But now that he has passed into the company of the great dead, and time has softened down the asperities of popular judgment, we are able to learn the real lesson of his life and writings.

That is not to be sought in any of his doctrines, but rather in his fearless bearing, his resolute loyalty to an unselfish and in the simplest sense benevolent ideal.

It is this which constitutes his supreme importance for us English at the present time.

Ours is an age in which ideals are rare, and we belong to a race in which men who follow them so single-heartedly are not common.
As a poet, Shelley contributed a new quality to English literature--a quality of ideality, freedom, and spiritual audacity, which severe critics of other nations think we lack.

Byron's daring is in a different region: his elemental worldliness and pungent satire do not liberate our energies, or cheer us with new hopes and splendid vistas.