“Poetry was the mental rattle that awakened the attention of intellect in the infancy of civil society: but for the maturity of mind to make a serious business of the playthings of its childhood, is as absurd as for a full-grown man to rub his gums with coral, and cry to be charmed to sleep by the jingle of silver bells.”

Argues that poetry belongs to society's childhood and has no place in mature intellect · Essay, The Four Ages of Poetry (1820)

• Childhood
• Intellect
• Poetry

“While the historian and the philosopher are advancing in, and accelerating, the progress of knowledge, the poet is wallowing in the rubbish of departed ignorance, and raking up the ashes of dead savages to find gewgaws and rattles for the grown babies of the age.”

Contrasts useful knowledge with poetry's outdated nostalgia · Essay, The Four Ages of Poetry (1820)

• Knowledge
• Poetry
• Progress

“A poet in our time is a semi-barbarian in a civilized community.”

A sharp criticism of poets who idealise the past and resist the habits of modern society · Essay, The Four Ages of Poetry

• Civilization
• Criticism
• Poetry