241. (Davie, Auerbach, Arnold)

A friend of mine pointed out that semi-recent posts on decorum are a bit of a muddle and that I … More

239. (Matthew Arnold)

Matthew Arnold suggests how a thoroughgoing Platonism might help us think through art, criticism, and more: “the application of ideas … More

One of Matthew Arnold’s most famous, or infamous, phrases as a critic comes in “The Study of Poetry” where he … More

It’s difficult to know what to do with Robert Burns, besides read and enjoy him, and take fortification from him; … More

Showing, earlier this week, some poems I’d written to a critic I admire and trust, I received back some critical … More

One of the chief differences between eighteenth- and nineteenth-century voices of critical prose is that the former wrote for the … More

“Now Burns loses prodigiously by translation.” Thus Hopkins in a letter to Robert Bridges. Though prejudiced against the Scots, Hopkins … More

Born this day, December 24, in 1822, Matthew Arnold would have today celebrated his one hundredth and ninety second birthday, … More

I was mostly in my right mind when I blustered, a few years ago, that John Dryden was among the … More