English literary criticism

"English Literary Criticism" by Charles Edwyn Vaughan is a study of how people in England have judged books over time. It looks at how critical thinking about literature changed, using essays from famous critics like Philip Sidney and Samuel Johnson as examples. The book is about recognizing how literature and its analysis are connected, especially in how criticism affected what people thought about books, starting from the time of Queen Elizabeth. Vaughan starts by explaining that his goal is to show the history of English book criticism. He points out that criticism started later than writing stories and talks about the early ideas of writers such as Chaucer, and mentions a big change that took place during the Elizabethan period. The beginning then looks at what critics thought about the rise of poems and plays, pointing out disagreements between those who liked following old rules and those who wanted new, inventive types of art. Vaughan prepares to explore different critics from different periods, focusing on how great writing and the way we judge books have influenced each other.