These variations and even positive disagreements as to the nature and function of criticism seem to indicate the tendency of each generation to discard the standards of previous genera tions. The very title The New Laokoon given by Irving Babbitt to his recent work on criticism indicates that a change has come in standards of criticism since Lessing published his Laokoon in 1766 , - a work that for more than a hundred years was read by
successive generations of college students presumably as the finalword in criticism . A further change is indicated in the spirit with which criticism is approached in that The New Laokoon is described by its author as “ an inquiry into the nature of the
genres and the boundaries of the arts" and as an effort “ not to
achieve a complete and closed system , but to scatter the fermenta cognitionis." 8 Bliss Perry is in fundamental agreement with D ’Indy who
considers it axiomatic that “ tout art non basé sur la tradition est un art frappé de mort,” and he upholds the discipline of tradition since it provides a " reasoned insight into some of the
deeper laws of human life.” The historian therefore in weighing the value for his purposes of the criticism found in the periodical press recognizes the instability of all criticism due to changing standards and the unconscious conflict carried on at all times, as Trent has pointed out,10 between the conservative teachers of criticism
and the
individualistic methods of individual critics and reporters. He knows that criticism has always taken on the spirit of its age ,at one time it is impressionistic , at another academic ; again it is ordered and reasoned , and again it is radical and revolutionary ;
and that in his search for the ideal critic he must accept the judgment of Irving Babbitt when he says that the ideal critic
“ would need to combine the breadth and versatility and sense ? D . Klein writes to prove that the Elizabethan playwrights rejected the authority of the ancients, that throughout the Elizabethan age there was
a growth of a large critical consciousness among the dramatists, and that “ the luxuriant overflow of Elizabethan dramatic literature was accomplished by a criticial consciousness which became more prevalent and definite as time went on .” — Elizabethan Criticism , pp . 211, 220 , 245 .
8 The New Laokoon , p . 252. 9 " The Disciplined Heart,” Yale Review , July , 1918, 7 : 869- 872. 10 W . P. Trent, The Authority of Criticism and Other Essays.
