Project Gutenberg 2004-12-27 Public domain in the USA. 90 Lowell, James Russell 1819 1891 Wilbur, Homer Meliboeus-Hipponax Mordell, Albert 1885 1965 The Function of the Poet, and Other Essays Reading ease score: 61.1 (8th & 9th grade). Neither easy nor difficult to read. Produced by Ted Garvin, Thomas Amrhein and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team "The Function of the Poet, and Other Essays" by James Russell Lowell is a collection of literary criticism written in the mid-19th century. The essays delve into the roles and functions of poetry and poets, reflecting Lowell's contemplations on the nature of creativity, culture, and the evolution of poetry through different eras. The work expresses a deep appreciation for classic poets while also addressing the contemporary literary landscape of his time. The opening of the book sets the stage for a profound exploration of the poet's vocation, discussing how the poet serves as both a "seer" and a "maker." It highlights the duality of the poet's role in society—entertaining as well as enlightening—and how poets historically combined spiritual insight with earthly storytelling. In particular, it emphasizes the connection between imagination and understanding that is vital for meaningful poetic expression. This opening portion suggests that Lowell believes the function of the poet is not just to create beauty but to reflect and elevate the human experience, positing that poets can renew and redeem the collective spirit of their times. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Literature -- History and criticism PN Text Browsing: Literature 353085 352965 2024-10-06T13:10:18.653669 2023-09-07T03:50:22.467814 text/html text/html 353078 352958 2024-10-06T13:10:18.923793 2023-09-07T03:50:22.615864 text/html text/html 222772 2024-10-06T13:10:26.945595 application/epub+zip 226647 2024-10-06T13:10:22.390569 application/epub+zip 207869 2024-10-06T13:10:20.992615 application/epub+zip 454682 2024-10-06T13:10:30.470563 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 426988 2024-10-06T13:10:26.138566 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 393064 2022-09-07T16:42:15.031343 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 328913 2024-10-06T13:10:18.294608 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 328775 2020-12-19T00:45:56 text/plain; charset=utf-8 132691 2020-12-19T00:45:57 text/plain; charset=utf-8 application/zip 328732 2020-12-19T00:45:57 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 132619 2020-12-19T00:45:57 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 328724 2020-12-19T00:45:56 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 132517 2020-12-19T00:45:57 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 22131 2024-10-06T13:10:30.605534 application/rdf+xml 19347 2024-10-06T13:10:21.665590 image/jpeg 4309 2024-10-06T13:10:21.386581 image/jpeg 218684 2024-10-06T13:10:18.957615 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia