Hazlitt's performance as an essayist improved as he wrote his way through metaphysical refutations, Parliamentary reporting, and routine drama reviews toward the self-awareness and discursive style of the familiar essay. To demonstrate this general impression of Hazlitt's evolution in style, this study divides his career into three periods: (1) the apprenticeship stage (1804-14), comprising his first stiff attempts at philosophical and political criticism; (2) the transitional, journalistic period (1815-19), which included brief newspaper articles and literary lectures; and (3) the mature period (1820-30), in which he composed longer, analytical essays on human traits as embodied in his contemporaries. A series of three passages-one drawn from each period of his writing and each group written on the same topic-reveal that William Hazlitt's interests remained constant throughout his writing career. Their concrete expression in his essays, however, underwent a gradual development in style, with modifications in syntax, imagery, and stance.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / The dissertation argues that Hazlitt's writing is organic, with staunchly held principles directing any subject he touches upon, and that his criticism of literature and the fine arts is not only based upon consistent artistic standards, but is also closely related to his criticism of contemporary theories of reform and his criticism of the philosophies of association, materialism, and utility. The dissertation outlines the social, psychological, and philosophical theories upon which Hazlitt's aesthetic is based, presents his critical standards, defines his more elusive terminology, and, finally, views him as an affective critic.

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