“The present publication does not result from an antiquarian feeling about Chaucer as the Father of English Poetry, highly interesting as he must always be in that character alone; but from the extraordinary fact, to which there is no parallel in the history of the literature of nations, that although he is one of the great poets for all time, his works are comparatively unknown to the world.”

Explaining the motive for modernising Chaucer as making a timeless poet accessible · Introduction to Poems of Geoffrey Chaucer Modernised (1841)

• Accessibility
• Chaucer
• Literature

“A common stone meets with more ready patronage than a man of genius.”

Contrasting the care given to objects with the neglect of creative minds · Essay, Exposition of the False Medium and Barriers excluding Men of Genius from the public (1833)

• Genius
• Neglect
• Society

“The design of this poem of ‘Orion’ is far from being intended as a mere echo or reflection of the past, and is, in itself, and in other respects, a novel experiment upon the mind of a nation.”

Presenting the epic as an intentional trial of contemporary public response · Preface to Orion

• Experiment
• Poetry
• Public Opinion