Early Reviews of English Poets

It is remarked, by the writers upon the Bathos, that the true _profound_ is surely known by one quality--its being wholly bottomless; insomuch, that when you think you have atta...

'Art thou the bird whom man loves best, The pious bird with the scarlet breast, Our little English Robin; The bird that comes about our doors When autumn winds are sobbing? Art...

Respecting the manners, Mr. Southey appears to have been more successful than in his choice of the story. He has adhered to history where he could discover any facts adapted to...

Now this seems very surprising. It has sometimes, though we regret to say rarely, happened, that, as in the present instance, we have been able to deal out unqualified praise, b...

We have already given some of our columns to this writer's merits, and we will not now repeat our convictions of his incurable absurdity. On the last occasion of our alluding to...

More descriptive poetry! (See page 166, &c.) Have we not yet enough? Must eternal changes be rung on uplands and lowlands, and nodding forests, and brooding clouds, and cells, a...

"Great spirits now on earth are sojourning; He of the cloud, the cataract, the lake, Who on Helvellyn's summit, wide awake, Catches his freshness from Archangel's wing: _He of t...

As this publication seems designed for those who have formed their taste by the models of antiquity, the generality of Readers cannot be supposed adequate Judges of its merit; n...

In the _fourth_ place, we think we have reason to complain of Mr Scott for having made his figuring characters so entirely worthless, as to excite but little of our sympathy, an...

There are many other blemishes, both of taste and of diction, which we had marked for reprehension, but now think it unnecessary to specify; and which, with some of those we hav...

There has lately arisen a new-fangled style of poetry, facetiously yclept the Cockney School, that it would really be worth any one's while to enter as a candidate. The qualific...

The article here reprinted from the _Edinburgh Rev._, XI (214-231), of October, 1807, and Jeffrey's review of _The Excursion_, in _ibid._, XXIV (1-30), are perhaps the two most...

A most significant event in the history of the magazine was the founding of the _Edinburgh Monthly Magazine_ in April, 1817, by William Blackwood. The new magazine was projected...

Dr. Johnson's well-known characterization of the two reviews was quite just. On the occasion of his memorable interview (1767) with George III, Johnson gave the King information...

One says his say with a difference-- More of expounding, explaining! All now is wrangle, abuse, and vociferance-- Now there's a truce, all's subdued, self-restraining-- Five, th...

It would be useless to enumerate the many short-lived attempts, such as the _Monthly Censor_ (1822) and Longman's _Monthly Chronicle_ (1838-41) that were made to provide a succe...

The poem is in the stanza of Spenser--a stanza of which we think it difficult to say whether the excellencies or defects are the greatest. The paramount advantage is the variety...

'A long drawn carol, mournful, holy, She chanted loudly, chanted lowly, Till her eyes were darkened _wholly_, And her smooth face sharpened _slowly_, Turned to towered Camelot....

It is doubtful whether any other poet was so widely and so continuously assailed in the reviews as Shelley. Circumstances have made certain critiques on Byron, Keats, and others...

"Among the amusing and instructive books that remain to be written, one of the most piquant would be a history of the criticism with which the most celebrated literary productio...