A brilliant exponent of Old Light theology in particular and of Reformation theology in general, William Greenough Thayer Shedd was a biblical scholar who adapted the principles of biblical criticism to the study of literature. In this he was early influenced by James Marsh, under whom he studied at the University of Vermont, who introduced him to the work of Kant and Coleridge. As professor of English literature at the University of Vermont from 1845 to 1852, Shedd was among the first generation of American scholars to teach formally that discipline in American colleges. He did not engage in practical literary criticism as such, but devoted himself to exploring the role that the historical sense could play in critical theory.

By temperament and training Shedd was disposed to systematic and philosophical thought, and these two characteristics provide the basis for his reflections upon literature. He accepted and applied Kant's distinction...