Hazlitt's "On Poetry In General"
I am at lost for words to describe the impact that William Hazlitt's essay On Poetry In General has made upon me. My hands were sweating, my mind, if it had eyes, was in tears, and I could feel the feet of my consciousness galloping wildly on the plains of imagination. Hazlitt has reawaken the joy and pleasure that I once had while reading Emerson's essays for the first time. The experience of reading literature, by great authors, will always linger in our memories. Thirty years from now, if my appetite for reading hungers for something great, something passionate, something imaginative, and something that is intellectually-gusto, I only need to revisit the section in my librarical-mind that has William Hazlitt's name enrgaved on its already aged wooden surface.
Emerson brought me closer to myself. Harold Bloom brought me closer to aesthetical-literary-criticism. Hazlitt brought me closer to the truth of literature.
Allow me, dear readers, to share with you some of the words of William Hazlitt that I have taken from the above essay:
"The best general notion which I can give of poetry [and literature itself] is, that it is the natural impression of any object or event, by its vividness exciting an involuntary movement of imagination and passion, and producing, by sympathy, a certain modulation of the voice, or sounds, expressing it."
"Poetry is the language of the imagination and the passions. It relates to whatever gives immediate pleasure or pain to the human mind."
"He who has a contempt for poetry, cannot have much respect for himself, or anything else."
"Man is a poetical animal."
"Poetry puts a spirit of life and motion into the universe. It describes the flowing, not the fixed."
Emerson brought me closer to myself. Harold Bloom brought me closer to aesthetical-literary-criticism. Hazlitt brought me closer to the truth of literature.
Allow me, dear readers, to share with you some of the words of William Hazlitt that I have taken from the above essay:
"The best general notion which I can give of poetry [and literature itself] is, that it is the natural impression of any object or event, by its vividness exciting an involuntary movement of imagination and passion, and producing, by sympathy, a certain modulation of the voice, or sounds, expressing it."
"Poetry is the language of the imagination and the passions. It relates to whatever gives immediate pleasure or pain to the human mind."
"He who has a contempt for poetry, cannot have much respect for himself, or anything else."
"Man is a poetical animal."
"Poetry puts a spirit of life and motion into the universe. It describes the flowing, not the fixed."
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Teruskan membongkar khazanah sastera dunia. Sememangnya sastera bukan milik sesuatu negara lagi. Maka, dengan itu kita akan berhadapan dengan kepelbagaian jenis penulisan berkualiti.