Joseph Warton | Biography

Joseph Warton was an important contributor to the dynamic literary activity in the Age of Johnson (1740-1800). His aggressive endorsement of the imagination and his refusal to accept the authority of "correct" verse and to deem Alexander Pope as the best model for contemporary poets made Warton a vigorous champion of the poetry that emerged in the 1740s. To the end of his life, Warton maintained his reputation as a literary radical, one who challenged the perceptions of noted authors and critics, such as his friend Samuel Johnson. Although his poetic output was limited roughly to a ten-year period and his literary career interrupted by a hiatus of some twenty years, Joseph Warton wrote enough to secure the distinction of being one of the most influential English writers of the eighteenth century. As a critic, poet, essayist, and editor, Warton offered works that were challenging, sound, innovative, and solidly historical....
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