The Spirit of the Age His masterwork, "An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice", "gave ... a blow to the philosophical mind of the country". To those with a penchant for thinking about the human condition, Godwin was "the very God of our idolatry" who "carried with him all the most sanguine and fearless understandings of the time" and engaged the energy of a horde of "young men of talent, of education, and of principle." These included some of Hazlitt's most famous former friends, the poets Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey. Twenty-five years later, Hazlitt looks back in astonishment that, in the interval, Godwin's reputation "has sunk below
The Feast of the Poets life, and feel the breath of heaven about you". – No advice can be better: we feel the call instinctively; we get up, accompany the poet into his walks, and acknowledge them to be the best and the most beautiful; but what do we meet there? Idiot boys, Mad Mothers, Wandering Jews... Regardless of the problems, Hunt admits to a connection with Wordsworth, especially in their use of poetry to deal with complex psychological issues. The purpose of the notes was to describe, in Hunt's view, what would happen to the reputation of various poets. He placed a particular emphasis