Article: The Scriblerian sublime.

 
THE Sublime and the Pathetic are the two chief nerves of all genuine 
poesy. What is there transcendently Sublime or Pathetic in POPE? 
 
For WIT and SATIRE are transitory and perishable, but NATURE and PASSION 
are eternal. 
--Joseph Warton, An Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope (1) 

Warton's words, which appear in his 1756 attempt to unseat Alexander Pope as the most influential poet of the era, represent a critical commonplace about the nature of literary history in the mid- to late eighteenth century. As inscribed by William Wordsworth in the preface to Lyrical Ballads, this is the key distinction between the Romantics' emphasis on feeling and the artifice ...

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles:

 
 
Newsweek Harper's Magazine The Washington Post Chicago Tribune Crain's Chicago Business PRNewswire Pediatric News The Nation Advertising Age The Economist (US) A FREE trial gives you access to over 80 million articles! Access over 6,500 publications with a FREE trial!