Keats and to our
readers.'
This criticism is not, I think, exactly what Shelley called it in the
Preface to _Adonais_--'savage:' it is less savage than contemptuous, and
is far indeed from competing with the abuse which was from time to time,
and in various reviews, poured forth upon Shelley himself. It cannot be
denied that some of the blemishes which it points out in _Endymion_ are
real blemishes, and very serious ones. The grounds on which one can
fairly object to the criticism are that its tone is purposely
ill-natured; its recognition of merits scanty out of all proportion to
its censure of defects; and its spirit that of prepense disparagement
founded not so much on the poetical errors of Keats as on the fact that
he was a friend of Leigh Hunt, the literary and also the political
antagonist of the _Quarterly Review_. The editor, Mr. Gifford, seems
always to have been regarded as the author of this criticism--I presume,
correctly so.
That Keats was a friend of Leigh Hunt in the earlier period of his own
poetical career is a fact; but not long after the appearance of the
_Quarterly Review_ article he conceived a good deal of dislike and even
animosity against this literary ally.
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