SOURCE: "Corneille," in Portraits of the Seventeenth Century: Historic and Literary, translated by Katharine P. Wormeley, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1904, pp. 29-54.

Sainte-Beuve is considered the foremost French literary critic of the nineteenth century. Of his extensive body of critical writings, the best known are his "lundis"—weekly newspaper articles which appeared over a period of several decades, in which he displayed his knowledge of literature and history. While Sainte-Beuve began his career as a champion of Romanticism, he eventually formulated a psychological method of criticism. Asserting that the critic cannot separate a work of literature from the artist and from the artist's historical milieu, Sainte-Beuve considered an author's life and character integral to the comprehension of his work. In the following excerpt from an essay originally published in 1855, he provides a capsule overview of Corneille's career and discusses his dramatic style, influences, and characterizations, among other concerns...