William Warburton Criticism
William Warburton (1698-1779) was an influential English essayist, editor, translator, and critic of the mid-eighteenth century. Renowned for his intellectual prowess, Warburton's most significant contributions spanned historical and religious treatises, literary criticism, and editing notable works by William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. Born in Nottinghamshire, Warburton abandoned a legal career to pursue the Anglican clergy, where he gained fame with The Alliance between Church and State and his seminal work, The Divine Legation of Moses. This latter text stirred significant controversy due to its exploration of religious faith and morality, as discussed by Evans.
Warburton formed a lasting partnership with Pope, serving as his editor and literary executor. His edition of Pope's works, published in 1751, underpinned much of his enduring reputation, despite the contentious reception of his Shakespearean criticism, as explored by Kliman. Warburton's work in criticism was mixed; while some contemporaries condemned his literary methods, as noted in a Quarterly Review, others like Curry recognized his pioneering approaches, likening them to early forms of New Criticism.
Despite the harsh contemporary response to his edition of Shakespeare, Dash appreciates Warburton's innovative character analyses in The Winter's Tale. Warburton's intellectual rigor and imaginative criticism, though divisive, contributed significantly to literary discourse, underscoring his complex legacy within the eighteenth-century literary landscape. His work on The Divine Legation also found its unacknowledged way into Diderot's Encyclopédie, as Cherpack notes, demonstrating his broad and enduring influence beyond England.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Essays
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Review of The Works of the Right Rev. William Warburton, D.D. Lord Bishop of Gloucester. A New Edition. To which is prefixed, a Discourse by way of General Preface; containing some Account of the Life, Writings, and Character of the Author.
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In the following review of Richard Hurd's edition of Warburton's complete works, the anonymous reviewer discusses the highlights of Warburton's life and his principal publications.
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Conyers Middleton—‘The Divine Legation of Moses’—Webster's Attack
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In the following excerpt, Evans examines the friendship between Warburton and Middleton and the controversy surrounding Warburton's Divine Legation of Moses.
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Warburton and Brown Continue the Battle Over Ridicule
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In the following essay, Templeman recounts Warburton's part in the eighteenth-century critical controversy concerning the use of ridicule.
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Warburton and the Encyclopédie
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In the following essay, Cherpack examines Warburton's contributions to Denis Diderot's Encyclopédie, most of which were unacknowledged by the work's editors.
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Warburton and the Later Satiric Mode
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In the following excerpt, Rogers explores Warburton's relationship with Alexander Pope and considers his influence on Pope's later works.
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The Working of the Alliance: A Comment on Warburton
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In the following excerpt, Greaves discusses Warburton's essay The Alliance of Church and State.
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The Literary Criticism of William Warburton
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In the following essay, Curry compares Warburton's status as an important eighteenth-century literary critic with his diminished reputation in the twentieth century.
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A Glimpse of the Sublime in Warburton's Edition of The Winter's Tale
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In the following essay, Dash compares Warburton's commentary on The Winter's Tale with those of his predecessors, claiming that Warburton applied the principles of Longinus's theories of the sublime to the play.
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Sterne, Warburton, and the Burden of Exuberant Wit
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In the following essay, New assesses the relationship between Warburton and Laurence Sterne, maintaining that for Sterne, Warburton was the quintessential prude against whom his satire was primarily directed.
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William Warburton and the Alliance of Church and State
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In the following essay, Taylor refutes the common critical belief that Warburton's pamphlet The Alliance between Church and State reflected the standard opinion held by most contemporary clerics.
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Samuel Johnson and Tonson's 1745 Shakespeare: Warburton, Anonymity, and the Shakespeare Wars
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In the following excerpt, Kliman examines Warburton's role in the eighteenth-century competition among various literary figures to provide the definitive edition of Shakespeare's plays.
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Review of The Works of the Right Rev. William Warburton, D.D. Lord Bishop of Gloucester. A New Edition. To which is prefixed, a Discourse by way of General Preface; containing some Account of the Life, Writings, and Character of the Author.
(summary)
- Further Reading