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William Ernest Henley's Principles of Criticism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
By no means the least factors in the unity and critical effectiveness of The National Observer and The New Review, the magazines edited by W. E. Henley, were the conscious and definite canons by which they were guided. Although he never formulated an æsthetic system, Henley nevertheless worked and judged in accordance with several clearly perceived principles, the exposition of which is our immediate task.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1931
References
1 Originally named The Scots Observer.
2 Welby, T. E., A Study of Swinburne, p. 217.
3 L. Cope Cornford, W. E. Henley, p. 36.
4 The Scots Observer, June 1, 1889. Review.
5 Macaulay, R., Told by an Idiot.
6 The National Observer, January 16, 1892.
7 The Works of W. E. Henley, 6 Vols. “Views and Reviews” Vols. v and vi. vi, 202. “A Critic in Art.”
8 L. C. Comford, op. cit., pp. 20.
9 The Scots Observer, December 28, 1889.
10 The National Observer, November 14, 1891. Signed article by Henley: “For Milton's Sake.”
11 Works, v, 77, “Hugo.”
12 Works, vi, 3, “A Note on Romanticism.”
13 The Scots Observer, March 22, 1890, “A Triumph of School.”
14 Works, v, 75, “Hugo.”
15 Works, vi, 10–11.
16 Works, v, 216, “Richard Jefferies.”
17 Ibid., p. 216.
18 The Scots Observer, December 1, 1888.
19 Works, vi, 47, “A Note on Romanticism.”
20 Works, v, 211, “Richard Jefferies.”
21 Ibid., p. 216.
22 Works, v, 64, “George Meredith.”
23 Works, v, 268, “Tolstoi.”
24 The Scots Observer, Oct. 28, 1890, “Guy de Maupassant.”
25 Published in the National Observer between Dec. 7, 1892 and Mar. 17, 1894.
26 The North American Review, clxx, 253–262 (Feb., 1900).
27 The National Observer, October 31, 1891, “Degas.”
28 E. A. Sharp, Wm. Sharpl.“ (Fiona McLeod), a memoir, i, 221.
29 Works, v, 143, “Banville.”
30 Works, v, 160, “Borrow.”
31 The Scots Observer, October 25, 1890. Review of Masson's Milton, etc.
32 The National Observer, Nov. 14, 1891. “For Milton's Sake,” by Henley (signed).
33 Works, v, 187, “Tennyson.”
34 C. Bell, Landmarks in Nineteenth century Painting, p. 4.
35 Cf. The Literary Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Third Discourse, pp. 329–344.
36 Works, vi, 171, “Landseer.”
37 Ibid., p. 166, “Wilkie.”
38 C. Marriott, Modern Movements in Painting, p. 71.
39 Works, vi, 186–187, “Keene.”
40 Works, vi, 197–198, “Rodin.”
41 Pertinent to Henley's words is this section from an essay on Rodin by Ugo Ojetti in “As They Seemed to Me” translated by Henry Furst, p. 47. “One day Rodin was so kind as to show us the casts of his works one by one: nudes of lovers embracing, with a shudder rising from the tips of their toes to the mouth; nudes of shameful old women, with their bent faces hidden in their hands; convulsive nudes, supine or face downwards, contracted like the corpses of Pompeii modelled from the ashes. And as we, freshly returned from a visit to his exhibition, whispered the titles, Despair, the Race to the Abyss, Genius, the Wave, the Voice, Rodin burst out laughing, raising his hands to the sky and then striking them on his knees: 'But that is literature. Those are the inventions of Mirbeau, of Geffroy, of my literary friends, for the exhibition. I model human bodies as well as I can. The rest does not concern me. Sculpture is not done by words. The poets are there for that.”
42 W. H. Wright, Modern Painting: Its Tendency and Meaning, p. 33.
43 Works, vi, 115–116, “Jacobus Maris.”
44 Works, vi, 98–99, “Monticelli.”
45 Ibid., p. 100.
46 Works, v, Preface.