E212: British Literature since 1760

Oscar Wilde Study Questions

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"The Critic as Artist"

1. On 1752-53, why, according to Gilbert, is the artist superior to other people?

2. On 1754-57, how does Gilbert delineate the "highest criticism" (1755)? Why is the critic superior even to the artist? What can a critic do for the work, according to Gilbert on 1757?

3. What distinctions does Gilbert make on 1759 between the literary and the plastic arts and music? How does he re-evaluate Pater's claim that "all art aspires to the condition of music"?

4. What is the difference between impressionism in art or criticism and the kind of expressive theory we find in, say, Wordsworth? Why does Gilbert (1756) reject romantic expressivism in favor of his own impressionist doctrine?

5. In your own view, what is the critic's relation to the work of art? Does the art or literary critic have a responsibility to carry out the Arnoldian task of "see[ing] the object as in itself it really is"? (Gilbert discusses this issue on 1759.)

6. In another theoretical essay, "The Decay of Lying," Wilde insists that art (which he aligns with "lying"--spinning stories and creating beautiful images to serve as forms for the imagination) is superior to everyday life. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

Edition: Abrams, M.H. et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 2. Seventh edition. New York: Norton, 2000.