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On Poetry in General

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About this listen

 William Hazlitt was an English writer remembered for his humanistic essays and literary criticism. He is considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in English and is placed by literary historians in the same company as Samuel Johnson and George Orwell. This essay is considered by most critics to be the best short explanation of the nature and importance of poetry evey written.Public Domain (P)2009 Jimcin Recordings Literary History & Criticism

Editor reviews

"Man is a poetical animal," declares William Hazlitt at the outset of his seminal essay, "On Poetry in General". Hazlitt, a revered and prolific essayist and painter in the high Romantic style, believed poetry to be both an imitation of nature and "all that is worth remembering in life". As performed by Jim Roberts in a lilting New England accent, "On Poetry in General" is one of the most acclaimed and enduring pieces of literary thought ever written. It is to poetry what Aristotle’s Poetics is to drama.

"On Poetry in General" is a paean to poetry’s humility and to its universal employment by all mankind. Filled with startling analogies and lovely bursts of rhetoric, this brief essay is a prime example of prose poetry itself.
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The narration is absolutely horrendous, sounds like a robot...so bad I gave up on it after only five minutes.
Whereas the previous Hazlitt I listened to is read by Neville Jason who speaks beautifully and is a dream to listen to.

Robotic narration.

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