Chapter 2 general reader

There is a line from Dr. Johnson's "Life of Gray" which could well be written in those rooms which are not worthy of the name of the library but which are filled with books for private reading: "... I am glad to agree with the general reader ; for, after all those subtle phrasings and grand dogmas, the laurels of poetic honor rest in the end on the common sense of readers untainted by literary prejudice." This common sense explains the quality of poetic honor; it It makes their purpose seem noble; it bestows the approbation of great men on quests that take so long and often leave no real substantive results.

As Dr. Johnson implicitly points out, ordinary readers are different from critics and scholars.He was less educated, and nature had not been so generous with his superior gifts.He read for personal interest, not to impart knowledge or correct the opinions of others.Above all: he is led by an instinct to create for himself something whole out of whatever miscellaneous raw materials he can get his hands on—a portrait of a man, a portrait of an era. sketches, or a theory of the art of writing.As he read, he kept erecting rickety, rickety theoretical structures that gave him momentary satisfaction by looking rather like the sort of real objects of admiration, laughter, and argument.As a critic, his flaws are obvious, for he only skims hastily, roughly, superficially, grabbing now this poem, now the fragment of an ancient book, as long as it serves his purpose. he does not care where he finds it, nor what its nature may be; but if, as Dr. Johnson has pointed out, he has some say in the final distribution of honors, It may be worthwhile, then, to write down some of his thoughts and opinions, which, though of little importance in themselves, contributed to a result of such importance.