It is not often that we have the pleasure of
reading such sober and enlightening criticism as Mr. J. A. Chapman gives us in his Papers on Shelley, Wordsworth and Others (Oxford University Press, 6s.). Their distinguishing trait is their honesty in judgment. Mr. Chapman, in his first paper (on Francis Thompson's all-too-famous essay on Shelley), points out very clearly the difference between " play-acting" in criticism—over-enthusiasm induced for the sake of effect— and the penetrating light of a disciplined appreciation. Is there not something of a gesture, however, in his own assertion, • The men to whom Shelley's poetry appeals more than Keats's does . . . are men without understanding of the highest poetry " ? It would be possible to dispute Mr. Chapman's critical principles ; but it is a noteworthy and rare discovery to find a critic who has principles and applies them with steadfastness. Mr. Chapman includes in his volumes criticisms of Coleridge, Walt Whitman, Richard Middleton and Edward Thompson ; and two discerning essays on "The Greatest Poetry" and " The Future of English Poetry." * * * *
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