Criticism

The art of judging with propriety any object or combination of objects. In a le extended sense, the application of the principles of taste to matters connected with literature and the fine arts. The object which it proposes is, to distinguish what is beautiful and what is faulty in every performance; from particular instances to ascend to general principles, and so to form rules or conclusions concerning the several kinds of beauty in works of genius. It lays down those forms or ideas which answer to our conception of the beautiful, and points out, by reference to these, the excellencies or defects of individual works. The rules of C. are not formed by any induction à prior i, that is, they are not formed by a train of abstract reasoning independent of facts and observations. C. is an art founded wholly on experience, founded on the observation of such beauties as have been found to please mankind most generally. Such observations, taking their rise at first from feeling and experience, were found upon examination to be so consonant to reason and the principles of human nature, as to pa into established rules, and to be applied for judging of the excellence of any performance. In a still more limited sense, C. is applied to a particular branch of literature, being then synonymous with CRITIQUE, q.v. Critique, ( krit - ček ), n. [Fr.] A critical review or e ay; an analytical examination of the merits or demerits of a published work of literature, science, or art; a remark or animadversion pa ed upon beauties and faults; a criticism.