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Digvijay Pandya, Lovely Professional University Unit 15: Hazlitt—On Genius and Common Sense...

Unit 15: Hazlitt—On Genius and Common Sense: Notes
Detailed Study

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
15.1 On Genius and Common Sense
15.2 Summary
15.3 Key-Words
15.4 Review Questions
15.5 Further Readings

Objectives
After reading this Unit students will be able to:
• Introduce Hazlitt and his writings
• Discuss on Genius and Common Sense

Introduction

Charles Lamb introduced Hazlitt to William Godwin and other important literary figures in London.
In 1805 Joseph Johnson published Hazlitt’s first book, An Essay on the Principles of Human Action.
The following year Hazlitt published Free Thoughts on Public Affairs, an attack on William Pitt and
his government’s foreign policy. Hazlitt opposed England’s war with France and its consequent
heavy taxation. This was followed by a series of articles and pamphlets on political corruption and
the need to reform the voting system. Hazlitt began writing for The Times and in 1808 married the
editor’s sister, Sarah Stoddart. His friend, Thomas Barnes, was the newspaper’s parliamentary
reporter. Later, Barnes was to become the editor of the newspaper. In 1810 he published the New
and Improved Grammar of the English Language. Hazlitt also contributed to The Examiner, a radical
journal edited by Leigh Hunt. Later, Hazlitt wrote for the Edinburgh Review, the Yellow Dwarf and
the London Magazine. In these journals Hazlitt produced a series of essays on art, drama, literature
and politics. During this period he established himself as England’s leading expert on the writings
of William Shakespeare.
Hazlitt wrote several books on literature including Characters of Shakespeare (1817), A View of the
English Stage (1818), English Poets (1818) and English Comic Writers (1819). In these books he urged
the artist to be aware of his social and political responsibilities. Hazlitt continued to write about
politics and his most important books on this subject is Political Essays with Sketches of Public
Characters (1819). In the book Hazlitt explains how the admiration of power turns many writers
into “intellectual pimps and hirelings of the press.”

15.1 On Genius and Common Sense

We hear it maintained by people of more gravity than understanding, that genius and taste are
strictly reducible to rules, and that there is a rule for everything. So far is it from being true that
the finest breath of fancy is a definable thing, that the plainest common sense is only what Mr.
Locke would have called a mixed mode, subject to a particular sort of acquired and undefinable
tact. It is asked,

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