what is rare even in this age of criticism--a note of his own. In type
he belongs to those critics of the best order, whose view of literature
is part and parcel of their view of life. His lectures on poetry are
therefore what they profess to be: not scraps of textual comment, nor
studies in the craft of verse-making, but broad considerations of poetry
as a mode of spiritual revelation. An accomplished style and signs of
careful reading we may justly demand from any professor who sets out to
lecture in literature. Mr. Bradley has them in full measure. But he has
also not a little of that priceless quality so seldom found in the
professional or professorial critic--the capacity of naïve vision and
admiration. Here he is in a line with the really stimulating essayists,
the artists in criticism."
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_Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 5s. 6d. net._
A Commentary on Tennyson's 'In Memoriam'
BY
A.C. BRADLEY, LL.D., Litt.D.
_THE SATURDAY REVIEW._--"Here we find a model of what a commentary on a
great work should be, every page instinct with thoughtfulness; complete
sympathy and appreciation; the most reverent care shown in the attempted
interpretation of passages whose meaning to a large degree evades, and
will always evade, readers of 'In Memoriam.' It is clear to us that Mr.
Bradley has devoted long time and thought to his work, and that he has
published the result of his labours simply to help those who, like
himself, have been and are in difficulties as to the drift of various
passages. He is not of course the first who has addressed himself to the
interpretation of 'In Memoriam'--in this spirit ... but Mr. Bradley's
commentary is sure to take rank as the most searching and scholarly of
any."
_THE PILOT._--"In re-studying 'In Memoriam' with Dr. Bradley's aid, we
have found his interpretation helpful in numerous passages. The notes
are prefaced by a long introduction dealing with the origin,
composition, and structure of the poem, the ideas used in it, the metre
and the debt to other poems. All of these are good, but more interesting
than any of them is a section entitled, 'The Way of the Soul,' reviewing
the spiritual experience which 'In Memoriam' records. This is quite
admirable throughout, and proves conclusively that Dr. Bradley's keen
desire to fathom the exact meaning of every phrase has only quickened
his appreciation of the poem as a whole."
MACMILLAN AND CO. LTD., LONDON.