[Julie Steiner]

I've been looking at my Dover facsimile copy of George Bickham's The Universal Penman, a copperplate calligraphy manual for aspiring men of letters, merchants, and clerks. Most of the pages, intended to be copied out by students, take the form of edifying essays. The bits on "Criticism" really cracked me up, especially this one:

Criticism

One great Mark, by which you may discover a Critick who has neither Taste nor Learning, is this, that he seldom ventures to praise any Passage in an Author which has not been before received and applauded by the Publick; and that his Criticism turns wholly upon little Faults and Errors. This part of a Critick is so very easie to succeed in, that we find every ordinary Reader, upon the publishing of a new Poem, has Wit & Ill-nature enough to turn several Passages of it into Ridicule, and very often in the right Place.

Tomorrow I'll see if I can scan in the engraving described below, which might make a really cool Eratosphere souvenir item. (Coffee mug? It's probably too elongated to enlarge much for a t-shirt, and the words are awfully tiny.) Note that all the esses are the tall variety, resembling effs, except at the beginnings and ends of words. The "Crest" referred to is a skull and crossbones, above the laughing "Mask". On the sides are identical cherubim holding toys, each also sitting on a skull and crossbones.

The false Criticks and Poetasters Sepulchre

The Explanation:
The Mask is the Emblem of a false Critick, and his Crest denotes the Emptiness of his Skull before his decease. The Boys, with their Dolls and Hobby-horses, represent the folly of those who aim at Poetry and Criticism without suitable Talents.

Julie Stoner

[Richard Wakefield]

Julie:
That's a wonderful passage, and a true one. I would add that the same critics are often the ones who fancy themselves the defenders of standards. They take petty lapses as signs of immorality, and then they extrapolate to the sorry state of the world. The writer who misplaces a comma becomes part not only of the sorry state of letters but of the moral decline of civilization. In other cases, the critic attacks a style or genre that he doesn't like (free verse, formal verse, whatever) and makes the same extrapolation: Here's what's wrong with the world! The advantage for the critic is that he doesn't have to deal with any nuances or complexities of the work itself; he merely uses it as a springboard for his jeremiad.
Richard

[albert geiser]

Do you know the year Pope wrote his poem, An Essay on Criticism? I believe it was right around 1735.

[Peter Chipman]

Pope's "Essay" is from 1709-1711; its authoritative tone and stylistic mastery are all the more impressive when you consider that Pope, at that point, was barely out of his teens....

[Julie Steiner]

Sorry for not posting the pic--I am "without suitable Talents." Still trying to scan it in a legible form.

Julie Stoner

[Mark Allinson]

The 18th C. is the place to go for prose and poetry on critics and criticism.

One of my favourites is this little one from William Wycherley:


The Envious Critick

The poor in Wit or Judgement, like all Poor,
Revile, for having least, those who have more:
So 'tis the critick's Scarcity of Wit
Makes him traduce them who have most of it.
Since to their Pitch himself he cannot raise,
He them to his mean level would debase.
Acting like Demons, that would All deprive
Of Heav'n, to which themselves can ne'er arrive.




[This message has been edited by Mark Allinson (edited May 07, 2005).]