Project Gutenberg 2007-07-16 Public domain in the USA. 246 Wagstaffe, William 1685 1725 Tripe, Andrew Freeholder Crispin, Cobbler Wagstaffe, W. (William) Canning, George 1770 1827 Griffin, Gregory Wimsatt, William K. (William Kurtz) 1907 1975 Wimsatt, William Kurtz Wimsatt, W. K. (William Kurtz) 57001876 Parodies of Ballad Criticism (1711-1787) A Comment Upon the History of Tom Thumb, 1711, by William Wagstaffe; The Knave of Hearts, 1787, by George Canning Produced by Louise Hope, David Starner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Parodies of Ballad Criticism (1711-1787)" by William Wagstaffe and George Canning is a collection of satirical critiques written during the early 18th century. This work explores the realm of ballad poetry, specifically mocking the criticism that emerged around this genre in a period marked by a transition from classical to emerging Romantic aesthetics. The book serves as a commentary on the reception and valuation of ballads within the literary community of its time. The collection includes Wagstaffe’s "A Comment Upon the History of Tom Thumb" and Canning’s "The Knave of Hearts," offering a humorous take on serious literary criticisms. Wagstaffe’s piece humorously elevates the nursery tale of Tom Thumb, suggesting its merit as a great literary work, while lampooning the pretentiousness of contemporary literary criticism. Canning follows with a mock epic critique of "The Knave of Hearts," systematically adhering to epic conventions to humorously validate the simple ballad’s status as high art. Collectively, these pieces reveal the cultural tensions surrounding literary form, taste, and the ongoing dialogue between traditional ballads and more sophisticated poetry at the time. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 54.6 (10th to 12th grade). Somewhat difficult to read. en Parodies Ballads, English -- England -- History and criticism PR Text Browsing: Culture/Civilization/Society Browsing: History - General Browsing: Literature Category: Humour Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches Category: British Literature 125847 2025-06-09T09:30:34.106190 text/html 121376 2007-07-15T18:52:44 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 64865 2007-07-15T18:52:44 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 146943 2025-06-09T09:30:42.748166 application/epub+zip 146899 2025-06-09T09:30:38.193204 application/epub+zip 104022 2025-06-09T09:30:36.576162 application/epub+zip 319559 2025-06-09T09:30:45.446142 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 305369 2025-06-09T09:30:41.621219 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 132011 2022-09-10T11:00:04.454770 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 99211 2025-06-09T09:30:33.248183 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 99336 2007-07-15T18:52:44 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 40554 2007-07-15T18:52:44 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 99347 2007-07-15T18:52:44 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 40521 2007-07-15T18:52:44 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 22649 2025-06-09T09:30:45.626144 application/rdf+xml 16179 2025-06-09T09:30:37.200192 image/jpeg 3712 2025-06-09T09:30:36.923163 image/jpeg 146158 2025-06-09T09:30:34.150222 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia en.wikipedia en.wikipedia