A Change in Criticism – Juliane Witte

Excerpt A: from ‘Life of Cowley’ – Samuel Johnson

‘They are written with exuberance of wit and with copiousness of learning; and it is truly
asserted by Sprat, that the plenitude of the writer’s knowledge flows in upon his page, so
that the reader is commonly surprised into some improvement. But, considered as the
verses of a lover, no man that has ever loved will much commend them. They are neither
courtly not pathetick, have neither gallantry nor fondness. His praises are too far-sought,
and too hyperbolical, either to express love, or to excite it; every stanza is crowded with
darts and flames, with wounds and death, with mingled souls, and with broken hearts.

The principal artifice by which the Mistress is filed with conceits, is very copiously
displayed by Addison. Love is by Cowley, as by other poets, expressed metaphorically by
flame and fire; and that which is true of real fire is said of love, or figurative fire, the
same word in the same sentence retaining both significations. Thus, “Observing the cold
regard of his mistress’ s eyes, and , at the same time, their power of producing love in
him, he considers them as burning-glasses made of ice habitable. Upon the dying of a
tree on which he had cut his loves, he observes that his flames had burnt up and
withered the tree.”

These conceits Addison calls mixed wit; that is, wit which consist of thoughts true in one
sense of the expression, and false in the other. Addison’s representation is sufficiently
indulgent: that confusion of images may entertain for a moment; but, being unnatural, it
soon grows wearisome. Cowley delighted in it, as much as if he had invented it; but, not
to mention the ancients, he might have found it full-blown in modern Italy.

One of the severe theologians of that time censured him, as having published “a book of
profane and lascivious verses”. From the charge of profaneness, the constant tenour of
his life, which seems to have been eminently virtuous, and the general tendency of his
opinions, which discover no irreverence o religion, must defend him; but that the
accusation of lasciviousness is unjust, the perusal of his work will sufficiently evince.

Cowley’s Mistress has no power of seduction: she “Plays round the head, but reaches not
the heart”. Her beauty and absence, her kindness and cruelty, her disdain and
inconstancy, produce no correspondence of emotion. His poetical account of the virtues
of plants, and colours of flowers, is not perused with more sluggish frigidity. The
composition are such as might have been written for penance by a hermit, or for hire by
a philosophical rhymer, who had only heard of another sex; for they turn the mind only
on the writer whom, without thinking on a woman but as the subject for his task, we
sometimes esteem as learned, and sometimes despise as trifling, always admire as
ingenious, and always condemn as unnatural.

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A Change in Criticism – Juliane Witte

Extract B: from ‘Review of Wordsworth – Francis Jeffrey

This will never do. It bears no doubt the stamp of the author’s heart and fancy; but
unfortunately not half so visibly as that of his peculiar system. His former poems were
intended to recommend that system, and to bespeak favour for it by their individual
merit; - but this, we suspect, must be recommended by the system – and can only
expect to succeed where is has been previously established. It is longer, weaker, and
tamer, than any of Mr. Wordsworth’s other productions; with less boldness of originality,
and less even of that extreme simplicity and lowliness of tone which wavered so prettily,
in the Lyrical Ballads, between silliness and pathos. We have imitations of Cowper, and
even of Milton here, engrafted on the natural drawl of the Lakers – and all dilutes into
harmony by that profuse and irrepressible wordiness which deluges all the blank verse of
this school of poetry, and lubricates and weakens the whole structure of their style.

This small specimen, however, and the statements with which it is prefaced, have been
sufficient to set out minds at rest in one particular. The case of Mr. Wordsworth, we
perceive, is now manifestly hopeless; and we give him up as altogether incurable, and
beyond the power of criticism. We cannot indeed altogether omit taking precautions now
and then against the spreading of the malady; - but for himself, though we shall watch
the progress of his symptoms as a matter of professional curiosity and instruction, we
really think it right not to harass him any longer with nauseous remedies, - but rather to
throw in cordials and lenitives, and wait in patience for the natural termination of the
disorder. In order to justify this desertion of our patient, however, it is proper to state
why we despair of the success of a more active practice…

The volume before us, if we were to describe it very shortly, we should characterize as a
tissue of moral and devotional ravings in which innumerable changes are rung upon a
few, very simple and familiar ideas – but with such an accompaniment of long words,
long sentences, and unwieldy phrases, and such a hubbub of strained raptures and
fantastical sublimities, that it is often extremely difficult for the most skilful and attentive
student to obtain a glimpse of the author’s meaning, and altogether impossible for an
ordinary reader to conjecture what he us about.

Moral and religious enthusiasm, though undoubtedly poetical emotions, are at the same
time but dangerous inspirers of poetry, nothing being so apt to run into interminable
dullness or mellifluous extravagance, without giving the unfortunate author the slightest
intimation of his danger. His laudable zeal for the effifacy of his preachments, he very
naturally mistakes for the ardour of poetical inspiration – and, while dealing out the high
words and glowing phrases which are so readily supplied by themes of this description,
can scarcely avoid believing that he is eminently original and impressive.’

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A Change in Criticism, with Special Regards to the Figure of the Poet:

Johnson to Jeffrey

The end of the 18th century marked the rise of the Romantic poets, accompanied
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by a 'radical alteration' in how poetry was viewed not only by the poets themselves but

also by the audience and critics. This essay will discuss how much actually changed in

literary criticism and how radical any of these changes were by looking at how the figure

of the poet is treated independently and in relation to poetry itself and the poem in
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Samuel Johnson's 'Life of Cowley' , written between 1779 and 1781, and Francis Jeffrey's

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'Review of Wordsworth' , published in 1814.

Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, despite the title, also included Johnson’s

critical observations on poetry to biographies, which immediately gives a clue to how

Johnson viewed the poet. In explaining their lives, Johnson feels it is necessary to

include their poetry since nothing else could give as good a representation of their
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characters as their work. He repeats this sentiment in Extract A when he argues 'the

perusal of his work' is enough defence against accusations of lasciviousness directed at

Cowley. However, this also implies that the life of a poet only serves as a tool to

understanding the poetry and is not a separate subject worth of study. He gives more

prominence to this idea when, in his biography of Cowley, he focuses on the education

and talent shown by Cowley in his childhood and then goes on to cite this 'copiousness of

learning' (EA) as a major criticism of his verses. Again, the only benefit of knowing

about the poet himself lies in understanding the flaws and virtues of his work. However,

A.H. Abrams, The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition, England:
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Oxford University Press, 1971, p. viii

S. Johnson, 'Life of Cowley' in S. Johnson, Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets Vol. 1
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(London: Stanhope Press, 1805) 5-63 – from now denoted as Lives

F. Jeffrey, 'Review of William Wordsworth, 'The Excursion' (extracts)' in D. Wu (ed.) Romanticism:

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an Anthology – Second Edition (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998) 556-558. All quotations
outside of Extract B will be denoted as (Wu p.x)

From now on denoted as EA

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A Change in Criticism – Juliane Witte

from this phrase another meaning could be taken. Too much learning and too much

awareness of the processes of poetry spoils the illusion the poem is trying to create. By

exposing the ‘learning’ (EA) that went into creating this poem, Johnson feels the poem is

ruined to a certain extent. His sentiments here are echoed centuries later by Roland

Barthes in ‘The Death of the Author’, when he says that by focusing on the author of a
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text, you ‘impose a limit on that text’ . The intentions of the poet force specific

interpretations onto a poem, which, in Johnson’s eyes, hinders it from being enjoyable to

everyone. Naturally, in writing biographies, Johnson had to discuss the poet's life yet all

of the references to Cowley’s background are made in such a way they serve critical

analysis of his poetry and are not just random trivia. From this it could be argued that

for Johnson, the emphasis always lies on the work itself, rather than on the artist.

In comparison, Francis Jeffrey wrote a review, the purpose of which was

commentary on the poem rather than the artist. It might however be less surprising,

considering the title, that Jeffrey's 'Review of William Wordsworth' initially seems to

focus on Wordsworth rather than the poem itself. It could be argued he falls into the trap

Barthes detects, namely to let the identity of the author get in his way of interpreting the

text on its own. Despite this difference, it is clear that Johnson and Jeffrey think alike
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about the connection between a poet and his work. As Jeffrey says in Extract B , 'The

Excursion' undoubtedly bears 'the stamp of the author's heart and fancy'. Yet Jeffrey

takes his critique further than Johnson who tries to use his statements regarding Cowley

only to make a judgement of his character. Jeffrey decides to use Wordsworth’s character

and life as a way of attacking the poem. Jeffrey focusses on the 'wordiness' (EB) of the

poem, undoubtedly aware of the pun this creates considering Wordsworth’s name, and

states that '[t]he case of Mr. Wordsworth' (EB), which is 'hopeless'(EB) 'incurable'(EB)

and ‘beyond the power of criticism’ (EB), has infected the poem to such an extent that it

R. Barthes, ‘The Death of the Author’ in R. Barthes Image, Music, Text (UK: Harper Collins, 1997)
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p. 147

From now on denoted as EB

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A Change in Criticism – Juliane Witte

is 'weaker' (EB) and 'diluted' (EB) in comparison to earlier poems. Jeffrey presents

Wordsworth as a danger to society and makes the review much more personal by casting

Wordsworth as a villain and himself as the hero. Despite the fact that Johnson is the one

writing a biography, his personal attacks are never as harsh as Jeffrey’s. As the two

extracts show, where previously the critic used the poet's life sparsely and only to

achieve a better understanding of the poem, in the early 1800s the poet's presence has

become so strong that his presence is like a disease that festers inside a poem and

shapes it to such an extent that the poem is used to read his character rather than the

other way around.

Woodmansee argues that Johnson's view of the poet is affected by the fact that
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most of his writing was largely 'collective and collaborative’ . Often seen as one of

England's first professional writers, Johnson spent a lot of his time writing with and for

others. It could be argued that his own style had an even larger impact on how he
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viewed poetry and the poet’s role in shaping poetry . In ‘Life of Cowley, Johnson shows

that he is unable to see Cowley, or any other poet, as an independent creator but rather

sees them all as links in a chain. Not only does he write on forty-two poets instead of

one, he also never fails to draw comparisons between contemporaries and literary

predecessors. In Cowley's case, he draws close links to the Metaphysical Poets and takes

his chance to write on them simultaneously. He thereby places Cowley firmly in a

tradition, rather than letting him take centre stage. That central spot in Lives is taken by

poetry first, followed by the poems and last by the poets. In doing this, Johnson is able

to criticise Cowley for not achieving the same standard while using the same metaphors

used ‘by other poets’ (EA). On the other hand, this limits Johnson from being truly

critical of Cowley as an artist. If he criticised his form of writing, he wouldn’t be

criticising Cowley but the school of poetry he has placed him in. As a result, besides

M. Woodmansee, 'On the Author Effect: Recovering Collectivity', in M. Woodmansee, P. Jaszi

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(eds.) The Construction of Authorship (Durham: Duke University Press, 1992) 15-29

In this essay, the word poetry is used to describe the entire genre and form.
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A Change in Criticism – Juliane Witte

criticising the technicalities of the poem, Johnson attacks Cowley’s take on poetry as a

whole, revealing his own convictions. Ever since Phillip Sidney’s An Apology for Poetry,

published in 1595, it was generally accepted by critics that, as Johnson put it, 'the end of
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poetry [was] to instruct by pleasing' . Here the emphasis crucially lies on the pleasure of

the audience, which was to be caused by touching upon subjects that were familiar to

the audience. This is the expectation that Johnson had of poetry and his words in Extract

A make it clear that he feels Cowley fails to rise to his standard, as his stanzas 'turn the

mind [of the audience] only on the writer’ (EA). Johnson feels that Cowley has failed the

main objective of poetry by focussing on showing his expertise rather than his feelings.

Somewhat similarly, Jeffrey places Wordsworth among ‘the Lakers’ (EB), a name

given by the Edinburgh Review to a group of poets who were all inspired by the beauty

of the Lake District, and much of the criticism directed at Wordsworth was also applied to

the other members of this group. However, Wordsworth had been trying to revolutionise

poetry rather than imitate it and this leads Jeffrey’s criticism to being very different to
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Johnson’s. Interesting here is to consider the word ‘engrafted’ (EB), used by Jeffrey to

speak of how Wordsworth’s ideas, first introduced to the public in his Preface in 1800, on

poetry affect poetry. The word implies something being planted and taking root, possibly

by force, and remaining there permanently. As such, it almost echoes how he spoke of

the poet as a disease or infection. Jeffrey seemingly thinks that through this diseased

poet, infectious ideas could spread and ruin the beauty of poetry. In this thinking

process, Jeffrey gives a single poet an incredible amount of power over how poetry

develops. This is a significant development in literary criticism from how Johnson

discusses the relationship between the poet and poetry.

Samuel Johnson, 'Preface to the Edition of Shakespeare. 1765.', in Eighteenth Century Essays on
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Shakespeare, ed.N. Smith (Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons, 1903) p. 176

He uses it again later on in his review, outside of the extract, Wu. 558.
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When looking at how both discuss the flaws and virtues of the poems, a similarity

can be found. Both Johnson and Jeffrey focus their direct criticism of the poem on the

failure to find the right tone. Johnson argues that Cowley’s tone suggested it was

'written for' (EA) a hermit’s penance even though its subject was love. This can be led

back to his outlook on poets as imitator of each other. The same imagery, in this case

fire, has been used repeatedly and since Cowley is trying to live up to poems written by

others, he fails to emphasise the emotions in such a way that they reach the audience.

More extremely, Jeffrey finds himself disgusted at the 'utter disregard for probability or

nature' (Wu p.558) by Wordsworth. Remembering that for critics the aim of poetry was

to please, Jeffrey is outraged that Wordsworth chose a character as lowly as a Pedlar to

feature as ‘chosen advocate of wisdom and virtue’ (Wu p.557). The unnaturalness that

Jeffrey is referring to lies in the paradox that Wordsworth himself creates. In choosing a

lower class character but making him speak as if he was an enlightened philosopher,

Wordsworth loses a sense of reality in his poem and thereby makes the audience’s

feelings change from pleasure to confusion. This criticism must’ve been especially harsh

for Wordsworth, who claimed in his Preface that he wrote the ‘language really spoken by
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men’ .

Interestingly, Johnson uses the word ‘unnatural’ twice in his description of Cowley’s

language, showing that just like Jeffrey he wants the language in the poem to be

realistic and natural. In the same way that he feels that too much information about the

author distracts from the poem, he also feels that once the machinations behind the

lines become clear, it diminishes 'the reader's esteem for the work and the author' (EA).
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The poet should not labour 'language...into harshness' but rather let it appear as if the

writing process is as natural as the themes of the poem. Both times, the use of the word

W. Wordsworth, ‘Preface to Lyrical Ballads’ in Lyrical Ballads eds. M. Gamer & D. Porter
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(Broadview Press, 2008) p. 419

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Samuel Johnson, 'Life of Gray' in The Lives of the English Poets: Volume 2 (Leipzig: B. Tauchnitz,
1858) p. 406

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A Change in Criticism – Juliane Witte

‘unnatural’ is directed mainly at Cowley’s use of imagery. They are ‘too hyperbolical’ (EA)

and ‘too far-sought’ (EA) to really strike the reader as true. Johnson’s focus on realistic

imagery can be led back to the idea of mimesis, which was present in literary criticism

ever since Aristotle ‘s ‘Poetics’ and, according to Abrams always retained 'a measure of

for Johnson and most 18th century critics. This idea basically defines art as
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authority'

imitation of nature, which diminishes the role of the poet from creator to mime. Aristotle

himself didn’t give any significance to the figure of the poet. Cowley’s conceit of

‘burning-glasses made of ice’ (EA) strikes Johnson as unnatural and ridiculous, leaving

him to condemn Cowley. These comparisons show to clearly that he is ‘learned’ (EA) but

only aims to impress through the ‘artifice’ (EA) in his poem, thereby losing what Johnson

feels is necessary to any poem: the ability to please.

Mimesis became less dominant as the 19th century began, but Jeffrey notices the

same desire to impress in Wordsworth which utterly ruins the poem for him. ‘The

Excursion is full of ‘long words, long sentences, and unwieldy phrases’ (EB) which makes

it impossible for the reader to figure out what exactly is happening. In his review, Jeffrey

himself adopts a more pompous writing style to underline how ‘unwieldy’ (EB)

Wordsworth’s writing is. However, the choice of the word ‘raptures’ (EB) seems strange

since surely Wordsworth’s ‘ravings (EB) and ‘enthusiasm’ (EB) would cause emotions in

the reader as well. But this word choice gives away the reason that supports most of
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Jeffrey’s criticism of the poem: his dislike for what he calls Wordsworth’s ‘affectation’ .

Wordsworth isn’t just a writer who copies what he finds in nature. His words aren’t the

ones passed down the generations, but rather his own ‘preachments’ (EB). As such, the

main aim of Wordsworth’s poem has become to instruct, which should be done
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‘indirectly, and by pleasing and moving’ not through self-pleasing phrases which lead to

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Abrams, The Mirror and the Lamp p. 19

Francis Jeffrey, ‘Review of Wordsworth; The Excursion’ in Edinburgh Review24 (Nov. 1814)
14

H. Blair, ‘Lecture XXXVIII:Nature of Poetry, it’s Origin and Progress, Versification’ in Lectures on
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Rhetoric and Belles Lettres Volume 3 (London: W. Sharpe, 1820) p. 80

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A Change in Criticism – Juliane Witte

‘interminable dullness’ (EB). Jeffrey recognizes in Wordsworth the same kind of labouring

and effort that Johnson discovers in Cowley. Their words are written in order to make a

statement regarding themselves, to show how ‘original and impressive’ (EB) they are

and as an end result their poems lack sentiment and a message. Attention here should

also be paid to the fact that Wordsworth’s poem is actually about himself as a youngster

and aspiring poet, something Cowley would never have done. In many ways he thereby

forces the critic’s hand into criticising him, but it is also another sign of the changing

times. The poet himself has now become worthy of a poem.

What the analysis of these pieces of criticism shows is that despite the fact that

some criteria of criticism changed at the end of the 18th century, there was still a general

consensus towards the pleasure of the audience. Whereas at the end of the 18 th century,

the poet only played a small role in the criticism of a poem, his prominence has risen

enormously by the early 1800s. Jeffrey’s criticism constantly refers to Wordsworth and

his intentions and as such his tone is much harsher, making his review more of a

personal attack rather than a literary criticism. Johnson in comparison tries to do the

same thing he preaches by pleasing his reader with his style and insights while

instructing them on the life and works of poets. It is almost ironic that Johnson criticises

Cowley for not putting enough of his own emotions into his poem, whereas Jeffrey can

hardly read a sentence without being reminded of who is writing. By the beginning of the

18th century, boundaries seem to have blurred and the poet and the critic are able to

directly engage with each other. As such, it is interesting to note that Jeffrey’s review,
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according to Tim Fulford ‘triggered a change’ in Wordsworth and his contemporaries.

Not only did the critics change in regard to the poets, but the role of critics became

much more important in guiding the poets and their interactions with their audience as

well. Although most of the changes in criticism seem minor, together they managed to

change the relationship between the poet, the audience and the critic.

T. Fulford, The Late Poetry of the Lake Poets (UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013) p. 8
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Word count: 2700

Bibliography

Abrams Meyer Howard, The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical
Tradition, (England: Oxford University Press, 1971).

Barthes, R., ‘The Death of the Author’ in Roland Barthes, Image, Music, Text (UK: Harper
Collins, 1997).

Blair, Hugh, ‘Lecture XXXVIII:Nature of Poetry, it’s Origin and Progress, Versification’ in
Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres Volume 3 (London: W. Sharpe, 1820).

Fulford, Tim, The Late Poetry of the Lake Poets (UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013).

Jeffrey, Francis ‘Review of Wordsworth; The Excursion’ in Edinburgh Review 24 (1814).

Jeffrey, Francis 'Review of William Wordsworth, 'The Excursion' (extracts)' in D. Wu (ed.)

Romanticism: an Anthology – Second Edition (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998).

Johnson, S., 'Life of Cowley' in Samuel Johnson, Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets
Vol. 1 (London: Stanhope Press, 1805).

Johnson, S., 'Life of Gray' in Samuel Johnson, The Lives of the English Poets: Volume 2
(Leipzig: B. Tauchnitz, 1858).

Johnson, S., 'Preface to the Edition of Shakespeare. 1765.', in Eighteenth Century Essays
on Shakespeare, ed. N. Smith (Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons, 1903).

Woodmansee, Martha, 'On the Author Effect: Recovering Collectivity', in Woodmansee,

Martha and Peter Jaszi eds., The Construction of Authorship (Durham: Duke
University Press, 1992).

Wordsworth, William, ‘Preface to Lyrical Ballads’ in Lyrical Ballads eds. M. Gamer & D.
Porter (Broadview Press, 2008).

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