{"product_id":"english-literary-criticism-gb-6320","title":"English literary criticism","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEnglish literary criticism\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn England, as elsewhere, criticism was a late birth of the literary\r\nspirit. English poets had sung and literary prose been written for\r\ncenturies before it struck men to ask themselves, What is the secret\r\nof the power that these things have on our mind, and by what principles\r\nare they to be judged? And it could hardly have been otherwise.\r\nCriticism is a self-conscious art, and could not have arisen in an age\r\nof intellectual childhood. It is a derivative art, and could scarcely\r\nhave come into being without a large body of literature to suggest\r\ncanons of judgment, and to furnish instances of their application.\nThe age of Chaucer might have been expected to bring with it a new\r\ndeparture. It was an age of self-scrutiny and of bold experiment. A\r\nnew world of thought and imagination had dawned upon it; and a new\r\nliterature, that of Italy, was spread before it. Yet who shall say\r\nthat the facts answer to these expectations? In the writings of Chaucer\r\nhimself a keen eye, it is true, may discern the faint beginnings of\r\nthe critical spirit. No poet has written with more nicely calculated\r\nart; none has passed a cooler judgment upon the popular taste of his\r\ngeneration. We know that Chaucer despised the \"false gallop\" of\r\nchivalrous verse; we know that he had small respect for the marvels\r\nof Arthurian romance. And his admiration is at least as frank as his\r\ncontempt. What poet has felt and avowed a deeper reverence for the\r\ngreat Latins? What poet has been so alert to recognize the\r\nmaster-spirits of his own time and his father's? De Meung and Granson\r\namong the FrenchDante, Petrarch and Boccaccio of the Italianseach\r\ncomes in for his share of praise from Chaucer, or of the princely\r\nborrowings which are still more eloquent than praise.\nYet, for all this, Chaucer is far indeed from founding the art of\r\ncriticism. His business was to create, and not to criticise. And, had\r\nhe set himself to do so, there is no warrant that his success would\r\nhave been great. In many ways he was still in bondage to the mediaval,\r\nand wholly uncritical, tradition. One classic, we may almost say, was\r\nas good to him as another. He seems to have placed Ovid on a line with\r\nVirgil; and the company in his House of Fame is undeniably mixed. His\r\njudgments have the healthy instinct of the consummate artist. They do\r\nnot show, as those of his master, Petrarch, unquestionably do, the\r\ndiscrimination and the tact of the born critic.\n\u003cb\u003e ......Buy Now (To Read More)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eProduct details\u003ch3\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEbook Number\u003c\/b\u003e: 6320 \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor\u003c\/b\u003e: Vaughan, Charles Edwyn \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRelease Date\u003c\/b\u003e: Aug 1, 2004 \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat\u003c\/b\u003e: eBook \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage\u003c\/b\u003e: English \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eContributors\u003ch3\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEditor\u003c\/b\u003e: Herford, C. H. (Charles Harold), 1853-1931 \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"booksdeli.com","offers":[{"title":"Vaughan, Charles Edwyn,1854-1922 \/ eBook \/ English","offer_id":43215331360925,"sku":"gb-6320-ebook","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0619\/5648\/9373\/products\/6320.jpg?v=1671283181","url":"https:\/\/booksdeli.com\/products\/english-literary-criticism-gb-6320","provider":"booksdeli.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}