Paperback
ISBN: 9780814311608
Pages: 720 Size: 5.5x8.25
This volume attempts to represent European theories of poetry from Plato's time to the year 1700. Editor Allan H. Gilbert has selected writers who in their own day spoke for the future rather than the past, and those whose conceptions are of value at present, either in developing our own critical thought or in interpreting the most important literature of their own ages.
The editorial apparatus is exceptionally thorough and stimulating, particularly the notes, the running bibliographies, and the index. It contains, too, some fresh materials — notably some selections from Thomas Thorild, an eighteenth-century Swedish critic. The introductory essays on each critic are quite full and help considerably in establishing intellectual and historical relationships.
– George A. Gullette