Prose and Verse Criticism of Poetry

Editor's Commentaries on Selected Poems

• Caedmon's "Hymn"
• Sir Thomas Wyatt's "They Flee from me that Sometime did me Seek"
• Sir Philip Sidney's "You Gote-heard Gods"
• William Shakespeare's "Th'expense of Spirit in a Waste of Shame"
• John Donne's "Good Friday, 1613. Going Westward"
• Anne Bradstreet's "In Reference to her Children, 23 June 1659"
• Aphra Behn's "The Disappointment"
• Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"
• William Wordsworth's "The Solitary Reaper"
• Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind"
• John Keats's "Ode to a Nightingale"
• Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess"
• Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach"
• Gerard Manley Hopkins' "Spring and Fall"
• Arabella Eugenia Smith's "If I Should Die To-night"
• David Herbert Lawrence's "Snake"
• Marianne Moore's "Poetry"
• Marge Piercy's "My mother's body"
• Mark Doty's "Homo will not Inherit"
• Earle Birney's "David

Poetry Criticism in Prose

• The Arte of Poesie (1589) (attributed to George Puttenham)
• The Defence of Poesie (1595) (Sir Philip Sidney)
• The Excellency of the English Tongue (printed 1614) (Richard Carew of Anthony)
• Timber (1640) (Ben Jonson)
• Preface to Gondibert (1651/1673) (Sir William Davenant)
• Of Dramatic Poesie (1668) (John Dryden)
• An Account of the Life and Writings of Mr. Abraham Cowley (1668) (Thomas Sprat)
• The Grounds of Criticism in Poetry (1704) (John Dennis)
• Preface to his Translation of Homer's Iliad (1715) (Alexander Pope)
• Conjectures on Original Composition (1759) (Edward Young)
• Preface to his Edition of Shakespeare's Plays (1765) (Samuel Johnson)
• Preface to Lyrical Ballads (1798) (William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
• Biographia Literaria. Vol. I (1817) (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
• The Four Ages of Poetry (1820) (Thomas Love Peacock)
• Defence of Poetry (1821) (Percy Bysshe Shelley)
• The Function of Criticism at the Present Time (1865) (Matthew Arnold)
• Coleridge (1865/1880) (Walter Pater)
• Wordsworth (1874) (Walter Pater)
• Style (1888) (Walter Pater)

Poetry Criticism in Verse

• Addison, Joseph
  •  To the Earl of Warwick, On the Death of Mr. Addison (Thomas Tickell)
• Advice to Future Poets
  • On the Future of Poetry (Henry Austin Dobson)
• Ancient and Modern Languages
  • The Aeneid (excerpts) (Gavin Douglas)
  • Epistle to J. Lapraik (excerpts) (Robert Burns)
• Bad Poets
  • Advice to the Grub Street Verse-writers (Jonathan Swift)
  • The Dunciad: Book IV (Alexander Pope)
  • Mac Flecknoe (John Dryden)
  • Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot (Alexander Pope)
• Brontë, Anne
  • On the Death of Anne Brontë (Charlotte Brontë)
• Browning, Robert
  • A Sequence of Sonnets on the Death of Robert Browning (Algernon Charles Swinburne)
  • To Robert Browning (Walter Savage Landor)
• Campbell, Thomas
  • Don Juan: Canto the First (Lord Byron)
  • Don Juan: Canto the Eleventh (Lord Byron)
• Chapman, George
  • On First Looking into Chapman's Homer (John Keats)
• Chaucer, Geoffrey
  • An Account of the Greatest English Poets (excerpt) (Joseph Addison)
  • Lament For The Makers (William Dunbar)
• Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
  • Don Juan: Dedication (Lord Byron)
  • Don Juan: Canto the First (Lord Byron)
  • Don Juan: Canto the Eleventh (Lord Byron)
• Cowley, Abraham
  • An Account of the Greatest English Poets (excerpt) (Joseph Addison)
• Crabbe, George
  • Don Juan: Canto the First (Lord Byron)
• Crashaw, Richard
  • On the Death of Mr. Crashaw (Abraham Cowley)
• Critics and Criticism
  • Dear Doctor, I have Read your Play (Lord Byron)
  • English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (excerpts) (Lord Byron)
  • An Essay on Criticism: Part 1 (Alexander Pope)
  • An Essay on Criticism: Part 2 (Alexander Pope)
  • An Essay on Criticism: Part 3 (Alexander Pope)
  • Idea XXXI: To the Critic (Michael Drayton)
  • Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot (Alexander Pope)
  • A Poet! He Hath Put his Heart to School (William Wordsworth)
• Dennis, John
  • Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot (Alexander Pope)
• Donne, John
  • An Elegy upon the Death of the Dean of St. Paul's, Dr. John Donne (Thomas Carew)
  • Epigrams: To John Donne (Ben Jonson)
  • On Donne's Poetry (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
• Dowland, John
  • To his Friend Master R. L., In Praise of Music and Poetry (Richard Barnfield)
• Dryden, John
  • To my Dear Friend Mr. Congreve on his Comedy Call'd the Double Dealer (John Dryden)
  • The Progress of Poesy: A Pindaric Ode (Thomas Gray)
  • Don Juan: Canto the First (Lord Byron)
• Epic Conventions
  • Don Juan: Canto the First (Lord Byron)
• Fancy and Imagination
  • Fancy (John Keats)
  • Ode to Fancy (Joseph Warton)
  • Ode to a Nightingale (John Keats)
  • The Progress of Poesy: A Pindaric Ode (Thomas Gray)
  • Ode on the Poetical Character (William Collins)
  • The Pleasures of Imagination (excerpts) (Mark Akenside)
  • The Prelude: Book 1: Childhood and School-time (William Wordsworth)
  • The Prelude: Book 2: School-time (Continued) (William Wordsworth)
• Gower, John
  • Lament For The Makers (William Dunbar)
• Henryson, Robert
  • Lament For The Makers (William Dunbar)
• Herbert, George
  • On Mr. G. Herbert's Book (Richard Crashaw)
• Hoggs, James
  • Extempore Effusion upon the Death of James Hogg (William Wordsworth)
• Homer
  • On First Looking into Chapman's Homer (John Keats)
  • To Homer (John Keats)
  • Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot (Alexander Pope)
  • The Palace of Art (Alfred Lord Tennyson)
• Horace
  • Imitations of Horace (Alexander Pope)
  • Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot (Alexander Pope)
• Jonson, Ben
  • His Prayer to Ben Jonson (Robert Herrick)
  • An Ode to Ben Jonson (Robert Herrick)
  • To Ben Jonson (Thomas Carew)
  • Drury-lane Prologue Spoken by Mr. Garrick (Samuel Johnson)
• Keats, John
  • Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats (Percy Bysshe Shelley)
  • Don Juan: Canto the Eleventh (Lord Byron)
• Killigrew, Anne
  • To the Pious Memory of the Accomplished Young Lady Mrs. Anne Killigrew (John Dryden)
• King, Edward
  • On the Memory of Mr. Edward King, Drown'd in the Irish Seas (John Cleveland)
• Landor, Walter Savage
  • In Memory of Walter Savage Landor (Algernon Charles Swinburne)
  • Don Juan: Canto the Eleventh (Lord Byron)
• Milton, John
  • Milton (Alfred Lord Tennyson)
  • The Progress of Poesy: A Pindaric Ode (Thomas Gray)
  • Ode on the Poetical Character (William Collins)
  • Don Juan: Dedication (Lord Byron)
  • Don Juan: Canto the First (Lord Byron)
  • The Palace of Art (Alfred Lord Tennyson)
• Moore, Thomas
  • Don Juan: Canto the First (Lord Byron)
  • Don Juan: Canto the Eleventh (Lord Byron)
• The Muse
  • Astrophel and Stella 1: Loving in Truth (Sir Philip Sidney)
  • To the Muses (William Blake)
  • The Progress of Poesy: A Pindaric Ode (Thomas Gray)
  • Epistle to J. Lapraik (excerpts) (Robert Burns)
• Oldham, John
  • To the Memory of Mr. Oldham (John Dryden)
• Ovid
  • Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot (Alexander Pope)
• The Poet's After-life
  • Lines on the Mermaid Tavern (John Keats)
• The Poet's Life and Making
  • Portrait of the Squire ("The Canterbury Tales: General Prologue") (Geoffrey Chaucer)
  • Alastor; or, The Spirit of Solitude (Percy Bysshe Shelley)
  • The Bard: A Pindaric Ode (Thomas Gray)
  • Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (Thomas Gray)
  • In Memoriam: The Prelude (Alfred Lord Tennyson)
  • The Minstrel; or, The Progress of Genius (excerpts) (James Beattie)
  • The Prelude: Book 1: Childhood and School-time (William Wordsworth)
  • The Prelude: Book 2: School-time (Continued) (William Wordsworth)
  • A Musical Instrument (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)
• The Poet's Self-regard
  • Ode to Himself upon the Censure of his "New Inn" (Ben Jonson)
  • An Ode to Himself (Ben Jonson)
  • Sonnet 19: Devouring Time (William Shakespeare)
  • Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift, D.S.P.D. (Jonathan Swift)
  • When he would have his Verses Read (Robert Herrick)
  • Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot (Alexander Pope)
• Pope, Alexander
  • Don Juan: Canto the First (Lord Byron)
• Rhyming
  • A Fit of Rhyme against Rhyme (Ben Jonson)
• Scott, Sir Walter
  • Don Juan: Canto the Eleventh (Lord Byron)
• Shakespeare, William
  • On Sitting Down to Read King Lear Once Again (John Keats)
  • Shakespeare (Matthew Arnold)
  • To the Memory of My Beloved the Author, Mr. William Shakespeare (Ben Jonson)
  • Drury-lane Prologue Spoken by Mr. Garrick (Samuel Johnson)
  • The Progress of Poesy: A Pindaric Ode (Thomas Gray)
  • The Palace of Art (Alfred Lord Tennyson)
• Shelley, Percy Bysshe
  • Memorabilia (Robert Browning)
• Sonnets
  • The House of Life: The Sonnet (Dante Gabriel Rossetti)
  • Scorn not the Sonnet (William Wordsworth)
• Southey, Robert
  • Don Juan: Dedication ( Byron)
  • Don Juan: Canto the First ( Byron)
  • Don Juan: Canto the Eleventh ( Byron)
• Spenser, Edmund
  • An Account of the Greatest English Poets (excerpt) (Joseph Addison)
  • To his Friend Master R. L., In Praise of Music and Poetry (Richard Barnfield)
  • Ode on the Poetical Character (William Collins)
• Waller, Edmund
  • Ode on the Poetical Character (William Collins)
• Wordsworth, William
  • Don Juan: Dedication ( Byron)
  • Don Juan: Canto the First ( Byron)
  • Don Juan: Canto the Eleventh ( Byron)
• Wyatt, Thomas
  • Of the Death of Sir T. W. The Elder (Henry Howard, earl of Surrey)
• Virgil
  • To Virgil, Written at the Request of the Mantuans for the Nineteenth Centenary of Virgil's Death (Alfred Lord Tennyson)
  • Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot (Alexander Pope)