Elements of CriticismGraphic Arts Books, 2021 M11 16 - 646 pages Elements of Criticism (1762) is a philosophical work by Henry Home, Lord Kames. Published at the height of his career as a leading legal and cultural figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, Elements of Criticism has been credited as a crucial academic work in the development of modern English literary studies. “The science of criticism tends to improve the heart not less than the understanding...A just taste in the fine arts, by sweetening and harmonizing the temper, is a strong antidote to the turbulence of passion and violence of pursuit. Elegance of taste procures to a man so much enjoyment at home, or easily within reach, that in order to be occupied, he is, in youth, under no temptation to precipitate into hunting, gaming, drinking; nor, in middle age, to deliver himself over to ambition; nor, in old age, to avarice.” Although he is largely unheard of today, Henry Home was an integral figure in the elevation of the art of literary criticism as a subject in universities around Britain and the world. His central thesis is that criticism itself stems from the senses and directly relates to humanity’s capacity for reason. Through art, Home believed, humanity could live both morally and in harmony with the natural world, thereby creating a civilization rooted in virtue and creativity. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Henry Home, Lord Kames’ Elements of Criticism is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers. |
From inside the book
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... produced by external objects: but they also resemble the former, being like them produced without any sensible organic impression. Their mixt nature and middle place betwixt organic and intellectual pleasures, qualify them to associate ...
... produce in the morning of life4. In the next place, a philosophic inquiry into the principles of the fine arts, inures the reflecting mind to the most enticing sort of logic. Reasoning upon subjects so agreeable tends to a habit; and a ...
... produce connection of action, because perceptions and actions have an intimate correspondence. But it is not sufficient for the conduct of life that our actions be linked together, however intimately: it is beside necessary that they ...
... produced when the object was present. The only difference is, that an idea being fainter than an original perception, the pleasure or pain produced by the former, is proportionably fainter than that produced by the latter. Having ...
... produce in the spectator a painful feeling. This feeling is sometimes so slight as to pass away without any effect, in which case it is an emotion. But if the feeling be so strong as to prompt desire of affording relief, it is a passion ...
Contents
BEAUTY | |
GRANDEUR AND SUBLIMITY | |
MOTION AND FORCE | |
NOVELTY AND THE UNEXPECTED APPEARANCE OF OBJECTS | |
RISIBLE OBJECTS | |
CUSTOM AND HABIT | |
EXTERNAL SIGNS OF EMOTIONS AND PASSIONS | |
SENTIMENTS | |
LANGUAGE OF PASSION | |
BEAUTY OF LANGUAGE | |
VOLUME III | |
COMPARISONS | |
FIGURES | |
RESEMBLANCE AND CONTRAST | |
OF UNIFORMITY AND VARIETY | |
VOLUME II | |
CONGRUITY AND PROPRIETY | |
OF DIGNITY AND MEANNESS | |
RIDICULE | |
XIII | |
NARRATION AND DESCRIPTION | |
EPIC AND DRAMATIC COMPOSITIONS | |
THE THREE UNITIES | |
GARDENING AND ARCHITECTURE | |
STANDARD OF TASTE | |