Coming Around to Commerce of Everyday Life

The amusement began with “Addison on Criticism.” He has turned the tables on the critics that have improper credentials for the job of a ‘true critick.’ Addison describes the duty of the critics wonderfully, when he says, “A true Critick ought to dwell rather upon Excellencies than Imperfections, to discover the concealed Beauties of a Writer, and communicate to the World such things as are worth their Observation” (381). By describing the faults found in critics he can knock them of the pedestals that they do not deserve to sit upon. Instead of promoting the flaws they feel an author has made, why can’t the critics advertise the positive aspects of an author? Because they cannot see their own faults it seems they should not be so ready to judge others, and this could possibly make them unworthy of judging others.
The most pleasurable read for me was Edward Ward “The Wit’s coffee-house (From The London Spy). This was really entertaining. Ward agrees with Addison on the focusing on the negative by the critiques. Although, I felt that Ward was a little more harsh in judging them then Addison but that’s what provided the entertainment. The line that describes his stance on the opinion of critics is, “Wanting true merit, he aims to raise a reputation not by his own performances but by others’ failings” (438). The critics seem to be parasites who feed on literary works and the authors but contribute nothing to the success of them, only to the failure.
One quote that proves the unattainable approval of critics is a description of them, “…never to let anything, though well performed, escape their scrutiny, to the discovery of some colorable fault, nor any character pass their lips, though of the worthiest persons in the world, without being tagged with some calumny or other, on purpose to eclipse the brightness of those virtues for which they are chiefly eminent” (438). No matter how well done a piece is there will never be any satisfaction in the realm of the critic. They will invent things to be critically unforgiving about. The character of the critic is described as a very ridiculous figure who is only concerned about his own benefit. This character will go to unreasonable lengths to justify an authors work only if “a better judgment finds a fault” (438).
One article that was extremely interesting was “Addison on the Pleasures of the Imagination”. He discusses “the works of Nature and Art” (394). In the first read through, the interpretation was that there are several instances when nature is more beautiful than any piece of art. The logic behind this is that art is created from a separate perspective than the perspective that admires it. For example, an artist may paint a scene in nature but it is from his perspective that a person will admire it. When observing nature at a first hand experience, someone is more likely to appreciate it more because they are able to take in nature in its entirety, not just a sliver. People seem to be taking nature and manipulating it into their own perspectives.
The imagination that creates a great piece of work gets manipulated by man once again. For example, critics take pieces of work and tear it apart for there own use. The artists work can only be truly appreciated when taken, observed in its entirety. When just a sentence or paragraph gets taken out of context the entire nature of the work is ruined. It is like the gardens that Addison goes on to discuss, “Our British Gardeners…instead of humoring Nature, love to deviate from it as much as possible” (396). Instead of leaving a literary work in the imagination of the author, critics misplace it in the realm of reason. They take their gardening shears and “cut and trimmed into a Mathematical figure” (396). When placing the imaginative into the rational category they rob the work of its natural environment.