Showing results by author "William Hazlitt" in All Categories

A deeply insightful take on how hate and insecurity can be intertwined, and an endearing love letter to the natural world, ‘On the Purpose of Hating’ is one of the most renowned essays from the brilliant mind of William Hazlitt. In ‘On the Purpose of Hating’, Hazlitt explores the complexities of hatred. He compellingly argues that hatred can have a self-destructive edge, and can do just as much harm to the person who harbours it as the subject of it. At its heart, hatred is merely a coping mechanism to manage our own shortcomings.

This is an essay from the Favorite Essays collection.

William Hazlitt was an English writer remembered for his humanistic essays and literary criticism. He is considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in English and is placed by literary historians in the same company as Samuel Johnson and George Orwell. This essay is considered by most critics to be the best short explanation of the nature and importance of poetry evey written.

This famous Shakespearean exploration illuminates its plays through the frame of character, while also weighing theme, mood, structure and poetics. In it, 19th-century critic William Hazlitt unveils Shakespeare's genius in creating and infusing characters with a life-likeness that often challenges, if not overshadows, more material human nature -- in both inner and outer worlds. As he writes: "The characters breathe, move, and live, ... think and speak and act just as they might do, if left entirely to themselves." The first printing sold out in weeks, and the second sold briskly, until a ...

British writer William Hazlitt was the most brilliant essayist of his day. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history of the English language, placed in the company of Samuel Johnson and George Orwell. During his last illness, Hazlitt wrote this essay on a topic that most people will recognize. Hazlitt did not fear his own demise, and in this thoughtful essay, he explains why no one needs to give in to such a fear.