Book: Effigies Poeticae

Overview
Effigies Poeticae (1824) by Barry Cornwall, pseudonym of Bryan Waller Procter, presents a series of compact literary portraits that aim to render the moral and imaginative presence of celebrated poets. Rather than a formal biography or strictly analytical criticism, the volume pursues impressions: condensed scenes, epigrammatic observations, and persona sketches that conjure each poet's temper and public aura. The work sits at the intersection of Romantic sensibility and literary antiquarianism, treating canonical figures as living types whose genius can be sketched with a few deft strokes.

Structure and Form
The book is organized as a succession of short pieces, many of them lyrical or dramatic in tone, that vary in length and mode. Some portraits read like dramatic monologues in which the poet's voice, or the voice of an admiring or ironic commentator, supplies the focal vantage point. Others are aphoristic pieces that distill perceived traits into memorable lines. This formal variety allows Cornwall to shift between close, imaginative re-creation and brisk, critical epigram, keeping the reader alert to both personality and poetics.

Portraits of Shakespeare, Milton, and Dryden
Shakespeare is treated with vivid reverence: Cornwall paints him as a capacious, humane presence whose genius synthesizes conflicting moods and registers. The portrait emphasizes theatrical omnivorousness, an ability to encompass the comic, the tragic, and the grotesque, while suggesting a compassionate intelligence that looks steady on the human stage. Milton is rendered through the language of sublimity and stern moral vision; Cornwall's lines underline Milton's austere grandeur, his theological seriousness, and the tragic loneliness that attends prophetic poetry. Dryden emerges as robust and world-wise, a figure of critical balance and social tact. Cornwall captures Dryden's muscular verse and pragmatic wit, marking him as a bridge between Restoration clarity and later poetic sensibilities.

Tone and Technique
The dominant tone is one of affectionate criticism: Cornwall admires his subjects while still feeling free to point out eccentricities, excesses, or the historical constraints that shaped them. The sketches combine sensitivity to diction and rhythm with a painterly use of imagery, aiming to make a reader "see" the poet at work or at leisure. Irony appears sparingly but effectively, used to deflate received myths or to register how fame can distort a writer's private texture. Throughout, the voice is personal and conversational, often addressing the reader or invoking a shared cultural memory.

Legacy and Context
Effigies Poeticae participates in a broader early-19th-century fascination with literary character and portraiture, anticipating later anthological and biographical experiments that pair critical judgment with imaginative reconstruction. Though not a major critical manifesto, the collection found an audience among readers who valued literary impressionism and the intimate mode of Romantic criticism. The book's charm rests in its readable judgments, its felicitous prose-lyrics, and its attempt to humanize figures often reduced to names in schoolrooms and histories. As a specimen of Barry Cornwall's literary taste, it illuminates the period's effort to make canonical poets approachable without sacrificing aesthetic seriousness.