Why read The Mirror and the Lamp?

Book cover of The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition

Book description

This highly acclaimed study analyzes the various trends in English criticism during the first four decades of this century.

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Mirror and the Lamp as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Lawrence Lipking

Author

This classic study introduced me and the whole world of critics and scholars to theoretical perspectives that still resonate among historians of literature and culture.

It defines a momentous change: the shift from views of art as a mirror—a reflection of things as they are—to a lamp—a radiant projection from the hearts and minds of its creators. This revolution in aesthetic principles, formulated by German and British theorists, also resulted in new ways of looking at nature and in new kinds of poetry.

Abrams charts the depths of Romantic theory; and his work helped…

From Lawrence's list on the arts as crucial elements of human life.