English Literature in the Nineteenth Century: An Essay in Criticism (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from English Literature in the Nineteenth Century: An Essay in CriticismSo much has been written about the literature of the nineteenth century since that literature was written that a few words of apology may seem due for a fresh book on the same theme. I have attempted in this volume not so much a history of English literature between 1784 and the present day as a survey of that literature as a whole, and an essay in its criticism. Where such ample help is provided in the shape of handbooks and epitomes, I may be permitted to add that I have neither consciously adopted any opinion at second-hand nor criticized any book which I have not read. At the same time, I am much indebted to some of the volumes in the 'English Men of Letters' series, most, if not all, of which have the advantage of being written by (as we as about) English men of letters; and, among other authorities, I think that no student of English literature can fail to realize his obligation to the works of scholarship by Professor George Saintsbury. His histories of criticism and prosody, his (edited) Periods of European Literature and some of his other works are not merely mines of learning; they are valuable, too, for their commonsense, and for the corrective they supply to aerial experiments in poetics.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.