April 2020 - Tradition Restored

April 30, 2020

The Present Outlook (Part 5)

(Pictured: Confucius.) I am happy to present the fifth post of the final chapter of Rousseau and Romanticism, “The Present Outlook,” in which Irving Babbitt concludes that, “[m]an realizes [the] immensity of his being...

Poetry and the Romantic Tradition

April 10, 2020

The Present Outlook (Part 4)

I am happy to present the fourth post of the final chapter of Rousseau and Romanticism, “The Present Outlook,” in which Irving Babbitt concludes that, “[m]an realizes [the] immensity of his being . . . only in so far as he ceases to be the thrall of his own ego. This human breadth he achieves not by throwing off but by taking on limitations, and what he limits is above all his imagination. ”