This highly acclaimed study analyzes the various trends in English criticism during the first four decades of this century.
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"One of the five works published within the last thirty years which in the opinion of representative scholars and critics have contributed most to the understanding of literature."--Contemporary Literary Scholarship
"Abrams has written a remarkable book on the history of criticism, the most distinguished contribution of American scholarship in that field since the work of J.E. Spingarn."--Comparative Literature
"The book is so rich in thought that it is invaluable for students of the romantic movement and indeed of the whole theory of criticism. I regard it as one of the most distinguished achievements of American literary scholarship of our day."--Modern Philology
"With this book, M.H. Abrams has given us a remarkable study, admirably conceived and executed, a book of quite exceptional and no doubt lasting significance for a number of fields--for the history of ideas and comparative literature as well as for English literary history, criticism, and aesthetics."--Modern Language Journal
"The past forty years have seen many attempts at ordering our ideas about literature; The Mirror and the Lamp stands out among them as a unique combination of rich historical scholarship and hard-won clarity of thought."--The Times Literary Supplement (London)
"Abrams has written a remarkable book on the history of criticism, the most distinguished contribution of American scholarship in that field since the work of J.E. Spingarn."--Comparative Literature
"The book is so rich in thought that it is invaluable for students of the romantic movement and indeed of the whole theory of criticism. I regard it as one of the most distinguished achievements of American literary scholarship of our day."--Modern Philology
"With this book, M.H. Abrams has given us a remarkable study, admirably conceived and executed, a book of quite exceptional and no doubt lasting significance for a number of fields--for the history of ideas and comparative literature as well as for English literary history, criticism, and aesthetics."--Modern Language Journal
"The past forty years have seen many attempts at ordering our ideas about literature; The Mirror and the Lamp stands out among them as a unique combination of rich historical scholarship and hard-won clarity of thought."--The Times Literary Supplement (London)
About the Author
Meyer H. Abrams is at Cornell University.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
80 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Birth of the Visionary Poet,
This review is from: The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition (Galaxy Books) (Paperback)
Our way of looking at art in the year 2000 is steeped in the Romantic mentality. The idea of the true poet as lone inspired genius, starving in a garret, creating to express his (and it generally was 'his' in those days) inner turmoil or vision is so ingrained that there almost seems no other possible standard. Yet as M.H. Abrahms points out in this scholarly, yet readable work on Romantic poetry and theory, this view of art and the artist is only as old as the age of Coleridge and Wordsworth. Up until 200 odd years ago, the artist's job had been to act as a mirror, reflecting the world as accurately as possible. The Romantics sought to reverse over 2000 years of previous art criticism by pushing the artist to the forefront and insisting that he be seen as a lamp, illuminating the world with his imagination and vision. Abrahms thoroughly examines the development of Romantic philosophy through the writings of the major English poets and thinkers of the age, drawing in discussions of continental Romanticism as well. Romantic views on Nature, God, Poets and Poetry, Truth, Vision and of course the Imagination are all thoroughly researched and meticulously compiled, making this one of the most comprehensive single volume books on the subject.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read Romantically,
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This review is from: The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition (Galaxy Books) (Paperback)
This work made a significant contribution to my understanding of the work of English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. I highly recommend it.
10 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Romantic Connaseur,
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This review is from: The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition (Galaxy Books) (Paperback)
I am very much an appreciator of Romantic literature, and this book communicates the impact and spirit of this type of literature very powerfully. It requires a certain amout of concentration and mental litheness to digest this material, but this makes it a fun challenge. I would definity recommend this book to anyone who enjoys or is drawn not only to Romantic literature, but literature in general (or even other arts, as well). I also write poetry, and I think this is a basic text for understanding one's own artistic output.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
TO POSE AND ANSWER aesthetic questions in terms of the relation of art to the artist, rather than to external nature, or to the audience, or to the internal requirements of the work itself, was the characteristic tendency of modern criticism up to a few decades ago, and it continues to be the propensity of a great many-perhaps the majority-of critics today. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
universal plastic nature, poetic marvelous, uttering forth, poetical imitation, poetic norm, expressive theory, fairy way, applied criticism, primitive poetry, romantic critics, romantic theorists, romantic criticism, spontaneous overflow, poetic kinds, inventive process, belle nature Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Paradise Lost, John Stuart Mill, John Keble, Joseph Warton, Richard Hurd, Alexander Smith, Biographia Literaria, Friedrich Schlegel, James Beattie, John Mill, Lyrical Ballads, John Dennis, Wordsworth's Preface, Alexander Gerard, Ben Jonson, Leigh Hunt, Edward Young, Father Bouhours, Matthew Arnold, Robert Burns, The Enquirer, Christopher North, James Thomson, Royal Society, Sir Philip Sidney New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
TO POSE AND ANSWER aesthetic questions in terms of the relation of art to the artist, rather than to external nature, or to the audience, or to the internal requirements of the work itself, was the characteristic tendency of modern criticism up to a few decades ago, and it continues to be the propensity of a great many-perhaps the majority-of critics today. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
universal plastic nature, poetic marvelous, uttering forth, poetical imitation, poetic norm, expressive theory, fairy way, applied criticism, primitive poetry, romantic critics, romantic theorists, romantic criticism, spontaneous overflow, poetic kinds, inventive process, belle nature Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Paradise Lost, John Stuart Mill, John Keble, Joseph Warton, Richard Hurd, Alexander Smith, Biographia Literaria, Friedrich Schlegel, James Beattie, John Mill, Lyrical Ballads, John Dennis, Wordsworth's Preface, Alexander Gerard, Ben Jonson, Leigh Hunt, Edward Young, Father Bouhours, Matthew Arnold, Robert Burns, The Enquirer, Christopher North, James Thomson, Royal Society, Sir Philip Sidney New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
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100
books
cite this book:
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- A Defence of Poetry and Other Essays by Percy Bysshe Shelley on 19 pages
- Shakespearean Criticism (Everyman's Library) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge on 13 pages
- Preface to Shakespeare by Samuel Johnson on 10 pages
- Poetical Works: Volume 5 (Oxford English Texts) by William Wordsworth on 8 pages
- Collected Writings by Thomas De Quincey on 6 pages
See all 100 books this book cites
- The Self-Portraits of Francisco Goya by John J. Ciofalo on 4 pages
- Dark Eden: The Swamp in Nineteenth-Century American Culture (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture) by David Miller in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Gender and the Poetics of Reception in Poe's Circle (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture) by Eliza Richards in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- A Theory of Art by Karol Berger in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Power of the Passive Self in English Literature, 1640-1770 by Scott Paul Gordon in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
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