Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Michael Zeug,
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Transcriber's Notes: In the text, there are symbolic representations of
lines of poetry. Where these occur, u represents an unaccented syllable
and -' indicates an accented syllable. Words in italics in the original
are surrounded by _underscores_. Words in bold in the original are
surrounded by +plus signs+. More transcriber's notes follow the text.
ELEMENTARY GUIDE TO
LITERARY CRITICISM
BY
F. V. N. PAINTER, A.M., D.D.
PROFESSOR OF MODERN LANGUAGES IN ROANOKE COLLEGE
AUTHOR OF "A HISTORY OF EDUCATION," "HISTORY
OF ENGLISH LITERATURE," "INTRODUCTION
TO AMERICAN LITERATURE," ETC.
BOSTON, U.S.A.
GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS
The Athenæum Press
1903
COPYRIGHT, 1903
BY F. V. N. PAINTER
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PREFACE
The aim of the present work, as is indicated by its name, is to help the
young student in literary criticism. It is a sort of laboratory manual,
in which he will find specific direction for a comprehensive analysis of
the principal kinds of literature. It is intended to show him the
various points in relation to form, content, and spirit, to which in
succession he is to devote his attention. It is hoped that the book will
give definiteness and delight to literary study, which, for lack of such
a guide, has so often been vague, unsatisfactory, and discouraging.
A glance at the table of contents will clearly reveal the plan. The work
is divided into three parts, the first of which treats of fundamental
principles. In three chapters the nature of criticism, the relation of
the author to his work, and the æsthetic principles underlying literary
art are briefly discussed. The facts and principles here presented are
designed to give a clearer and deeper insight into the nature and
processes of criticism.
Part Second is chiefly concerned with the external elements of
literature. In three chapters it briefly discusses the diction, the
various kinds of sentences, the use of figures of speech, and the
different species of style as determined partly by the nature of the
discourse and partly by the mental endowments of the writer. It is
intended to embrace the rhetorical elements of form.
In Part Third the leading kinds of literature are discussed, and the
general principles governing each are presented. Special effort has been
made to throw light upon the nature and structure of poetry, fiction,
and the drama; and it is hoped that the chapters in which these subjects
are treated will be found particularly interesting and helpful.
Each chapter is followed by a list of review questions and by
illustrative and practical exercises. The aim has been to prepare not
merely a theoretical but especially a practical text-book, for which, it
is believed, there exists a felt and acknowledged need. It is hoped that
this little work will contribute in some measure to make literature one
of the most delightful, as it is surely one of the most important, of
all branches of study.
F. V. N. PAINTER.
SALEM, VIRGINIA,
August 15, 1903.
CONTENTS
PART FIRST
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
CHAPTER PAGE
I. NATURE AND OFFICE OF CRITICISM 1
II. THE AUTHOR AND HIS WORK 19
III. SOME ÆSTHETIC PRINCIPLES 34
PART SECOND
RHETORICAL ELEMENTS
IV. WORDS, SENTENCES, PARAGRAPHS 55
V. FIGURES OF SPEECH 68
VI. STYLE 84
PART THIRD
KINDS OF LITERATURE
VII. NATURE AND STRUCTURE OF POETRY 103
VIII. KINDS OF POETRY 130
IX. EPIC AND DRAMATIC POETRY 145
X. NATURE AND FORMS OF PROSE 156
XI. ESSAYS AND ORATORY 167
XII. NATURE AND CLASSIFICATION OF FICTION 178
LITERARY CRITICISM
PART FIRST
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
CHAPTER I
NATURE AND OFFICE OF CRITICISM
+1. Purpose of Literary Study.+ The study or reading of literature
ordinarily has a threefold purpose,--knowledge, pleasure, and culture.
This purpose shows us both the character of the literature which should
be read and the manner in which it should be read. As a rule we should
read only books of recognized excellence, and read them with sympathetic
intelligence. Trashy books, whatever pleasure they may give, add but
little to knowledge or culture; and immoral books often leave an
ineradicable stain upon the soul. Fortunately there are good books
enough to satisfy every taste and supply every need.
+2. Necessity of Comprehending.+ A literary work cannot be of much use
till it is understood. It is useless to read books entirely beyond our
grasp. In the perusal of an author we should endeavor to enter as fully
as possible into his thoughts and feelings. Our primary aim should be
not to criticise but to comprehend. This is sometimes, especially for
the young student, a difficult task. It requires patient, painstaking
labor; but in the end it brings a rich reward in profit, enjoyment, and
power.
In the study of a literary classic we should aim at more than a mere
intellectual apprehension of its technique and other external features.
The soul should rise into sympathy with it, and feel its spiritual
beauty. All literary study that falls short of this high end, however
scholarly or laborious it may be, is essentially defective. The
externalities of a piece of literature are comprehended in vain, unless
they lead to a fuller understanding and appreciation of its spirit and
life. Unfortunately, at the present time, philology and literary
analysis frequently stop short of the realization of the supreme end of
literary study. What should be only a means is sometimes exalted to an
end.
+3. Definition of Criticism.+ Criticism, as its etymology indicates, is
the act of judging. Literary criticism endeavors to form a correct
estimate of literary productions. Its endeavor is to see a piece of
writing as it is. It brings literary productions into comparison with
recognized principles and ideal standards; it investigates them in their
matter, form, and spirit; and, as a result of this process, it
determines their merits and their defects. The end of literary criticism
is not fault-finding but truth. The critic should be more than a censor
or caviler. He should discover and make known whatever is commendable or
excellent. At its best, criticism is not a mere record of general
impressions but the statement of an intelligent judgment. It is not
biased or vitiated by prejudice, ignorance, or self-interest; but,
proceeding according to well-defined principles, it is able to trace the
steps by which it reaches its ultimate conclusions.
+4. History of Criticism.+ Criticism is a natural attendant of all forms
of art. Literary criticism is almost as old as literature itself. No
sooner had a writer produced a literary work, even in the most ancient
times, than his contemporaries proceeded to express their judgments
concerning it. Among the ancient Greeks Plato and Aristotle were both
critics; and the latter's work on "Poetics" is still valuable for its
discussion of fundamental principles. Quintilian, Cicero, and Horace
were distinguished Roman critics; and the poet's _Ars Poetica_, read in
every college course, is an admirable presentation of many critical
principles. But it is in modern times, and particularly during the
nineteenth century, that criticism received its highest development. In
England not a few of its leading literary men--Dryden, Pope, Addison,
Johnson, Coleridge, Jeffrey, Macaulay, Carlyle, Matthew Arnold--have
been critics; and in America we meet with such honored names as Poe,
Emerson, Whipple, Lowell, Stedman, and many others. In recent years
criticism has greatly gained in breadth and geniality.
+5. Standard of Criticism.+ All criticism involves comparison. For every
species of literature there is an ideal of form, content, and spirit,
which serves the intelligent critic as a standard of judgment. This
ideal is based on a realization of the recognized principles of literary
art. These principles pertain to _diction_, _structure_, _matter_, and
_spirit_ or _purpose_. No one will deny that the diction should be well
chosen; that the structure of the sentences should be correct and clear;
and that, in the case of poetry, the laws of versification should be
observed. These elements contribute to excellence of form. In addition
to these external elements there should be unity of thought, symmetry of
presentation, truth of statement, and sincerity and self-restraint in
sentiment. These elements give substantial worth to the matter or
content of literature. Besides all this there is a grace or elegance or
force, proceeding from the personality of the writer and transcending
all rules of art, that gives a peculiar charm to the best literature.
Sometimes the personal element or spirit of a work is so pleasing that
it more than counterbalances defects of form, and wins its way to the
popular heart.
+6. Classic Writers.+ Our classic writers are those who have most nearly
approached the ideal. The writings of Addison, Goldsmith, Irving,
Lowell, and others, embody in a high degree excellence of matter and
form; and in addition to this there is a pervading spirit that imparts
an irresistible charm to their works. While the works of no one writer,
whether ancient or modern, can be taken as an absolute standard of
judgment, the perusal of classic works is exceedingly helpful. These
works familiarize us with what is excellent in thought, expression, and
spirit. They cultivate the taste; and at length it becomes impossible
for the student to be satisfied with what is incorrect, slovenly,
tawdry, or untruthful.
+7. Requisites of Criticism.+ Many things are required for the best
criticism. First of all, the critic ought to be a person of sound
judgment. It is in a measure true that critics, like poets, "are born,
not made." The critic should have the power to divest himself of
prejudice; and, like a judge upon the bench, should decide every
question by the law and the evidence. He should be a man of broad
sympathies and wide culture; nothing that is human should be foreign to
him. He should be able to enter into the feelings of every class and to
appreciate the principles of every school. He should have a strong
imagination to enable him to realize the conditions of other ages or of
other social arrangements. Without these natural gifts of a sound
judgment, broad sympathy, and vigorous imagination, the critic is apt to
be limited, narrow, or unjust in his criticism. The history of
literature reveals numberless critical blunders; indeed, almost every
attempt to introduce new literary forms, as in the case of Wordsworth,
Coleridge, and Keats, has met with bitter opposition from uncatholic
critics.
+8. Criticism an Acquired Art.+ Criticism is an art that may in large
measure be acquired. The requisite faculties may be developed by a
course of study. The principles that are to guide the critical judgment
are provided in grammar, rhetoric, logic, æsthetics, and moral science.
Wide reading in various departments will banish narrowness and
provincialism. Study and experience will bring a cosmopolitan culture.
Though few are capable of attaining to eminence as critics, it is
possible for every one to acquire some degree of literary taste and to
form an intelligent judgment of a literary work.
+9. Diversity in Criticism.+ Diversity of judgment is a notable feature
in the history of criticism. It tends to shake one's confidence in the
critical art. It often happens that what one critic praises another
condemns. This fact has been presented by Irving, with delightful humor.
"Even the critics," he says in the conclusion of the "Sketch Book,"
"whatever may be said of them by others, the author has found to be a
singularly gentle and good-natured race; it is true that each has in
turn objected to some one or two articles, and that these individual
exceptions, taken in the aggregate, would amount almost to a total
condemnation of his work; but then he has been consoled by observing,
that what one has particularly censured, another has as particularly
praised; and thus, the encomiums being set off against the objections,
he finds his work, upon the whole, commended far beyond its deserts."
+10. Sources of Diversity.+ This diversity of literary criticism, which
at first sight tempts us to question the value of the art, is easily
traced to its causes. These are found not in the nature of the art but
in the manner of its application. Many reviewers nowadays do not take
the pains to read the works they pass judgment upon. Their estimate is
based on little more than a rapid survey of the preface and table of
contents. This fact renders a considerable part of current newspaper
criticism comparatively worthless. It is still worse when to this
superficiality is added a flippant manner that seems intent on nothing
but a display of the critic's smartness. Other critics write from the
standpoint of a particular sect or school of thought, and undervalue or
overvalue a work through a partisan spirit. Defective or erroneous
principles are used as standards of judgment. Still others are
impressionists; and instead of testing a work by recognized critical
canons, they simply record how "it strikes them." Differences of taste
and character naturally produce some diversity of view, but in general
the painstaking and impartial application of critical principles to a
literary work will yield pretty uniform results. The merits and defects
of the work will be brought to light, and conscientious and broad-minded
critics will be found in the main to agree in their praise or their
censure.
+11. Utility of Criticism.+ Criticism is not, as has sometimes been
supposed, a parasitic growth on literature. It is a handmaid of
literature; it belongs to the household of literature. Though it does
not deserve to rank with the great creative forms of literature, such as
the epic, the drama, or the novel, it is capable of a high degree of
excellence. Some of the greatest English writers, as we have seen, have
been critics. Not a few of the critical essays of De Quincey, Macaulay,
Carlyle, Arnold, Lowell, and others, have an honorable place in the
literature of the English-speaking world.
Literary criticism has a distinct value for three classes of persons. To
the young student it gives a clear insight into literary form, and
cultivates his taste for literary excellence. To the author it is at
once a stimulant and wholesome restraint; it rewards him for what is
good and chastises him for what is bad. To the public it is useful in
pointing out what books are worth reading and in showing the principles
by which a work is to be judged. It elevates the popular taste and
intelligence.
+12. Materials of Criticism.+ All literature is, in some sense, material
for criticism. It may be examined, tested by critical laws, and its
worth estimated in the class to which it belongs. But as a rule literary
criticism is confined to literature in the narrower sense; that is to
say, to literature that aims at artistic excellence. This includes the
various forms of poetry and the principal kinds of prose,--history,
oratory, essays, and fiction. These various kinds of literature, in
their higher forms, aim at presenting their subject-matter in such a way
as to minister to the pleasure of the reader.
+13. Molding Influences.+ In criticising it is important to recognize
certain general molding influences in literature. Among the most potent
of these influences are _race_, _epoch_, and _surroundings_. We cannot
fully understand any work of literature, nor justly estimate its
relative excellence, without an acquaintance with the national traits of
the writer, the general character of the age in which he lived, and the
physical and social conditions by which he was surrounded. These
considerations, independently of specific critical canons that determine
intrinsic excellence, must be taken into account when the critic wishes
to decide upon the relative value of a work. It is evidently unjust to
demand in writers of an uncultivated period the same delicacy of
thought, feeling, and expression that is required in the writers of an
age of refinement and intelligence. The indecencies in Chaucer and
Shakespeare are to be attributed to the grossness of their times.
+14. The Artistic Element.+ There is an artistic element in literature
upon which the value of any work largely depends. There is art in the
choice and marshaling of words. Furthermore, every department of
literature--history, poetry, fiction--has a separate and definite
purpose. In the successful realization of this purpose each species or
form of literature must wisely choose its means. This conscious and
intelligent adaptation of a means to an end is art. Apart from the
careful selection and arrangement of words in sentences, the historian
chooses the incidents he will relate, the order in which they will
appear, the relative prominence they will have, and the symmetry and
completeness of his whole work. The novelist selects or invents his
story, portrays from actual life or creates a number of characters,
constructs or modifies his plot, and unfolds the movement toward a
predestined end. In all this there is a constant exercise of the
creative faculty; and the complete product is as much a work of art as
is a painting or statue, which requires the same sort of intellectual
effort.
+15. Matter and Form.+ In any literary production we may distinguish
between the _thoughts_ that are presented and the _manner_ in which they
are presented. We may say, for example, "The joys of heaven are
infinite"; or, ascending to a higher plane of thought and feeling, we
may present the same thought in the language of Moore in his "Paradise
and the Peri":
"Go, wing thy flight from star to star,
From world to luminous world, as far
As the universe spreads its flaming wall;
Take all the pleasures of all the spheres,
And multiply each through endless years,--
One minute of Heaven is worth them all."
It is thus evident that the interest and worth of literature depend
largely on the manner in which the thought and emotion are expressed. In
general the _matter_ of discourse, which aims at the communication of
ideas, is of more importance than the _form_. Words without thought, no
matter how skillfully and musically they may be arranged, are nonsense.
But in the lighter sorts of prose, which aim at entertainment, and in
poetry, which is dependent on meter and harmony, _form_ is of preëminent
importance. The story of "Rip Van Winkle," for instance, owes its
perennial charm to the inimitable grace and humor with which Irving has
told it.
There is a natural and intimate relation between _matter_ and _form_;
one is the soul, the other is the body. Form is not to be unduly
magnified by itself; it is excellent only when it is a fitting
embodiment of the thought and feeling expressed. Form should be molded
by the thought and emotion, as the rose or oak is shaped by the potency
of its inner life. When, in any way, the form is out of keeping with the
subject, the effect upon a cultivated taste is a disagreeable
incongruity. In the language of Horace,--
"Sad words befit the brow with grief o'erhung;
Anger, that fires the eyeball, bids the tongue
Breathe proud defiance; sportive jest and jeer
Become the gay; grave maxims the severe."
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What is the threefold object of literary study? What kind of
literature should be read? Why? 2. What should be our primary aim in
studying an author? What does this often require? What should be aimed
at besides outward form? What mistake is frequently made? 3. What is
criticism? What is the purpose of literary criticism? How is this
purpose accomplished? What sources of error are mentioned? 4. What is
said of the history of criticism? Name two Greek critics. Who were the
great Roman critics? Mention some distinguished English and American
critics. What is said of recent criticism? 5. What serves as a standard
of criticism? On what is this ideal based? Mention some elements of
excellent _form_; some elements of excellent _content_. What is said of
the personal element or spirit? 6. Who are our classic writers? Why
study classic works? 7. What natural gifts should a critic have? Why
should he have broad sympathies? What is said of critical blunders? 8.
How is criticism an acquired art? What is the advantage of wide reading?
What may every one hope to acquire? 9. What is said of diversity in
criticism? Illustrate. 10. What are the sources of diversity? What is
said of much newspaper criticism? What is meant by _impressionists_?
What is said of painstaking and impartial criticism? 11. What is said of
the relation of criticism to literature? What of its rank? For what
three classes has it a special value? How? 12. What are the materials of
literary criticism? To what class of literature is it chiefly devoted?
13. Name three great molding influences. Why should they be considered?
Illustrate. 14. What is meant by the _artistic element_? In what does
the historian's art consist? the novelist's? 15. What may be
distinguished in any literary production? Illustrate. On what does the
worth of literature largely depend? Which is the more important,
_matter_ or _form_? Where is _form_ specially important? Illustrate.
What is the relation of _matter_ to _form_? When the _form_ is out of
keeping with the _matter_, what is the result?
ILLUSTRATIVE AND PRACTICAL EXERCISES
The following critiques should be studied with the view of answering
such questions as these:
Does the critic seek the truth? Is he prejudiced? Is
he chiefly concerned with _matter_ or _form_? Is his
judgment sound? Is he broad or narrow in his
sympathies? Does he judge by mere impressions? Is he
superficial or thorough? Does he belong to a
particular school? Is his criticism in any way
helpful? Does he try to interpret the author? Is he
chiefly concerned to show his own learning or
brilliancy? Is he genial and tolerant? Is he dogmatic
and intolerant? Is he courteous and kind? Is he
ill-mannered and unkind? What points are criticised?
HEADLEY'S "SACRED MOUNTAINS"
The _Reverend_ Mr. Headley (why _will_ he not put his full
title in his title-pages?) has in his "Sacred Mountains" been
reversing the facts of the old fable about the mountains that
brought forth the mouse--_parturiunt montes; nascitur
ridiculus mus_--for in this instance it appears to be the
mouse--the little _ridiculus mus_--that has been bringing
forth the "mountains," and a great litter of them, too.--POE.
BYRON'S "HOURS OF IDLENESS"
The poesy of this young Lord belongs to the class which
neither gods nor men are said to permit. Indeed, we do not
recollect to have seen a quantity of verse with so few
deviations in either direction from that exact standard. His
effusions are spread over a dead flat, and can no more get
above or below the level, than if they were so much stagnant
water. As an extenuation of this offence, the noble author is
peculiarly forward in pleading minority. We have it in the
title-page, and on the very back of the volume; it follows his
name like a favorite part of his style. Much stress is laid
upon it in the preface, and the poems are connected with this
general statement of his case, by particular dates,
substantiating the age at which each was written.--LORD
BROUGHAM in _Edinburgh Review_.
KEATS'S "ENDYMION"
The author is a copyist of Mr. Hunt, but ten times more
tiresome than his prototype; his nonsense is gratuitous, he
writes it for its own sake, and more than rivals the insanity
of his master. He writes at random the suggestions of his
rhyme without having hardly a complete couplet to endorse a
complete idea in the book. If any one should be bold enough to
purchase it, and patient enough to get beyond the first book
and find any meaning, we entreat him to make us acquainted
with his success; we shall then return to the task which we
now abandon in despair.--_Quarterly Review._
WORDSWORTH
The simple Wordsworth, framer of a lay
As soft as evening in his favorite May;
Who warns his friend "to shake off toil and trouble,
And quit his books, for fear of growing double";
Who, both by precept and example, shows
That prose is verse, and verse is merely prose;
Convincing all, by demonstration plain,
Poetic souls delight in prose insane,
And Christmas stories, tortured into rhyme,
Contain the essence of the true sublime;
Thus, when he tells the tale of Betty Foy,
The idiot mother of "an idiot boy,"
A moon-struck silly lad who lost his way,
And, like his bard, confounded night with day;
So close on each pathetic part he dwells,
And each adventure so sublimely tells,
That all who view the "idiot in his glory,"
Conceive the bard the hero of the story.
BYRON in "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers."
CROKER'S EDITION OF BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON
This work has greatly disappointed us. Whatever faults we may
have been prepared to find in it, we fully expected that it
would be a valuable addition to English literature; that it
would contain many curious facts, and many judicious remarks;
that the style of the notes would be neat, clear, and precise;
and that the typographical execution would be, as in new
editions of classical works it ought to be, almost faultless.
We are sorry to be obliged to say that the merits of Mr.
Croker's performance are on a par with those of a certain leg
of mutton on which Dr. Johnson dined, while travelling from
London to Oxford, and which he, with characteristic energy,
pronounced to be "as bad as bad could be, ill fed, ill killed,
ill kept, and ill dressed." This edition is ill compiled, ill
arranged, ill written, and ill printed.--MACAULAY in
_Edinburgh Review_.
CARLYLE
There is in Carlyle's fiercer and more serious passages a
fiery glow of enthusiasm or indignation, in his lighter ones a
quaint felicity of unexpected humor, in his expositions a
vividness of presentment, in his arguments a sledge-hammer
force, all of which are not to be found together anywhere
else, and none of which is to be found anywhere in quite the
same form. And despite the savagery, both of his indignation
and his laughter, there is no greater master of tenderness.
Wherever he is at home, and he seldom wanders far from it, the
weapon of Carlyle is like none other,--it is the very sword of
Goliath.
SAINTSBURY.
GRAY
Against the right of Gray to be considered one of the leading
English men of letters no more stringent argument has been
produced than is founded upon the paucity of his published
work. It has fairly been said that the springs of originality
in the brain of a great inventive genius are bound to bubble
up more continuously and in fuller volume than could be
confined within the narrow bounds of the poetry of Gray. But
the sterility of the age, the east wind of discouragement
steadily blowing across the poet's path, had much to do with
this apparent want of fecundity, and it would be an error to
insist too strongly on a general feature of the century in
this individual case. When we turn to what Gray actually
wrote, although the bulk of it is small, we are amazed at the
originality and variety, the freshness and vigor of the mind
that worked thus tardily and in miniature.--GOSSE.
SHAKESPEARE
Shakespeare has no peculiarity, no importunate topic; but all
is duly given; no views, no curiosities; no cow-painter, no
bird-fancier, no mannerist is he: he has no discoverable
egotism; the great he tells greatly; the small, subordinately.
He is wise without emphasis or assertion; he is strong, as
nature is strong, who lifts the land into mountain slopes
without effort, and by the same rule as she floats a bubble in
the air, and likes as well to do the one as the other. This
makes that equality of power in farce, tragedy, narrative, and
love-songs; a merit so incessant, that each reader is
incredulous of the perception of other readers.--EMERSON.
DOWDEN'S "LIFE OF SHELLEY"
This Shelley biography is a literary cake-walk. The ordinary
forms of speech are absent from it. All the pages, all the
paragraphs, walk by sedately, elegantly, not to say mincingly,
in their Sunday-best, shiny and sleek, perfumed, and with
_boutonnières_ in their button-holes; it is rare to find even
a chance sentence that has forgotten to dress. If the book
wishes to tell us that Mary Godwin, child of sixteen, had
known afflictions, the fact saunters forth in this nobby
outfit: "Mary herself was not unlearned in the lore of
pain."--MARK TWAIN.
MILTON'S "LYCIDAS"
One of the poems on which much praise has been bestowed, is
"Lycidas"; of which the diction is harsh, the rhymes
uncertain, and the numbers unpleasing. What beauty there is we
must therefore seek in the sentiments and images. It is not to
be considered as the effusion of real passion; for passion
runs not after remote allusions and obscure opinions. Passion
plucks no berries from the myrtle and ivy, nor calls upon
Arthur and Mincius, nor tells of rough satyrs and "fauns with
cloven heel." Where there is leisure for fiction, there is
little grief.
SAMUEL JOHNSON.
EMERSON
And, in truth, one of the legitimate poets Emerson, in my
opinion, is not. His poetry is interesting, it makes one
think; but it is not the poetry of one of the born poets. I
say it of him with reluctance, although I am sure that he
would have said it of himself; but I say it with reluctance,
because I dislike giving pain to his admirers, and because all
my own wish, too, is to say of him what is favorable. But I
regard myself, not as speaking to please Emerson's admirers,
not as speaking to please myself; but rather, I repeat, as
communing with Time and Nature concerning the productions of
this beautiful and rare spirit, and as resigning what of him
is by their unalterable decree touched with caducity, in order
the better to mark and secure that in him which is
immortal.--MATTHEW ARNOLD.
GEORGE ELIOT
What peculiarities of George Eliot's are likely to leave a
strong impress after her? I answer, she, of all novelists, has
attacked the profound problems of our existence. She has
taught that the mystery worthy of a great artist is not the
shallow mystery device, but the infinite perspective of the
great, dark enigmas of human nature; that there is a deeper
interest in human life seen in the modern, scientific
daylight, than in life viewed through a mist of ancient and
dying superstitions; that the interest of human character
transcends the interest of invented circumstances; that the
epic story of a hero and a heroine is not so grand as the
natural history of a community. She, first of all, has made
cross sections of modern life, and shown us the busy human
hive in the light of a great artistic and philosophic
intellect.--EDWARD EGGLESTON.
WORDSWORTH
He has won for himself a secure immortality by a depth of
intuition which makes only the best minds at their best hours
worthy, or indeed capable, of his companionship, and by a
homely sincerity of human sympathy which reaches the humblest
heart. Our language owes him gratitude for the habitual purity
and abstinence of his style, and we who speak it, for having
emboldened us to take delight in simple things, and to trust
ourselves to our own instincts.--LOWELL.
PARADISE LOST
It is requisite that the language of an heroic poem should be
both perspicuous and sublime. In proportion as either of these
two qualities is wanting, the language is imperfect.
Perspicuity is the first and most necessary qualification;
insomuch that a good-natured reader sometimes overlooks a
little slip even in the grammar or syntax, where it is
impossible for him to mistake the poet's sense. Of this kind
is that passage in Milton, wherein he speaks of Satan,--
"God and his Son except,
Created thing nought valued he nor shunned,"--
and that in which he describes Adam and Eve,--
"Adam the goodliest man of men since born,
His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve."
ADDISON.
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
From the first to the last page of Nietzsche's writings the
careful reader seems to hear a madman, with flashing eyes,
wild gestures, and foaming mouth, spouting forth deafening
bombast; and through it all, now breaking out into frenzied
laughter, now sputtering expressions of filthy abuse and
invective, now skipping about in a giddy agile dance, and now
bursting upon the auditors with threatening mien and clenched
fists. So far as any meaning at all can be extracted from the
endless stream of phrases, it shows, as its fundamental
elements, a series of constantly reiterated delirious ideas,
having their source in illusions of sense and diseased organic
processes. Here and there emerges a distinct idea, which, as
is always the case with the insane, assumes the form of an
imperious assertion, a sort of despotic command.
MAX NORDAU.
NOTE
In addition to these brief extracts the student should be encouraged or
required to read a number of complete reviews both in our popular
periodicals and in books of literary criticism, with the view of
determining the critic's temper, culture, judgment, thoroughness, points
of view, etc. The older style of criticism is illustrated in Addison's
articles on Milton in the "Spectator" and Johnson's "Lives of the
Poets." For the elaborate review style the student might read some of
the critical essays of Macaulay, Carlyle, and Lowell. Our principal
reviews, magazines, and other periodicals, as well as recent works on
English literature, will supply abundant material to show the less
elaborate and generally more genial criticism of the present day.