CHAPTER I.
WORDSWORTH AND COLERIDGE: THEIR COMPANIONS AND ADVERSARIES.
Wordsworth and Coleridge 200
The former’s Prefaces 201
That to _Lyrical Ballads_, 1800 202
Its history 202
The argument against poetic diction, and even against metre 203
The appendix: Poetic Diction again 204
The Minor Critical Papers 204
Coleridge’s examination of Wordsworth’s views 205
His critical qualifications 206
Unusual integrity of his critique 207
Analysis of it 207
The “suspension of disbelief” 208
Attitude to metre 208
Excursus on Shakespeare’s _Poems_ 210
Challenges Wordsworth on “real” and “rustic” life 210
“Prose” diction and metre again 211
Condemnation in form of Wordsworth’s theory 212
The _Argumentum ad Gulielmum_ 212
The study of his poetry 213
High merits of the examination 213
Wordsworth a rebel to Longinus and Dante 214
The _Preface_ compared more specially with the _De Vulgari_ 215
And Dante’s practice 215
With Wordsworth’s 216
The comparison fatal to Wordsworth as a critic 217
Other critical places in Coleridge 218
The rest of the _Biographia_ 218
_The Friend_ 219
_Aids to Reflection_, &c. 220
The _Lectures on Shakespeare_, &c. 220
Their chaotic character 221
And preciousness 222
Some noteworthy things in them: general 223
And particular 224
Coleridge on other dramatists 224
The _Table Talk_ 224
The _Miscellanies_ 225
The Lecture _On Style_ 226
The _Anima Poetæ_ 227
The _Letters_ 229
The Coleridgean position and quality 230
He introduces once for all the criterion of Imagination, realising and disrealising 231
The “Companions” 232
Southey 233
General characteristics of his Criticism 234
Reviews 235
_The Doctor_ 235
Altogether somewhat _impar sibi_ 236
Lamb 237
His “occultism” 238
And alleged inconstancy 238
The early _Letters_ 239
The _Specimens_ 240
The Garrick Play Notes 241
Miscellaneous Essays 242
_Elia_ 242
The later _Letters_ 243
Uniqueness of Lamb’s critical style 244
And thought 245
Leigh Hunt: his somewhat inferior position 246
Reasons for it 246
His attitude to Dante 247
Examples from _Imagination and Fancy_ 248
Hazlitt 251
Method of dealing with him 251
His surface and occasional faults: Imperfect knowledge and method 252
Extra-literary prejudice 253
His radical and usual excellence 254
_The English Poets_ 255
The _Comic Writers_ 256
_The Age of Elizabeth_ 257
_Characters of Shakespeare_ 258
_The Plain Speaker_ 259
_The Round Table_, &c. 261
_The Spirit of the Age_ 262
_Sketches and Essays_ 263
_Winterslow_ 263
Hazlitt’s critical virtue 263
In set pieces 264
And universally 265
Blake 266
His critical position and dicta 267
The “Notes on Reynolds” 268
And Wordsworth 268
Commanding position of these 268
Sir Walter Scott commonly undervalued as a critic 270
Injustice of this 271
Campbell: his _Lectures on Poetry_ 272
His _Specimens_ 272
Shelley: his _Defence of Poetry_ 274
Landor 276
His lack of judicial quality 276
In regular Criticism 276
The _Conversations_ 277
_Loculus Aureolus_ 278
But again disappointing 278
The revival of the Pope quarrels 279
Bowles 279
Byron 281
The _Letter to Murray_, &c. 281
Others: Isaac Disraeli 282
Sir Egerton Brydges 283
_The Retrospective Review_ 283
The _Baviad_ and _Anti-Jacobin_ 286
With Wolcot and Mathias 287
The influence of the new _Reviews_, &c. 288
Jeffrey 289
His loss of place and its cause 289
His inconsistency 290
His criticism on Madame de Staël 291
Its lesson 293
Hallam 293
His achievement 294
Its merits 294
And defects 295
In general distribution and treatment 295
In some particular instances 296
His central weakness 297
And the value left by it 298