... , one that before this, was virtually non-existent . Though literary criticism had been taking place for years, it was generally disregarded and held as useless. William Wordsworth once said that, ""if the quantity of time consumed in writing critiques on the works of others were given to original ... employed"" (2103). By acknowledging this view, and then creating a rational argument against it, Arnold's essay helped to send the genre into a new direction, as well as to create a new respect for it. Arnold begins his argument by stating that, "The critical power is of lower rank than the...

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