Hazlitt on English Literature: An Introduction to the Appreciation of Literature

Hazlitt, William, 1778-1830Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.3
Word count
954K words
Chapters
96

Tags

English Originals Literary Appreciation Classical PoeticsHumanistic CareWestern ThoughtAcademic StudyIntellectual CommentaryLiterary CriticismPopular ExplanationReading MethodsAesthetic AppreciationBritish Literature

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Hazlitt on English Literature: An Introduction to the Appreciation of LiteratureAuthor: Hazlitt, William, 1778-1830,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jan 31, 2010

Editor's review

Hazlitt was a major essayist and critic of the English Romantic period, and this book gathers his commentary on English literature as an introduction to literary appreciation. Its value lies not in systematic literary history but in essayistic criticism that leads readers to feel the language, character, and emotional power of works and to train aesthetic judgment. The highlight is that the criticism itself reads as fine prose, with clear opinions, and is suited to being read alongside the original works. As for reading contexts, it works well as a supplementary text for English and American literature courses, or for readers with some English proficiency to read in sections during commutes or before bed, and can also serve as a model for writing reviews. Note that this is an English public-domain ebook focused on classic British authors and works; readers should have basic literary-historical background to fully grasp its critical context.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Read the introduction or table of contents first to learn which authors are discussed, then choose familiar pieces for close reading
  2. After each critical essay, read a passage of the original work alongside it to see the basis for the judgments
  3. Keep a notebook to excerpt striking comments and imitate the style in short practice reviews
  4. Those who struggle with English can read slowly with a dictionary, not rushing but focusing on understanding the arguments

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79
  80. 80
  81. 81
  82. 82
  83. 83
  84. 84
  85. 85
  86. 86
  87. 87
  88. 88
  89. 89
  90. 90
  91. 91
  92. 92
  93. 93
  94. 94
  95. 95
  96. 96

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English? This is an English public-domain ebook released by Project Gutenberg, with the main text in English. It discusses English literary authors and works and suits readers with some English reading ability; if your English is weak, consider a Chinese translation or reading with a dictionary.
Can I read it without a background in English literature? You can, but understanding will suffer. Hazlitt's criticism often addresses specific authors and works directly, and without background it is hard to grasp what he is arguing against. It is advisable to first learn about the main authors and periods covered, or start with chapters on works you already know.
Is this suitable as a textbook for systematically studying literary history? Not really. It is not a chronological literary history textbook but commentary from a critic's personal perspective, focused on appreciation and judgment. It can serve as a supplementary reader for literary history courses to train aesthetic sensibility and review writing, not as a replacement for a systematic textbook.
Any advice for reading the electronic edition? Public-domain ebooks are easy to search and excerpt. Use reading software that supports annotations, marking key comments as you read; you can also print key chapters for close reading alongside the originals. Note that this is the original English edition; use a dictionary for unfamiliar expressions rather than getting stuck on every word.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Hazlitt, William, 1778-1830 Author

William Hazlitt (1778-1830) was an English essayist and literary critic. Details of his life are limited in publicly available sources, so this entry presents his writing mainly through the works held in the collection. Twelve of his works are included, among them Characters of Shakespeare's Plays, The Spirit of the Age; or, Contemporary Portraits, Table Talk: Essays on Men and Manners, Lectures on the English Poets, and the multi-volume Collected Works of William Hazlitt. His essays range widely across literary criticism, character sketches, and observations of social manners. His style is direct and argumentative, and he is skilled at connecting particular works with questions of character. His criticism has had a lasting influence on later English literary appreciation and essay writing.