Romantic Critic Samuel Taylor Coleridge

 

S.T. Coleridge (1772–1834) was an English poet, literary critic and philosopher who was a founder of the Romantic movement and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth.  His critical works were highly influential, especially his 'Biographia Literaria' (1817). It is a critical autobiography that unites philosophy with literary criticism in order to define the true nature of poetry, genius, and the creative imagination.  Moreover, it is a critical response to the poetic theories of William Wordsworth. According to Arthur Symons, Coleridge's 'Biographia Literaria' is "The greatest book of criticism in English".

Romanticism and Romantic Criticism-William Wordsworth

 

William Wordsworth (1770-1850), one of the greatest poets of England, was born at Cockermouth in 1770. He lost his mother in 1778 and father in 1783. So, he wished to live lonely under the influence of nature. Wordsworth's literary criticism is the manifesto of the British Romantic movement. His criticism consists of Advertisement to the Lyrical Ballads 1798, Preface to the Lyrical Ballads 1800, 1802, with an Appendix on Poetic Diction. He is the first English Critic to consider, at length, the nature of poetry and the creative process.

Neoclassical Criticism – John Dryden (1631–1700)

 

John Dryden was born in 1631 in Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire. Dryden was a versatile and voluminous writer who left no branch of literature untouched. As he was a great prose writer, he is regarded as the founder of modern prose style. As he was also an original and discriminating critic, Dr. Johnson called him "the father of English criticism." Dryden's "Essay of Dramatic Poesy" is an important landmark in the history of literary criticism in England. Apart from this, he had written works, innumerable prefaces and dedications which are considered as valuable critical documents.

Classical Criticism of Ben Jonson

Ben Jonson (1573–1637) is the first true classical critic in English literature who established rigorous neoclassical standards that shaped English poetry and drama. He was a born critic with stupendous encyclopaedic learning, with great penetration and with sound common sense. He translated Horace’s ‘Ars Poetica’ and came out with his ‘Timber or Discoveries’. Moreover the prologues and preface to his plays like, ‘Volpone’ and ‘Everyman in His Humour’ have his critical ideas.