SOURCE: Warren, Alba H., Jr. “The Topics of English Poetic Theory, 1825-1865.” In English Poetic Theory, 1825-1865, pp. 3-34. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1950.

In the following excerpt, Warren outlines the numerous and varied perspectives of early Victorian literary critics.

Criticism

The period of creative activity that dates roughly from the Lyrical Ballads to the death of Byron was succeeded by a period of critical reflection and assessment. The new period was not wanting in poetry and it witnessed the rise of the Victorian novel, but it was also notable for an access of criticism which reached its climax in Matthew Arnold. Arnold, writing in 1865, was certain of the value of the critical endeavor; it was second only to the creative activity itself, and its function was to provide intellectual situations in which the creative artist could work: but if Arnold was able to write of the...