · scan
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, What Is a Classic?Vol. 32
- p. 121Introduces the essay on what makes a classic author and the valuation and classification of literature.read · scan
- p. 121–122Dante was greeted as a classic; a poetry deriving from a lofty source keeps its impulse.read · scan
- p. 122Discusses how nations obtain classic authors; the quarrel of ancients and moderns over Boileau, Perrault, Corneille, Moliere and La Fontaine.read · scan
- p. 124–125Classics include Corneille and Moliere; Goethe praises Moliere's drama, Tartuffe's exposition, as a model of dramatic construction.read · scan
- p. 125Ranks Virgil over Homer and Racine over Corneille under this theory; Dido's transports in the Aeneid show genius beyond reason.read · scan
- p. 126–127Goethe calls the classical healthy and the romantic sickly; Nibelungen as classic as Homer.read · scan
- p. 127Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Shakespeare as classics; Pope's school now second order to Shakespeare.read · scan
- p. 128Assesses Pope, Byron, Shakespeare, Dante and Milton; Goethe says Byron feared Shakespeare's power but never denied Pope, a low wall beside him.read · scan
- p. 129France had no great classic before Louis XIV; Montaigne a premature classic; Moliere and La Fontaine, once underrated, now rank highest.read · scan
- p. 130Homer first, with Valmiki, Vyasa and Firdousi; wise men and poets who put morality into maxims and song would understand each other.read · scan
- p. 130Imagines a hill of classic poets and writers, Virgil, Horace, Plato, Sophocles, Molière, ranked by their genius and charm.read · scan
- p. 130–132Dante, Tasso, Lucretius and Milton among the classics; late-comers should admire them yet write with sincerity and their own voice.read · scan
- p. 132–133Reading the classics, like Horace, gives mature taste, good sense and serene friendship that never deceives.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 12Delight in Pope's Iliad, his first English verse, read many times.read · scan
- p. 15–16Father's tastes in English poetry and Mill's own responses to Scott, Dryden, Cowper and Campbell.read · scan
- p. 94–95Mill and Roebuck debate Byron versus Wordsworth and their theories of poetry; Wordsworth as poet for unpoetical natures.read · scan
- p. 135–136Mill hails Carlyle's French Revolution as a work of genius above all rules, a law to itself.read · scan
- p. 190–191Mill summarizes his later writing: articles, speeches, and the Subjection of Women, plus preparations for future books.read · scan
Giuseppe Mazzini, Byron and GoetheVol. 32
- p. 382–383Byron's recurring heroes Cain, Manfred, the Corsair embody a single type.read · scan
- p. 384Byron's works summarize the emptiness of solitary individuality, though the crowd misreads him.read · scan
- p. 385Goethe, the objective artist, receives and reproduces poetry from all external objects with calm scrutiny.read · scan
- p. 386Goethe's work resembles an unclassified encyclopaedia, lacking a conception of humanity, and keeps art aloof from politics and religion.read · scan
- p. 386–387Goethe is a pagan poet of modern times, worshipping the sensuous and external forms rather than the ideal.read · scan
- p. 388Goethe's poetic method: tranquil, passive observation and faithful rendering of impressions, like a placid lake, leading to indifference.read · scan
- p. 388Contrasts Byron and Goethe as poets: one reproduces nature's harmonies, the other composes on her theme; objective versus subjective individuality in verse.read · scan
- p. 389–390Goethe and Byron exhaust the two forms of the poetry of individuality, ending in indifference and despair, and necessitating a new poetry.read · scan
- p. 390–391Farewell to Goethe's and Byron's poetry of egotistic joys and griefs; poetry that teaches inactive contemplation or despair must give way to a new poetry.read · scan
- p. 391–392Byron and Goethe as isolated internal and external man; the future poetry of humanity will unite them; the public shapes the poet.read · scan
- p. 395–396Byron's death in Greece symbolizes the alliance of poetry with the cause of peoples and the union of thought and action.read · scan
Edgar Allan Poe, The Poetic PrincipleVol. 28
- p. 379–381Praises Longfellow's delicacy and Bryant's 'June', and defends natural, easy manner in style as genuinely difficult.read · scan
- p. 381–383Praises Bryant's melodious rhythm and Pinkney's 'Health', noting the pleasurable sadness of poetic elevation.read · scan
- p. 385–387Poe praises Hood's 'Haunted House' as true and artistic, and presents 'Bridge of Sighs' with fair Ines.read · scan
- p. 387–389Poe praises the vigor and pathos of 'Bridge of Sighs' and presents Byron's neglected minor poem.read · scan
- p. 389–391Poe praises verses for versification and elevating theme, and calls Tennyson the noblest poet because most ethereal and pure.read · scan
- p. 392Poe presents the poem and says its excellence requires sympathizing with the cavalier's spirit.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29
- p. 20Says the true first colonists, dirt-feeding insects, destroy the poetry of the usual story of palms and birds.read · scan
William Makepeace Thackeray, Jonathan SwiftVol. 28
- p. 19Thackeray judges Swift's satire, the Drapier's Letters and Modest Proposal, as masterpieces of dreadful humour and invective.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 316Recites Cowper's Castaway, Goethe's Erl King and Horace, finding the gloomy verse suited to a lonely sea watch.read · scan
Henry David Thoreau, WalkingVol. 28
- p. 404–405Atlantis and the Hesperides were the ancients' Great West, enveloped in mystery and poetry; Chaucer quoted on pilgrimage.read · scan
- p. 414No poetry adequately expresses the yearning for the Wild; the best poetry is tame, and Grecian mythology comes nearest.read · scan
John Ruskin, Sesame and LiliesVol. 28
- p. 105–106Ruskin introduces a close reading of Milton's Lycidas, quoting St. Peter's denunciation of corrupt shepherds who feed themselves.read · scan
- p. 106–107Reading Milton's lines carefully: great poets mean what they say and do not play stage tricks with doctrines of life and death.read · scan
- p. 108–109Milton's and St. Paul's idea of a bishop must be read as they meant it, not with our meaning.read · scan
- p. 110Comparison of Milton's and Dante's interpretations of the keys; Dante weaker in thought here.read · scan
- p. 110–111Great poets' meaning is too wide to fathom or reduce to a creed.read · scan
- p. 140–141Dante and early Italian poets testify to woman as teacher and guide of man.read · scan
- p. 141–142Greek and later poets (Homer, Chaucer, Spenser) present women as ideal types of faith and beauty.read · scan
- p. 142–143Great poets are not dressing dolls but give a true ideal of woman.read · scan
- p. 143–144Quotes Coventry Patmore as a poet who strengthens and purifies.read · scan
- p. 147–148Ruskin quotes Wordsworth's stanzas as a perfect, concise description of womanly beauty.read · scan
- p. 161–162Tennyson's 'Maud' lines are reinterpreted to suggest Christ waiting alone at the gate.read · scan
Walt Whitman, Preface to Leaves of GrassVol. 39
- p. 406–407The test of a great poem is that it endures through the changes of time and serves all ages and sexes.read · scan
Hermann von Helmholtz, Ice and GlaciersVol. 30
- p. 241–243Helmholtz quotes Goethe's 'Mahomet's Song' in Martin's translation as the finest depiction of a stream's course.read · scan
Matthew Arnold, The Study of PoetryVol. 28
- p. 65–66Poetry's high destiny demands a high standard; it must be excellent, sound and true as a criticism of life.read · scan
- p. 67The best poetry forms, sustains and delights us; a poetry collection should keep the sense of the best in view.read · scan
- p. 68Debate over French classical poetry and the classic's cloud of glory; whether veneration of classics hides the poet's labour.read · scan
- p. 69Real classics should be deeply felt and enjoyed; study of poetry serves to appreciate the truly excellent.read · scan
- p. 69–70Historic and personal estimates lead critics to exaggerate; the Chanson de Roland is good but not Homer's epic order.read · scan
- p. 71–72Lines of great masters (Homer, Dante) serve as touchstones to detect high poetic quality in other poetry.read · scan
- p. 73Lines from Shakespeare and Milton serve as touchstones; concrete examples of highest quality better than abstract criteria.read · scan
- p. 74Arnold locates the character of the best poetry in substance and in style, diction and movement, which are inseparably proportioned.read · scan
- p. 79Chaucer is not a great classic because he lacks the high seriousness of Homer, Dante and Shakespeare, though his poetry excels all the rest of his age.read · scan
- p. 80–81Chaucer has truth of substance and exquisite style but lacks high seriousness. Eighteenth-century poetry raises the question whether Dryden and Pope are classics.read · scan
- p. 81Dryden and Pope are assessed as poets and men of letters, and Dryden's prose is set beside earlier styles.read · scan
- p. 82–83Dryden and Pope, founders of an age of prose and reason, repressed the imaginative life of poetry; their verse suits that mission but is not true poetry.read · scan
- p. 83–84Dryden and Pope lack an adequate poetic criticism of life and are classics of prose; Gray is a frail classic, and Burns's English poetry is unimportant.read · scan
- p. 85–86Burns's bacchanalian verse lacks sincerity, but his songs of dignity and moral reflection show powerful application of ideas to life, still short of supreme poetry.read · scan
- p. 87Arnold judges Burns by the standard of high seriousness and sincerity found in Dante; Burns falls short of the great classics.read · scan
- p. 87–89Arnold compares Burns with Chaucer, praising his pathos, energy and truth of style in The Jolly Beggars and the songs, yet denying him classic rank.read · scan
- p. 89Arnold proposes using the great classics as a touchstone to correct personal estimates of poets like Burns, Shelley and Byron.read · scan
- p. 90Enjoying the truly classic in poetry is of supreme importance; good literature will never lose supremacy over common literature.read · scan
Matthew Arnold, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1135–1136Elegy on Byron, Goethe and Wordsworth, the last poetic voices; Goethe as physician of the age who says art still has truth.read · scan
Walter Bagehot, John MiltonVol. 28
- p. 176Milton lacks humor and knowledge of plain human nature, unlike Shakespeare, whose literature is involved in real life.read · scan
- p. 191–192Milton's characters of Satan and Eve are simple, while Hamlet and Lear are complex romantic creations.read · scan
- p. 200Milton's imagination halts in delineating the Divine character; heavenly sermons are tedious.read · scan
- p. 201–202Eve's speech is quoted as refreshment after the theological discussion.read · scan
- p. 203Eve is a wonderful imaginative creation, typical yet individual; Milton's paraphrase of Scripture is tedious and ineffective.read · scan
- p. 204Despite many criticisms, Paradise Lost is unrivalled in style, its words having magic, strength and music.read · scan
- p. 205Comus is weak in characters and story but great in style, giving a true conception of the dignity of Milton's mind.read · scan
- p. 206Bagehot closes by stating the impression Milton's character and greatest works make on the present generation.read · scan
Hippolyte Taine, Introduction to the History of English LiteratureVol. 39
- p. 410–412Modern and seventeenth-century poets are read through their social circumstances, such as Racine the courtier.read · scan
- p. 425Cites Dryden's abortive drama and Ronsard's fragments as products of contrary creative forces.read · scan
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1179–1180Poets in youth versus the enduring song; beauty compared with great poets' genius.read · scan
Andrew Lang, Sonnet ("Homer, thy song men liken to the sea")Vol. 22
- p. 335Lang compares Homer's song to the sea and the Nile, an inexhaustible source enriching human life.read · scan
Robert Louis Stevenson, Samuel PepysVol. 28
- p. 298Pepys admired Shakespeare as poet, memorized 'To be or not to be' and set heroic verses to music.read · scan
10d.The critic's office
See also: Judgment 6d
Plato, The Apology of SocratesVol. 2
- p. 7Aristophanes' comedy caricatured Socrates walking in the air and talking nonsense.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, On FriendshipVol. 9
- p. 10Cicero explains his literary craft of dramatic dialogue, choosing Laelius as speaker and lending weight through ancient authority.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9
- p. 155Servius's trained ear distinguishes Plautus's verse; Caesar likewise judges Cicero's witticisms genuine or not.read · scan
Plutarch, ThemistoclesVol. 12
- p. 23–24Timocreon's satirical verses invoke the Muse to revile Themistocles.read · scan
- p. 34Plutarch accuses Phylarchus of writing history like tragedy, using stage machinery to move compassion, and quotes comic verses on the tomb.read · scan
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 238He composed a tribute and seeks the father's criticism to alter, omit or add.read · scan
- p. 262–264Pliny defends reciting his compositions to friends to improve them; laments Fannius's unfinished literary work.read · scan
- p. 273–274Praises Calpurnius Piso's recitation of his elegiac poem with its varied style and modesty.read · scan
- p. 284Comic mishap at a poetry recitation: friend interrupts the poet; authors must ensure audience and author are sane.read · scan
- p. 331Pliny mixes light verse with graver works, recites his poems to friends and reads the whole in order to correct it.read · scan
- p. 331–332Pliny revises his book after recital, holding that changed passages seem new.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 7Friend satirically advises faking learning: ascribe sonnets to famous men, and insert Latin tags and Goliath annotations to seem erudite.read · scan
- p. 8Satirizes ready-made erudition: name-dropping classical figures and histories to garnish a book with citations and annotations.read · scan
- p. 51Curate appraises pastoral and heroic poems, sparing the best, purging base or enchanting parts, praising Lofraso's delight.read · scan
Izaak Walton, The Life of Mr. George HerbertVol. 15
- p. 381Melvin's bitter satirical verses against the Church are answered by Herbert.read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 169–170Author instructs his book how to answer objections and counterfeit imitators, defending his own work and title.read · scan
- p. 172–173Bunyan answers objections that his book is too merry, obscure or romance-like, defending his method.read · scan
- p. 173Author instructs his book how to present itself and treat those who dislike it.read · scan
John Dryden, Dedication of the AeneisVol. 13
- p. 10Poets' rivalry and reaction to an unknown author's poem and criticism.read · scan
- p. 66–67Dryden acknowledges help from Lauderdale's translation and Congreve's review, and asserts unity of style shows the translation is his own.read · scan
- p. 69Dryden hopes his patron, a poet and critic, will forgive the faults of his Virgil translation, as Homer was allowed to nod.read · scan
John Dryden, Postscript to the ReaderVol. 13
- p. 425–426Dryden discusses his labor translating Virgil's Aeneid and his editions and commentaries, judging one critic's understanding of Virgil poor.read · scan
- p. 426Dryden recounts where he translated Virgil, rivals' versions of the Georgics, and his modest notes as guesses at Virgil's meaning.read · scan
John Dryden, All for Love; or, The World Well LostVol. 18
- p. 17–19Dryden defends Horace, the 'landmark of poetry', against ignorant imitators, translators and a hostile rhyming critic, discussing satire and the poet's craft.read · scan
- p. 21Prologue pleads with critics for candour toward a poet who writes without rhyme, mocking carping half-wits.read · scan
- p. 106Epilogue on poets and playwrights, critics railing at authors, and the poet's plea for the audience's favor of his play.read · scan
John Dryden, Preface to Fables, Ancient and ModernVol. 39
- p. 172–173Dryden mocks Blackmore's and Milbourne's criticism of his poetry and translations, ironically claiming their bad verse proves his own standing as poet.read · scan
Jonathan Swift, Hints towards an Essay on ConversationVol. 27
- p. 93–94Coffeehouse wits with plays and prologues treat trifling compositions as noblest efforts, and pedantry overruns the poets.read · scan
Jonathan Swift, On the Death of Esther Johnson [Stella]Vol. 27
- p. 125–126She had true taste in poetry and prose and was a perfect critic of style, a reliable judge for authors.read · scan
Sir Richard Steele, The Spectator ClubVol. 27
- p. 84The Templar knows Aristotle and Longinus better than law, is an excellent critic and haunts the theatre.read · scan
Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1
- p. 17–19Franklin quibbles with Pope's couplet on modesty and sense, proposing a revised wording.read · scan
Samuel Johnson, Life of Addison, 1672-1719Vol. 27
- p. 157–158Johnson criticizes Addison's Latin and early English verse; a dead language hides poverty of thought, and criticism of Spenser without reading him is faulty.read · scan
- p. 158–159Addison's Latin and English poems, the Letter to Lord Halifax and Cato, are assessed; Johnson notes a king's unintended patronage of poetry.read · scan
- p. 161–162Steele's Tatler and Addison's contributions on literature and common life; authors are betrayed by their habitual phrases and favourite topics.read · scan
- p. 167–168Dennis's angry criticism of Cato, Pope's Narrative of Dennis's madness, and Johnson's view that the love scenes are integral to the play.read · scan
- p. 168–169Reception, translation and criticism of Addison's tragedy Cato; Dennis's criticism; the Guardian's literary contents and Addison's contributions.read · scan
- p. 177–178Steele praises his wit and humour, and his ease in dictating finished prose.read · scan
- p. 178–179Addison wrote fluently but revised little; Pope's objections to Cato and its final lines are discussed critically.read · scan
- p. 196–197Johnson assesses Addison's translations and verse as smooth, correct and polished but lacking vigor and excellence.read · scan
- p. 197–198Johnson defends Addison's criticism of Milton and Chevy Chase, arguing it made Paradise Lost popular and founded art on nature.read · scan
- p. 198–199Johnson praises Addison's humour, fidelity to life and middle prose style as models of English style.read · scan
Samuel Johnson, Preface to ShakespeareVol. 39
- p. 235Johnson assesses Pope's editing of Shakespeare's text and the qualities of taste, learning and language an emendatory critic requires.read · scan
- p. 236Johnson evaluates Pope's and Theobald's editions of Shakespeare, judging their notes, collations and prefaces.read · scan
- p. 237–238Johnson judges Hanmer's fitness as Shakespeare's editor, his intuition into the poet's intention, treatment of metre and language.read · scan
- p. 238The critique concerns commentary on Shakespeare's text and interpretation of obscure passages.read · scan
- p. 239–240Johnson surveys Shakespeare's commentators (Warburton, Upton, Grey), appraising their conjectures, learning, taste and controversies over the text.read · scan
- p. 240–241Johnson classes his notes as illustrative, judicial of faults and beauties, or emendatory.read · scan
- p. 241–242Johnson explains his aim of making Shakespeare's meaning accessible and the difficulty of explaining a desultory author full of allusions.read · scan
- p. 243He offers brief strictures on faults and excellences of Shakespeare's plays and discusses emendation of corrupted passages.read · scan
- p. 244Johnson describes editing Shakespeare: collating old copies, rectifying Rowe's arbitrary alterations, and restoring the primitive diction.read · scan
- p. 245–246Johnson defends his editorial methods, and argues Shakespeare's plays should not be divided into five acts but by change of scene or time.read · scan
- p. 246–247Critical labor over trifles of Shakespeare's text is defended as an art the public does not understand.read · scan
- p. 247Johnson reflects on the editor's craft of conjectural emendation of Shakespeare, its pitfalls and the fleeting fame of critics.read · scan
- p. 247–248Johnson defends conjectural criticism and admits the editor of Shakespeare lacks the aids enjoyed by editors of ancient authors.read · scan
- p. 250Shakespeare's works need commentary because language and sentiments grow obscure; Johnson submits his commentary to public judgment.read · scan
Oliver Goldsmith, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 505Satirical verse epitaphs (Retaliation) characterizing friends, including Burke, as dishes at a dinner.read · scan
Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and BeautifulVol. 24
- p. 47Poets and critics are confined to a narrow circle, imitating one another rather than nature.read · scan
- p. 139–140He declines to treat poetry at length, since its criticism has been well handled.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19
- p. 73–75Mephistopheles satirically advises choosing a poet ally to heap noble qualities on Faust's brow.read · scan
- p. 182–185The Intermezzo satirizes theater and dilettante authorship; masque of Oberon, Titania, Puck and Ariel.read · scan
- p. 185–188Satirical Xenien, Musaget and 'Genius of the Age' mock literary fashions on the Blocksberg as Germany's Parnassus.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Introduction to the PropyläenVol. 39
- p. 265–266Promises future theory and criticism of literary art.read · scan
Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for ScandalVol. 18
- p. 113The playwright is likened to Don Quixote fighting the hydra Scandal with his pen and ink.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 262–264Epigrams on poetry and poor verse, Martial, and a painter told to paint the devil.read · scan
- p. 267–269Burns's verse epistle lamenting Willie Creech's departure, praising his wit and hailing poets and critics who gathered at his levee.read · scan
- p. 327–329Poet scorns reviewers as judges of mortar and stone, offers an honest bard's esteem.read · scan
- p. 351–352Mocks the poetaster Peebles, who never mounted Pegasus, and his 'Liberty's Chain' line.read · scan
- p. 465–467Satiric epigrams against Galloway attack his mind and lineage.read · scan
- p. 484–485Satire on poets and Maria's verse as the abuse of Poesy; the poet's own venomous pen.read · scan
William Wordsworth, Essay Supplementary to PrefaceVol. 39
- p. 315The trustworthy critic of poetry must combine poetic and philosophical mind, kindly sensibility and severe understanding; those best qualified include the most perverse.read · scan
- p. 319Critics such as Steevens and Johnson scorned the sonnets of Shakespeare and Milton, whose poems went long neglected.read · scan
- p. 329Criticizes Johnson's Lives of the Poets for omitting Chaucer, Spenser and Shakespeare in favor of worthless minor versifiers.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 466–467Narrator quips that poets' advice, like Achillini's sonnets, is never followed unless already decided beforehand.read · scan
Percy Bysshe Shelley, A Defence of PoetryVol. 27
- p. 357–358Poetry differs from logic, is independent of will; poets are unjustly calumniated; the critic should distinguish bad versifiers.read · scan
Percy Bysshe Shelley, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 864–866Elegy for the poet Adonais (Keats), mourning the silenced lyre and attacking the hostile critic who wounded him.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, CharacteristicsVol. 25
- p. 339–340Reviewing prevails; the reviewer is a mere taster and literature becomes a self-devouring review, listening to itself.read · scan
Victor Hugo, Preface to CromwellVol. 39
- p. 337Hugo introduces his drama and its preface, wryly discussing how prefaces, critics and readers treat a literary work.read · scan
- p. 384New criticism will free literature from tottering classicism and false romanticism, and imitators of modern genius.read · scan
- p. 385Criticism that persecuted Corneille, Racine and Milton by rules is condemned.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Man the ReformerVol. 5
- p. 50Literature's faults, fineness, effeminacy and melancholy, come from the sickly habits of the literary class.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, FriendshipVol. 5
- p. 112The poet is faulted if he spins his thread too fine and does not ground romance in real virtues.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 439Criticism of English literature: Dickens local, Bulwer worldly, Thackeray renouncing ideals; Hallam misses ideal standards.read · scan
Edgar Allan Poe, The Poetic PrincipleVol. 28
- p. 383–384Poe says critics misunderstand their duty; excellence in a poem is self-evident and needn't be demonstrated; praises Pinkney and Moore.read · scan
- p. 384–385Poe defends Moore's imagination against Coleridge's fancy distinction and praises Hood's 'Fair Ines'.read · scan
Walter Bagehot, John MiltonVol. 28
- p. 168–170Bagehot announces critical remarks on the Puritan poet's character and works, painting the harsher features in outline.read · scan
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