Literary criticism

5 works

Critics on poets and playwrights, and on questions of taste, tragedy and judgement.

1595
The Defence of Poesy

Sidney's defence of imaginative writing against its Puritan detractors, written around 1580 and published after his death in two editions of 1595, one titled The Defence of Poesie, the other An Apologie for Poetrie.

1757
Four Dissertations

Four Dissertations is a collection of four essays by the Scottish enlightenment philosopher David Hume, first published in 1757.

1817
Characters of Shakespeare's Plays

Characters of Shakespear's Plays is an 1817 book of criticism of Shakespeare's plays, written by early nineteenth century English essayist and literary critic William Hazlitt.

1818
Lectures on the English Poets

This book collects together lectures on English poetry Hazlitt delivered at London’s Surrey Institution in 1818, ranging from ‘On Poetry in General’, through acknowledged classics such as Chaucer, Spenser and…

1840