The Collected Works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 05 (of 12)

The Collected Works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 05 (of 12)

The first edition of the Select British Poets (5 in. 9 in.) was published in 1824 with the following title-page: Select British Poets, or New Elegant Extracts from Chaucer to the Present Time, with Critical Remarks. By William Hazlitt. Embellished with Seven Ornamented Portraits, after a Design by T. Stothard, R.A. London: Published by Wm. C. Hall, and sold by all Booksellers. 1824. The frontispiece bore the imprint London. Published by T. Tegg, 73, Cheapside, June 1824. This edition included selections from the works of living poets, and was suppressed upon a threat of legal proceedings on behalf of some of the copyright owners. There is a copy in the British Museum, but the volume is exceedingly rare. In the following year (1825), a second edition was published with a fresh title-page, the copyright poems being omitted. The title-page ran: Select Poets of Great Britain. To which are prefixed, Critical Notices of Each Author. By William Hazlitt, Esq. Author of Lectures on the English Poets, Characters of Shakspeares Plays, Lectures on Dramatic Literature, etc. London: Printed by Thomas Davison, Whitefriars, for Thomas Tegg, 73, Cheapside; R. Griffin and Co., Glasgow; also R. Milliken, Dublin; and M. Baudry, Paris. 1825. The pages which follow are printed from the first (complete) edition of 1824. The volume here presented to the public is an attempt to improve upon the plan of the Elegant Extracts in Verse by the late Dr. Knox. From the length of time which had elapsed since the first appearance of that work, a similar undertaking admitted of considerable improvement, although the size of the volume has been compressed by means of a more severe selection of matter. At least, a third of the former popular and in many respects valuable work was devoted to articles either entirely worthless, or recommended only by considerations foreign to the reader of poetry. The object and indeed ambition of the present compiler has been to offer to the public a Body of English Poetry, from Chaucer to Burns, such as might at once satisfy individual curiosity and justify our national pride. We have reason to boast of the genius of our country for poetry and of the trophies earned in that way; and it is well to have a collection of such examples of excellence inwoven together as may serve to nourish our own taste and love for the sublime or beautiful, and also to silence the objections of foreigners, who are too ready to treat us as behindhand with themselves in all that relates to the arts of refinement and elegance. If in some respects we are so, it behoves us the more to cultivate and cherish the superiority we can lay claim to in others. Poetry is one of those departments in which we possess a decided and as it were natural pre-eminence: and therefore no pains should be spared in selecting and setting off to advantage the different proofs and vouchers of it. All that could be done for this object, has been attempted in the present instance. I have brought together in one view (to the best of my judgment) the most admired smaller pieces of poetry, and the most striking passages in larger works, which could not themselves be given entire. I have availed myself of the plan chalked out by my predecessor, but in the hope of improving upon it. To possess a 368work of this kind ought to be like holding the contents of a library in ones hand without any of the refuse or baser matter. If it had not been thought that the former work admitted of considerable improvement in the choice of subjects, inasmuch as inferior and indifferent productions not rarely occupied the place of sterling excellence, the present publication would not have been hazarded. Another difference is that I have followed the order of time, instead of the division of the subjects. By this method, the progress of poetry is better seen and understood; and besides, the real subjects of poetry are so much alike or run so much into one another, as not easily to come under any precise classification. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 64823
Author: Hazlitt, William
Release Date: Mar 15, 2021
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Editor: Glover, Arnold, 1865-1905 , Waller, A. R. (Alfred Rayney), 1867-1922