Quote by: William Hazlitt

Poetry is only the highest eloquence of passion, the most vivid form of expression that can be given to our conception of anything, whether pleasurable or painful, mean or dignified, delightful or distressing. It is the perfect coincidence of the image and the words with the feeling we have, and of which we cannot get rid in any other way, that gives an instant "satisfaction to the thought." This is equally the origin of wit and fancy, of comedy and tragedy, of the sublime and pathetic.


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Author Bio


  • NameWilliam Hazlitt
  • DescriptionEnglish writer, remembered for his humanistic essays and literary criticism, as the greatest art critic of his age, and as a drama critic, social commentator, and philosopher
  • BornApril 10, 1778
  • DiedSeptember 18, 1830
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionLiterary Historian; Philosopher; Writer
  • WorksCharacters Of Shakespear's Plays; Table-Talk; The Spirit Of The Age