SOURCE: "Terence" in Philosophy, Poetry, History: An Anthology of Essays, translated by Cecil Sprigge, Oxford University Press, London, 1966, pp. 776-801.

An Italian educator, philosopher, and author, Croce developed a highly influential theory of literary creation and a concomitant critical method. In defining the impetus and execution of poetry, Croce conceives of the mind as capable of two distinct modes of thought, which he terms cognition and volition. Cognition mental activity is theoretical and speculative, while volition is the mind's practical application of ideas originating in the cognitive realm. Croce's literary theories had a profound impact on the criticism of the first half of the twentieth century, particularly in his emphasis on judging the totality of a work within a context created by its own existence as a separate, independent entity. In the following essay written in 1936, he addresses several of the charges traditionally levelled at Terence by critics...