Ephemera Critica; Or, Plain Truths About Current Literature

Matthew Arnold very truly observed, that one of the most unfortunate tendencies of our time was the tendency to over-estimate the performances of “the average man.” The over-est...

To discuss seriously the opinions or impressions of a writer of this kind would be as absurd as to attempt to fight gnats with a sword, and we shall merely content ourselves wit...

Indeed, throughout _The Seasons_ Thomson’s indebtedness to his corrector is incalculable; many of the most felicitous touches are due to him. Now, who was this corrector? Let Mr...

’Twas not that I esteem’d you were As constant or incapable Of vulgar baseness, but that she For whom great love was wasting me, The spice of incest lacked for you; And though w...

For more than a hundred years it has been the delight of all who care for the poetry of the past, and the story it tells, and tells so pathetically, is now among the “consecrate...

Mr. James Hogg tells us that his design in publishing the present volume was that he might “place a stone upon the cairn of the man” who had treated him “with an almost paternal...

The accent here is unmistakable, it is the accent of a new and a true poet. Mr. Phillips gives us no mere variations on familiar melodies, no clever copies of classical archetyp...

With regard to the first statement, it may be sufficient to say that between the period of Dryden’s literary activity and the publication of Swift’s _Battle of the Books_ and _T...

to translate “fragiles” as “frail” is to miss the whole point of the epithet. What Virgil means is, “I could just reach the branches from the ground and _break them off_”; if it...

Had Mr. Worsfold taken his stand in his review of ancient criticism on the treatise attributed to Longinus, he would have seen that what he so strangely attributes to Addison an...

To drop metaphor: there are certain spheres of literary activity in which the circulation of mutual puffery by this clique or by that clique can do comparatively little harm to...

“_Bitter cold._ Here bitter is used adverbially to qualify the adjective ‘cold.’ So we have ‘daring hardy’ in _Richard II._ i. 3. 43. When the combination is likely to be misund...

As the constitution of this School is still open to amendment, it is devoutly to be hoped that Oxford will see its way to reconsidering a matter so seriously affecting the inter...

We welcome with joy the advent of Professor Butcher among these prophets. Few names stand higher than his in the roll of modern scholars, and assuredly few modern scholars posse...

Mr. Palgrave has, of course, cited with reference to Sophocles the great chorus in the _Œdipus Coloneus_, but he has omitted to notice that, if Sophocles has not elsewhere given...

Thus the condition and fortune of everything which is affected by education depend on the Universities. All that they do, or neglect to do, passes into precedent. There is nothi...

This is brilliant and picturesque rhetoric touched into poetry by the “Venus Chapell clerkis,” and the magical note in the last line; so too the touch in _The Golden Terge_, lik...

The problem presented in these Sonnets is undoubtedly the most fascinating problem in all literature, and it is as exasperating as it is fascinating. It appears to be so simple,...

Such is the scheme which will, in conjunction with the similar scheme at Cambridge, supply England and the colonies with their literary professors. Let us examine it in detail....

This text uses UTF-8 (Unicode) file encoding for Greek and other non-ASCII characters such as Œ. If they don't appear correctly, you may need to change your browser settings. Ma...

Indeed, the Professor’s critical dicta are as amazing as his facts. We have only space for one or two samples. Cowley’s _Anacreontics_ are “not very far below Milton”(!) Dr. Don...

and the note vibrates through his works. It is the crowning moral of _Measure for Measure_; it is one of the dominant notes in _Cymbeline_. He also reflects Christianity in the...