Egotistical sublime explained

The 'egotistical sublime' is a phrase coined by John Keats to describe the poetry of William Wordsworth in an 1818 letter to Richard Woodhouse. The phrase expresses the underlying self-centered nature of Wordsworth's poetry, particularly his use of the narrative voice to convey his own conception of a singular truth. The egotistical sublime contrasts with Keat's perception of 'negative capability' which he believed to be the ideal and exemplified by the sonnets of William Shakespeare.^{[1] [2]}

Other uses

English literary scholar, John Jones, titled his 1954 work on William Wordsworth The Egotistical Sublime: A History of Wordsworth's Imagination.

Notes and References

1. Book: Baldick, Chris . Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms . Oxford University Press . 2015 . 978-0-19-871544-3 . Oxford . 111–112, 239–240 . en.
2. Web site: Fessler . Leah . A 19th-century poet's trick for cultivating a creative mindset . 2022-04-19 . Quartz . en.