SOURCE: Lucas, John. “Meredith as Poet.” In Meredith Now: Some Critical Essays, edited by Ian Fletcher, pp. 14-33. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1971.
In the following essay, Lucas faults Meredith for inept rhyming, excessive grandiloquence, and generally faulty writing. Lucas frames his criticism as an attempt to take Meredith seriously as a poet, arguing that his successes cannot be properly valued unless his failings are clearly understood.